Making your own Chili Powder

This idea has intrigued me for a while. But its still far too hot in the kitchen to even think about making home made chili  powder. Not yet, anyway. I think this will be an autumn project.  Even still, summer is starting to pull away from us and fall will be upon us soon. And then winter. I promise, there's nothing I love more on a crisp autumn evening than a fresh hot steaming bowl of home made chili.

And hence, I have begun collecting ingredients...slowly,  I promise because money is tighter than a gnat's ass right now, but slowly, I will start collecting what I need to make one righteous blend of chili powder.

Ultimately I want to make my own signature blend.

In the meantime I'll start with recipes and instructions on how to properly roast chili peppers. Then I can tinker. I'm sure my husband will want to join in. He's the chef in the family.

I found this link, this morning and am looking forward to experimenting with this. Anyone who calls themselves the Homesick Texan is okay in my book. :D

The trick to making a good chili powder isn't in the heat. You can get peppers out there that are hot enough to take the temper off your cast iron pots. That's not the point.  The point is to :

1. create a healthy alternative to the refined crap  masquerading as good chili powder
2. create a good savory chili powder that enriches flavors and not overwhelms them
3. create a good signature blend that is different, but very satisfying.

Here is a simple enough recipe, and should do in a pinch.  It only takes 5 minutes, but even still I recommend going to a good quality spice shop to get supplies.  In fact, I'd go so far as to say to dehydrate cloves of garlic and process them in your food processor or blender as opposed to getting processed garlic powder, which tastes too salty to me anyway.

E How has a good sounding recipe too. It's simple and pretty much what I'm looking for as far as base ingredients go. Again, I'd use garlic I've powdered myself as opposed to using the junk in the store.

And if you want to get fancy, Food Network has a really cool recipe for chili powder. I can't wait for my finances to improve. I'm aching to do this one, like today!

Not a daunting task, but an interesting one nonetheless, and one I'm looking forward to. I'll let you know how it turns out.