Sushi

An easy appetizer to make at home; the hardest part is finding somewhere that sells sashimi-grade seafood! This is based on a dish from my favorite sushi place here in Denver. I could eat a ton of this!

Ingredients:
Sashimi-grade tuna
Fresh, thinly-sliced jalapenos
Coarsely-chopped cilantro
Bottle of ponzu sauce

Slice the tuna into thin strips and arrange on a plate or tray. Pour the ponzu sauce over the tuna; garnish with jalapeno and cilantro. Serve!

Parmesan Crisps

This is a good, easy snack that I use in place of chips.  I love to eat these with a good pesto - my fave is sun-dried tomato with the rosemary crisps!

Ingredients:

--Parmesan cheese (I also blended some asiago in here)

--Various herbs for seasoning (I used cayenne, coarse-ground black pepper, and rosemary)

1.  Preheat the oven to 300F.

2.  Shred the parmesan cheese (and asiago, if you're using it).

3.  Take a tablespoon-sized amount and spread thinly on a baking pan covered in parchment paper.  (The thicker the mound, the chewier the finished product will be - I like mine to be a little holey when it's finished.)

4.  Sprinkle the top with the seasoning.

5.  Bake for 5-6 minutes or until the cheese is melted and gooey.  Cool parchment paper on wire racks until completely cooled and crispy.

She's gone country

Hey y'all,

This is my most favorite BBQ side dish -- easy and delicious. I made it for a BBQ I am going to today. I Laurelize it up a little bit by using sweet & spicy Southwestern-style mustard or spicy dijon to add kick but it's good no matter what kind of dijon you use. To cut back on cals you can skip the "add bacon grease" to dressing option and use light mayo. But don't skip the bacon altogether, that's just not very Texan :-)

Texas Country Potato Salad (a la Paula Deen)

Ingredients

6 strips bacon

1 pound small red potatoes, unpeeled

2 green onions, sliced

1 boiled egg, chopped

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Salt and pepper

Directions

Cook bacon until crispy. Drain, reserving a few tablespoons of the grease, and crumble. Set aside.

Slice potatoes into bite size pieces and place in a large saucepan. Cover with cold water. Add some salt and place over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil and cook until the potatoes are tender, about 15 to 20 minutes. Drain and let the potatoes cool

In a separate bowl, mix mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, few tablespoons of bacon grease, salt, and pepper for dressing.

Toss potatoes, onion, and egg in dressing. Add bacon. Serve chilled.