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Sunday, May 31, 2009

Whew...it's HOT in here! Chile Pepper Roundup & Giveaway Winners!

It all began on the first day of May with this simple plate of Chile Rellenos. I'd only recently had the pleasure of winning a copy of a fabulous new Tex-Mex cookbook by Gloria Chadwick called Foods and Flavors of San Antonio...when Gloria asked me if I'd like to do a giveaway so that someone else could have their very own copy of her book. Well, yeah!! Since May is National Chile Pepper month, and since Tex-Mex cooking uses plenty of chile peppers, I decided to make turn this giveaway into a month-long event. I send out a call for all of your fabulous recipes made (mostly) during the month of May that included chile peppers in some shape or form...resulting in a tasty, spicy, amazing Chile Pepper Roundup! So, we have a giveaway...patience...to get to, also. We'll get to that after the Chile Pepper roundup. I want to apologize to a few of you who sent me your links and photos as I could not get a few of the photos to show up clearly, and believe I tried everything!! They were clear if they were the size of a thumbnail, but it was so hard to see them this way, so I made them a bit bigger so hopefully everybody could taste that food right through the screen. Please click on the links and visit these fabulous foodies to see clear, drool-worthy photos- you will not be disappointed. Let's take a look at where it all began, with these tasty Chile Rellenos, straight from the grand-prize cookbook. During the month of May, I made these: And then I used some of those top-blowing habaneros to send you over the edge with Robert Rodriguez's Puerco Pibil... My very own mexichef whirled up some reconstituted dried chiles to make a spicy sauce to brush onto these bolillos and turned them into addicting Pombasos... With all of the heat we've been feeling this month, we headed to the grill and roasted some poblano chiles, peeled them and seeded them, then cut them into strips and ate them in tacos and tossed them in a yummy, grilled Southwest Salad. Next up we have Dee from the blog that spans two countries, Texas to Mexico. Dee used Chiles de Arbol and ground Chipotle chiles (with Thai rice noodles, shrimp and veggies) to bring Cinco de Mayo Drunken Noodles to the table this month. Are you a fan of TV dinners? If not, why not try this amazing dish that includes chopped green chiles and chile powder made by Reeni at Cinnamon, Spice & Everything Nice?! Although Reeni doesn't normally turn to TV dinners, her Santa Fe Style Rice & Beans was inspired by "the best TV dinner known to man." I'm in. From another blog that spans the borders...Mexican American Border Cooking, Teresa brings us bundles of sensory joy with her Asadero Chicken Bundles. Strips of green chiles, chicken and Asadero Cheese..oh my! The ever innovative Karen from Domestic Muse came up with an original way of transforming a guy's love of chili cheese fries into a hearty bowl of Chipotle Cheese-fries Chili. Oh yes, Karen combines Serranos, chipotles in adobo and chipotle chile powder to make a dish you can't (well, I can't) resist...and can I add two more words- tater tots and Velveeta (okay, that's actually 3 words, but you get my drift)!!! Not only does she give amazing restaurant reviews, Natasha also uses and creates food in new and innovative ways! Our favorite 5 Star Foodie brought us her Grilled Lamb Chops with Chipotle Mustard in which she utilized her favorite chile pepper. Don't even get me started on her side of Gorgonzola mashed potatoes... Kristen from Whatcha Eatin? has outdone herself with a big pan of Mexican Casserole...can you say comfort food! Your favorite Mexican flavors are tucked into this tasty dish...can you say green chiles, kidney beans, corn and tomatoes? The Ungourmet (or so she says) used serrano chiles to make an amazing Jerk Chicken with Jamaican rice and Peas! Kim couldn't find a scotch bonnet chile for her dish, but I bet the serrano still brought the heat...I can feel it! Chef E not only cooks us some amazing Tandoor/Tiki BBQ, as is her style...she takes us to school and gives us some good old fashioned learnin'! It seems I never click away from Cook Appeal without some new knowledge under my belt...this round included plenty of ground, dried chiles. Coleen sent a simple, delicious side dish over for the round-up...Chipotle Coleslaw! Refreshing with a kick in the seat...that's my kind of slaw. Head over to Coleen's Recipes to see her work her magic with chipotle chile powder. And next we have, I believe an award winning Roasted Yellow Tomato, Garlic & Fingerling soup from Jennifer at Savor the Thyme. Look for this delicious, heart-warming soup with mouth-warming green chiles at Jennifer's site...in all of it's soup-er glory! Christo aka DoggyBloggy also got busy with the Rellenos...I hear he does that quite often. At Chez What? you have two glorious Chiles Rellenos to choose from...one even includes crab cakes with a delicious "gloppy red-chile mayo"...just throw it all on one plate, I'm not picky! I don't think anything having to do with chile peppers would be complete without a showing of tacos!! Lauren smothered her Cinco de Mayo Chicken Fiesta Tacos with a gorgeous salsa that included pineapple and mango...I bet it complimented the 3 types of chiles (jalapenos, chipotles and chile powder) perfectly! Go visit her at Bytes from Texas and you can be the judge. And let me tell you, it would be a pleasure to have an angel in MY kitchen, especially if it was Alyssa whipping me up a batch of her Chipotle Cheddar Mashed Potatoes! I think I may be able to live on these...I mean, come on...mashed potatoes alone have been a favorite since childhood, but add garlic, cheddar and chipotles and not only does there HAVE to be an Angel in the Kitchen, I imagine it'd be heaven's kitchen. Beans, beans the magical fruit...okay, I totally haven't grown out of that rhyme...but I truly do think beans are magical. Good, good for you, versatile...they are a wonder. Just ask Teresa at A Blog About Food. She found a great recipe for Black Bean Soup that contained Serrano chiles and look how simple & delicious it looks! Do you know somebody who eats hot sauce on everything? I live with somebody like that. Well, I hear that if you make Kathy's No1Here's Hot Sauce, you'll never be able to leave the house without that recipe in hand again! Go check it out at Three on Food and see if you can resist the flavor punch the Serranos give it. I think that the perfect way to wrap up this Chile Pepper Roundup is with a few dishes from the inspiration for this giveaway...Gloria Chadwick from Food and Flavors of San Antonio. The winner not only gets to salivate over her home style Tex-Mex food online, now they can just wipe it up with their very own cookbook containing a zillion (okay not a zillion, but I swear it's close) of her recipes. Here's a preview...you'll find jalapenos in this Chili Carnitas... And you'll encounter some chipotle chile in her Chicken Chimichangas... Why not end full circle with the very same Chile Rellenos, but made in a casserole form... I started the round-up with? Seems fitting to me. I hope you take some time to go visit all of these amazing foodie-bloggers who participated in my very first round-up!! Thanks everybody for sharing your talents with us...and sharing the chile pepper love. And now, the moment we've waited for all month long...the winners of the Giveaway!! Remember, you had several chances to win. You received 1 entry just for being a follower of my blog and leaving me a comment on the original Giveaway post on May 1. You also received 1 entry for being a follower of Gloria's blog and leaving me a comment to let me know. And all of those people who sent over an entry into the round-up...they all received 5 entries just for sending those my way. I used my very own random-draw system...I've used it before and it works flawlessly. The first thing I had to do was write down all of the entries on little slips of paper...130 little slips of paper. I actually do not know where to find a free computer random-draw, so I'll make that sacrifice. A few pins & needles never hurt anybody. So, 4 winners were drawn...1 at a time. And the winners are: 1. Spryte- You won the Foods & Flavors of San Antonio Cookbook! 2. Katy- You won a chile pepper infused sea salt...I know you're not big on spicy, but the salts just add a hint of flavor, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised! 3. Teresa J. (A Blog about Food)- You also won a chile pepper infused sea salt 4. Teresa Cordero Cordell (Mexican-American Border Cooking)- you won some of my favorite mixed, dried chiles...isn't it funny how things work out! Each one of the winners is also getting a cool San Antonio Chile Pepper refrigerator magnet that Gloria sent along for the winners. CONGRATULATIONS LADIES!! Shoot me an email: girlichef at yahoo dot com with your shipping information! Thanks again to all who entered the round-up and everybody else who entered the giveaway...this was so much fun and I hope to do something like it again in the future. :)

Would you like to comment?

  1. Great job, everyone. And you too Heather, for the food and for the roundup. I love so many of these dishes. I already clicked over to the ones I want to take a closer look at (6 of them!). This was really awesome food.

    And congratulations to the winners!

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  3. Every single one of these recipes looks top shelf!

    Well done, EVERYONE!

    It's so much fun for me to see a collection like this. Thank you for doing this.

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  4. Great Tex-Mex roundup. We love Tex-Mex in our kitchen and lived in Texas for years. Some great food here for sure. Wish I was there to have a taste of each.
    Sam

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  5. Oh you did an awesome job!! What a terrific roundup!! Congrats to your winners.

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  6. I'm so excited that you posted all of these pictures! I know where to come for ideas (and how to follow the links for the recipes) the next time I'm craving Tex-Mex - it looks like this huge wonderful buffet where I don't know where to begin :o)
    Congratulations to the winners and thank you Heather for putting this all together!

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  7. thanks for sharing all the pics and great recipes, great fun

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  8. Huge congratulations to the winners! Although every one was a winner in my book. Do you realize that post is a cookbook of its own?

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  9. Oh how wonderful! These dishes all look excellent and now I'm starving - thank you very much! I wish I would have go to know you in time to play along. I'll definitely be watching for the next round up. Hey, maybe you'll get me back in the kitchen after all! I know my family would be very happy :-)

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  10. This is a wonderful round-up. Congratulations to the winners. It would be lovely were it possible to sample a bite of each entry.

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  11. Heather, I completely missed that I had won of your terrific gifts! Dang, it is so cool to win a chile pepper infused sea salt. I know that we will be using it, and already my mind is racing with possibilities!

    I am smiling so wide and hard that my face HURTS!!!!

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  12. Great job "H" this was an amazing roundup -

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  13. It was so fun seeing what everyone came up with! I really want to try Alyssa's Chipotle Cheddar Mashed Potatoes and Coleen's Chipotle Coleslaw!

    Congratulations to the winners!

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  14. What an impressive parade of dishes! I'm not a fan of anything spicy, but everything looks so beautiful!

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  15. All the dishes look so yummy! Great round-up.

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  16. Wonderful round-up and congrats to all the winners! Everything looks really delicious. Thanks so much for doing the chile contest/cookbook giveaway. :) Hugs.

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  17. so much work - such good cooking - so much salivating going on over here on my keypad that I might blow a chili fuse!

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  18. It looks like it's been a really good month for the chile pepper.

    Congrats to the winners!!!

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  19. Now I am walking away hungry! Rellenos, homemade hot sauce, although I have had black beans so much lately, even hubby said no to them for lunch today!

    Great job posting this, and congrats to the winners...but I am hungry again!

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  20. Dar,

    Where do I start? Everything looks so fabulous! I love this post and all the people that participated! Congrats to all winners! I am a fan of everything spicy so this is just perfect for me!! Yea!!!!!!

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  21. A delicious round-up!! Congrats to the winners!

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  22. what a tasty roundup! i really need to try some of these - mexican food is really my downfall in terms of culinary talent. :( congrats to the winners!!

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  23. Man oh man, I would make my hubby very happy if I made all of these meals. thanks for including me.

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  24. AAAAAAHHH!!! Stop, stop, you're killing me with all these glorious wonderful food!! It's just too much at once!
    And congrats to all the winners!

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  25. WOOO HOOOO! This is the first time I've ever won anything, I'm so excited! This was so fun Dar, what a great roundup, thank you so much!
    teresa

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  26. Awesome roundup! Congratulations to the winners!

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  27. Great spread here, can't wait to try all of these!

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  28. What a great round-up! It all looks so good. It made me go give my chile plants a talking to, they'd better get busy!

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  29. Hey there girlichef, WOW! I can't believe I won some of your chiles! I'm Ecstatic. Thank you. You're a sweet, sweet lady. It's a wonderful thing you did for Gloria the whole month of May. Big hugs. :)

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  30. You totally ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!

    Thanks so much!!

    I'm drooling reading this post!!

    I think I'd kill for some of those Chipotle Cheddar Mashed Potatoes!!!
    If there is a 'perfect' food... that surely must be it!!

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  31. Those were indeed difficult choices to make but the photo of the Carnitas at the end now has my mouth watering...What a fun contest.

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  32. What a great round-up! I have become such a chile convert after years of fearing the heat so all of these recipes are so tempting. Congratulations to the giveaway winners!

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