I'm planning a birthday celebration for Jim tomorrow with a few friends. My brother is coming over to help me cook and we have pork carnitas, chipotle shrimp, and either carne asada or grilled chicken on the menu for tacos. He usually wants a yellow cake with chocolate frosting for his cake, but this year he's requested a lemon bundt cake that I made earlier this year. I'll have the recipe in the next issue of the magazine; it's moist and delicious. 

For the recipes this week, I have two that are super simple for a weeknight, and a decadent one that you'll need most of an afternoon to pull off. First up is a grilled salad-- shrimp, corn, avocado, and romaine with a tangy dressing. Serve it hot. Next up, a quick, easy take on buffalo chicken in the form of meatballs, with a sauce so good the developers swear you'll want to drink it. And finally, George Graham's insanely great take on stuffed peppers, kind of modeled after jalapeño poppers. Delicious!

Enjoy this week's recipes, stay cool, safe, and healthy, and, as always, let me know what's on your mind. 

Laissez les bon temps rouler!

Susan Ford, Publisher and Editorial Director
Louisiana Kitchen & Culture

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Grilled Shrimp, Corn, and Avocado Salad

I can eat a salad like this for dinner on a hot summer day several times a week. This recipe is from The Outdoor Cook by America's Test Kitchen; the only thing I'd change would be to sprinkle the romaine halves with a little salt and grill them to char slightly before chopping them. Delicious.

Buffalo Chicken Meatballs

If you have a buffalo chicken lover in your family, put this easy recipe into the hopper. From the cookbook by the popular food blog Delish.com, the headnote on this recipe states that the blog editors think this is the best meatball recipe they have, and advise you to double the sauce portion, because it's that good.

Stuffed Bell Popper

This recipe from Fresh from Louisiana by George Graham is a weekend project, but well worth your time. Mashed potatoes go into the bottom of each hollowed out pepper, then they're stuffed nearly full with a highly seasoned ground meat mixure, it's topped with cheese, more meat, and then a layer of bacon. Toward the end you'll glaze each pepper with pepper jelly to finish it off.