This issue is going to be different from other recent issues. Instead of a bunch of recipes and ads, it is going to be more of me! Sort of like a day in the life of Chef Jay. Well, it will be more like, "A Look into the Diet of Chef Jay!". And there is one ad at the end, so be sure to check it out, it helps pay the bills.

I'm sure many of you have your favorite, tried and true recipes that you eat at least once a week. Well I have several of them and of course they all involve at least one ingredient that brings the heat. I would love to hear what all your favorite hot and spicy recipes are. Just reply to this email and share them with me.

It occurred to me last weekend that I hardly ever cook directly from a pepper recipe. Huh? Well I do get lots of ideas from recipes. But what I usually end up doing is taking whatever ingredients I have around and whatever hot I have around(never a lack of that in my house) and mix them together.

In my mind, however slanted it may be, any food that tastes good can only get better with some heat! Lisa, my wife, shakes her head at me almost daily when she sees what I've concocted.

Really though, most of my daily meals aren't all that out of the ordinary. I mean I eat normal things like eggs for breakfast, salad and soup for lunch and meat and potatoes for dinner. But, I do find ways to bring heat to every meal.

For instance, breakfast is a perfect way to start the day...with jalapenos! I could eat an omelette every morning, but I usually only make them on the weekend. I start with one or two jalapenos chopped up, maybe some onions, mushrooms or ham or whatever else I find in the refrigerator, cook them all up in my omelette pan and set them aside. Now I make a two or three egg omelette add all the goodies and some cheese and voila...a perfect way to start the day.

Jalapenos are usually my chosen heat source, but I also have several other favorites. The one I choose depends on what I am eating and the amount of heat I am looking for. Sometimes I really want to sweat and sometimes I just want a little burn, depends on my mood.

In my kitchen I have dozens of hot sauces, crushed peppers, dried peppers, canned peppers and fresh peppers from the garden. Jalapenos are kind of middle of the road. I have some delicious smoked pequin peppers that are dried and ground and make a great topping. I have a shaker full of it, similar to what people use to put crushed red pepper on pizza, only mine is quite a bit hotter;)

I have lots of different habanero sauces that vary widely in heat and then I have one that has extract that is super hot. I also have a bottle of ground red savina habanero that I use for seasoning meat and as a marinade before I make barbecue.

Probably the hot meal that I eat most is not that unordinary to me, but my wife doesn't agree. If you've ever put peppers in your chicken noodle soup, please email me so I can prove to her I am not the only one!

I first got the idea after eating Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup with some friends of mine. Talk about good! They served it with jalapenos on the side, a bottle of Sriracha sauce, and a blend of crushed peppers in oil that gives you three levels of heat. So, I translated that to my favorite easy soup meal at home.

Normally I just chop up a couple of peppers and add them into a can of Campbell's chicken noodle soup, my favorite. Sometimes I add my crushed red peppers too. And, I always have a bottle of Sriracha Chili Sauce around the house now, if you've never had any you must try some. If you don't have it at your local grocer, send me an email and I'll give you a link to buy it online.

All my vietnamese and chinese friends use Sriracha chili sauce like ketchup. It really does go with anything, beef, poultry, soups, rice, heck they even put it on pizza! I use it on traditional american dishes too like macaroni and cheese. When making a box of Kraft mac and cheese, just mix the chili sauce in with the cheese and you won't believe how good it is...trust me.

I also eat salads 4 or 5 times a week. Almost any kind of pepper works good with salad. Sometimes I just add a couple of chopped up jalapenos or whatever canned peppers I have handy. Crushed red pepper is always an option and often I will add one of my habanero sauces to the dressing or just sprinkle it directly onto the vegetables. Any combination of the above is good too;)

Of course, being a guy in Texas, one of my favorite meals is plain old steak and potatoes. I found that a great, and I mean great way to marinate steak is with chipotles in adobo sauce. I'll take a can of chipotles in adobo sauce and throw the whole thing in the blender with a little liquid, either water or something acidic and let 'er rip. Pour a bunch of this in a baggie with your steaks and marinate them for a few hours, or overnite if you have time.

Oh man, I am getting hungry just thinking about that steak! Of course I still have some chopped jalapenos on the side to go with my steak and they always seem to find their way into my baked potato or mashed potatoes too. And of course if you like steak sauce, there are lots of spicy steak sauces on the market today, but try some of that Sriracha sauce on your steak too.

Well, I feel like I've been rambling for hours. These are just a few of my favorite hot and spicy cooking techniques. I'm sure you have many of your own, so please share them with me and let me know what your favorite peppers and sauces are too. I love to hear how you all make your meals spicy. In the next issue I'll share some of the best ideas with everyone.

Dinner Ideas

America's Most Wanted Recipes

Vote for Me!