I am a big foodie and over the years I've grown to love the art of cooking. I don't do anything over the top or fancy enough to be considered an advanced chef or anything. I'd like to think my food is very good though. I made a soup and appetizer last night. It was so delicious in my opinion, that I need to share my "recipe" with you all. I did not follow a recipe online, I just threw stuff together and prayed it would work and it did! I suppose that is how all recipes come to be. Experimentation and word of mouth or experience. Unfortunately, I was not planning for this to be so successful so some of the measurements are not exact but you can add or subtract til you get the desired flavor.

Before I share with you the recipe & the instructions on how to make these delicious items,
I would like to tease you with some photos I took once everything finished cooking.

Prepare to experience some mouth-watering food porn.

A post shared by Kayla Teets (@kyraejenkins) on Mar 7, 2017 at 3:54pm PST

A post shared by Kayla Teets (@kyraejenkins) on Mar 7, 2017 at 3:53pm PST

If you enjoyed these photos, feel free to follow me on instagram @kyraejenkins for more food porn and such!

Now that I've teased you and spammed you with my social media plugging, let's recipe it up!

The ingredients you will need:

Feel free to optimize or substitute any of the ingredients to suit your diet, allergies, or taste palette!

Italian Sausage & Cabbage Soup - Yields 2 - 3 servings

Exact Measurements:
6 cups water
4 tsp of Herb Ox No Sodium Chicken Broth Powder
1/2 onion
1 head of broccoli
10 baby carrots
7 - 10 napa cabbage leaves
1 tbsp minced garlic
3 sweet italian sausages

Guestimated Measurements
a splash of Sesame Oil
4 - 6 shakes of garlic salt (added since the broth has no sodium - adjust to your needs)
4 - 6 shakes of korean red pepper flakes (spicy - adjust to your needs)
many sprinkles of table salt (til you get the desired saltiness of your broth)

Bacon Covered Stuffed Jalapeños - Yields 20 pieces

Exact Measurements:
1 box of Hormel Cooked Bacon
1 tub of Philadelphia Whipped Chive Cream Cheese
1/3 cup of Kraft Shredded Cheddar
10 large jalapeños

Pre-cooking Preparation:

Wash your vegetables then proceed to:

• chop your broccoli into smaller pieces
• dice 1/2 onion
• cut carrots into quarters down long length wise
• stack your cabbage portions and cut them into long strips
• cut your jalapeños at the end to avoid the spice from spreading to other ingredients! 
• cut the jalapeños in half so you get little boats
• scoop the seeds & middle out of the peppers
• wash your  jalapeño halves and dry them

Wash your hands immediately after handling the peppers before handling other food items and/or touching your face. Pepper juice does not feel good in your eyes!

Get a large pot & a small pot
Fill the small pot up with enough water to cover your italian sausages
Fill the large pot up with 6 cups of water

Cooking Instructions:

Place your italian sausages into the small pot
Turn small pot up to medium-high heat and bring to a boil

Pour your chicken broth powder, sesame oil, pepper flakes, minced garlic, garlic salt, table salt, and your carrots into the large pot and turn the burner to medium-high and bring to a boil

Pre-heat your oven to 400○F

Boil the soup for 15 minutes then reduce heat to medium low for 20 minutes to soften the carrots and strengthen the broth flavor. Some of your water will cook down but I personally prefer a smaller broth to solid ratio so adjust to suit your tastes!

Dump your cream cheese and shredded cheese into a bowl and stir them together then cut your bacon strips in halves. The bacon is already fully cooked and will get crispy and hot in the oven.
Take a spoon and scoop your cream cheese mixture onto the pepper boats and spread evenly. Once all of your peppers are filled, take your bacon strips (you should have started with 10 and will end up with 20+ if you cut them in half!) Set your stuffed peppers onto a pan lined with some aluminum foil paper, parchment paper, or a non-stick pan etc... Set them off to the side while your oven is pre-heating!
When your sausages look to be mostly done, go ahead and throw your pepper boats into the oven on the middle rack and set a timer for 15 - 20 minutes or until the cream cheese begins to turn a light golden color.

When your sausages are done cooking, take them off the burner and drain them and allow them to cool. Remember to turn the burner off to prevent injury! After they have cooled you may now cut them into medallions and put them into your soup broth mixture.

At this point you should taste your broth and make any final adjustments to the flavor, spiciness, saltiness, etc... If you are content with the flavor, go ahead and add your cabbage, broccoli, and onions.

Bring the burner up to a medium heat and stir your soup occasionally.

Your dinner and appetizer should finish roughly around the same time!

I hope you make this recipe and I hope you enjoy it. Tweet me @kyraejenkins and share your recipe photos and let me know what adjustments you made and if it made it better or worse!

Happy cooking everyone. :)