Cooking . . . It's a Family Thing!

Katie made the Buffalo Chicken Jalapeno Poppers and I prepared the Cauliflower! I cannot begin to tell you how good this was. The "poppers" are supposed to be served as an appetizer but we had as our main course! I think we ended up with 18. The 3 of us ate and there were enough left over for Richard & I both to take for lunch the next day. To give you an idea on just how good these were, Richard never takes his lunch! While we were eating he said "if there are any left I'll take for lunch!"

Katie topped mine with blue cheese cause I really love blue cheese. The rest she topped with feta and/or Monterey Jack.

If you like cauliflower, you will love it roasted this way! And the Salsa Verde . . . well it is just delicious!

18-20 Jalapeno peppers

1/3 cup hot sauce, such as Frank's Red Hot

2 T butter

2 cups of Rotisserie chicken, shredded (remove skin & bones)

1 rib celery, finely chopped

1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

1/2 cup Blue cheese crumbles or Feta or whatever you like!

Preheat oven to 425 F

Working lengthwise, slice off the top quarter of each jalapeno. Using a small spoon or paring knife, scrape the seeds and ribs out of each pepper. (One important note here, make sure you use gloves, we did not and our hands are still burning the next day!)

Place a small saucepan over low heat. Add hot sauce and whisk in the butter until melted. In a medium size bowl, combine the chicken, celery, Monterey Jack cheese and half of the blue cheese. Pour hot sauce into mixture and combine well.

Scoop some of the chicken mixture into each of the peppers, filling them all up. Lightly mound the chicken into each pepper. Place the peppers into a baking dish and top with the remaining blue cheese or whatever cheese you've chosen.

Bake the peppers until tender and heated through, about 15 minutes. Serve Warm.

1 medium jalapeno, ribs & seeds removed, finely chopped

3 T finely chopped cilantro leaves

2 medium cloves of garlic, minced with a pinch of salt

3 T fresh lime juice

4 T olive oil

Salt to taste

1 medium cauliflower ( 2 to 2 1/2 lbs)

2 to 3 T olive oil

Salt to taste

First, prepare the Salsa Verde. In a small bowl, combine the jalapeno, cilantro, garlic, lime juice and olive oil and whisk to combine. Add two pinches of salt, or more, to taste, and whisk well, Set aside at room temperature for at least 30 minutes and up to an hour.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees, F.

Wash & dry the cauliflower well. Put it on a cutting board, stem side down and slice it vertically, top down, into 1/4-inch slices. You'll get 3-4 intact slices and the rest will be a hash of cauliflower crumbs. That's okay. Put the cauliflower in a large bowl and toss with the olive oil. (Your hands will work best for this). You want each little bit of cauliflower to get a thin coat of oil. Spread the cauliflower in a single layer on a heavy sheet pan, or if the pan seems crowded, use 2 pans. You don't want it packed too tightly, or the cauliflower will steam rather than roast. Salt it lightly.

Bake until the cauliflower is tender, golden, and even deeply browned in spots, 20 to 30 minutes, turning once with a spatulal. Salt lightly again.

Serve cauliflower hot or warm, with salsa verde on the side for drizzling.