Remove stems & soak ancho peppers overnight in hot water. Remove seeds & pith of peppers. Place in a food processor to blend. Add enough water to make a smooth puree as you're blending. Add crushed garlic; I use about 4-5 garlic cloves to start. Also, add salt to taste, if you choose.

Use in any recipe that calls for enchilada sauce; goes especially good with soy cheese enchiladas. When I don't feel like cooking after getting home from work, I like to take a couple of tortillas, some soy cheese, & put them in the microwave for a few minutes with the sauce ladled on top.

Refrigerate any unused portion. It should keep for a couple of weeks, just check it every so often.

This is roughly the recipe for my dad's ancho pepper enchilada sauce. He got it published in a book of master gardener's gardening recipes a year or so ago in Oklahoma! The original recipe doesn't call for salt, but I had to add a few pinches because I wasn't used to the overall blandness. You may like yours without; it's entirely optional. There were a few other . things he also did to the sauce, like strain the sauce to get all the pulp out, but I think the pepper pulp is the best part. Soon as I talk to him again, I'll ask him about it and post a revised enchilada sauce recipe.