Overnight oats made with peanut butter and jelly for a fun breakfast take on a classic sandwich. This peanut butter and jelly oatmeal will bring comfort and excitement to your morning breakfast. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were my go tos back in the day. My younger days were definitely on my mind when developing …
Special Diets
This grilled cedar plank salmon will wow with its color, fragrance, and flavor. The cedar smoke combined with the hibiscus based rub makes this easy grilled dish everything that is everything. For other smoked seafood dishes try these smoked mussels or smoked fish dip. The fish has got it all. The flavor of the hibiscus …
Jumpstart your day with this refreshing and delicious raspberry smoothie. This smoothie has it all - tartness balanced with sweet honey and fragrant cinnamon, plus a little bit of heat and a lot of goodness. All combined deliver a great tasting smoothie. That cayenne is just enough to make you get up and stand up! …
Turn your next dinner into a flavor explosion with these jerk roasted onions — smoky, spicy, and caramelized to sweet perfection. Whether you’re serving them up at a backyard BBQ or a weeknight dinner, these oven roasted onions bring island heat and soulful depth to any plate. Well now, my brothers and sisters in flavor …
These blackened pork chops are blazing with bold flavor from a combination of deep brine and homemade Creole spice mix. These are broiled on high heat for quick and easy weeknight main dish. These blackened pork chops are all about high heat and deep listening the sizzle of spice hitting iron, the smell of herbs …
Turn up the flavor for your next weekend dinner with these Instant Pot beef short ribs — tender, rich, and simmered in a bold West African–inspired maafe sauce. Comfort food meets global soul in just over an hour. These Instant Pot short ribs take your taste buds on a soulful trip across the Atlantic. Picture …
This air fryer steak recipe gets your main dish on the table in a sinch with little effort and time. The flavor is enhanced by jerk seasoning and compound butter, while cook time and temperature produces nearly perfect texture for the steak. The combination of crusty texture and tender center is hard to achieve with …
Kickoff your morning with this tasty, filling mango turmeric smoothie. This smoothie has mad flavor, goody goodness, and is kicked up with spices of life. You wanna start your day singing "Sha la la la la la la la la la la te da...." This is the drink for that. Smoothie Ingredients These ingredients …
If you're not making and using compound butter, you're missing out on a super-easy way to add mad flavor to any dish from your favorite grilled vegetables, pasta, or any meat dish. This jerk compound butter is a five-minute flavor remix—soft unsalted butter folded with dry jerk seasoning to deliver heat, funk, and Caribbean depth …
This air fryer Brussel sprouts recipe is the easiest and most delicious Brussel sprouts recipe you will ever make. Less than 5 ingredients prep and cooked in under 20 minutes. This is one of those recipes your guests will be asking you for the recipe. It has restaurant quality taste, but any average home cook …
Quick and easy sauteed green beans cooked in under 20 minutes. Green beans are sautéed in a delicious creole based sauce for tender and flavorful side dish. Instant Pot Sauteed Green Beans Ingredients This may look like a lot of ingredients, but it's really not. Most of the ingredients are for the spice mix. Green …
Ensalada de Aguacate - an avocado salad that is the ultimate triple threat - flavor, easy, and fun. Just slice, mix, and serve this vegetable side dish. Cool, creamy, and citrus-bright—this Cuban salad slides onto the plate like a summer groove. This Cuban avocado salad, known simply as Ensalada de Aguacate, is proof that restraint …
Bold & Juicy Instant Pot Jerk Chicken with Smoky Heat and Tender Island Vibes Now hear this, flavor seekers and spice chasers—Mister Señor Love Daddy's servin’ up Instant Pot Jerk Chicken with the windows down and the bass turned up. This jerk chicken hits all the notes—fast, fiery, and full of flavor—solving the weeknight dinner …
My campaign to put okra on the map. I love okra. Okra is good for you. Okra tastes good. Eat more okra. If you don't know how, then read this post for recipes and cooking tips. Plus I'm sure you'll learn a bunch of cool facts about okra that I bet you never knew.
Smoked Whole Cauliflower That Steals the Show – Perfect for Sunday dinner or your next plant-based BBQ masterpiece Mmm-mmm, buckle up, my fellow flavor peeps, cause this smoked cauliflower is comin’ in hot like a soulful groove on a summer Sunday. We talking whole head, not cauliflower florets! It’s tender in the middle, crispy ‘round …
Purple potato fries, baked crisp and topped with a homemade seasoning mix for a flavorful version of one of the world’s most popular sides. Alright now, flavor seekers and late-night kitchen groovers, lean in close ‘cause we got somethin’ roasted, crispy, and deep-purple delicious just for you. Forget all about those “boring side dish” blues …
Duck alert! Duck confit recipe via sous vide, so good it’ll make your eyes roll back and your toes curl up. Think I’m lying? Try it! The duck leg is seasoned well with salt and pepper then slowly cooked over a day at a low temperature rendering silky smooth, tender and rich, flavorful duck. And …
A Bold, Herb-Heavy Flavor Bomb That Is A Great Seasoning Base For Many Types of Dishes. Well now, cool cats and flavor peeps—lean in close, ‘cause I’m about to put you on to the heartbeat of Haitian kitchens: epis. This ain’t just no blend—it’s a mood, a movement, a Miles Davis “So What” kind of …
Sorry I'm a little late with this post, but it's actually an annual Kwanzaa celebration recipe. After hosting Christmas dinner, mentally I'm content to ride with leftovers for a few days. However, with Kwanzaa, there is no rest for the weary. Therefore I go with simple, low involvement recipes such as this Piri Piri Shrimp. It's usually an appetizer on my menu, but can easily be made for a fancy weeknight main dish.
I've been reading the book On Vegetables lately and it has some great simple ways to enjoy vegetables such as this Daikon radish recipe which I tweaked just slightly. Just a few simple ingredients, little prep, and some easy cooking nets a beautifully delicious side dish. Musical Inspiration for Braised Daikon Radish Rapper/Singer Phonte released …
Quick and flavorful recipes for instant pot Brussel sprouts. Sprouts are braised in a coconut-based sauce for a great vegan side dish that’s as good as sprouts cooked with bacon or in butter. Five ingredients less than 30 minutes. I grew up a big Dragon Ball Z Fan; so many life lessons learned! Work hard …
This black rice recipe makes for a colorful side dish that is as delicious as it looks! The sweetness of the potatoes is balanced with the savory nutty flavor of the rice and the tartness from the pomegranate seeds and all work together for an incredible mouth experience. Often when I cook I take on …
Tender vegan braised collard greens cooked with aromatic spices, offering a flavorful twist on a classic Southern dish. Related Collard Greens Posts: Braised vegan collard greens recipe, a quick and tasty way to get a soul food staple on the weeknight menu! It's only 5 ingredients and made with ingredients you're likely to have on …
Collard greens are a weekly staple in our home. We have our traditional Sunday Dinner recipe that ain't changing. However, I do keep quite a few of what I call weeknight greens recipes. These are meant for us to explore the greatness of the humble but nutritious collard greens but within the context of our busy lives. So these are actually quick hitters. This curried collard greens recipe falls into this category. As its the norm, we explore cultures through food in an effort to become culturally aware as well deepen our empathy for others. Collard greens more than any other vegetable/food is most often the vessel for these explorations. Enjoy
Roasted Acorn Squash with Honey Ancho Chile Glaze are outstanding in both their taste and simplicity! Make this sweet and savory squash for your Thanksgiving meal, Sunday family gathering or even a weeknight dinner. They are naturally sweet but the glaze amplifies the flavor. Surprisingly I don't cook a lot most Thanksgivings. Between volunteering as …
For pork chop lovers ain't nothing worst than biting down into dry chewy pork chops. Dive deep into this post for smoked pork chops as we show you how to get tender juicy chops every time by using a simple but flavor-inducing brine. In this dope recipe, we unveil the secret to achieving the most …
Squash smoked on the grill until fork tender is a beautiful thing! Now listen my fellow soul food flavor this one’s comin’ straight from your guy's smoke and soul kitchen. We takin’ sweet butternut squash halves, givin’ ‘em low-and-slow smoke love ‘til they’re tender like a Sunday groove—about 90 minutes at 250°F, my friends. With …
This month's focus is on staple recipes from South American countries. I'm a big fan of yuca fries which are the Latin American version of French fries.
These roasted sweet potatoes are a lab recipe gone well. I was literally toying around with Thanksgiving sweet potatoes recipes and stumbled into this one. It's easy, quick, no fuss and damn good. Don't feel like you have to wait til the holidays though. Its perfect on plain old weeknights and weekends too.
Delicious salmon steaks made in 15 minutes tops with maximum flavor in the form of a green onion vinaigrette.
Simple and delicious roasted eggplant recipe that is bursting with bold flavors. This dish features a crispy brown outside with a creamy sweet inside then is topped with a garlicky Cuban mojo sauce. Silky roasted eggplant meets bright, garlicky Cuban mojo in a dish that eats like comfort but dances like a block party. High-heat …
Favorite to eat root vegetables is roasted. Roasting can turn any humble root vegetables into greatness. Baby turnips make the perfect foil for this technique. You get concentrated flavor and tenderness delived in 30 minutes. It's the glaze that actually puts the dish over the top. It's time to stop running from those root vegetables your grandparents tried to get you to eat. Actually these aren't your grand dad's turnips. They're way more flavorful.
Quick, simple, yet gourmet is this charred baby eggplant. Charring vegetables is a go-to move for getting quick, no fuss sides on the table that look and taste phenomenal. Try this dish with the frequently used harissa sauce.
Weeknight grilling sometimes is the best grilling. This flank steak is a quick cook, but the flavor and tenderness are off the charts. The key is the marinade which blends both Asian and Caribbean flavors which also helps to tenderize. Marinate a day ahead then grill in less than 15 minutes.
Put these smoked lamb chops on the menu for your next dinner party of date with that special someone. Slow-smoking an entire rack of lamb nets better flavor than simply grilling. This one is easy - marinate, rub, and smoke. That's it!
Football season is almost upon us. I'm in grilling two-a-days to get ready for tailgating season. These brined pork chops may be on the menu for the first game! Brining meat prior to cooking, all but guarantees a juicy, moist and flavorful finished dish.
Summertime is fun time. Grilling all things including watermelon is a favorite past time of mine. It's hard to describe grilled watermelon, but trust me it's simple and delicious. Give this one and try and impress family and friends
One of the best things about summer is the availability of fresh fruit and vegetables. And living in hot Texas you're always looking for ways to stay cool, get refreshed, etc. Cooking wise I'm trying to avoid turning on my stove as much as possible. This chilled soup "Gazpacho" addresses all these things. It's the soup equivalent of a nice cool summer breeze. The fact that it's a chilled peach soup that's spiced up and topped with charred kernels of corn just makes this next-level gazpacho. Don't worry, all you need is a blender and a few ingredients.
Fried chickpeas are fairly comomn these days. But fried black-eyed peas are much better. The recipe is simple and takes less than 20 minutes to make. Try these out.
Grilled wedges are one of my favorite and easiest ways to enjoy sweet potatoes. The best thing about this recipe though is the perfect sweet heat chili lime sauce pairing. Just a few a few ingredients that net a lot of flavor. They go fast so make enough!








































