How to use habaneros, Part I

This past week, I wrote about how I had harvested a lot of habaneros. I've been racking my brain on how to use all these hot peppers. Yesterday when my husband left for work, I sent him off with a bag of peppers to give to his friend Max. He originally gave us the plant two years ago. He was happy to receive peppers from the same plant! He couldn't believe we had kept the plant alive, (this is how I know overwintering peppers really does work!)  I decided to mince 3 of the peppers to use in a recipe of homemade chili!  Habaneros are HOT, HOT, so you have to be careful cutting into these.  It's wise to use rubber gloves, I learned this lesson the hard way.  The oils on the pepper will stay on your hands, even after washing your hand, and once I rubbed my eyes and was in pain, despite washing my hands with soap!

I made the chili in the crock pot.  I love any reason to use the crock pot slow cooker.  It's the easiest way to cook and so tasty!

After you set your crock pot, leave it alone for 5 hours on high heat.  Then tada, it's finished.  I like to add chopped scallions and shredded cheddar cheese on top of my chili.  Don't forget a nice dallop of sour cream.  The sour cream helps cool and soothe the spiciness of the chili.  Absolutely heavenly!

With chili, I always like to make some kind of bread item so that we can dunk it into the bowl of chili.  I wanted to make cheddar biscuits but I was out of milk, so I decided to make garlic, cheddar, cilantro breadsticks. These are incredibly easy to make.  Just make your favorite pizza dough recipe, and instead of rolling out the dough, make the dough into strings that you can braid.  Brush the braids generously with olive oil and minced garlic, salt and pepper.  Add shredded cheddar cheese and chopped cilantro.  Bake for 15 minutes in the oven at 350 degrees, or until lightly browned.  Eat while hot.  Delicious!

For more garden to table challenges, check out Greenish Thumb.