Tangent Gardening "Extras"

Urban Gardening in unnatural heat... Why Not?

Monday, July 25, 2011

Food, Dehydrating, Omg! What is with my Chili Plants!

   Yesterday, I made muffins. No, not just any muffins.... The easiest muffins ever, well for me. I have a recipe that is just so basic that I never realized "that" packaged stuff was wasting my money...
 
Carrot Confiture Muffins

2       cups flour (I'm sure it can be the flour of choice)
1       Tbsp baking powder ( I used double acting)
1/2    tsp salt
2       egg whites
1/4    cups veg oil (I'm sure canola oil would be fine too)
1 1/4 cups skim milk (I used 2% milk)
1/4    cup of sugar and 4 tbsp of jam...

1. Preheat your oven to 400° F. Grease your muffin tin. I used the veggie spray.

2. Combine all the dry ingredients first, flour baking powder, only tbsp of the sugar.  (I think that maybe double that, if you like), and salt. Mix all together
   
    Make a well in the center of the flour...
    Add egg whites, oil, and milk and mix until moist, only until moist because the batter will get tough.
    Fill the muffin cups 2/3's full with the batter.

   Then with the Carrot Confiture, I inserted into the center of each muffin, about a teaspoon. I used way more than 4 tablespoons that it called for just so you know.
Then with the rest of the sugar, I sprinkled over the top of each muffin. I think like a strudel type topping would be ever so yummy too...


   I baked it for 15 minutes, but the recipe called for 20 minutes. I suggest the old toothpick method... insert toothpick, if comes out clean, muffins are baked...

   I think if cinnamon were added, it might give a new dimension of taste or whatever your whim would be.


      Yummy and fluffy! (and not to sweet)!


Omg! What is with my Chili plants!!!

   The one thing I find extremely funny is when I started my plant menagerie. I was really worried about my Portulaca plant, What do I do with it? Is it going to work in the pot it is in now?, etc... etc.. etc..



   Well, It is beautiful!!!, No worries. I should have been looking closer,and worried about my Thai Chili, and now!!! My happy Habanero!!! Ahhh! It is suffering, so much so, that it was drooping and ill...

   It was so sad, I asked my husband, What do you think I should do with it? In my mind, I was thinking what he was going to say to me! Take it out of the pot and put it in the ground as soon as you can! So I commenced with that decision..

In the ground it went... 

   When I took it out of the pot I did not even realize, and really didn't expect to think that this was the culprit...

   I planted the chili pepper WITH the coconut husk pot! That was supposed to be "okay"? Right!!! It was to go along with the plant in the ground, or where ever it was going to go, etc....  or that is the claim,... Well,

    For all those that it works for, Hooray for you! I am not saying this with ill will at all, I wish it worked for me, But it did not, and it was proven!! 
   It kept all the moisture in the pot and essentially, Happy Habanero was drowning.... So, I am a killer of chili pepper plants... But anyway, I took it out of the husk thing and dug a hole, and put it in the ground, and then gave it a dose of transplant shock helper stuff, The vitamin B liquid..


   So I certainly hope that Un- Happy Habanero will come around, because Thai Chili has not come around..(yet!)


Dehydrating Eggplants....

   So 4:30 in the afternoon, I'm  in the kitchen blanching Eggplant... It was unbelievably easy to dehydrate eggplant... cut eggplant in 1/2 inch slices, drop them in boiling water for 4 minutes... plunge them in ice-cold water for the same amount of time, then pat them dry throw on tray to dehydrate...


The longest part of  "all this", was to wait for them to dehydrate...  It took between 9 to 20 hours for them to finish the process...

The end product: 

   Now the one thing I didn't do, was peel them, I think maybe I should have! I didn't put any type of lemon juice on them either, maybe I should have done that too!

   Wrapping all this up, I have made some wacky judgements, but I certainly think that all of the things like should've, would've, could've hind-sights, is a positive.

   Now, I know, I can certainly play around and not get in to too much trouble!!!

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