This is a great quick dinner that you can throw together in the morning and come home to without a care in the world. Warm and flavorful, you’ll look forward to dinner being fully prepared!

ingredients:
8 chicken thighs
1 onion, chopped
6-8 tomatoes cubed
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon oregano
14 ounces chicken broth
1 cup water

Fresh tomatoes straight from the garden make a world of difference. I know not everyone has access to that – but wow, the flavors are amazing. Luckily a little Fairy dropped off an abundance of them on my doorstep.

Place the chicken thighs in the bottom of the crock pot. Add the diced onion, minced garlic and then the tomatoes.

Sprinkle the onion powder, salt, pepper and oregano on top.

Pour the chicken broth and the water along the side of the crock pot wall, carefully not to disturb your spices too much.

Cover and cook and low for 8 hours. Serve this over rice.

The smell of this cooking all day will fill your house with deliciousness. My kids love the fact that the chicken is so soft and moist. A great meal with virtually no prep or clean up!

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.

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.

The simplest dinners are the ones that always seem to get the kids to jump for joy. A quick trip to the Farmer’s Market and you’re ready to roll. Tangerines, guacamole from fresh avocados, strawberries and fresh roasted corn! Corn is so sweet right now you can just roast it in the oven, with very little prep and very little seasoning.

When you buy your corn in husk, open it just a touch to make sure it’s not WORM EATEN. I know, barf. That is rare, but I still like to check. Normally if you find that one is good, the whole batch will be good, just sayin’.

Now some people soak their corn, which is fine but I rarely have the time. So just crank up the oven and thrown ‘em in.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees – place the corn right there on your oven rack for 35 minutes.

Take it out – be careful – these things are blazing hot. Carefully pull back the husks, and add butter, salt, cheese, whatever you’d like, but honestly, it doesn’t even need it. It should be sweet and creamy, right off the cob!

The Kid insisted we sign up for a one day Parent/Child cooking class at school. It was mostly nutrition and assembly, frankly he’s done more sous chef-ing on his own at home, but he loved it and he immediately wanted to show the Baby what we had made.

These are very simple veggie rolls, mostly using what was in my pantry, but they are easily adaptable and so easy for kids to put together themselves.

ingredients:
tortillas
hummus
cream cheese
shredded carrots
sliced tomatoes
sliced bell peppers
Sliced cucumbers
cheese
olives
lettuce

Spread the tortilla with either hummus or cream cheese (or both).

Layer in the veggies.

Roll from one end, tightly. Poke with a toothpick for support and cut in half.

The kids had so much fun making their own dinner and the Kid who just loves vegetables thought these were the best things ever. However…the Baby refused to eat it unless I threw some ham in there. So veggie – not quite, but still delicious!

We took the ‘Class Bear‘ to the Farmer’s Market and I told the kids to pick out what they wanted and I’d make it for dinner.

The Kid chose a blue potato. The Baby chose a red potato. ~sigh~ Sometimes I feel like I’m on a candid camera episode of Iron Chef. Here’s what I came up with.

ingredients:
5 strips of bacon
3 blue potatoes
3 red potatoes
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
salt
pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Cut the bacon into small pieces and cook until crispy. Drain and set aside.

Wash and cut the potatoes into small chunks about 1″ in size.

In a medium sized bowl toss the potatoes in the garlic and olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Pour the potatoes evenly into a baking dish greased or lined with non-stick foil. Bake for 40 minutes.

Test with a fork to make sure the potatoes are soft, them out of the oven and sprinkle with the crispy bacon pieces and serve. I mean really. What doesn’t taste better with bacon? Who knows what the kids will pick for my next Iron Chef: Farmer’s Market task…

This makes a great side dish and is done on the stove in no time flat.

ingredients:
2 potatoes
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
salt
pepper

Peel and rinse potatoes. Chop into small 1/2″-3/4″ pieces.

In a large skillet heat olive oil, add the garlic and the shallot. Cook until the shallot starts to soften.

Add the potatoes, cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper.

Cook for another 10 minutes until the potatoes start to crisp up and brown, season again with salt and pepper.

This was part of the ‘Cajun Birthday Lunch’
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Once again John Besh to the rescue. His My New Orleans cookbook has a gorgeous recipe for Crabmeat stuffed tomatoes. I simplified it because cooking the tomatoes seemed unecessary – here in Los Angeles the Romas are near perfection year ’round so I figured why not accentuate that.

ingredients:
6 ripe Roma tomatoes
1/2 cup mayonaisse
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon Creole seasoning (recipe here)
2 cups jumbo lump crab meat

Wash the tomatoes and slice them in half. Using a spoon scoop out the insides so you get a nice little cup.

Turn the tomato cups over onto paper towels to dry out.

In a bowl combine the mayonaisse, lemon juice, dijon and the crab meat. Add the creole spices and stir to combine.

Turn the tomato cups over and fill with the crab salad.

This makes a great party dish, it looks good and has it’s own serving dish!

This was part of the ‘Cajun Birthday Lunch’
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When I made plain old Tater Tots, I didn’t think they could get any better. But this is it. THIS. IS. IT! These came out so good, I made them for the Cajun lunch and they were WIPED OUT – totally gone by the end of the party. I will admit, I used my fryer this time and they came out extra crispy and delicious!

ingredients:
2 sweet potatoes
2 russet potatoes
1/3 cup milk
2 Tablespoons butter
1/4 cup sour cream
kosher salt
pepper

1-1/2 cups flour
kosher salt
pepper
paprika
3 eggs
2 Tablespoons milk
1-1/2 cups panko

oil
Creole seasoning (recipe here)

Set a pot of water to start boiling. Peel and wash the potatoes. Cut them into cubes and put them in the heating pot of water. Once it starts to boil, let them cook for 12-15 minutes until soft.

Drain the potatoes and transfer to the bowl of an electric mixer. Add the milk, butter and sour cream to the potatoes. Mix until just combined. Don’t go overboard or you will just get a gummy mess.

Start to heat up your oil in the fryer. If you don’t have a fryer, start up your skillet on the stove.

If the mixture is a little soft, place it in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Then you should be able to start forming them into tots. Using a small scoop make a small sized ball of potato and form it into a tater tot (i.e. marshmallow-ish but smaller) shape, set aside.

Once your tots are formed you can now set up your frying line. In one dish put the flour, salt, pepper and paprika. Stir to combine. The second dish whisk the eggs with the milk. The third dish set up the panko.

Dredge it in the flour first, making sure you tap off all the excess. This is the KEY to making any kind of fry coating stick. (That’s what O.G. told me was her secret anyway).

Then dip it into the egg mixture, again not too heavy on the egg. Then finally the panko.

Set the little Tots into their oil bath. I found that 8 minutes or so gives you a nice crispy texture, which made a world of difference.

Once browned let them drain and cool on a wire rack. While they are cooling I just sprinkle them with a touch of Creole seasoning, this is optional, it just adds a nice kick if you like.

These are so good. Crispy outside, with a nice creamy center. By using half potato and half sweet potato it gave these tots the perfect combination and texture.

These are fairly quick to make, you can even do the mash and form the tots the day before you serve them. Just keep them in the fridge and do the dredging when you are ready to eat!