I love fresh Farmer’s Market tomatoes. Sweet and flavorful – these make a perfect little side dish, though I could just eat a bunch of them and call it a meal…

ingredients:
6 small tomatoes on the vine
2/3 cup parmesan cheese
1 clove garlic, minced
1-2 Tablespoons olive oil
salt
pepper

Wash and dry the tomatoes and take them off the vine. Cut off the tops and scoop out a small bit of the juicy part. Then slice a small bit of the bottom so that they stand up by themselves. We don’t want these bad boys to roll away!

Place them in a mini cupcake pan. This is perfect for holding them in place!

In a small bowl combine the parmesan, garlic and season with salt and pepper. Add the olive oil a little at a time, until you get a nice paste.

Place the parm mix on top of the tomatoes.

Broil in the top rack of your oven for 2 minutes. Serve!

The crispy, warm cheese is a perfect match to the acidy tomatoes. A lovely summer treat~!

Sometimes I build entire meals around side dishes. This salad is fresh and crunchy and a great accompaniment to Root Beer Pulled Pork, a great summer meal. What. It’s still winter? Phooey.

ingredients:
1 bag broccoli slaw
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
Juice of one lemon
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Tablespoon sesame oil
2 Tablespoons cider vinegar
Salt
pepper

Sure you could make your own slaw, no biggie, but since I happened upon this bag from TJ’s I went for it.

Combine the brown sugar, mustard, lemon, olive oil, sesame oil and cider vinegar. Toss with the slaw, season with salt and pepper.

The first time I saw lomi salmon I thought it was salsa. A common mistake. I mean tomatoes, onions, green onions…What. There’s salmon in there? Yep…

ingredients:
1/2 pound salted salmon
4 large tomatoes, diced
4 stalks green onion, chopped
1 medium onion, diced

You can make your own salted salmon but you can also find it in stores pre-made. I just make sure I soak it in a pan of water for 3+ hours to release some of the salt.

Rinse the salmon and pat dry. Remove the skin and bones. Now most people shred the salmon, but I chop mine into small chunks. It’s your call.

In a medium bowl toss the salmon with the diced tomatoes, diced onion and chopped green onion. Serve COLD.

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)
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

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!