Who long are you cooking them in the microwave? Breads are really hard to nuke. The gluten in breads is the cause. When I nuke my egg 'McMuffins', if left too long the bread based English muffin is very chewy like a bagel. It may be your nuking for too long a time. I have a 1000 watt microwave and for frozen veggies like a 2 cup portion of green beans, I nuke for about 4 minutes, then drain out a 1/4 cup or more of their water! For weight watchers, use the fat free or 1/3 less fat cheese. Also Panko bread crumbs are great to use. 'Roasting' the term, isn't a good one for microwaved foods. Roasting is usually a method that has heat applied to a food by means of a heat source. Microwaves don't have this, but instead use ultra high frequency radio waves about 1/4 of an inch long. They pass through foods and vibrate their molecules and this causes friction which gives you heat. Fats and sugar are very low in moisture content, so they can heat up hotter than 212 degrees, which is the boiling pot of water. Once an item has boiled out all of its water, the rest of it becomes very dry, tough and not very appetizing. Keep in mind a 30 minute cooking time in a conventinal oven equates to only about 3 minutes in a micrwave. Every minute its left in a microwave, will do about the same thing as about 10 minutes in a regular oven. If you ooking for a high melting point cheddar cheese hat has been finely diced, its avaiable from one of the sausage making supplies web sites. Is great in sausages as it does all leak out while they cook. Oh, before I forget, and not go too far off topic. I make fresh breakfast sausage links. These are frozen. When I want some cooked, they are placed on several layers of paper towels and are nuked at only 2.5 minutes. They are very well cooked by that time. The same thing done in a frying pan would take at least 10 minutes.

this recipe is from NCHFP.... anyone want to express an opinion on substituting (cup for cup) sliced jalapeno for some of the cukes? Quick Sweet Pickles May be canned as either strips or slices. 8 lbs of 3- to 4-inch pickling cucumbers 1/3 cup canning or pickling salt 4-1/2 cups sugar 3-1/2 cups vinegar (5 percent) 2 tsp celery seed 1 tbsp whole allspice 2 tbsp mustard seed 1 cup pickling lime (optional- for use in variation below for making firmer pickles) Yield: About 7 to 9 pints Please read Using Boiling Water Canners before beginning. If this is your first time canning, it is recommended that you read Principles of Home Canning. Procedure: Wash cucumbers. Cut 1/16-inch off blossom end and discard, but leave 1/4 inch of stem attached. Slice or cut in strips, if desired. Place in bowl and sprinkle with 1/3 cup salt. Cover with 2 inches of crushed or cubed ice. Refrigerate 3 to 4 hours. Add more ice as needed. Drain well. Combine sugar, vinegar, celery seed, allspice, and mustard seed in 6-quart kettle. Heat to boiling. Hot pack--Add cucumbers and heat slowly until vinegar solution returns to boil. Stir occasionally to make sure mixture heats evenly. Fill sterile jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. For more information see "Sterilization of Empty Jars". Raw pack--Fill jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Add hot pickling syrup, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Adjust lids and process according to the recommendations in Table 1 or use the low temperature pasteurization treatment. For more information see "Low-Temperature Pasteurization Treatment,". Variation for firmer pickles: Wash cucumbers. Cut 1/16-inch off blossom end and discard, but leave 1/4-inch of stem attached. Slice or strip cucumbers. Mix 1 cup pickling lime and 1/2 cup salt to 1 gallon water in a 2- to 3-gallon crock or enamel-ware container. Caution: Avoid inhaling lime dust while mixing the lime-water solution. Soak cucumber slices or strips in lime water solution for 12 to 24 hours, stirring occasionally. Remove from lime solution and rinse and resoak 1 hour in fresh cold water. Repeat the rinsing and resoaking two more times. Handle carefully because slices or strips will be brittle. Drain well. Storage: After processing and cooling, jars should be stored 4 to 5 weeks to develop ideal flavor. Variation: Add 2 slices of raw whole onion to each jar before filling with cucumbers. Table 1. Recommended process time for Quick Sweet Pickles in a boiling-water canner. Process Time at Altitudes of Style of Pack// Jar Size // 0 - 1,000 ft/ 1,001 - 6,000 ft/ Above 6,000 ft Hot//Pints or Quarts/5 min 10 / 15 Raw//Pints// 10 / 15 / 20 Quarts// 15 / 20 / 25 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This document was adapted from the "Complete Guide to Home Canning," Agriculture Information Bulletin No. 539, USDA, revised 1994. Reviewed June 2006. top ^ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- How do I? Can Freeze · Dry · Cure & Smoke · Ferment · Pickle · Make Jam & Jelly · Store Home · Publications · Search · Seasonal Tips · Info Request · Multimedia · FAQs · Contact · Links

I usually wait until my habs are full color, but this year besides the usual orange habs that I grow every year, I also grew Red Savinas for the first time. While I did also let those get fully red for the most part, I was curious to see what one would taste like if eaten at "first blush". Truth be told, I had accidentally knocked a not-quite-ripe pepper off the plant and I didn't want to waste it-- it was actually my first one. I had a grill going where I was cooking chicken. I took the pepper inside and cut it up into quarters. Yeah, habs are kinda small, but Savs are larger than the standard orange jobs. They're also hotter. CONSIDERABLY hotter. Tentatively, I took a small taste of part of one of the quarters. It was a very pleasant surprise! The first flavors that hit were "fresh" and "sweet", sort of like a green bell pepper or perhaps a poblano-- soon giving way to a slight jalapeno-like note before the heat set in. Oh, the heat! It came up like a Roman candle, culminating in a burst of fire (in a good way that any pepperhead can relate to). Wow, it was delightful! I wrapped the other pieces up in a bit of tin foil and set them out on the grill with the chicken, over indirect heat from charcoal and mesquite wood. Peppers cook quickly, and the chicken was just about finished when I put the habs in, so in a few moments I took the chicken and peppers in the house and served up dinner. Now, DH isn't a chilihead to the extent that I am so he took a pass on the "H-word" peppers that night. I, on the other hand, took a larger serving of the grilled "Green Savina". I topped a few bites of chicken with the pepper-- and it was fantastic! The heat didn't disappoint (and of course, it would only get hotter as the season went along) and the other flavor notes were excellent. The mesquite smokiness gave it all a nice outdoorsy flavor. I bet that smoked/roasted "Green Savinas" would be awesome with corn, black bean and tomato. Don't be afraid to try your peppers at different ripening stages. Many peppers are very tasty when eaten green OR ripe, and even somewhere in between. I roasted a few half-ripe jalapenos for use in salsa (got 'em when they looked sort of maroon), and a few more for a steak marinade. The pepper flavors change as the peppers mature, and each stage offers a new and unique balance of flavor notes. Have fun! -Megan

Sorry Gang, been off line for a week. Wow didnÂt think IÂd see my post still active. To answer the how many pounds to make a pound question, let me qualify my answer a bit (because you may not believe me). First, IÂm extremely paranoid about food safety. I dry the Jalapenos beyond any reasonable doubt of humidity. No moisture = no room for nasty growths. Thus, in a coffee grinder the powder turns out like talcum powder. So my last batch of Jalapeno from the Farm was 9.4 pounds. After drying and grinding I got 13 1.25  1.5 OZ jars. Told you you wouldnÂt believe me. This is why IÂm suspect about the cheap stuff for sale out there. Done properly (ok my way) it would take a lot of Jalapenos to make a pound of Chipotle. In addition, we (I and the farm) choose the best Jalapenos for the Chipotle, not the stuff thatÂs in the bottom of the basket.. The season is over here for Jalapenos but next year IÂll post a picture demo of quantities and process for you all. Potawie, if I recall correctly you are in the Ottawa area. You could search for the farm that holds Pepper Fest each year and buy a jar at full price or you could contact me at Ottawapepper(at)hotmail(dot)com and we could arrange to meet so you could sample the Chipotle. I think others following this chain might like a second opinion yes/no? Cheers everyone and thanks for the interest, Bill