The Hottest Thing Around

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I hope you are all having a wonderful Tuesday! Today, I tabled nutrition information and recipes at Generations Family Health Center. What does “tabling” mean? It means we try to attack waylay draw people to our table of fun fun fun nutrition information as they enter the building. 😉 I’m still a little surprised at how hard it is for people to take FREE information, recipes, and samples. Then again, life has handed hard knocks to some of the people coming into the Center, so I can imagine that they may be distrustful of a group of strange girls. (Then again, some of the gentlemen visitors didn’t mind coming up to chat with us at all.)

After a long day of sitting, I did NOT feel like exercising when I returned home. Sometimes I give in to my semi-exhaustion, but today I talked myself into my exercise clothes because I knew I would feel better. And you know what? 30 (sweaty) minutes later, I felt a heckuva lot better. If only everything was such a quick fix 😉

On the menu was Peter-made risotto with some fun ingredients. He made a typical risotto base (Arborio rice with heated broth added in small amounts), and added lemon, Parmesan, Vermouth (!!), mushrooms, andouille sausage, and shrimp.

Showing off the freshly-grated Parmesan, ’cause I can:

Andouille sausage:

… yeah, we’re going to have a lot of leftovers.

To go with the risotto, I made Megan‘s broccoli-pesto quinoa, only without the quinoa. And no red pepper, because I’m a wimp.

All together:

Broccoli tree:

This combination was fantastic! One thing I like about this type of risotto is that meat is more of a garnish than the main event, and it’s easily replaced with tofu or beans or another protein source. The broccoli pesto is full of healthy fats and is delicious to boot! Instead of tasting broccoli, I tasted cheese and garlic creaminess (especially the extremely pungent garlic – poor Peter).

I could have used this little gem in the pesto …

… but then, I wouldn’t be able to feel my tongue now. After my last post mentioning how the spiciest thing in our kitchen was wasabi, Peter reminded me that our kitchen actually contained several of the hottest peppers in the world. Ho ho, you think I jest … but no.

This pepper is called the Bhut Jolokia pepper, aka “Ghost pepper”, and it is in the Guiness World Records as the hottest pepper in the world. Full of capsaicin. Peter bought it while we were last in Colorado in a fit of madness. The spice store worker was required to wear gloves while handling the pepper. We have not tried them yet.

Sophia, if you would like to try a couple, I’ll send them to you just to see you try them! 😉

I finished the evening with the best dark chocolate in the world – Valrhona Manjari – displayed here in my strangely distorted hand.

I’m off to tackle my research paper – good evening, all!

Q: Do you like spicy food? What’s the spiciest food you’ve ever eaten?

29 Comments

  1. I’ve never heard of those peppers. Now I’ll have to look out for them. Matt and I love spicy food.
    I can’t believe you haven’t tried them yet! Let me know what they’re like one you do!

    1. Peter’s trying to find a way to incorporate into our next meal … this could be VERY bad …

  2. That pepper sounds crazy!!! I throw a dried habanero in chili and then take it out to give it a kick, but I can’t imagine “the ghost” 🙂
    I’m glad you got a workout in. I haven’t worked out in what feels like ages and my mood is horrible because of it. I need to get back in the rhythm!

    Hottest food?
    Raw jalapeno, probably. That was a bad idea. It was a contest. It involved the seeds too. Eie yie yie.

  3. Ooh, seafood risotto with mushrooms is one of my favourite things 🙂 I can’t believe it’s even possible to ingest something that can only be touched while wearing protective gloves 🙂 I think if someone offered me something that spicy I would run away screaming in fear 🙂

  4. OOOOooooh, that broccoli pesto looks wonderful!! I will have to give that a try!! I looooove spicy food! Andrew special ordered some hot sauce called Dave’s Insanity hot sauce and that stuff is crazy hot!! Like so hot you only need to put in a couple drops in a huge pot of chili!! I love it though!! 😉

  5. WOW that looks SOO GOOD! I adore spicy food! I put hot sauce on EVERYTHING!

  6. I used to be such a wimp when it came to spicy foods! But I’m getting a lot better. Good job on getting your workout in even though you didn’t feel it. It’s no small feat, I know! 🙂

  7. yum! looks delish!

    i do like spicy food. The spiciest thing I’ve probably eaten? Malaysian food. Could not swallow the chili chicken (literally) without 3 gulps of water per bite.

  8. Wow, it looks like your hubby is pretty helpful around the kitchen. You guys seem to work well together. Dinner definitely looked yummy!

    My hubby and I both love spicy food but ever since the kiddies I’ve had to leave out the spice in a lot of my dishes. The spiciest thing I’ve ever had was probably my Mom’s homemade chili oil. My Dad loves spicy food too so she makes it extra spicy.

    Good luck with your paper 🙂

    1. He’s more than helpful, he’s the head chef! (He likes to call me his sous chef 😉 )

  9. I like spicy food but don’t think I could handle that! I can’t wait to hear more about it when you try it.

  10. I know what you mean about it being CRAZY how people don’t take full advantage of free nutrition information!! That’s my life. When starting a new business oyu need to give away free stuff, all the time, and some people just aren’t interested. I would be all over it!

    I love spicy food. I also LOVE the idea of broccoli pesto!! I have never thought of such a recipe. I need to try this. Broccoli is a staple in both Nick and my diet. This sounds perfect.

    1. I know! It’s hard to understand sometimes, especially when I’ve snagged a thing or two myself! 😉

  11. Jessie, seriously you and Peter are stunning me with the good meals! I’m in love with the pesto quinoa and the risotto! Great great dinner.
    I love spicy food but maybe I couldn’t handle anything too hot!

    1. Aww, thanks Andrea! 🙂

  12. I adore spicy food. I mean adore it, my husband calls is hellfire. In fact, I am burning my mouth up right now with delicious spicy soup!

  13. I like spicy food but not so spicy that I can’t taste the food. Indian food can often be like that!

    I am in love with this pesto quinoa idea…I am bookmarking this recipe!

  14. Dinner looks amazing, yum!

    I saw a Man vs Food Episode that contained the ghost pepper in a meal. No thanks. I don’t really care for spicy food too much. The spiciest things I have ever tried were the medium wings at Duff’s in Buffalo NY. They make THE best wings ever and my Husband ordered the medium which is supposed to be the equivalent of a really hot. It was! Never again.

    1. Haha! Spiciness is all relative anyway, right?

  15. ‘Cause I can…love it!

    I think chipotle peppers in adobo sauce are the hottest thing I’ve had. I love spicy food, though!

    Thanks so much for your sweet comment yesterday, hun! 🙂

    P.S. I HATED “tabling” in school! It never turned out a lot of interested people! 🙁

  16. I’m not really into very spicy foods and would definitely never have the guts to try those peppers 😀 I’m curious how and when you’ll eat them!

  17. That risotto looks fantastic! I love all the yummy flavors!
    I am somewhat of a wimp when it comes to spice. I like a bit but to most people, my spice is probably super mild!!

  18. I know what you mean about exercise after work…I try to use every excuse in the book (mostly being tired 😉 ). But then after I talk myself into it I feel so much better! Ooooh, I wish my hubby would make that risotto! It looks amazing!

  19. As someone who is resistant to being handed information (living in NY you learn to ignore everyone who tries to talk to you…no matter how benign they seem) I can kind of understand where these girls were coming from. It’s hard to get through to people, no matter what, is my conclusion.

    That risotto sounds awesome! Definitely need to give it a try. I’ve been on a risotto kick lately.

  20. Hey Jessie!

    Glad to see you tried (and liked!) the recipe! I think I used too much garlic in mine too, since I had quite the garlicky breath after!

    And I LOVE spicy food. Can’t think of the spiciest thing I’ve ever eaten, but I really enjoy eating foods so spicy it makes my eyes water and my mouth burn. Seriously! I’m a little weird like that. 😉

  21. hye Jessie.. I’m so glad to read your website. I am a clinical Dietitian too, from Malaysia. Your writing really inspire me to become a better dietitian! Thanks! I’m currently searching for ideas to create an attractive nutrition information corner in the Dietetic clinic (I work in a hospital),so that the patients waiting for a Dietitian consultation can read or do some nutrition activity. I would really appreciate it if you can give me an idea for it. (I’ve already bookmark your website as one of my favourite websites 🙂 )

    1. Hi Balqis,

      Nice to meet you! That’s great you plan to create an info. corner. I would start by checking out webpages for nutrition organizations in Malaysia for printable information sheets and activity sheets. They may even have ideas about how to put together the info. corner.

      Good luck!
      Jessie 🙂

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