Smoked Shrimp

My brother-in-law Austen always buys me cook books for Christmas, and I love it! (Keep it up, Austen!) I know I've mentioned Home Made before, but it's full of interesting recipes and methods, one of which is creating smoker out of kitchen staples. Jamie and I had friends over for football on Sunday, and in addition to the usual wings, I tried making smoked shrimp. They were so smoky! It really works. The recipe calls for rosemary salt to go with them, but I'd actually next time serve them with a sort of BBQ-cocktail sauce hybrid. I just bought frozen shrimp and thawed them while I brined them - it worked perfectly. I can't wait to try the homemade smoker with other things. Ribs? Fish?

Ingredients:
1 package frozen shrimp, uncooked

Thai Wings

Every since I saw this amazing article, I've been making chicken wings for almost every football game. (I'm not really into football, so it gives me a tasty project while Jamie's screaming at the TV and checking his fantasy football scores.) Last night was the first wing-dinner of the season, and I decided to try a new one. Grace Parisi's recipe has a basic formula, then you add a few things to customize it. Our favorites have been the Maple-Chipotle, Jamaican Jerk, and Old Bay. This time, I thought I'd use the same formula but add a spicy, sweet, sour Thai twist. Big hit! They are totally joining the wing roster.

They're spicy and sweet and tangy and super addictive. And the basil and cilantro add a nice fresh contrast. Can't wait to make them again.

Black Bean "Guacamole"

I was all set to make Jamie and his friend Chip some snacks for Sunday's Patriots game and was in the mood for guacamole. I had all of the ingredients in my grocery basket (limes, jalapenos, cilantro, etc), but when I got to the avocados they were rock solid. Don't you hate when that happens? So instead of putting it all back, I decided to swap in black beans instead of avocado. I love black bean dip, so it was a bit of an experiment. It was delicious! Tasted a lot like regular guacamole, and is super healthy. There's no oil or anything. We ate it in about 5 minutes (as it was an experiment, I wanted to test it before putting it on the blog so only snapped a picture after we'd already eaten half of it) and this will definitely become a regular snack. It's also a lot cheaper than guac because a can of black beans is usually about 99 cents.

Ingredients:
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 bunch cilantro, rinsed, drained, and finely chopped
1/3 cup grape/cherry tomatoes, sliced into little pieces,
1/4 of a red onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced and mashed into a paste
juice of 1 lime
1 jalapeno, minced
salt