RED ENCHILADA SAUCE . . USING WHOLE DRIED CHILI PODS

I've had these chilies around for awhile and finally decided to get them out of the way . . . . without wasting, of course.

• Take the stem off and dump out the seeds if you don't want to preserve the "heat".

• Put them in a pan, barely cover with water.  Simmer with a lid on them until they seem to be softening and rehydrating, in a manner of speaking . . .  nothing will soften those skins  :-}

• They will gradually lighten in color.  When the "meat" (insides) of the chilies seem to be nice and soft, I let the liquid evaporate down a bit so that the resulting slurry will be more concentrated.  Watch it carefully.

• Dump the whole mixture into the blender or food processor.  Blender will do a better job. 
•  After breaking it down thoroughly, strain it into a bowl.  You will need to keep mixing it in the strainer to get the good stuff on down through the strainer.  
• Be patient if you want to get most of the goodies.  you may have to remove the skin and seeds once in awhile to keep it flowing!

• I made the goodies into cubes and froze them so that I can just take out how many I need  each time.

My freezer is getting pretty full of these little baggies full of goodness that make food storage special!

The Enchilada Sauce is following  this post . .  or at least it will in a few minutes!  If I try to put too much into one post, I mess it up every time  . . .  sigh - - - -