Last weekend we had over our usual crew of friends for some food and as always, a few laughs. We try to get together every Saturday night if we can. I cook up some random recipes and they eat! I like to think of them as my “test subjects” because they always try out my new recipes and then let me know if their good or not.

I recently started to use more Grapeseed and Avocado oils to fry in since they are more healthy, and I think better tasting, than other oils. They are more expensive, but if you clean out the oil and store it in mason jars, you can reuse it and make it last longer.

I used this Avocado Oil (which has to be refrigerated once opened).

We were all shocked at how great the flavor of these plantain chips were. They were absolutely non-greasy, they didn’t even taste like they had been fried and they had a very clean flavor and taste to them. I saved the leftovers in a Ziploc bag and ate them the next day for a snack.

For the fried plantains you will need about 4 plantains, salt and enough oil to fill your skillet about 2 inches deep. Plantains are not quite as easy to peel as a banana, so this is the easiest way I found the prep them so that you can get all of the peel off.

Lay out the banana and cut off just below the tip on each side.

Then take your knife and, without cutting into the flesh of the fruit, make a slit down the length of the banana. Then peel off one side and then the other.

Cut the plantain in half and then your going to run it through a mandolin.

If you do not have a mandolin, you can use a knife. You just need to make sure that your slices are exactly the same width so that they cook evenly.

Once you have got them all cut, heat up the oil in your skillet to about 350 degrees. Drop in as many slices as you can fit in the skillet at once. Cook them for about 2-3 minutes per side, or until they as crispy as you want them.

Once they have finished frying, transfer them to paper towels and immediately salt them.

Fresh Guacamole

• 3 avocados
• 1 cup red onion, diced
• 1 medium tomato, diced
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped (depending on your taste)
• 1/2 lime, juiced
• salt and pepper, to taste

Take your avocado and lat it out on a cutting board. Then take your knife and for a minute pretend you are a ninja. Come on, you know you do this in secret from time to time…or, wait, maybe that is just me. Anyway, hold the avocado in one hand and take the knife in the other and slice it all the way around the whole avocado.

Then take your fingers on both sides of the cut and it should easy come right open into two pieces.

Then bust out your ninja skills again for a second. Your going to take the knife and smack it down into the seed of the avocado with a swift motion, so that the knife sticks in the seed and you can pop it right out.

Then just take a spoon and insert it right between the skin and the flesh and just scoop the flesh right out of there.

Put the avocado in a bowl and you can mash it up with a fork to whatever consistency you prefer. I normally use my pastry blender for this, it just seems easier to me than using a fork.

Once you get that mashed up, add the rest of the ingredients and stir until it is completely combined. Give it a taste and see if you need more salt.

You can serve this with these plantains, tortilla chips or even use it on your favorite tacos or fajitas.