Ancho chili and cilantro lime dish

I make this one dish from time to time- primarily in the summer- but after a time I noticed that I felt it was too dry.  So... I developed a sauce that changes the entire complexity of the dish and is a keeper.

1 red onion
3 green bell peppers
1 red bell pepper
3 cloves of chopped garlic
2 packages of turkey Polish Kielbasa
3 tablespoons of coconut oil divided
1 Tablespoon smoked paprika
2 Tablespoons Ancho chili powder seasoning
2 limes- zested and juice squeezed into separate container
1.5 cups of sour cream
1/2 cup whole milk
1 small bunch of cilantro

8-9 cups cooked brown Basmati rice

Dice peppers, onion and garlic- saute with 1 tablespoon of coconut oil until tender. Stir in Ancho spice and smoked paprika.  Set aside.

Half sausage lengthwise and slice.  Add the remaining 2 Tablespoons of coconut oil and cook the sausage until the sugars caramelize well on both sides.  Add pepper and onion mixture.

In a separate container mix sour cream and milk until smooth.  Fold in half of the lime zest, lime juice and chopped cilantro.

The other half of the lime zest, juice and cilantro should be folded into the rice before serving.

Serve with the rice on the bottom, sausage/pepper layer then spoon sour cream sauce over that.

Dry Shampoo for light or dark hair

Every winter I have my favorite salon lady drastically change my hair.  Most of the time she takes me from very blonde to very dark...and then tells me to stop washing my hair more than once a week because said dark color wants to be washed out from my blonde color.  

I know it is coming every winter, and every winter I am shocked.

 

This year- I finally got into the habit of leaving the hair wash out of the daily routine...but I still get all desperate and at some point I realize I have run out of dry shampoo spray. 

First dilemma- it is expensive.  Second: it is full of nasty chemicals.  Lastly- well, there isn't a single place within a 2 hour round trip that sells it.

Finally- I found what works for me and I always have the ingredients on hand in the kitchen.

3 T Corn Starch

1 T Arrowroot Powder

- and if I happen to have my hair dark- I add cocoa powder a bit at a time to make the powder darker in order to match the current color.  Just make sure it is unsweetened.

Mix all together and funnel it into a container that can be sealed (I like old herb bottles with a shake top).  Make sure to blend the cocoa powder well!

Naan

With summer here- and a half acre garden...well, I have seem to have gotten a bit too busy to keep up on the blog.  I feel a bit caught up in the garden for a while and am back!

Even though my family is primarily GF.  We do from time to time make a traditional flour bread.  This is the only bread we make.  If you are not familiar with Naan- it is an Indian flat bread.  Traditionally it is cooked in a Tandoor (clay oven) but I find cast iron works best for me....that- and I break the clay ovens I make too easily:)

What you need:

1T yeast
2 cups warm water
1/2 cup sugar
(mix above 3 ingredients and let rest for about 10 minutes to proof the yeast)

In a separate bowl-
2 eggs
6T milk
2t salt

In a large bowl-
8 cups flour

After the 10 minutes is up- combine the liquids and fold into the bowl holding 8 cups of flour.  Mix until it becomes a cohesive dough and kneed for 2 minutes on a lightly floured surface.  If the dough is sticky- lightly add a bit more flour to the kneading surface.  Once it no longer sticks- I stop kneading.
Place dough in an oiled bowl and cover with a damp/wet tea towel
Allow to rise in a warm location until it doubles in size- usually about 2 hours.

After it has risen, punch down and roll into balls about the size of racqueteball. If I am planning on using this for a savory dinner, I will add a few cloves of minced garlic at this point and fold in the dough 2 or 3 times then roll out the balls. We alter the size according to what we want to use the Naan for.  Place the dough on oiled trays and cover with a damp tea towel and allow to rise for 30 minutes.

Flour your surface and begin rolling the dough out until 1/4" thickness.  You will soon figure out how thick or thin you prefer by tasting the end result.  I roll mine thinner if I need them for tacos.

Place the rolled dough on a cast iron griddle with medium/med high heat.  You can use the oven at 350* and watch until they expand like a large bubble and turn a bit brown.
Cook until bubbles appear then flip.  Some times I give the turned cooked side a swipe with melted butter and sprinkle a bit more salt on it.