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I really love tomatillos, so when they are in season and cheap I stock up. Here is a super simple sweet tomatillo recipe that is really easy to make and doesn’t require a ton of ingredients – just chicken, tomatillos, and rice.

Serves 2

• 10-12 tomatillos
• 4 chicken thighs (organic will taste better – costco has cheaper organic chicken)
• 1-2 cups of brown rice

1. Cook your rice per instructions (usually 1 part rice to 2 parts water). I like to bring the rice to a boil and immediately turn down to low. Then remove the lid half way through to get a dryer rice. If you like wetter sticky rice leave the lid on.
2. Cut tomatillos into little chunks and put in pan on med-high. Get some color on them, add 1/2 cup of water and turn on low. The more they caramelize and cook down, the sweeter they will be.
3. Add chicken after about 5 minutes and season everything with salt and pepper. Bring temp back up to medium, once they get a little color then turn back to med low. Let the mixture cook for 20 minutes on medium low. If they start to burn, add more water. water is your friend.
4. Serve on rice.

I know it sounds simple, but my brother cooks the best hash browns and eggs, and I’m gonna reveal his secrets. For the hash browns, you need to grate fresh potato. Add oil to a pan and bring it up to medium temp. Rule #1: DON’T OVERCROWD THE PAN. If your making 2 servings, make two little neat piles by sprinkling the flakes into the pan. Don’t press a huge blob together or it will be too dense. You want to be able to crisp the outside and have it cook the inside.

Rule #2: DON’T TOUCH THEM. Just set the temp on medium-low and let them get crispy. Make sure your heat isn’t too high or they will burn. If you turn them too early, it will probably stick because the potatoes haven’t had time to crisp and release from the pan. Flip once crispy and cook the other side until golden brown.

For the eggs, add a touch of water to the pan before putting the eggs in. 3-4 tablespoons of water will poach the egg slightly and then evaporate by the time the egg is done. This will give you a nice juicy egg that wont dry out or stick.

I love tomatillo salsa. Here is a recipe that is very sweet and simple to make. It would also be perfect for an enchilada sauce.

• 20 tomatillos
• 2 california peppers
• 2 yellow peppers (not bell pepper)
• 1 lime
• 1/2 bunch of cilantro

1. Chop tomatillos into quarters
2. Add tomatillos and peppers to a pan on high and slightly burn for 5 minutes. You want a nice char here and there.
3. Turn pan to low and simmer for 20-30 min until everything becomes very soft and the peppers are flimsy. Cooking the tomatillos like this will make them very sweet.
4. Add mixture to blender with chopped cilantro and lime juice and blend.
5. Add salt and pepper to taste

One thing I learned from Jamie Oliver’s Italy book is that you can stray from the traditional bruschetta as far as you want. If someone decides to harsh your vibe and says “that’s not bruschetta” then just call it an open face sandwich. Whatever you call it, if you put a delicious combo of ingredients on very well made bread it will be good. Get some rustic bread and try it. Just don’t get caught up in what all the traditional recipes tell you. Make it your own. Here’s one of mine.

1. Add chopped onions, sliced tomatoes, and asparagus to a pan and let cook on low until caramelized
2. Add a splash of balsamic vinegar
3. Roughly slice garlic and add it to another pan with a good amount of olive oil
4. Put bread in the pan and flip to coat both sides with the garlic oil
5. Toast in the pan on med low
6. Put your favorite cheese on the bread (I used Raw Sheep Roquefort from Trader Joe’s)
7. Top it with the tomato, onion, and asparagus
8. Serve with a simple side salad with a dressing of olive oil and lemon juice.
9. Easy.

I’ve always been a fan of banana bread, but there’s only so many times I can eat the same old hyper-sweet white flour recipe that’s been around since the 1960′s (hyper is the key word -  this recipe wont give you diabetes). This led me to modernize banana bread and bring it up to speed with the latest health trends. Here is my tweaked out version concocted for flavor and health. High fiber and moist. Mellow flavor. Very rich with a subtle sweet much like a cornbread. I’m convinced you’ll like this. Try it.

• 1/2 cup coconut oil (or vegetable oil)
• 2 eggs
• 3 extra ripe bananas (darker the better)
• 1  1/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup ground flaxseed
• 1/2 cup ground toasted buckwheat (or any ground nut)
• 1/2 cup ground chia seeds
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 3/4 tsp aluminum free baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Blend together eggs, coconut oil, honey, sugar, molasses, vanilla, and bananas in a food processor. It’s also nice to leave small chunks of banana.
3. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients.
4. Add wet mixture.
5. Pour in a small loaf pan greased with coconut oil and dusted with flour.
6. Bake 40 minutes

I recently went to Red Blossom Tea Company in San Francisco to get some good teas, and they told me a really cool method of brewing green tea. Going with the rule of the hotter the water, the shorter the brewing time; she said you can brew tea at room temperature for 6-8 hours without it getting bitter. Green tea shouldn’t be bitter at all if brewed correctly. Most of us us have been served brutally bitter green tea from unnamed establishments (Starbucks) that has been boiled for 5 minutes, and then you can’t drink it for another 10 minutes because its still boiling hot, which causes it to get even more bitter! I digress. Most green teas should be brewed at 160-175 degrees for at most 1-2 minutes. This way you don’t burn the tea, and it’s drinkable in its prime brew period.

This brings me to cold brewing. Since cold water doesn’t burn the tea, you can cold brew green teas for 6-8 hours and it will be very smooth and retain the unique qualities of the tea. I’m playing around with the idea of using a mason jar with a pea sprout lid (Here is the Amazon Link). This way I can brew, pour it in my glass, and refill all day until the tea is used up. Its a great drink for the entire day. Very mild and can be sweet if you use a tea like jasmine. Just don’t let it sit for longer than 8 hours at a time, or it could get bitter.

Please try some really nice organic teas from a place like Red Blossom Tea Company, redblossomtea.com. They might seem expensive, but let me explain. Loose leaf teas can be more expensive than tea bags BUT you get 4-5 infusions out of a single serving. Since tea bags are lower quality blends of tea, they can only be infused ONCE. So you can basically quadruple the price of tea bags, and now compare it to loose leaf teas. They are also sold by the once, but one ounce goes a very long way if brewed properly.

Fun Fact: The first infusion from a loose leaf green tea is caffeinated. All other brews after that are decaff. If you see decaf green tea, its because they just brewed it once and sold it to you. If you are sensitive to caffeine, you could hot brew a cup in the morning for a mild caffeine boost. Then coldbrew the same tea after that for flavor without the caffeine.

I listen to speakers on TED every once in a while, and I thought Jaime Oliver’s talk was right on the money. If you don’t know about TED, and you’re into intellectual talks, you should check it out at www.ted.com.

When I go camping good food is a priority. In preparation and testing for a cool outdoor cookbook, my friend Shonna and I collaborated on a cool outdoor meal. We went to a sweet campsite outside of Joshua Tree, setup camp, and started cooking. The menu that night was veggie stuffed turkey breast with roasted tomatoes and quinoa.

First you have to butterfly out the turkey breast so you can stuff it. This is really easy once you get the hang of it and use a sharp knife. I’ll post a video later on how to do it, or just youtube it. You basically cut in half or in thirds lengthwise and pound it down to flatten it. This also shortens the cooktime.

Now spread some dijon mustard, add your garlic, asparagus, lemon, jalapenos, herbs and any other veg you want. Roll it up, spear it with a rosemary stem or bamboo skewer, and put it on the grill.

For the quinoa, simply cook per instructions, which is one cup of water to one cup of quinoa. Once it is cooked after about 15 min, add raisins, crushed walnuts, garlic, herbs, and olive oil. Roast the tomatoes for a very very very long time so they get nice and sweet, but don’t burn them.

Here is the list of ingredients for 4 people:

• 4 turkey or chicken breasts
• 2 cups quinoa
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup crushed walnuts
• 1 bundle of asparagus
• 2 tomatoes
• 1 lemon (DO NOT skip this -  It is very delicious in the recipe)
• As much garlic as you desire
• Dijon mustard
• Any collection of herbs you like
• Coconut oil (if you want to use in place of olive oil)
• Olive oil, salt, and pepper

My dad hooked me up with some really nice garlic he just picked from his garden. Freshly picked garlic is a whole new world of flavor. Picture what store bought garlic goes through before it reaches your house. First its probably grown in Fresno valley, then put into an open air truck bed and driven to a distribution center. It sits there for a while. Then it finally gets delivered to a store. Then it sits there again until you buy it. Since garlic keeps for a while, your probably buying really old garlic. With that said, freshly picked garlic is better. More flavor. More nutrients.

Plant your own. It’s super easy. Just plant the cloves a few inches apart, water, and wait 4-8 months. If you accidentally let garlic sprout, don’t throw it away – plant it. You can pick it early before it forms a bulb, and the flavor is amazing also.

Here is an easy recipe from my friend Shonna Steppe for homemade ranch dressing you can make and keep for the week. It’s super easy and it is a healthier alternative to store bought ranch. If you can’t understand the ingredients on the side of your food, why put it in your body. Here is a list of the ingredients. I think they are pretty easy to understand, but remember that no preservatives means it will go bad after 4-6 days. This is not your standard sit-in-the-fridge-for-7-months-and-still-be-edible dressing.

• 1 egg yolk
•  8oz Grapeseed or Olive Oil
• 1 T Dijon
• 1 teaspoon Lemon Juice
• 1 cup Greek Yogurt
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire
• 1 teaspoon Paprika
• 1 clove Garlic
• 1/8 cup Agave or Honey
• Pinch of Cayenne
• Salt and Pepper

Blend everything in a food processor or blender. Hand chop the chives and parsley and mix in by hand. One cool thing you can do to get nice thin pieces of carrot, zucchini, or cucumber is to use a peeler. This creates nice ribbons of veg. Chill before serving. Enjoy.