Inari is so versatile, you can fill it the traditional sushi way with rice or you can fill it with pork or stir fry, but I like it this way – with noodles!

ingredients:
1 bundle somen noodles
1/2 cup char siu sliced in thins strips
1 egg, fried crepe style & sliced in thin strips
1/2 cup kamaboko sliced in strips
1 stalk green onion, chopped
2 T sugar
2 T sesame oil
2 T vegetable oil
1 T rice wine vinegar
2 T soy sauce
1 tsp mirin
1 package aburage aka tofu pouches

Boil somen for according to package for just two minutes, rinse and drain. Set aside.

You can get canned aburage, but I like these in the refrigerated section the best. Boil the aburage package according to directions, set aside.

In a small bowl combine the sugar, sesame oil, vegetable oil, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce and mirin.

In a large bowl toss the somen noodles with the cut char siu, eggs, kamaboko and green onion. Pour the sauce on top.

Stuff the aburage pouches with the noodle mixture. Chill and serve!

The kids love this, both as a main dish and a side. It’s a great cool recipe for the summer!

The Baby LOVES pluots, and right now they are in season and plentiful. Since we go to the farmer’s market every week, I picked up a few ‘Black Splendor’ pluots, which are nice and dark, as well as some mango-flavored nectarines – and made up a quick fruit salsa…

ingredients:
3 pluots
2 nectarines
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup red onion, chopped small
juice of 1/2 a lime
salt
pepper
cayenne

I used ‘close to ripe’ fruit here, because I didn’t want the salsa to become mush. So the fruits were nice and crunchy when I chopped them up for the salsa.

Black Splendor pluots are nice and dark, and pair nicely with the beautifully yellow nectarines.

Dice the pluots and nectarines and place them in a bowl. Add the garlic, red onion and lime juice.

The reason I didn’t put measurements for the seasonings here is because I feel like everyone likes their fruit salsa to taste. Some prefer it on the sweeter side, some a little spicy. The cayenne adds a nice balance to the fresh fruit. Whatever you like, add the salt, pepper and cayenne to taste. Stir well.

Let the salsa come together a bit by keeping it in a sealed container in the fridge and giving it a stir once you are ready to serve. You can serve this with chips, but it also goes great with meat right off the grill!

This is the simplest recipe and the best for a party appetizer – it just adds a little something extra to plain ol’ edamame. It’s not that spicy trust me – from someone who doesn’t care for spicy things – but you can always adjust it to taste.

ingredients:
1 package frozen edamame
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon Ichimi Togarashi
1 teaspoon sugar

Ichimi Togarashi is a dry Japanese chili pepper – you’ve probably seen the little red topped bottles in more ramen restaurants next to the salt and pepper. it’s a shakeable condiment that you can find in Japanese grocery stores.

In a small bowl combine the salt, ichimi togarashi and sugar. Stir well and set aside.

Boil edamame according to package, drain. Blot them dry with paper towels, just a bit – then sprinkle the seasoning on top.

Serve it and act like you worked really hard to make it.

More side dishes for the Fried Chicken Face Off. Again, wanting to keep the side dishes light – I made a quick romaine salad but wanted to kick it up a bit. Since I had ALLLLL that leftover bread from making Star Wars sandwiches, I knew that making croutons would be the best bet. So easy you won’t ever want to buy croutons again.

ingredients:
8 slices ‘day old’ bread
3-1/2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon Garlic Salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Cut the bread into bite sized cubes. In a large bowl, toss the bread with the olive oil, parmesan cheese, garlic salt and pepper.

Evenly pour out the cubes onto a lined baking sheet.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until browned. If the bread is still a little soft inside, leave the pan out to cool and let the bread dry out.

Serve immediately and save the rest in an airtight container.

You know who the real winner of the Fried Chicken Face Off, was? The CORN SALAD. I wanted to make ‘light’ side dishes so as not to compete with the greaz-i-ness of the fried chicken. This corn salad was perfection. Adapted from an Ina Garten recipe – per the usual, it was fantastic. Minimal ingredients, AMAZING flavor.

ingredients:
4 cups of cooked corn (cut off the cob, or thawed from frozen)
1/2 cup red onion, diced small
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
3 tablespoons good olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried basil

If you don’t want to use fresh corn, frozen works just fine. I used half yellow corn and half sweet white corn which added not only flavor but lovely colors.

In a small bowl combine the cider vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper and basil. Whisk to combine.

In a large bowl toss the corn and red onions with the dressing.

That’s it? YES THAT’S IT. So simple, you won’t believe how great this tastes.

For Mother’s Day we had a ‘Rib Taste Test.’ Everyone brought ribs from different restaurants and we decided who’s cuisine reigned supreme.

O.G. insisted that we cannot live on ribs alone and that I needed to bring a side dish. So I made these potatoes, which of course she refused to eat because she was ‘full of ribs.’ (I forced her to try one later. She loved them.)

ingredients:
6 potatoes
One slab bacon
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

First I bake the potatoes like I always do. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prep a baking sheet with a wire rack on top.

Wash the potatoes, dry them – rub them with olive oil and some kosher salt. Place them on the rack on the baking sheet. Bake for 1 hour.

While the potatoes are baking, slice up and fry your bacon – crumble into small pieces and set aside.

When the potatoes come out, let them cool for about 10 mins. Slice them in half lengthwise and scoop out the inside of the potatoes.

Now, I like to leave a little protective ’shell’ of potato when I do this, it holds the filling a little better. It kinda looks like a shoe…

Put all the scooped out potato into a large bowl. Add 3/4 of the crumbled bacon, the 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, milk, butter and then season with the salt and pepper.

Mix it together well, I like to use a masher. It keeps it smooth but doesn’t cream it into oblivion. Now scoop the filling into each of the ’shells’ and put them on a lined baking sheet.

Let’s go over the top now. Are you ready? On top of the stuffing, add the leftover bacon and the 1/4 cup of cheese evenly on each potato.

Put them back in the 350 degree oven for 15 minutes. Then you’re ready to serve.

You’ll get a nice warm, crazy delicious side dish….OR for extra excitement, serve this as a MAIN dish with guacamole and salsa. Trust me. It’s the best.

I made this to go with Red Roasted Chicken Tacos, the fresh corn adds the perfect bite to the soft tacos. Or you can just eat it straight out of the bowl while you are watching The Amazing Race…I certainly won’t judge you.

ingredients:
2 avocados, quartered, seeded and peeled
2 ears of fresh roasted corn (recipe, here)
1/2 cup chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup onion, chopped small
2 cloves garlic, chopped
juice of one lime
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste

Fresh roasted corn off the cob is the best – sweet and creamy, it not only tastes great on it’s own but adds so much to recipes. Take the cob and simply cut down the sides, not going too deep, just far enough to get all that corn-y goodness.

Add the corn to the avocados, tomatoes, onions, garlic and lime juice. Mash it together to your liking. Some people like it chunky, others totally mashed. I’m sure there’s a psych eval in there somewhere about what you like better.

Add the cayenne, salt and pepper. You need to taste it once you add the seasonings to get it just how you like it. Stir it up a bit more and you’re ready to roll!

The Baby adores Spanish Rice and asks for it regularly. This is really quick to make, and you can use it as a side or even a main dish.

ingredients:
1-1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1-1/2 cups uncooked white rice
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup water
2 diced tomatoes
1 Tablespoon tomato paste
1-1/2 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1-1/2 teaspoons salt

Heat the olive oil in pan over medium high heat. Saute onions and garlic until soft.

Add the rice, heat and stir until that softens a bit as well..

Pour in the chicken stock and water. Now add the tomatoes and the tomato paste. Let me clue you in on a little trick. If you have a small can of tomato paste and you have leftovers, I like to freeze dollops of the stuff by the Tablespoonful. That way you can just defrost it one Tablespoon at a time as needed for your recipes.

Add the chili powder, cumin and salt. Cover, and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the rice is cooked and liquid has evaporated.

Fluff it up and serve. This recipe is Baby approved.

Over the weekend Darlene (of My Burning Kitchen) and I went to a California Avocado event at Ciudad, hosted by two of my favorite chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger, the Too Hot Tamales. I remember watching them on tv back before there was even a Food Network!

At the event they made us do a Top Chef style Quick-Fire challenge, sort of an homage to the fact that Susan is on the current season of Top Chef Masters. Darlene and I and other pairs had to come up with our ’signature’ guacamole in exactly FIVE minutes using a large buffet of ingredients…

Squid ink, anyone? Darlene and I quickly scanned the foods and decided to come up with a guacamole using fresh fruit focusing on pomegrante.

I am now even MORE of a fan of Top Chef, because developing a recipe on the fly AND making it in just under 5 minutes is ridiculous! We were chopping ingredients, running around like crazy – it was insanity. Cooking under pressure is no fun.

We were judged on the best guacamole and the best named guacamole and believe it or not…we won!…best name. Ha! Good enough for me. Our guac incorporated fresh fruit with a sprinkling of pomegrantes so we named it POM-OCADO…MOLE! Catchy, right? Hey, whatever, we won.

So here’s our recipe…

ingredients:
2 ripe avocados, peeled and seeded
1 banana
zest of half an orange
juice of half a lime
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
1/2 cup diced tomato
1 cup pomegrante seeds
salt
pepper

In a large bowl mash together the avocados and the banana. The banana will mix together nicely and the the guac a bit of subtle texture.

Add the orange zest, lime juice, red onion and tomato. Stir to combine.

Add in the pomegrante seeds, season generously with salt and pepper.

It was a fantastic event and I hope Susan wins it ALL on Top Chef Masters – go Susan!!

Bacon? Yes. Hot sauce? Yes, please. What SoCal family doesn’t have a stash of Tapatio in their fridge? Well, you should. It’s not as hot as Tabasco, and adds just the right kick. Feel the burn indeed.

ingredients:
6 eggs
2 slices of bacon
2 Tablespoons mayonnaise
1 Tablespoon pickle relish
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 Tablespoons Tapatio hot sauce

First cook the bacon (I use the oven – recipe here) until crispy. Let drain, then crumble and set aside for later.

On to the eggs! Carefully place your eggs in a pan. 6 will fit in a saucepan, you are going to slice them in half eventually to get 12 to serve. Gently cover the eggs with about 1-2 inches of water.

Bring the pot to a boil – obviously watch it, don’t go far it will be boiling before you know it. Once it reaches a boil, turn the heat OFF. Cover with a lid, and let it sit there for 12 minutes.

Prep a bowl filled halfway with ice water, set aside. When the 12mins are up, drain the eggs and place them in the ice water to cool. Keep them in the fridge til you are ready to use them.

Once the eggs are cooled crack and shell them. If there are little pieces of shell stuck I like to run the egg under water and then dab it with a paper towel.

Cut the boiled eggs in half. Pop out the yolks into a small bowl, set the whites aside.

In the yolk bowl add the mayo, relish, onion powder, paprika, lemon zest, salt and pepper.

Using a small spoon scoop the yolk filling back into the egg white pockets. Top with the crumbled bacon, then add a few drops or five – of Tapatio sauce.

These are deviled eggs with a little something extra, your party will never be the same.