I Have a Cold

Both bear and DH have generously passed on their germs to me. I am utterly unimpressed. This means that not much has happened today, and I expect not much will happen over the weekend either. 

Dinner this evening was 'nice' sausages from the freezer, frozen salt and pepper fries that the men like (which were on offer last week) and peas, all with gravy. The men were very happy with it but I felt that it was lacking. Mind you, I think the main thing lacking was my enthusiasm.

We have a stock of 'nice' sausages in the freezer after a good deal. They are conveniently gluten free, taste great and could be worse when it comes to ingredients. I firmly believe that it's better to spend out on nice sausages (£2.50 for six large, meaty sausages, which is enough for us) than get cheap and poor quality steak.

As for the pickled chillies, it's very much DH's domain. He and bear will eat any amount. I have left it entirely to them, so I'm not sure of the recipe they use, but it's something like 300g of chillies plus white vinegar plus salt and possibly suger plus some water will do enough to make I think two or three jars of pickled chillies that last maybe a fortnight or possibly three weeks. The jars used previously contained pasta sauce, and their lids have a coating that isn't so likely to be affected by the vinegar. These are supposed to take 500g of the pasta sauce and are a decent size. One small jar of 270g chilli pickles at Tesco costs £1.70. At my best guess of the recipe, and erring on the generous side, it costs maybe £3.00 for the chillies and pennies for the vinegar and salt and possibly sugar for the minimum of four times that jar costing £1.70, and we know everything that's in it. That is why spending, say, £12 on two buckets of jalapeno pepper growing packs, which may produce more than two plants and therefore may produce a kilo or so of chillies, makes sense as a gamble.

I don't eat them, as I'm not a fan of spicy food, but I'm always replacing bottles of hot sauce and tabasco as the men love that stuff. DH and bear get through quite a lot during a week, so it's absolutely worth it. I'm going to try and persuade DH to make Cowboy Candy. We've had it in the past but it was £6.99 for a very small jar, so home made would absolutely be worth a try. 

I also treated DH to a bottle of chilli flavoured oil. It was on offer and I needed a small amount to make it up to free delivery, so I added it to the Tesco order and he loves it. If we get enough chillies, he may have a go at making his own. I know that he's really enjoying it. 

Perhaps, if this goes well, I may try growing garlic next year. 

I haven't got any pics taken today, so here is a blast from the past.

It's from 4th February 2024 and if the chillies are successful and I branch out, I may need it!

Hugs and good health to all.