Until recently I didn’t know how stupid easy making your own chili powder was. Who knows how much money we have spent on “good” chili powder when we could have done it ourselves for a couple of bucks.

So are you ready… there is a lot to remember…

Chili Powder

Dried peppers (any kind you want. We just went to HEB and bought a bag of mixed dried peppers)
Ground white pepper (any kind of pepper will do)

Cut peppers in small pieces and leave as many seeds in as you can handle. Remember the more seeds you leave in, the hotter the powder will be. Put the pieces in a coffee bean grinder and grind into a powder. Grind some pepper into the powder and leave it out for a day to finish drying. Put it in a shaker and use it wherever you want to.

Ta da! That’s it. Enjoy!

We tried a new recipe tonight that was so good I had to share it with everyone. It is a Zucchini Carbonara that was wonderful. The original recipe was from a website called Serious Eats and was enough to feed an army so I cut it in half. If you decide to make enough food to feed an army just double it. Oh and sorry for the bad photography. My real camera wouldn’t work and I was too hungry to get another one so I took it with my phone.

Zucchini Carbonara
adapted from Serious Eats

2 medium zucchini
1/2 pound whole wheat penne (I use whole wheat pasta whenever available but regular pasta is fine)
3 egg yolks
1 handful Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon olive oil
6 thick slices of bacon, cut into small pieces
3 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves removed
salt and pepper

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and cook pasta.

While the pasta is cooking, slice the zucchini into small rounds.

Combine the egg yolks in a bowl with half the Parmesan cheese and lots of salt and pepper. Stir with a fork to combine.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add olive oil. Fry the bacon until it is almost crispy, then add the zucchini and thyme. Cook until the zucchini is to your desired doneness.

Drain the pasta holding back a small amount of the pasta water. Add a little of the pasta water to the egg yolks and stir to loosen the eggs. Pour the egg mixture and the zucchini, bacon, thyme mixture over the pasta and stir to combine. Pour remaining cheese over the top and season to taste.

This past weekend we got to attend the 70th annual Gregg Family Reunion with my wonderful father and mother in-law. We had the greatest time catching up with family and doing lots of swimming, shopping and eating (which I am trying to forget about). It was so great to be able to see everyone and create memories we will never forget.

As always you can go here to see all my photos from the reunion.

On July 24th I turned 24. I can’t believe I am that old. I remember like it was yesterday turning 16. Anyway, we went pretty low key this year and I just wanted to relax. My wonderful husband did an amazing job helping me in my quest to not do anything, he even proclaimed it “no diet day” (which I extended it to “no diet weekend”). The morning after my birthday I woke up to an amazing breakfast of homemade biscuits and gravy. It was so good.
We then proceeded to do nothing. And it was everything I dreamed of.
On Monday we had a small party with my family at my parents house. Here are some of the photos. You can go here for lots more.