Recipe for Honey Jalapeno Shrimp "For Two"

Are you a shrimp lover? We love chiles, and we love shrimp. They make a great combination if you do it right. Here's a recipe for you to try if you want to grill something "just for the two of you."

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 tablespoon canned diced jalapeno chiles
12 raw jumbo shrimp, peeled and tails on (about 1 pound) (may use frozen)
1 tablespoon garlic-flavored or plain olive oil

Preparation:
Heat grill to medium-high. In a small bowl, combine honey and chiles with some of the liquid from the chile can; set aside. Brush both sides of shrimp with olive oil. Arrange on a mesh grill rack, thread on skewers or place directly on grill grate (if they are large enough not to fall through). Cook shrimp on first side until tails are pink, 3 to 6 minutes. Turn shrimp, brush with honey mixture and grill until pink throughout, another 1 to 4 minutes.

Then, ENJOY!, along with your favorite sides and drinks.

Check out Urban Campfire in Tempe, AZ

Urban Campfire looks like a cool place to hang out and eat hot food. If you are in the Tempe area in the Arizona Valley of the Sun, they are located at 921 E. University Drive. The phone number is 480-967-5524 if you want to call for directions.

Here's what the Arizona Republic newspaper has to say about Urban Campfire: "Aimed at the Arizona State University crowd, this barbecue parlor smokes up a righteous slab of meaty, tender ribs. Students also can ward off hunger pangs with the hefty Southwest of Philly sub, packed with smoked brisket, chile and cheese."

Urban Campfire has a website, and a link is provided below. If you look at the menu on the website, under "New Items!", you will find one of my most favorite dishes in the whole world, "Green Chile Pork Stew - homemade with just the right amount of spice." And in the "Classic BBQ and More" section of the menu (along with other entrees) you will find: "Hamburgers - add cheese, bacon, green chiles or homemade red chili", the "Loaded Campfire Dog - with homemade chili, cheese and onion" and their famous "Homemade Campfire Red Chili."

With that much chili on the menu you can't go wrong with this place, folks. Besides, who doesn't like to sit around the campfire and eat chili? Gotta be the next best thing. Now, here's that link.

http://www.urbancampfire.com/

Roasted Poblano Chicken Dinner from Marie

Yummmmmmmm! It's goooooooooooood!

If you like to keep good frozen dinners in the freezer at home for those times you just don't feel like cooking, then I highly recommend you try to find the Roasted Poblano Chicken frozen dinner from Marie Callender's.

It's a "Sliced Chicken Breast with Rice in Fire-Roasted Poblano Pepper Sauce with Corn & Black Bean Medley." The pepper sauce includes diced poblano chile pepper, and the combination of ingredients in this dinner surely qualifies it for "southwestern cuisine."

We found our dinners in the frozen food section at Wal-Mart, and I plan to get more of these dinners. No doubt other supermarket chains have it, too. Just look for it, and ENJOY!

Marie Callender's is a ConAgra Foods company, and the Marie Callender's portion of the ConAgra website is pretty substantial, but I couldn't find the chicken and pepper dinner on the list. I think it is too new to be on the website. I'll try to let you know about this later.

Arriba Mexican Grill's Dinner Special

Hi folks,

As you can see, we took a little break after the holidays. Now we are back in the saddle, and rounding up lots of good info to post on this blog. Here's one to get us going again, and it won't be long before there is more new stuff for you to read. So, check back often. Okay? And let us hear from you if you can.

Arriba Mexican Grill in "the valley of the sun"

They still have their $5.99 Holiday Burrito Dinner Special on their menu. "It's available Monday through Thursday after 4:00 pm! A large flour tortilla stuffed with our Chile Colorado and Chile Verde, covered with red and green enchilada sauce. Served with rice and your choice of beans."

With locations in Phoenix, Glendale, Scottsdale, Ahwatukee and Gilbert, there is sure to be one near you if you are in the Phoenix area. Visit one of their locations for great food and drinks, and visit their website to learn more about this very popular restaurant chain. They have party trays that would be just right for the upcoming Super Bowl.

www.arribamexicangrill.com

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year folks! Hope you had lots of fun and football today. 2008 was pretty tough for a lot of folks in many ways. But there was a good chile crop in Hatch Valley, so it wasn't all bad. Let's hope the chile crop this year is a good one, also.

Here is a recipe to help you get 2009 started with a bang. My wife and I love fish tacos, and I can't wait to try this recipe. It is called LIME TILAPIA TACOS.

Ingredients:
2 tilapia fillets (about 4 ounces each)
half a lime
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
4 corn tortillas
desired taco toppings (salsa, etc.)

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut fillets in half lengthwise to make four strips. Grate zest from lime. Combine zest in a bowl with panko and oil. Toss with a fork to moisten crumbs. Squeeze juice from lime into another bowl. Stir in mayonnaise. Dip fish pieces into mayonnaise mixture, then into crumbs, and place them on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake 20 minutes. Wrap tortillas in foil and place them in the oven for the last 5 minutes of baking. Remove fish from oven. Put each fish strip on a tortilla and add desired toppings. Serve two per person.

Special note:
My wife and I like shredded cabbage on fish tacos as part of the desired toppings along with some fresh squeezed lime juice. You might want to give this a try if you haven't done this before. Also, if you have a special topping you would like to tell us about, we would love to hear from you.

Enjoy, and, once again, Happy New Year!