Hot Wings

I'm now on a quest to make the perfect wing sauce. The one I made today (the second recipe below) was sweet, vinegary and awkward. I put a ton of stuff into the sauce without much guidance other than from questionable sounding internet recipes. Most internet recipes were useless: 'store-bought hot sauce+butter, put on chicken.' Almost nothing from scratch. But with so much random stuff in the sauce, it was nearly impossible to pick out the mismatched ingredients. Lesson: when making something new, start with a less exciting but solid base before experimenting with more.

Here will be my next attempt:

Peppers (20 habanero, 15 serrano, 10 red jalapeno)
2 pieces garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
A dash of paprika
1 tsp cayenne pepper powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
(Slice, sautee, blend with...)
1/3 cup water with 2 tbsp vinegar
Strain.

Add in...
1/4 stick butter
4 oz tomato sauce, maybe more

NOW, time to get creative and see what might make the recipe better. Maybe a little honey or bbq sauce. Hopefully I'll be more successful.

Anyway, here's the fail recipe of excess ingredients...

1. Hot sauce

20 habaneros
15 serrano
10 red jalapeno
1/2 onion
6 pieces garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
Juice of 1 lime
Dash of ginger powder
(then) 3/4 cup vinegar

Cut cuttable stuff and sautee everthing but the vinegar for about 15 minutes, then blend with the vinegar. Strain with cheesecloth and throw away the bits.

2. Wing sauce

In a large saucepan, mix...

Sauce from above
1/2 stick butter
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
4 oz tomato paste

Reduce until desired consistency. Put on chicken, I guess? I didn't do that part.

Thai Green Curry

I tried to use a jar of curry paste and it ended up too salty and not flavorful enough. Here's what I used from scratch:

Toast whole spices for a few minutes, then grind:
1 tsp peppercorns
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander

Put in blender:
(Ground spices)
2 tbsp ground fresh galangal
2 tbsp ground fresh lemongrass
2 tbsp kaffir lime leaf
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 cup chopped cilantro leaves/stems
4 cloves garlic
2 shallots
juice of 1 juicy lime, 1.5-2 if drier
1 tsp salt
1/2 can light coconut milk
3 hot green peppers
1/4 cup basil leaves

Cook at 375 degrees for 40 minutes:
1 eggplant, sliced in half, all sides lightly coated in olive oil

Mix in saucepan:
(Blended mix)
The other 1/2 can coconut milk
1 stalk lemongrass, cut up into 3 in. pieces
2 jalapenos, thinly sliced
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/2 cup basil leaves
1 small can bamboo shoots
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
Eggplant goop, cut up into chunks if not goopy enough

Medium heat for half an hour, then simmer on low heat for an hour. Serve with stir fry rice noodles. Garnish with sprigs of cilantro, slices of lime, bean sprouts.

Low-Fat Animal Fries

Baked 'Lightly Salted' Kettle chips
Fat free cheddar cheese (Kraft makes it)
Fat free Thousand Island dressing (again, Kraft is pretty good)
Diced onions

Sautee the onions. Put chips on plate, cover with shredded cheese, then onions, then dressing, then microwave it. Mmmmmm. Not quite the same- pretty much satisfies the craving for me, but I'm the kind of person who uses Splenda for sweetening almost anything.

the finals diet

2 energy drinks, 1 package of guacamole, 1 bag of Pirate's Booty, 1 bag of snap peas. Oh, study munchies.

Bell Pepper Pizza

Ingredients, based on one pepper, for one person.
1 large red bell pepper
1/2 cup of shredded cheese (holler for fat free cheddar)
1 hot pepper
1 tomato
10 basil leaves
A few sprigs of parsley
1 tsp olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slice the bell pepper in half and remove seeds. Coat the skin lightly with olive oil and place face-down on a baking sheet. Cook for about 20 minutes. While it's cooking, dice the hot pepper into tiny pieces and mix it with the cheese, slice the tomato, and chop the herb leaves. After those 20 minutes, turn the peppers face-up and coat them with most of the cheese-pepper mix. Put it back into the oven and let the cheese melt, then coat with the herb leaf mix, then with a layer of tomatoes. Let it cook for about 15 more minutes, then sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top. Once that cheese is melted (probably 10 more minutes) it's ready.

Roasted Vegetable Soup

-Olive oil (probably about 2 tbsp)
-Eggplants (~2 large or 3 medium)
-Red bell peppers (3)
-Serrano peppers (Depends on your spice tolerance. I go with like...8, but let's be realistic and say 3.)
-Salt (add to taste)
-Ground pepper (ditto)
-Ginger root (1/2 inch chunk)
-Water, to thin
-Pita or naan or lavosh (but any type of bread works)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut eggplants in half and cut out the stem/seeds of the bell peppers. Rub a thin coat of olive oil on all the vegetables. Place the eggplant skin-side up in a pan, roast all the peppers and eggplant until the pepper is slightly browned and the eggplant is squishy when you press down on it with a spoon. (My oven is a little...special and it takes at least 2 hours, a normal oven shouldn't take more than 45 minutes to an hour.) Remove the eggplant, which should be goopy, from the skin and blend it with the peppers. Blend in salt and pepper to taste, and the ginger root. This mixture will be very thick and very flavorful, so you can thin it with water to make it more soup-like and less paste-like. Eat with the toasted bread of your choice.

THE JESUS DIP

Spicier, more flavorful take on guacamole.

-1/2 inch chunk of ginger
-5 serrano peppers (this is pretty hot. adjust as needed, or use jalapenos, which are less spicy.)
-1 large avocado
-1 large tomato
-2-3 tomatillos, depending on size
-A few sprigs of cilantro
-The juice of one lime and 1/2-1 lemon, depending on juiciness and size
-Salt and pepper to taste

Blend it all and nom with carbs. Plain baked Kettle brand chips are particularly good.