Perfect summer grill, looks so good and tastes even better! Follow these easy directions and try it for yourself! Btw, you can use small artichokes or go for the big ones either way it works great! Also, I sometimes do it in 2 stages. I will cook the artichokes a day or two before the grill. When you do it in the same day leave some time for the artichokes to cool off before you prepare them to grill - they're easier to handle. This recipe is for 2 large artichokes. Ingredients 2 Artichokes 1/2 cube Butter - melted 3 or 4 Garlic cloves - minced 1/2 cup Panko Crumbs 1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese - g ..read more

This is an easy quick dinner that’s big on flavor. The biggest problem I have with writing recipes is I tend to cook without measuring – a pinch of that, a drizzle of this – so please feel free to add more or less of the ingredients as you cook. You may like more white wine flavor and more sauce so don’t cook it down as much. Be creative and as always let me know how you like it! 4 chicken thighs 2 Tablespoons – divided Tuscan Temptation 1 lb. small cremini mushrooms - sliced 2/3 cup of white wine Butter Olive oil Heat a sauté pan until quite hot and add olive oil and butter. Place chicken thi ..read more

Baja Border Blend Tamales - 2 ways! This is a recipe I learned from Carmen at The Hood. She is one of the support staff at The Hood Kitchen Space where I make our rubs. She makes hundreds of tamales and sells them every December to support a charity. Fabulous woman! Make either or both of the tamale fillings and scroll to the end to see how they're filled and cooked! It's the same for either one. Chicken Tamales - makes 35 4 chicken breasts (halves) 2 whole hatch chilies or 1 pasilla pepper 18 medium to large tomatillos – leaf removed 2 jalapenos ½ of an onion - sliced 2 cloves of garlic 2 T ..read more

If you love tacos this is the post for you. What I love about tacos is that they are so versatile. There are so many ways to make them. Here's two super easy ways to make tacos using our Silver Sofi winner - Baja Border Blend. The first way is grilled chicken with Baja Border Blend and then shredded We made this by rubbing the chicken breasts with Baja Border Blend and grilling them. You can also cook them in the oven or in a cast iron pan on the stove top. Once the chicken has cooled to where you can handle it, using forks, shred the meat or you can chop it into small pieces. The second way ..read more

This is an easy way to step up your ham game! It's wonderful to cure/brine your own ham and then smoke it. But if you don't have time for that try the double-smoke or twice-smoked method. It'll make you a rock-star at the table! Buy a ham already smoked and cured. I go for the nitrate free hams myself. Take your ham out of the wrapping and rub the whole ham with Mediterranean Bliss. For my 4 1/2 lb ham I used about a 1/3 cup of rub. My favorite wood to use with ham is apple. So I smoked it with apple wood and put apple juice in the water pan. Smoked it (cut side down) at about 220 degrees fo ..read more

If you love lamb you will love it paired with our Mediterranean Bliss. It's warm spices paired with savory spices make it the perfect rub for lamb. AND it's so easy!! This is how I roasted a leg of lamb with veggies.   I love to roast a leg of lamb on a bed of veggies. My favorites are fennel, carrots, potatoes, Brussels sprouts, onions and then a bit of smashed garlic. After chopping it all up - put it in a bowl and drizzle with a good bit of olive oil. Then season with Tuscan Temptation which will bring out the beautiful flavors of all the veggies. The video below shows the chopping of ..read more

I make Caprese Salad a number of ways and think you should too!  Change up your tomatoes - sometimes use small cherry or grape tomatoes and other times use big slices of a large heirloom tomato. You can also vary the cheese - use mozzarella cheese or burrata cheese which is a type of mozzarella cheese. I make my own ricotta cheese and occasionally use that for the cheese part. Ingredients 1 lb grape tomatoes 1 lb burrata cheese or mozzarella cheese (cut into pieces) 1 ripe avocado 1 cup of loosely packed torn basil leaves Balsamic Vinegar - I don't always use it as the Sweet Inferno give ..read more

Scallops and Sweet Inferno are a heavenly pair. Here's 2 ways to do it. GRILLING Using a double tong skewer slide your scallops on the skewers. The advantage of the double skewer is that they don't rotate on the skewer when you try to turn them. If you don't want to buy another type of skewer just use two regular skewers for each row of scallops. In the meantime you've warmed up your grill and cleaned the grates. If you're using a charcoal grill bank the coals to one side and place the skewers on the indirect heat side. If you're using a gas grill once it's warmed turn the heat down over a pa ..read more

We're all about the Sweet Inferno this month - here's a super easy way to cook chicken using Sweet Inferno that will make you crazy for it. I bet if you make it once you'll do it over and over again! Let us know how you like it! Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Place your chicken in a baking pan, liberally sprinkle Sweet Inferno over the chicken. Do not worry about using too much - it can't be done. But if you don't use enough you'll know it! For 6 chicken thighs use at least 1/2 cup (maybe a bit more) of Sweet Inferno which is about a half a tin or 2 oz. I prefer to use chicken thighs with t ..read more

It's Super Bowl weekend my friends. My favorite smoked trout dip is from Gulfstream in Newport Beach - well it was . . .  until I started making my own. A close foodie friend said mine was even better than Gulfstream's! I think it's because of the addition of Mediterranean Bliss during the smoking process. It perfect for your Super Bowl spread so here's how I do it . .  . First you gotta smoke the trout . . . Ingredients 2 quarts of water 1 cup Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt 1/3 cup sugar 2 shallots thinly sliced 3 crushed garlic cloves 2 lemons - zest 2 bay leaves 2 tablespoons Medite ..read more