CHILI PEPPER FLAKES

If you grow chili peppers, all you have to do is dry them, ground them up and you'll have a condiment for pizza, eggs, potatoes, sauteed vegetables, meats, etc.

Here are peppers still in the garden and right, a bunch I picked and allowed to dry on the screened-in porch. I usually use a food dehydrator, but it has been so dry in Baldwin this summer that air drying serves the same purpose.

Cut the stems off the dried peppers, then place in a coffee grinder. I bought this small electric one for less than $20 at Bed Bath and Beyond. Don't put your face close while grinding, putting pepper in shaker bottless, and cleaning, and don't take deep breaths. Consider wearing a bandana over your mouth and nose--otherwise you'll sneeze and cough.

After peppers are ground up, put in a small glass shaker bottle. You can buy these shaker bottles at most box stores.

That's it. Don't add anything to the mix.