We need Votes for the Chase Business Grant

We are up to 94 Votes!! Please help me get the 250 Votes needed to qualify we have 2 days left to do it!! I have 1,488 friends here on the California Habanero Blends page and 927 on my personal page- With this many people in common Im sure we can do this. Only takes a few moments to do. Please share link if you have already voted. I appreciate the time! Thank you. Timothy-
https://www.missionmainstreetgrants.com/business/detail/12262

Video Cooking Demonstrations for calblends

Calblends Studio Under Construction

Calblends Studio Set Up - 

Creating new cooking demonstration video's I needed to set up a small place to record demo's. There is no such thing as a small space with a full house of people and you don't want to tear something down every night. This is our crazy space and what I do to create the things I want around me.

But this does all break down. A lot actually. Its my actual counter at shows, demo's and I use for many useful things around the house and at shows. I have two of them that are both on wheels. Together they make a 6' x 6' island to work on. With storage under each table and coolers. They will also fit through most commercial doors at events and one can fit in my minivan.

Will nee to get bulbs for my flood lights and a few reflectors to get the lighting right. The window during the day I hope will create a "Space" that is part of the set. Outside the window is a patio area to sit and move camera out to with the counters for a Day shot. I also have a great outside cooking space with power, water, cable and a few different type of grills. Again move the counters out to the grill area.

More later...

Gourmet Foods Group

Gourmet Foods Group-

I was attending the Specialtyfood.com Northern Ca Gathering last week and I had a few ideas that I would like to follow.

With such a large group of Gourmet food products and companies from our area I am finding a big divide in people I can talk to about my products, challenges and achievements. I would like to start some sort of California Association for Gourmet food Products. For us to meet, create, chat boards and to share collectively our contacts in the industry. From Packaging, Co-Packing, Kitchens, distribution, brokers, etc.

What do you think?.. 

Cooking Demo Recipes

Cooking Demo Recipes from Home and Garden Show Spring 2013

Amazing BBQ Pork Ribs with CHB Smoky Chipotle Habanero

I grilled up some Pork Ribs Saturday night. Raley's had buy one get one free sale. I had to do it. Seasoned with some CHB Calblends California Habanero Blends Rub and mixed in our Sweet & Smoky Chipotle Habanero sauce into the BBQ sauce at the end. Were Awesome!

Breakfast & Happiness

     Breakfast...Happiness and the first meal. First Breakfast, the Hobbit jumps into my thoughts because I am already wanting to have seconds. Second Breakfast?... I think well call it Brunch. Hot coffee makes the mind race to the next meal or is it my obsession on how to make the next meal spicy? To find that happiness in my creations or is it the spice? Oh the temptations that I will have to succumb to at each meal I prepare.. should I make as I would eat it or should I consider the crowd and make it a friendly dish? Oh wait its just me this morning. I will, I am, I must make myself happy!

Toasted Cheese Bagel with Cream Cheese Egg Salad. Just mix Two hard boiled eggs, Garlic Key Lime sauce, salt and pepper. Add a drizzle of sauce on top and serve with Hot Coffee. 

Holiday Radio Ad for California Habanero Blends

Radio Advertising and Hot Sauce -

This year we have done a Radio commercial with Deer Creek Broadcasting for the Holiday season and have had a interesting time working on the Copy. Sixty seconds. Go!

I used a free video editor to place the audio in a video. Ill work on another version with some Text edited in. But so far the online editor is easy to use.

Pork Presents

Pork Presents

Pork Carnita Taco with Greek Yogurt & Smoky Chipotle topping

Carnita Tacos with CHB Smoky Chipotle Habanero 

Black Iron Skillet Slow Roasted Pork Carnitas

Fire Roasted Passilla Green Chile's

Cilantro, Cherry Tomato CHB Garlic Key Lime  Salsa Fresca

Fire Roasted Green Chile /Pork Chile Verde

Today I sent a text. "Brig the Xbox and well set that up!"
Response - "I have a pork loin to bring you too!
My cooking senses made me second look the text. Pork Loin?...I said to myself.
My Reply - "Video Games and pork.. You are one hot women!"...."Thanks"

My daily routine now sent in to Cooking mode. What can I do with a Pork Loin today? Just cook it, read the back of the label? Chop up? Stir Fry? Chili Verde?....

I can do that. Whats the schedule. Christmas tree....Pull ornaments  check emails, Costco  set up Christmas tree, make chili Verde.

Its slow cooking now. The house smells like a home. Kids negotiating the Xbox  Adults crafting. Me finally resting and getting a chance to recall the moments that make the day. The idea of a hot meal at the end of the day. Untangling the tinsel. Thinking that, I don't think I can get that chili done if I try to untangle this nest of past Christmas. Trying to slow down. keep in mind that not everything needs to get done. Just do the things I have done, the best I can. And always.. always know that you will sit down and finish something. Eating a hot meal with family and friends.

The past few minutes just to these events. The Campaign is not flat! Nice. Full glass cold, my mouth on fire.. just finished the first bowl of Chili Verde. We served it over the Spanish rice. Stove Hot..Chili Hot?.. This is just hot.. now.. slow linger burn helped quenched with  Cold Champagne. Whew.

The Chili Verde is Hot. I Think the seasoning that was marked "Habanero".. really had Habanero in it. The Passilla chili's that I roasted were warm but not hot. The extra canned roasted green chili's were standard mild a little peppery. .I really need to remember to change the labels on my spices or date them.

Another Bowl.. and the night is finished....

Do you know whats in our Sauces?

All of the Major Hot Sauce companies sell you the same thing....Vinegar, Salt, Hot peppers....You may find some "Spices"... and maybe an addition of some juices as an after thought to put on the bottle, but not in many. But the top Five competitors on the shelf are the same ingredients. Not much difference in heat scales and High in sodium. Some people ask me why I put so much passion into my sauces. Because I like to Eat and Enjoy my food my creations my time preparing it . And all the Major Brands are Vinegar based and some not even real vinegar they use Acetic Acid Powder (Synonyms Acetic acid

Use food industry, raw material for textile finishing agents,

industrial use, raw material for pharmaceutical products

Company Hitech Chemicals) and Water why would you spend all your hard earned money on Awesome fresh food spend all your time cooking and then throw some dollar bottle of cheap salty vinegar with tepid heat on top of it all? 

I like Garlic. All of my products have Garlic. Not pureed.. not dried, not a few pieces but minced pieces that when you pour out you can SEE them, bite into them and get a little piece that bursts with a little garlic love in each bite. In fact I use about 9 lbs of minced garlic per 100 lb batch.. it takes over 540 cloves per batch in the Garlic Key Lime.. And just a little bit over half pound of vinegar for a 100 lb batch of sauce.. I sell you whole ingredients not flavored fermented vinegar. 

Now ask yourself.. what are you paying for?... Salt, vinegar  Hot Peppers. The most popular brand in the USA is only 7% solids... And sells for up to 5.39 for 5 oz bottle at just about any grocery store. They have been making the same product same bottle the same way and charging for a premium product. 

Our ingredients list is considered Exotic by most industry standards and actually does not fall in the Hot Sauce classification. Do other HOT SAUCES have Honey, Maple Syrup, Molasses, Pineapple Juice, Orange Juice, Ginger, Key Lime Juice?...NONE of the major Hot Sauce Companies. Our Sauces are a Hot and Spicy.... Cooking Sauce, Grilling Sauce, Dipping Sauce, Stir Fry Sauce, Marinade and yes a Condiment.. Sauce based. And all of them start with a Base Product that is added to these sauces to bring out the best flavors you can.  Then the heat is added slowly to a level that is made to make you just want that next bite of food. Our sauces are meant to be used daily, cooked with, used as a marinade and yes also as a daily condiment that stays on your family's kitchen table. California Habanero Blends wants to be part of the family  part of breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack time. Who gets the last drop. Who has the best hiding place in the refrigerator or the pantry?...This is what happens in my Family my friends houses and hopefully yours.

Jalapeño Cornbread Egg Scramble

 Today's breakfast was made from leftovers. Some jalapeno cornbread cubed, some chopped jalapeno beef sausages, roasted yellow peppers. We had a dinner party so trying to use up what we have in the house. I placed the cornbread, sausage and peppers in a hot frying pan with olive oil and browned the bread. Then added scrambled eggs let cook and turned keeping it gentle not to crumble the cornbread. I was surprised how well it held up. (must have been a good recipe) I added some mozzarella cheese at the end to help hold all together. Topped with fresh sliced jalapeno's and tomatoes, drizzled some Garlic Key Lime sauce over the top with fresh cracked black pepper and sea salt  I also put a side of plain Greek yogurt with the dish to help cool all the peppers and  Habanero sauce. (We are using so much of this in the kitchen the last few months and have just about stopped using sour cream. The Greek yogurt is smooth, rich and light all at the same time and good with helping with digestion) I did put a slight dust of some CHB special spices over the whole thing right at the end. Of course a big cup of Black Coffee helped to round out the whole breakfast. 

Things I create and eat.

http://instagr.am/p/S06NoPzhiT/

Habanero Pistachios

Habanero Garlic Key Lime Pistachios - I wanted to generate some more ways to use my sauces and I live in Chico Ca and this area produces nuts.. From what I have been told up to 90% of our nations nuts come from Northern California. I was testing out Almonds first and I am still trying to find a supplier who can roast and package our recipes. I seem to find the right people at the right time. I found our current Pistachio connection while playing poker across the street from my house. I had some of my spicy almonds with me sharing for the game and he said to me Have you ever thought of coating Pistachios. I said yes but had not tried it. It turned out he manages a Pistachio Ranch called Fiddyment Farms out of Lincoln Ca and had almost 100 lbs in his truck. He was dropping off for St. Patricks day and they were dyed green. I asked if he could do it? He jumped right on it I gave him a few gallons of sauce and a week later samples were on my door! We tried all three flavors of sauces Garlic Key Lime, Sweet Smoky Chipotle and the Sweet Ginger Garlic.  They were done with the shell on and just the kernels. All of them were AMAZING. We showed the for the first time at the Sunset Magazine Celebration Weekend. Instant hit! The only draw back was that two of our sauces have a high sugar content and when they are roasted they carmalize. Then when you open them they tend to draw in the moisture and get sticky and are messy to eat. The kernels on the other hand are more manageable and are an easy way to add a great kick to Salads and Stir Fry's. The other items was that they don't come across as hot as the Sauces are when out of the bottle. I decided to do a larger production with just the Garlic Key Lime in the Shell. Most people who were looking for a spicy snack were expecting a spicy snack. So the Garlic Key Lime is the hottest and was the best selling. So currently I sell the Garlic Key Lime in 1/2 lb and 1 pound resealable bags. I would like to sell to a larger audience but these are a limited run item for now and can be purchased through our website and at the Farmers Market. The mark up a store has to put on them puts the price tag kind of high. But then again these are done in Small Batches hand roasted and packaged. These are not a mass produced product sold under another name. These are proprietary using only our signature sauces and pistachios. NO SALT ADDED. 

In the beginning....

In the beginning...

Why does a person take that first bite of something spicy?. Was it an accident, on purpose, a part of what the family is eating? When was my first experience of eating something Hot? I truly can not remember as a young child as being scared of something hot. Spicy food is different spicy food to me means flavor not hot. I do remember having a spaghetti dinner with my Mother and her then boy friend really liked Hot food and made a pot of spaghetti sauce that I remember to this day. My anticipation of the first bite as the rest of the family was commenting on and how spicy it was not ever saying it was OMG this is going to melt your face off.. Thats was how hot I thought it was. But even with that I finished my plate, sweating mouth throbbing and stomach full of water. I was satisfied. Satisfied with the burn, the feeling I had the accomplishment to having finished what most of the adults could not. I was unknowingly caught in a lifetime of searching for a feeling in all the other meals I would have from then on. Satisfaction. A complete feeling that at the end of that meal was pure happiness  The unknowingly pursuit of endorphin's that are only released with Hot and Spicy foods. This is different than the feeling of having to eat for satisfying hunger.

This endorphin rush was what I was looking for. Looking at each meal for the feeling of completeness. Not to just satisfy a hunger but to satisfy the soul. I didn't know I was looking for Hot as a child. I didn't know I was looking for it as an adult. But now cooking as an adult I see how my Family has lead me to how I cook today. I grew up in a Spanish/Latino family and was always exposed to spicy foods but not always hot. And I do see the coloration to staying with my Grandmother a lot of my childhood has shown me the way I cook now and the search for that happiness that came when I ate my Grandmothers cooking.