Traditional rice jambalaya, made Creole-style with the trinity, garlic and tomatoes, with seasoned pan-seared, bone-in pork chops nestled in.

Creole-Style Pork Chop Jambalaya

Unlike Cajun-style pork jambalaya, which often contains a variety of pork - bacon, tasso, smoked sausage, pork loin - pork chop jambalaya is generally made with only chops. While any type of pork chop or even pork steak can be used, including boneless, I think bone-in chops provide much more flavor and that's what I recommend for this dish.

Even still, there are many ways to make pork chop jambalaya as there are cooks, and mine is just one of them!

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Chicken drumsticks, cooked in an enhanced sauce in the Instant Pot or other electronic pressure cooker, then brushed with reserved sauce and passed under the broiler or over a hot grill to finish.

Instant Pot Barbecue Drumsticks

Well, I tell you what... it's been a very hot summer. And it's nowhere near over.

The expression, it's not the heat, it's the humidity has seriously applied for me, because even when it's overcast and cloudy, that humidity just sucks the life out of me and I find it difficult to breathe outside. Five minutes outside right now translates to about an hour inside for recovery, so I have just not had that much of an appetite for standing over a stove to cook much this summer. I know a lot of you were waiting forever for summer, but others of you are in the same boat with me. So looking forward to fall.

So what does one make when it's too hot to cook?

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A roundup of favorite salsas from fresh corn and black bean, restaurant style, watermelon and jalapeno, Mississippi style Texas caviar, black-eyed pea salsa and made from garden fresh veggies - there's one sure to please!

Salsa Collection

While they're certainly good all year round, one way to beat the heat for mealtime is a good salsa, whether served as a snack with chips, a meal for me, or used as a condiment with grilled foods. Here's some of my favorites. Be sure to check back as I'm sure I'll be adding to the collection over time!

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A mixture of fresh corn, cut from the cob, sauteed with Vidalia onion, sweet and hot peppers, and finished with southwestern seasonings.

Fiesta Confetti Corn

You've probably seen this version of canned corn at the grocery market, though it has gone through several renames. Once referred to as Mexicorn, it then became Fiesta Corn and I think now, is mostly referred to as a Southwestern style corn.

It's basically just a mixture of corn with onions and peppers - both sweet and hot - finished with some southwestern seasonings. I use some version of this corn in quite a few recipes, but it's also good as a simple side dish, and even better when it's homemade. Here's how to make it.

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Chicken Florentine with Mushrooms

Chicken breasts, pan seared or grilled, atop a bed of pasta with a mushroom and spinach in a cheesy Mornay cream sauce.

Chicken Florentine

You've probably seen Chicken Florentine recipes before, though there sure seems to be a wide variation on how it's made. While chicken and spinach are typically involved, sometimes seafood or even eggs, in a version similar to eggs Benedict, are substituted.

Some serve the chicken in layers over a bed of spinach with a Mornay sauce poured over that, topped with cheese and baked. More often it's simply cooked in the skillet. Some add pasta or mashed potatoes and top it off with sliced, cooked chicken and spoon the sauce on top. Some include mushrooms and some are prepared with a tomato based sauce. Some are creamy, and some even shortcut the sauce with cream soup, typically cream of mushroom.

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Fresh, wild American shrimp, pan seared and simply seasoned with salt and pepper, tossed with Cajun andouille sausage and a simple, light sauce made with tomatoes, okra, fresh corn stripped from the cob, the trinity and some flavorful seasonings. Serve over hot, steamed rice.

Cajun Salt and Pepper Shrimp with Andouille

There are all kinds of "salt and pepper" shrimp out there and this is probably not like very many of them. That's because I kind of threw this together with what I had on hand and wasn't sure what to call it. I settled on the name Cajun salt and pepper shrimp because of the one pot preparation and the customary base seasonings.

Asian versions of salt and pepper shrimp, which this is not, prepare the shrimp unpeeled, tossed very lightly with cornstarch and then deep fried in the shell, with the intent of eating the shrimp and the shells. Though I did include that variation in the Cooks Notes at the bottom of the recipe, that just didn't appeal to me. I'm sure I'll get around to at least trying it at some point - I'm game for just about anything food-related, at least once! For this, I really just wanted to keep it peeled, to a simple pan sear, seasoned fairly generously with some sea salt and freshly cracked peppercorns and of course, a little Cajun seasoning, Old Bay, and a few other delicious add-ins!

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A casserole layered in with pasta, pasta sauce, cheese, sausage and pepperoni. All the flavors of a great pizza, in a casserole! Half recipe pictured.

Sausage and Pepperoni Pizza Pasta Casserole

I mean, how can you not love something that has a stack of pepperoni on top, and while it may look like a pizza, there's pasta under there, another favorite of mine. Yum, yum y'all!

I've been trying to get a new post up forever, so not a lot of chat today... some of you who are happening across this blog will be happy about that I'm sure! {I've seen those memes!} Although there is often helpful information to be found in the chatter, I get it. Everybody's in a hurry and so busy today, but here's the solution. You just swipe - or scroll - on past what you don't want to read when you encounter that. The recipe and ingredients are usually toward the bottom, but don't get upset if things don't quite turn out like the picture showed you then, because in your rush, you probably missed some important stuff!

So... here's my chatter for the day. I'm busy as all get out!

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Stewed Blackberries and Dumplings

Fresh blackberries, sweetened and stewed and topped with sweet steamed dumplings. Serve over vanilla ice cream.

Blackberries and Dumplings

Couple years ago, I bought two thornless blackberry plants from Cottage Farms on QVC. Being inexperienced with the plant, the first year, I wasn't sure what was going on with them. They grew like mad, but that's it. Lots of thick vines. Lots of green leaves. But, no blossoms. No berries, and, in fact, after a couple of freezes that winter, I resigned myself that they didn't make it.

Thank goodness I didn't cut them down because lo and behold come spring the next year, I saw new growth sprouting along all of the old canes and before I knew it, blossoms everywhere, followed by the most beautiful, huge, gorgeous and tasty blackberries.

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A simple, light dessert, with layers of homemade egg custard, macerated strawberries and a little bit of warmed strawberry jam.

Strawberries and Custard

I have sure been enjoying fresh strawberries here lately and at any given time there are usually two pounds in the fridge. Right now I'm seeing Louisiana berries the most in the markets, and they sure are delicious.

Honestly, I don't often do much with strawberries in the way of a recipe. While I enjoy them occasionally in a frozen or layered dessert, a cobbler, pie or cake, or even simply macerated and spooned over a shortcake or a slice of pound cake, I mostly just eat them in their natural state. Add a little homemade egg custard though, and how can you go wrong with that?

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Seasoned shrimp, seared and tossed in a tomato and trinity based cream sauce, with mushrooms and linguine.

Cajun Shrimp and Linguine

This is another quick and easy skillet meal, using shrimp and pasta. I prepare the pasta in my Fasta Pasta, a kitchen tool I've shown you many times here on the website, and one that I use often,. So much easier - and faster - than preparing in a large pasta pot for sure!

Other than that, this dish is essentially a simple, one pot preparation, classic in Cajun cooking and using a simple sauce base of tomatoes, the trinity and cream with fresh Gulf shrimp, seasoned with Cajun seasoning and a little Old Bay added, and all that tossed with pasta. Easy and delicious! Here's how to make it.

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