u/DriverMelodic

Plain rice, fresh tomatoes, cilantro and scrambled egg.

Cut or slice tomato
Rinse then chop cilantro.
Heat a skillet then add abocado oil.
Scramble egg.
Add rice. Stir to heat.
Add tomato and cilantro..
Serve.

Store boiled white potatoes in the refrigerator. They last for nearly a week.

To fry, pour some avocado oil or clarified butter into a hot skillet. Add potatoes. Fry one side until brown, then do the other. Remember, they are already cooked so browning is all they need.

You know how you end up with pieces of onions, bell pepper, maybe a carrot or two? What about not quite a whole tomato? Garlic clove? And just one fresh hot pepper?

Don’t let them go bad.
Put them in a clean, sterilized jar that has a proper fitting lid.

Make a brine using 5% sea salt to 2 cups water. Pour into jar over vegs to within 1 inch of rim.

Put a new, unused sandwich sized bag into jar so it sits on top of vegs. Pour some brine into bag and fold over to fit into top of jar. This keeps vegs submerged.

Screw top on jar to seal.

Set aside 7 days to 3 weeks depending on how spicy you want it.

Drain but don’t rinse.

Process only the vegs in a blender in orddr to turn it into sauce.

Discard brine.
NOTE: do not use salt that has iodine.

Chicken and gravy is so easy using what is left from your deli rotisserie chicken.

Ingredients:
Chicken
Chopped onions, garlic and celery
Plain flour
Oil for frying

Ziplock bag

Put a cup of flour in ziplock bag.
Add pieces of chicken.
Shake off excess flour.
Lightly fry so it is medium brown.

Put browned chicken in suitable sized pot.
Add chopped onions, garlic and celery.
Add hot water to half cover chicken.
Bring to a boil and let cook until gravy forms.

NOTE: the other option is to just fry it until browned then serve.

So you have leftover nuts, chips or maybe some fruits or veggies. Even a bit of tomato paste?

Let’s do a challenge adding those things (or whatever you have) to some cookie. Start with the recipe for this dry mix:

I’m using the snacks in the second photo.

Post a photo and your results.

My mom made it all the time and taught me to make it. Family is from Alex.

Ingredients:
Shrimp
Corn
Sausage
Okra
Trinity
Salt
Pepper
Tomato Paste

Served over rice.

Directions:
Sauté sausage in large skillet; add shrimp, trinity, okra; season
Add tomato paste and corn.
Cook until vegetables are done ans sauce is thickened.
Serve over rice.
Cornbread on the side.

15 years agu, on a trip to Jamaica, we did a tour of a rum factory. I bought a bottle of spiced rum. Not knowing what to do with it I stuffed a handful of Ugandan vanilla beans into an empty beer bottle and topped it off with the spiced rum.

Turned out to be the right thing to do. It was so strong it only took 1/4 tsp to flavor a whole pound cake.

I topped it off with vodka in 2021 and it just got stronger. Those Ugandan beans are amazing, fat and strong.

If you want to do your own just remember DO NOT USE CHEAP LIQOURS and use unflavored liquors except for rum. The rum can be flavored.

My method was simple: sterilized flip top oe canning jar/lid, liquor, vanilla beans into an. Fill, store in cabinet for at least 90 days.

If you cut the tips off each end, drop tips in a cup of granulated sugar or salt and grind into a powder.

For ultimate information, check out Extract Making.