Went a little Hatch Chile-wild this weekend… but these delicate Hatch Chile Mini Cornbread Muffins completely explain my madness.

Hatch Chiles are in season NOW, so you need to buy them while you can. Like I said, I went a little crazy and bought 25 lbs. to freeze. GP thought I was nuts… but we’ll see what he says in November when I thaw some of these babies and make his favorite Chili before a big football game.

If you see Hatch Chilies in your supermarket… buy them! Many supermarkets are partnering with Melissa’s Produce and holding roasting events: you buy the chiles and they roast them right there at the store… how easy is that? If onsite roasting is not an option, it’s pretty easy to do it at home… click here.

These Hatch Chile Mini Cornbread Muffins are a great way to venture into Hatch Chileland if you are a newbie. The muffins are sweet, but have just the right of heat from the chiles to keep things interesting. Have you cooked with Hatch Chiles? What’s your favorite recipe?

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Like this recipe? Then try Unbelievably Moist Pumpkin Muffins.

The kids are on vacation but, hey, guess what? You’re not!

Big and little people still need to be fed, so why not make something quick and easy that can be thrown on the grill or in the oven like these Island Chicken Drumsticks?

Here’s what you do:

1. Buy one of those 12-packs of chicken legs (or more if you’re feeling particularly ambitious).
2. Prepare the dry rub from spices you probably already have in your pantry. You don’t need to follow my recipe… use what you have!
3. Heat up the grill or oven and in 20 minutes dinner will be ready.

If you DO make extra drummies, you’ll have something to feed the hungry horde for lunch tomorrow or a picnic dinner the day AFTER tomorrow. Perfect. Easy. Just like summer should be!

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Have you ever spent hours and hours cooking something deliciously marvelous on the stove only to turn your back for ONE SECOND and find it’s burned? Stuck to the bottom of the pot burned? Two-day-soak burned?

Yep. That’s happened to me, too. Notice the past tense. HAPPENED. Never will again because I’ve got a Pauli Cookware stockpot.

“What,” you say. “a pot that keeps you from burning your food?” (I’m blaming the pot… did you catch that?)

Yes… that’s EXACTLY what I’m saying.

I met Paul Scioscio, the inventor of Pauli Cookware, at the Housewares Show earlier this year. I honestly didn’t believe what he told me: I could leave a pot on the stove for hours and never have to stir or worry that its contents would burn. He sent me one and I tried it out…

Now I believe.

Pauli Cookware has a patented 7-layer commercial grade stainless steel and aluminum bottom that wraps around a hermetically sealed oil chamber. The oil heats up and distributes the heat evenly, so your food cooks without burning.

Here’s a demo:

Because of the way the pot is made, you can’t cook on high heat… that means no frying or sautéing. I thought this might be an issue when searing meat for a stew, but the bottom of the pot still gets hot enough to deliver a nice brown color.

You have to wash the Pauli pot by hand, but I don’t put my cookware in the dishwasher anyway (you shouldn’t either!). Pauli Cookware comes in 3 generous sizes: 7 quarts, 11 quarts and 16 quarts. It works on all cooktops, including induction.

I’m always looking for help in the kitchen, and for ways to avoid “operator error”… like burning something. In that regard, my Pauli Pot’s got my back!

If you’d like to order your own Pauli Pot, click on the link on my sidebar! Tell them Mama sent you! I’ll have some really fabulous recipes using my Pauli Pot over the next few months.

Okay, I know this is probably too late for tomorrow, but I got busy today. 

If you wanna generate some heat on Valentine’s Day, these homemade Brownies are just the ticket.

So easy to make… I’ve just added cayenne pepper and cinnamon to a basic Brownie recipe. They almost taste like a mole poblano—that rich dark red Mexican sauce made with chilies, chocolate, nuts and seeds.

Trust me on this one.

I made the Brownies in my new fave silicone kitchen item, Silpat’s Entremet non-stick silicone baking pan. One caveat with the Silpat: Make sure you let the cooked brownies cool in the pan for 30 minutes. That way, when you flip them on the cutting board to cut, they won’t stick. You can also use your favorite 9-by-9-inch pan.

I goosed the brownie recipe on the back of the Silpat box by using gluten-free flour, adding spices and omitting the nuts.

Spice up your Valentines Day a little bit… some sweet, some heat… the rest is up to you!

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