Ingredients:

• 3x Strips of Bacon
• 3x Eggs
• 3x Tortillas
• 1 handful of Shredded Mexican Cheese
• 2 tbsp Avacado Oil
• 1 tspn Salt
• 1 tspn Pepper
• ¼ tspn MSG
• 1 glob Hot Sauce. Melinda's Ghost Pepper recommended

Steps

1. Start Cooking Bacon
   1. Begin heating a frying pan at medium-high heat. Cover with parchment paper. This will catch the grease from the bacon, so it's easier to dispose of!
   2. Place strips of Bacon onto the parchment paper.
   3. Lightly pepper the bacon (no salt) and add a pinch of MSG
   4. Cook until you see the bacon begin to brown on the under side (about 8 min).
   5. Flip the bacon. Let it cook until both sides brown. About 6 more min.
   6. Let bacon sit on a paper towel for about 2 min.
2. Heat Tortillas (while Bacon cooking)
   In a clean pan (or directly over the flame if you have a gas stove), heat tortillas on each side. Don't use a microwave because it just won't taste as good.
   Distribute the cheese amongst each taco to let it melt.
3. Scramble Eggs (while Bacon cooking)
   Eggs are crucial, so do NOT use what you think is best. Trust the recipe. If you listen to nothing else I say, listen to how to do these eggs. These are THE best way to make eggs for breakfast tacos! I promise you.
   1. Begin heating a small pan to high temperature.
   2. Crack your 3 eggs into a bowl or plate with rim.
   3. Scramble well.
   4. Season with the tspns of salt, pepper, and MSG, and stir well.
   5. Once the pan is heated, poor the tbspns of Avacado oil in and let it begin to simmer and glisten.
   6. Poor your eggs in. They will quickly begin to fry and bubble. Use a spatula to stir them and scramble them.
   7. Once the eggs have finished cooking, you will have perfect, thick, fluffy eggs to make up the substantive part of the breakfast taco. A breakfast taco makes or breaks at this step.
   8. Distribute the eggs among the three tortillas equally.
4. Assemble the Tacos
   1. Dash a bit of hot sauce on each of the three currently-just-egg-and-cheese tacos you've made.
   2. Split each strip of bacon in half and throw 2 half-strips into each taco.
5. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 2x cups All-Purpose Flour
• 1 ½ tspn Baking Powder
• 1 tspn Fine Sea Salt
• 2 tbspn Olive Oil
• 2 tbspn Avacado Oil
• 1 tspn Sugar
• ¾ cup Cold Water

Steps

1. Make the dough
   1. Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together.
   2. Make a divot, a well, in the middle of the mixture.
   3. Pour 2 tbspn olive oil, the sugar, and most of the water into the well.
   4. Fold the wet ingredients into the flour slowly with a rubber spatula.
   5. As the dough comes together, add a bit of water or flour so it's not too sticky and not too dry.
   6. Once the dough is together, move it to a floured surface and kneed it til smooth.
   7. Cover with a dish towel and leave for 10 minutes.
2. Cook the Flat Bread
   1. Heat up a pan to medium heat.
   2. Divide the dough into six pieces.
   3. Roll into a disc that's between ⅛" and ¼" thick.
   4. Throw down the 2 tbspn avacado oil once the pan is hot.
   5. Place the flatbread in the oil and cook until golden brown on one side then flip and cook the other side. Should be 1 to 2 minutes each side.
   6. Transfer the cooked flatbread to a plate and cover with a dish towel to keep warm.
   7. Repeat for the other 5 flatbreads.
3. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 6oz Frozen Chicken Fajitas
• 2 tbsp Avacado Oil
• 1x Burrito-size Tortillas (≥ 9")
• 1x Green Bell Pepper
• 2x Red Bell Pepper
• ½ Sweet Onion
• 1 cup White Rice
• 1.5 cups Water
• 1x Rice Cooker
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tbsp Ground Black Pepper (or to smell)
• 1 tbsp Garlic Powder (or to smell)
• 1 tbsp Chipotle Chili Poweder (or to smell)
• 1 tsp Ground Cayenne Pepper
• 1 handful of fresh cilantro
• 1 handful Shredded Mexican Cheese
• 1 tbsp Raw Honey
• 1 tsp Sriracha
• 1 tbsp Ranch Dressing

Steps

1. Make the Rice
   1. Wash your rice. Poor some water in with your cup of rice and stir. Rinse and repeat until water is clear after stirring. This is too remove starch from the rice. It is very important for good rice!
   2. Add the 1.5 cups of water to your rice in the rice cooker.
   3. Dice the bell peppers and onions and throw into the rice cooker and stir well.
   4. Add the salt, pepper, garlic powder, chili powder, cilantro, and cayenne pepper into the rice cooker, and stir well. Make sure the rice is on top, below, and all around the veggies and covered in the seasonings.
   5. Start the rice cooker. Stir after rice is cooked.
2. Heat Up the Chicken
   1. Heat up a small frying pan on low-medium heat and grab a lid for it.
   2. Once the pan has fully heated, add your oil and allow it to start simmering.
   3. Place your fajita strips in the oil and cover for 3 minutes.
   4. Flip the fajita strips over, cover, and cook for 2 ½ minutes.
   5. Remove chicken from pan.
3. Assemble the burrito
   1. Throw down your sriracha and ranch across the middle of the tortilla.
   2. Add a scoop of rice on top.
   3. Add your chicken on top of that.
   4. Add your cheese on top of that.
   5. Spread your honey around the top lip of the tortilla.
   6. Fold the tortilla into a burrito. Bring the left and right sides in, then roll from the bottom, so that the honey lip folds over, sealing the burrito shut with its stickiness and able to fall out.
4. Glaze and Crispen the Burrito
   1. Heat up a large pan on high.
   2. Add a tiny bit of avacado oil.
   3. Throw burrito in, honey-side down.
   5. Fry that side of the burrito. The honey will drip out and form a glaze. Should take no more than 30 seconds.
   6. Flip and fry the other side. Should take no more than 15 seconds.
5. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 6oz Frozen Chicken Fajitas
• 2 tbsp Avacado Oil
• 2x Tortillas (≥ 9")
• 2 cup Shredded Mexican Cheese
• 1 tbsp Raw Honey
• 1 tsp Sriracha

Steps

1. Heat Up the Chicken
   1. Heat up a small frying pan on low-medium heat and grab a lid for it.
   2. Once the pan has fully heated, add your oil and allow it to start simmering.
   3. Place your fajita strips in the oil and cover for 3 minutes.
   4. Flip the fajita strips over, cover, and cook for 2 ½ minutes.
   5. Remove chicken from pan.
2. Assemble the Quesadillas
   1. Throw down your sriracha on one half of each tortilla.
   2. Drizzle honey on the other side.
   3. Cover each tortilla with cheese.
   4. Place the half the chicken on one side each tortilla.
   5. Fold each tortilla in half.
3. Cook the Quesadilla
   1. Heat up a pan on medium low.
   2. Add the 2 tbspns of avacado oil after 5 min.
   3. Cook the two quesadilla halves for 3 minutes. We don't care if it gets crispy yet - just wanna get the cheese melting good.
   4. Turn up heat to high.
   5. Flip and fry the other side. Should only take a minute.
   6. Flip back and fry the original side.
4. Serve. Cut the quesadilla into 6 pieces and serve with a small cup of ranch. Drizzle more sriracha on top.
5. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1x Green Bell Pepper
• 2x Red Bell Pepper
• ½ Sweet Onion
• 1 group Green Onion
• ¼ cup Jalapeños
• 1 cup White Rice
• 1.5 cups Water
• 1x Rice Cooker
• 3 tsp Salt
• 3 tbsp Ground Black Pepper (or to smell)
• 3 tbsp Garlic Powder (or to smell)
• 3 tbsp Chipotle Chili Poweder (or to smell)
• 3 tsp Ground Cayenne Pepper
• 3 handfuls of fresh cilantro. (Really, for all the seasonings, it's just "as much as it takes to smell good")
• 1x can Canned Beef
• 2x Egg
• 2 tbsp Avacado Oil
• 2 tbspn Soy Sauce
• 1 tsp Sriracha

Steps

1. Cook the Rice (Day in Advance)
   1. Wash your rice. Poor some water in with your cup of rice and stir. Rinse and repeat until water is clear after stirring. This is too remove starch from the rice. It is very important for good rice!
   2. Add the 1.5 cups of water to your rice in the rice cooker.
   3. Start the rice cooker. Stir after rice is cooked.
   4. Freeze a day ahead.
2. Cook the Veggies
   1. Start letting the rice unfreeze.
   2. Scramble the eggs and season with salt and pepper for later.
   3. Dice the veggies. Place in large bowl.
   4. Heat up a pan to high heat.
   5. Season the veggies with the garlic powder, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, chili powder, and cilantro. Don't use it all. You'll be using the seasonings throughout the cooking process.
   6. Once the pan is heated, pour the oil in and let it simmer and shine.
   7. Add the veggies and spread them out over the pan.
   8. Stir and stir and stir again. Until the onions begin to brown
3. Cook the Eggs
   1. Make room in the pan for eggs, and drain oil into the space.
   2. Poor scrambled egg into the oil and stir til cooked.
   3. Mix in with the veggies.
4. Cook the Beef
   1. Make room in the pan for the beef, and drain oil into the space.
   2. Mash apart beef to make a thinnish layer of it. Coat in the seasonings.
   3. Cook the meat, flipping to get both sides, until there is no pink.
   4. Mix in with the veggies and eggs.
5. Cook the Rice
   1. Make room in the pan for the rice, and drain oil into the space.
   2. Put one scoop of rice into the pan and spread into a single layer. Yes, only one scoop. Japanese style fried rice is mostly veggies and very little rice!
   3. Season the rice with the seasonings.
   4. Cook the rice for about a minute, then mix in with everything else.
   5. Stir til the rice begins to brown.
6. Fry
   1. Pour a pool of soy sauce into a space in the pan and drizzle the rest over the mixture.
   2. Stir stir stir until it's all fried.
   3. It will now disgustingly smell like Soy Sauce. Season the mixture with the seasonings until it smells good.
   4. Stir some more, let it cook for at least 3 minutes total.
   5. Move to a bowl. Add sriracha and stir it in.
7. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1x Pizza Stone
• 765g Room Temp Water
• 2 tspn Active Dry Yeast
• 1275g Bread Flour
• ⅓ cup Olive Oil
• 4 tsp Salt
• 4 tsp Sugar
• Rao's Pizza Sauce (There's no need to make your own when Rao's is so good!)
• ½x Large Tomato
• 1x 8oz Sliced Fresh Mozzarella
• 4x Large Slices Pepperoni
• 1 handful Basil

Steps

1. Make the Dough (Day or Two Before Everything Else) - Makes 8 Pizzas
   1. Add yeast to the room temp water in a large bowl, and set aside.
   2. In another large bowl, weigh out the flour.
   3. Add olive oil to the water and yeast.
   4. Pour flour into mixture and begin to hand mix.
   5. Add salt half-way through to avoid killing the yeast.
   6. Knead until reasonably together.
   7. Place into ziplock bag and seal.
   8. Place in fridge and wait to ferment for 12-36 hrs.
   9. After fermentation, cut into 8 pieces and place in an airtight container. They will last for up to a week.
2. Prep
   1. Preheat oven with Pizza stone inside to 550⁰F.
   2. Slice tomato.
   3. Set out one thing of dough for at least 2 hours.
3. Pound and Stretch the Dough
   • Watch this great video on how to stretch the dough.
4. Assemble your Pizza
   1. Apply a generous amount of the Rao's pizza sauce to your dough.
   2. Place tomato slices on top of the sauce.
   3. Place the mozzarella on top of the tomatoes and sauce. Save a bit for later.
   4. Place the basil down now.
   5. Place the pepperonis down. Use that extra cheese to cover the basil a little so the pepperonis will stick when it melts.
5. Cook the pizza.
   • Stick the pizza in the oven on the pizza stone, and cook until the crust rises and turns a golden brown (~10min at 550⁰ or ~15 at 500⁰).
6. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1x Center Cut 1½" Thick USDA Prime Tenderloin
• 1 tbsp Sea Salt
• 1 tbsp Ground Black Pepper
• ¼ tspn MSG
• 1 tbsp Lime Juice
• 4x Sticks Fresh Thyme (Yes, fresh! NOT GROUND!)
• 3x tbspn Butter
• 2 tbspn Avacado Oil

Steps

1. Prep the Meat
   1. Preheat the oven to a low temp, 250⁰F
   2. Let the meat achieve room temperature.
   3. Dry the meat well with a paper towel.
   4. Covering the meat with another paper towel, lightly hit the meat over and over again with the flat side of a meat tenderizer.
   5. Generously coat the steak with the salt, pepper, and MSG.
   6. Add ½ tbspn Lime Juice to one side of the steak. Rub it and the seasonings in generously.
   7. Add ½ tbspn Lime Juice to the other side and rub.
2. Cook the Meat Internally
   1. Place the steak on parchment paper on a baking sheet.
   2. Place the steak in the preheated oven and cook for 15min.
   3. Flip the steak over and cook another 10 minutes
   4. When you get to around 2 minutes left, begin heating a pan on medium high temperature.
   5. Check the temperature. You should be ~15-25⁰F below Medium-Rare (110-120⁰F). If not, give it another 5 min or so. If still not, do 1 minute increments.
   6. Remove from the Oven
3. Sear the Steak
   1. With the pan hot, pour in the avacado oil and allow to heat and shimmer.
   2. Place the steak in the oil. Wait 3 minutes.
   3. With thongs, flip the steak over and cook another minute.
   4. Add the butter around the steak and the time. Once melted, begin basting.
   5. Baste and cook for another minute and check the temp. Cook and baste until at medium-rare (135⁰F).
   6. With thongs, flip the steak to its side and sear the edges.
4. Let the steak soak and finish tenderizing for 5min while wrapped in foil.
5. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 3 cups All-Purpose Flour
• 2 tspns Baking Powder
• 1½ tspns Kosher Salt
• 5 tbsps Salted Butter (Room Temperature)
• 2 cups Hot Water

Steps

1. Make the Dough
   1. Mix flour, baking powder, and salt.
   2. Add butter.
   3. Make a well and add 1 cup Hot Water.
   4. Fold the mixture over the water beginning to form dough.
   5. Add the rest of the water and continue to stir.
   6. Once together, pull out and place on a floured surface.
   7. Begin to kneed dough in your hands, periodically adding flour until it just barely doesn't stick to your hands.
   8. Place dough ball under a damp cloth for 10 minutes.
2. Make the Tortillas
   1. Begin to heat a pan over medium high heat.
   2. Once hot add a small drizzle of oil.
   3. Cut the dough into 12 even wedges and roll them into balls.
   4. Use a rolling pin to roll out a ball. You may have to roll out, wait, then roll again, to really make sure the tortilla stays stretched.
   5. Cook the tortilla in the pan for about 30-60 seconds, until little bubbles appear.
   6. Flip and cook another 30 seconds until the bottom is slightly golden.
   7. Set on a plate and cover with a towel.
   8. Repeat with all the dough.
3. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 3 tbsps Raw Honey (Get the Good Stuff!)
• 2x 50g Butter
• 350g + 50g All-Purpose Flour
• 2x + 1x Eggs
• 1 cup + 1 cup Sugar
• 1 tspn Baking Soda
• 1 tspn Vanilla
• ½ cup + 2 cups Milk

Steps

1. Make the Pastries
   1. Melt honey, 50g butter, and 1 cup sugar via a water bath
   2. Add the baking soda and stir for another minute.
   3. Set aside and let it cool for about 3 minutes.
   4. Add 2 eggs to the mixture, stirring quickly with a whisk and add 350g flour to avoid curdling.
   5. Stick in the freezer for 10 minutes.
   6. Take out and divide into 8 equal parts.
   7. Back in freezer for 5 minutes.
   8. Preheat oven to 400⁰F
   9. Pull a ball out and roll it thin on a floured surface.
   10. Use a pot lid to cut into a neat circle, saving the trimmings.
   11. Place in the oven for around 5 minutes. Should darken a bit and rise when ready. Take out and poke holes in it to absorb the cream later.
   12. While one or two are cooking flatten and trim the next. Repeat for all 8.
   13. Lay out the trimmings flat on the baking sheet and cook them too.
   14. Grind the trimmings into crumbs.
2. Make the Gravy
   1. Put 2 cup milk on heat to boil.
   2. Combine ½ cup of milk, 1 egg, 1 cup sugar, 50g butter, and 50g flour in a separate bowl.
   3. Pour egg batter into the warmed milk, and stir well.
   4. Heat and stir the mixture til it becomes dense.
   5. Add vanilla to the cream and set aside from the heat
   6. Chill the cream in the fridge.
   7. Whip into a thin cream; not fully whipped.
3. Make the Cake
   1. Place down a pastry layer.
   2. Coat it in cream.
   3. Repeat for all 8 layers.
   4. Pour all over to coat the whole cake.
   5. Powder the cake with the crumbs.
   6. Let sit in fridge overnight (at least 8 hours).
4. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 8 fresh peaches
• 1½ cups + 3 tbsps Pure White Cane Sugar
• 1½ cups Brown Sugar
• 1½ tspns Ground Cinnamon
• ½ tspn Ground Nutmeg
• 1 tspn Fresh Lemon Juice
• 2 tspns Cornstarch
• 2 cups All-Purpose Flour
• 1 tspn Baking Powder
• ½ tspn Salt
• 12 tbsps Room-temp Salted Butter
• ½ cup Boiling Water

Steps

1. Prep Peaches
   1. Preheat oven to 425⁰F.
   2. Use a peeler to peel a peach. In my experience, other methods are just not as effective.
   3. Cut to the pit all the way around the center of the peach.
   4. Grab top and bottom halves and twist to separate the peach.
   5. Pull the pit out of the side it sticks to.
   6. Cut each half in half and then into wedges.
   7. Repeat for all 8 peaches.
2. Sweeten Peaches
   1. Combine peaches, ½ cup brown sugar, ½ cup sugar, ½ tspn cinnamon, ½ tspn nutmeg, lemon juice, and cornstarch in a large (I mean it - LARGE! It's a lot of peaches)
   2. Hand mix the spices and such all over the peaches, then shake to ensure event coating.
   3. Pour and even out into a baking dish (4 quart).
   4. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes.
3. Create Crust (During Initial Bake)
   1. Combine flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup brown sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
   2. Add butter in with hands.
   3. Stir in the boiling water until combined. You want just barely combined.
4. Assemble the Cobbler
   1. Drop spoonfuls of the crust to cover the peaches. It will expand a bit, but you should try to cover as much as possible.
   2. Mix the last 3 tbsps of sugar and 1 tspn of cinnamon together and sprinkle over the top.
   3. Bake for 30 minutes until golden brown.
   4. Serve with a scoop of Bluebell Homemade Vanilla.
5. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 4 cups All-Purpose Flour
• 2 cup + ½ cup Pure White Cane Sugar
• 2 cups Brown Sugar
• 2 tspn Baking Powder
• 1 tspn Salt
• 1 cup Boiling Water
• 24 tbsps Room-temp Salted Butter
• 12 cups/60oz Fresh Blackberries
• 2 tspns Cornstarch
• ½ cup Melted Butter

Steps

1. Create 1st Layer of Crust
   1. Preheat oven to 350⁰F.
   2. Combine flour, 2 cup sugar, 2 cup brown sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
   3. Add room-temp in butter in with hands or a flat spatula.
   4. Stir in the boiling water until combined. You want just barely combined.
   5. Layer half this crust in a 4-quart baking dish and pre-cook it for 10 min. Leave the other half for the top which we'll get to in a bit
2. Prep Blackberries
   1. In a small bowl (not your mixing bowl), combine ½ cup sugar and the cornstarch together.
   2. Put your blackberries in a mixing bowl and drizzle with ½ cup melted butter.
   3. Sprinkle the cornstarch + sugar over the blackberries and toss. Mix well
   4. Pour and even out over the crust from before.
   5. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes.
3. Assemble the Cobbler
   1. Drop spoonfuls of the crust to cover the blackberries. It will expand a bit, but you should try to cover as much as possible.
   2. Bake for 60 minutes or until blackberries bubble and the crust is a golden brown.
   3. Serve with a scoop of Bluebell Homemade Vanilla.
4. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 180g Espresso (will not explain how to make good espresso here as that could be its own website!). I do 3x 60g shots at a 1:2 ratio (30g in; I have a massive cup) and not the best shots (doesn't need to be).
• 70g Pure Cane Sugar
• 5g/1 tspn Vanilla
• 360g Heavy Whipping Cream (A lil under a 16oz carton ~1.75 c)
• 230g Mascarpone Cheese (1x 8oz container)
• One pack of Bonomi Savoiardi Lady Fingers. You can use other brands, just make sure to get enough to cover an 8"x8" dish two times (two layers).
• 2 tbsps Dutch Chocolate High Cacao Cocoa Powder (not the crummy Hershey stuff)

Steps

1. Prep
   1. Chill the heavy whipping cream.
   2. Let the mascarpone reach room temperature.
   3. Extract the espresso
2. Make Cream Filling
   1. Put the sugar, vanilla, and heavy whipping cream in a bowl, and whisk til the sugar isn't sticking to the bowl.
   2. Whisk for ~2-8 min to whip up a thick cream.
   3. Fold in the mascarpone with a rubber spatula until homogenous.
3. Make Layer 1
   1. Pour the coffee into a shallow bowl or a plate.
   2. One by one, dip the lady fingers on either side into the coffee and lay them along the bottom of your dish. Do NOT soak!!! Lightly dip either side lest you have a pool of espresso by the end not a tiramisu.
   3. Put half the whipped cream on top and smooth it out.
4. Make Layer 2
   1. Repeat making a layer: dip and arrange the fingers (now on top of the previous) and top with whipped cream
   2. Dust with Cocoa Powder
5. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 180g Espresso (will not explain how to make good espresso here as that could be its own website!). I do 3x 60g shots at a 1:2 ratio (30g in; I have a massive cup) and not the best shots (doesn't need to be).
• 70g Pure Cane Sugar
• 5g/1 tspn Vanilla
• 360g Heavy Whipping Cream (A lil under a 16oz carton ~1.75 c)
• 230g Mascarpone Cheese (1x 8oz container)
• One pack of Bonomi Savoiardi Lady Fingers. You can use other brands, just make sure to get enough to cover an 8"x8" dish two times (two layers).
• 1 tbsp Ground Cinnamon
• ½ tbsp Ground Nutmeg
• ½ tbsp Ground Ginger
• ⅓ tbsp Ground Cloves
• ⅓ tbsp Ground All-Spice

Steps

1. Prep
   1. Chill the heavy whipping cream.
   2. Let the mascarpone reach room temperature.
   3. Extract the espresso.
   4. Mix the pumpkin spice (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, all-spice). Place in a seal container and shake well.
2. Make Cream Filling
   1. Put the sugar, vanilla, and heavy whipping cream in a bowl, and whisk til the sugar isn't sticking to the bowl.
   2. Mix in 1 tbsp of pumpkin spice. Stir til mixed.
   3. Mix in another 1 tbsp of pumpkin spice and mix. Continue to taste. This is enough for me.
   4. Whisk for ~2-8 min to whip up a thick cream.
   5. Fold in the mascarpone with a rubber spatula until homogenous.
3. Make Layer 1
   1. Pour the coffee into a shallow bowl or a plate.
   2. One by one, dip the lady fingers on either side into the coffee and lay them along the bottom of your dish. Do NOT soak!!! Lightly dip either side lest you have a pool of espresso by the end not a tiramisu.
   3. Put half the whipped cream on top and smooth it out.
4. Make Layer 2
   1. Repeat making a layer: dip and arrange the fingers (now on top of the previous) and top with whipped cream
   2. Dust with more Pumpkin Spice. Make sure to really do a thin layer as it is a very strong flavor! I recommend blowing it from your hand over the dish, even though it makes a mess.
5. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs Raw Texas Wildflower Honey (Get the Good Stuff!)
• 1 to 1.5 lbs Fresh Blackberries (I use 3x 6oz boxes)
• 1 to 1.5 lbs Prickly Pear Fruit (I used 4 fruites)
• 1-2 oz Pecan Wood Chips
• ½ to ¾ gallon Texas Spring Water (like Ozarka)
• 1 packet Wine Yeast (Lalvin EC-1118)
• 1 tbspn Sanitizer
• ½ + ½ tspn Yeast Nutrient
• 1 Small Mesh Bag to Hold Fruit
• ½ tspn Pectic Enzyme
• ½ tspn Bentonite Clay
• ½ tspn Potassium Sorbate
• ¼ tspn Potassium Metabisulfite

Steps

1. Sanitize Equipment
   1. Add sanitizer to 1 gallon of water in container for mead and wait 60s.
   2. Pour into a bowl and let other equipment (air lock, stopper, grad cylinder, funnel, etc) also soak for 60s
2. Prepare Fruit
   1. Scoop out prickly pear guts and put into mesh bag. Also add rinsed blackberries.
   2. Smash the fruit inside the back, catching any excess juice.
   3. Place fruit bag and juice into container for mead.
3. Create Must
   1. Pour the 3lbs honey into jar. You won't get it all out easily, and that's okay, it's accounted for. Plan for 2.5 lbs to get in there!
   2. Fill the container with warm spring water until it's a gallon. Make sure to leave room for fermentation to bubble up (like an inch from top) even if that puts it a bit under a gallon.
   3. Mix the honey completely into the water forming must. I recommend a sanitized spoon to stir it.
   4. Dissolve the pectic enzyme in the must.
   5. Let the pectic enzyme work for at least 12 hours
4. Primary Fermentation
   1. As per instructions on the packet, mix yeast with hot water and stir for 20 min.
   2. Add the ½ tbspn yeast nutrient to the must and shake the container in a circle to mix.
   3. Add yeast to must and seal with an air tight lid (with airlock). Put it in a dark room at 65-75ºF (room temp).
   4. Let sit for 24 hours ("Day 2") then degass by opening the lid, shaking it in a circle thoroughly for 2 minutes to get rid of CO2. Then return it to its fermentation area.
   6. After 4 more days ("Day 5"), degass again and (slowly) add the second dosing of yeast nutrient. If you don't go slow it may bubble out of control and make a mess! Add a bit, shake, add a bit, shake. Return it to its fermentation area.
   7. Check on it after 15 more days ("Day 20"). Check to see if it's still bubbling. Check if the specific gravity is near 1.000. If not, then periodically check after another week.
5. Wood Aging
   1. Heat oven to 400ºF
   2. Siphon the mead to a new (sanitized) container, leaving behind the solids.
   3. Toast the wood chips on a baking sheet in a single layer for about 25 minutes (don't let it burn though).
   4. Soak the wood chips in boiling water for 10 minutes.
   5. Add the wood chips to the new container.
   6. Check the flavor after a week. If not quite there, wait another week. Then proceed to stabilization.
6. Stabilization and Bottling
   1. Siphon the mead in to the (resanitized) old container, leaving behind the wood chips.
   2. Slowly add the bentonite clay to ⅟4 boiling water. Stir continuously until the mixture becomes smooth with no clumps. Let it cool then mix into the mead.
   3. Add the Potassium Sorbate to the mead and mix in
   4. Wait 24 hrs (important!) then add the Potassium Metabisulfite.
   5. Wait 1-2 weeks for the mead to fully clear via the clay.
   6. (Optional) Add more honey to taste if you want it sweeter (increments of a table spoon). You'll have to wait a bit again after stirring.
   7. Siphon into sanitized bottles.
7. (Optional) Aging

   Mead tastes best after aging for 3-6 months to develop more complex flavors.

8. Enjoy!