Sunday, June 27, 2021

YMATA CHILI SEASONING - DON'T DO THAT - BAMBOO - CAT HOUSE - CANNAS - OLD AMMO


I have been trying to find/make a good chili seasoning for years. But I have no idea how to make a basic mix to build on. I also do not want to have make a dozen batches of chili to get there. 

Then I realized that I did not have to reinvent the wheel. Why not buy different chili mixes and mix them all together? Each mix brings a special flavor of chili seasonings. Someone else has done some work at designing that particular chili flavor. 

Mixing 8 different chili packets from different stores/manufactures ought to yield a good basic mix. BINGO!!!!

I avoided hot or alarm chili mixes. Used original/basic or mild mixes. Packets differed from 1 pound up to 4 pounds of hamburger for that individual packet mix

Colors of the mixes ranged from black to varying shades of red/brown.

Final color of YMATA mix of 8 packets is rich brownish red. Filled a small empty wide mouth pickle jar to the rim. 

FATHER'S DAY CHILI BATCH #1

Basic recipe;

1 lb. 80/20 ground chuck drained. Seasoned with salt, pepper, adobo, can cooker seasoning, splash soy sauce. A shake or two each.

1 medium green pepper diced. 

½ large onion diced.

1 can diced tomatoes and juice.

1 sm can tomato paste plus two cans of water.

1 heaping soup spoon full of YMATA chili seasoning folded into the above. 

Simmered in a dutch oven for an hour. Slow folding a couple times. No tasting. 

Then first bowl!! 

Had the chili look. The chili smell/flavor plus just a little flavor heat that dissipates in a few seconds after each bite. Addictive. 

The bride warned me NOW not to change anything. Then she added the look!

But what if........? 

And herein lies one of the up sides of all of this. Future pots of chili can be easily tweaked.

This spice mix serves as an excellent starter to "a perfect chili" or very good for repeatable, stand alone, quick, and wonderful tasting chili. Guest worthy. Ready in a couple hours. Take to a pot luck without hours of cooking.

Try the idea. Document each packet you purchase and set away. Purchase 2 packets each so you can repeat the exact mix.

Mix all in a glass bowl and spoon into a small wide mouth jar with a good lid. 

Find a simple chili recipe you like and use your new seasoning. It will be a wonderful surprise.  Put your name on the chili seasoning jar. Old family secret recipe handed down from.... and all of that. 

The last bowl the next day had mellowed. The flavor heat was less noticeable and the overall flavor was a little softer. Basic chili flavor retained. 

I want that same heat flavor though the next day. What to do? Next batch will be tweaked.


Follow up at posting time.

Batch #2 

Fried meat in bacon grease and left hamburger in larger pieces.

Added chili seasoning to the drained meat and stirred.

Added a little jar garlic.

Added a drained can of black beans.

Improved yes.

............. 


DON'T DO THAT

Remember when you were a young child and were told not to do that and you did it anyway.

As a teenager you were told countless times not to do that and did most of all of that. You were told often you that "you have to learn the hard-way."

In your 20's peers suggested to each other you should not do that. But you and your friends were doing that more often than not.

In your 30's there was some agreement that you should not to do that , yet doing that often won out.

In your 40's you knew not to do that. But knowing better sometimes lost to doing that.

In your 50's you quit doing that because of the mental and physical recovery time from having done that.

In your 60's you were the one with wisdom and experience telling others not to do that.

In your 70's you were not doing that because you could not remember what it was that you were not suppose to do.

In your 80's you have flashbacks of doing that.

In your 90's your smirk says, "those were the days my friend; those were the days!" 

.............

FRESH TOMATOES ARE ON THIS PAST WEEK


Warm off the vine

Stem cut out

Salt and pepper and the first bite 

Flavor a long time waiting and messy 

Repeat until fresh tomato is gone

Paper towel clean up necessary

Tomato sandwiches on fresh bread, mayo with salt and pepper. May need paper towel here too.

Homemade salsa a must

Fresh tomato delivery to neighbors 

 ................

HARVESTED BAMBOO



Received permission from neighbor down the road to harvest some of her bamboo. 

Apparently just one of these stalks laying down on the ground is enough to start seedlings. Also invasive. 

Seeing these shoots tucked inside the woods was a new experience here for me. Grow very tall. 

I plan to use the small bunch next year for garden framing. Light weight and very strong. The small end will serve as stakes to hold up plants as they grow.

...............

Canna lily


Explosive blooming and color for the summer.

.............

60 year old ammo


Two boxes .357 pistol cartridges from a weekend garage sale. For the condition and historical perspective. See the original price of $9.75. Fellow doing the garage sale brought them out and said he had just found these two boxes of ammo. All in very good condition for age.

Ryobi disk/belt sander and other assorted tools. Great deal(s) on tools I need.

...........

SARS-Cov-2  From The Burning Platform.

A good read from apparent research. Time well spent me thinks.

DAYS GETTING SHORTER

Happens every year to me. Just when I am adjusting to the summer months, the days start getting shorter. I start to feel closer to winter. Not the case as there are plenty of long and hot days ahead. But it seems like the start of a down hill slide into fall and winter..

Cat house has been job 1 these past 2 weeks. Most all of my time planning, getting materials and building what will become outdated and of no use by the end of summer. But the kittens need room to run, play and grow up safely. 

Stray male cats not fixed roam these back roads and homes. The ones we have seen have adapted well to the seasons, are plump and serve some function for small rodent control. 

Hot humid weather has the ruled this past week. High humidity sunrise to sunset limits outdoor chores getting done. The higher heat w/o humidity is doable but the humidity does me in within minutes.

..........

A fine way to complete this weeks post. Thank you for the visit.

VIDEO 1 from Knuckledraggin My Life Away

VIDEO 6 from Knuckledraggin My Life Away




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