Aunt Ruby's Chile Sauce

Aunt Ruby's Chile Sauce

I hadn't made Aunt Ruby's Chile Sauce in 15 years.  I don't know why, I guess I'm usually just frantic to get my plain tomato sauce completed and haven't had time for too many other things. And too, this year I didn't grow any cucumbers so I've not been making pickles.

So I dug out the old recipe and realized that what I had made in the past and what my mother made in the past used sweet red peppers instead of hot red peppers.  Mom probably did this because as children we were not inclined to eat anything spicy.

I made only four pints - which is half the recipe, but I figure that will be enough for me and maybe a jar or two to give away.  This time I added the hot red peppers in the form of dried red pepper flakes and I think it worked pretty well. This is a  a piece of Havarti cheese on a water cracker and I thought it was excellent.  It would also be good poured over cream cheese.  But its is meant to be served with beef or pork as an accompaniment.  Here's the full recipe.

Aunt Ruby's Chile Sauce

24 meaty good sized tomatoes, skinned, cored and rough chopped.  I let the tomatoes sit in a big bowl in the refrigerator over night to drain some of the water off.

8  yellow onion, peeled and rough chopped

1/2 a gallon (two quarts) white vinegar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon celery seed

1 tablespoon ground mustard (I used Coleman's)

2 hot red pepper pods or two teaspoons of dried red pepper flakes

2 pints of sugar (I weighed the sugar, 2 pints equal 32 oz or 2 pounds)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon or a cinnamon stick three of four inches long

Put all the ingredients together in a large stainless steel stock pot. Bring to a boil and then lower heat and simmer until thick.  This could take three or four hours.  The house will smell wonderful the whole time.  When the sauce is as thick as you'd like it pour into clean hot canning jars fitted with hot clean lids and rings and water bath process at a boil for 10 minutes. Cool. Make sure all the jars seal. If one doesn't "pop", store it in the refrigerator and eat it first. 



The Best Key Lime Pie

This pie isn't really pink, its lime/yellow green, but for some reason this picture comes out pink.

It's August and even though its chilly and raining tonight, I think you might still find time this month or even into September to make a Key Lime Pie.  Here's my favorite recipe.  I have put the word key in parentheses because I use regular limes, not Key limes. Trust me, you won't know the difference except in your pocket book. This is a quick and easy pie and very, very good.

(Key) Lime Pie



Start with the crumb crust.  Traditionally it is made of graham cracker crumbs, sugar and butter.  Since this is a traditional Caribbean  pie I like to use crushed ginger snaps. You can use graham crackers if you prefer.

1 1/4 cups crushed ginger snaps
2 tablespoons sugar
5 tablespoons butter.

Melt the butter. Pour it into a nine inch pie plate. Add the ginger snap crumbs and sugar and mix with a fork until the crumbs are well coated with butter and sugar.  Press the crumbs into the bottom and sides of the pie plate.  I like to use a flat sided 1/2 cup measuring cup to do this.  Bake the pie in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes. Remove the crust from the oven and let it cool.

Now for the filling:

1  14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
4 large egg yolks
1/2 cup lime juice - three to four regular limes
reserve a little lime zest for topping

Whisk together the condensed milk and eggs until very well combined. Add lime juice and whisk until the mixture is well combined and slightly thickened.  Pour filling into cooled crust and bake in the middle of a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes. Remove pie from oven, cool completely on a rack, then refrigerate.  Top with whipped cream and a little lime zest.

This pie doesn't keep well past 24 hours, so just enjoy it while its cold and refreshing.

Bulls and Heifers for Sale

BTAP Thor, looking good after a summer of breeding cows. He has a price tag of $2500, but is really more interested in finding some "open" cows!

I"m getting ready to give you recipes and pictures of some of my favorite August foods - Aunt Ruby's Chile Sauce and Gourmet's Key Lime Pie, but until I get some pictures of each, here's some pictures of some of the cattle I have for sale.

BTAP Thor is a very sweet guy. He may look a little fierce but he's really a sweetheart. Right now he's pretty bored. He has "settled" the five cows he's been summering with and is on the hunt for a few more.

This is BTAP French Silk Pie.  She is the mother of BTAP Bridgette and they are very close. Frenchy as I call her is a daughter of Blaque Rulon, one of the greatest bulls in the Limousin breed. Her full brother, FWLY Big Time was the highest selling bull ever at the Kentucky Beef Expo, going to Tubb Mill Creek farm in Pennsylvania at a price tag of $32,000.

Here's BTAP Bridgette one of BTAP Thor's girl friends this summer. She is due to calve to him next March. Bridgette is the daughter of BTAP French Silk Pie and the late FWLY Rumor's Fawley.  She and Thor should make great calves!