At various restaurants, I’ve had bacon-wrapped shrimp, bacon-wrapped jalapeno poppers, and even jalapenos stuffed with seafood and wrapped in bacon.  It’s all good.  But, once you start stuffing jalapenos, you’re looking at some work intensity that just shouldn’t be associated with an appetizer.

Therefore, I give you … bacon wrapped around a strip of roasted jalapeno and shrimp.  Bacon-wrapped jalapeno shrimp . . . for short?

Ingredients:

• 8 slices of bacon (avoid the maple cured for this recipe)
• 8 jalapenos
• 16 large shrimp, peeled and deveined
• ground black pepper
• chopped cilantro for garnish
• lime wedges for serving

Directions:

1.  Roast the jalapenos:  remove the stem from each jalapeno and cut in half, remove the seeds.  Put the jalapenos on a cookie sheet, drizzle with olive oil and put in a 400 degree oven for 10-15 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let cool so they can be handled easily.
2. Prepare the bacon:  cut the bacon in half and put on a baking sheet.  Bake at 400 until half-cooked, only about 5 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let cool so they can be handled easily.
3. Assemble:  place one strip of jalapeno on a shrimp, wrap with bacon.  Secure individually with toothpick or secure several with a skewer.  Season with pepper.
4. Arrange the shrimp on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and bake in 400 degree oven until the shrimp is cooked, around 10 minutes.
5. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve with lime wedges!

This dish is a take on the classic Arroz Con Pollo . . . but with potatoes!  It is delicious.  It is comforting.  It is healthy!

Ingredients:

• 2 Tablespoons oil
• 4-6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts
• Salt and pepper, to season
• 1 medium onion, grated or pureed in processor
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, pureed
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 lb. small red potatoes, halved
• 8 ounces tomato sauce (or V-8)
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro, loosely packed

Directions

1. Heat the oil over medium heath in a large skillet. 
2. Season the chicken with salt and pepper, on both sides, and add to the skillet.  Cook, turning once, until browned on both sides.  (About 5 minutes per side.)  Transfer to a plate.  Reserve about 2 Tablespoons of oil in the skillet. 
3. Add the pureed onion and garlic to the skillet.  Scrape up any brown bits. 
4. Add the pureed red pepper, cumin, coriander, and bay leaf to the skillet. 
5. Increase the heat to medium-high.  Stir in the potatoes, tomato sauce and 1 cup water.  Lower the heat, cover and simmer for about 10 minutes. 
6. Return the chicken to the skillet.  Cover and simmer, until the chicken is thoroughly cooked.  (Give it a good 20 minutes.) 
7. Discard the bay leaf.  Sprinkle with cilantro.  Serve!

I also adore soup because it’s the perfect way to use up kitchen remnants.  I could analogize here to cloth remnants and quilts, but I’ll spare you.

I don’t want to say that there’s an ART to making good soup, that’s just pretentious.  However, there is a simple technique to building a soup from remnants that will help you get one made up in no time!

Step 1 - Base Flavors

You can give your soup a great foundation by cooking aromatic vegetables in olive oil or butter for a few minutes.  Olive oil and butter are both great, but do give different flavor to a soup.  I don’t think one is better than the other . . . it’s a personal preference sort of decision.

Common aromatic vegetables are onions, celery, carrots, garlic, fennel, leeks, ginger, and lemongrass.  Think of the classic French mirepoix (onions, celery, and carrot) or the Cajun mirepoix, also referred to as the holy trinity (onions, celery, and green bell peppers).

One thing to note here:  if you’re going to have meat in your soup, this is the time to brown it up.  Once it’s browned up, you generally can deglaze your soup pot with a bit of liquid and you’ll have all the fat you need to finish off the soup.  Continue along with adding the veggies and cooking them up as they need.

Step 2:  Seasoning

Your seasonings can be as simple as salt and black pepper or a bay leaf.  You can also use spice blends such as curry, vadouvan, or McCormick’s Italian Seasoning.  This is all about the flavors you like, and to a greater extent, what you have on hand.

Add the seasonings and then heat them until you can smell their fragrance.

Steps 3 and 4:  Add the liquid and your main ingredient.

Okay – these steps interchange depending on what sort of soup I’m making.  If I’m making a soup that I’m going to puree, such as a potato soup, I add the potatoes and then just enough liquid to cover.  If I’m going to make a chicken soup, I add the liquid first.

Liquids that I’ve used:  broth, stock, water, juice, wine and beer (or a combination thereof).

Generally, you want to add your main ingredients with the longest cooking time first.  For example:  mushrooms, then potatoes; potatoes, then spinach; or uncooked rice, then tomatoes.

Other considerations:  veggies that you want to melt into the broth should go in first;  fresh herbs generally give better flavor if they go in at the end; and already cooked leftovers should be added at the end.

Step 5:  Taste and adjust the seasoning

Don’t be afraid to taste as you go and adjust the seasonings!

In my family, there are as many cobbler recipes as there are salsa recipes.  No joke.  And, they are all good.  I’m an equal opportunity cobbler fan – peaches and crust with a bit of vanilla ice cream and I’m in heaven.

This recipe, however, is the absolute easiest of them all!

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup flour
• a dash (less than 1/8 teaspoon) salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 3/4 cups sugar, divided
• 3/4 milk
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3 cups sliced fresh peaches (or frozen thawed, or even canned and dried off)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Sift the flour, salt and baking powder together.
3. Mix with 1 1/2 cups sugar.
4. Slowly stir in the milk.
5. Melt the butter in an 8×8 pan.  (You can use a 13×9, but be aware that the crust will be thinner in a larger pan).
6. Pour the batter over the butter and do NOT stir.
7. Lay the peaches into the batter.
8. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup sugar or less
9. Bake for one hour.