Tako Tacos

The inspiration for this came from always seeing, but not ordering tako poke when I order my ahi poke... And the fun name! In this recipe I used tako poke / already marinated octopus, as I figured they've already added some spices that will taste good. I used rice and some cabbage for some diversity of textures. And added additional spices and soy sauce to taste. This is good when the rice is warm, but other items are cold.

Ingredients:

Taco shells
Chuka iidako (whole baby octopus)
Tako poke
Spicy tako poke
Shoyu soy sauce
Nori Komi furikake
Ichimi togarashi
Seaweed
White rice
Brown rice
Shredded cabbage

Directions:
Place all ingredients in separate containers and build your tako taco to your liking. Add seasonings as needed. Enjoy!

In 3 taco photo (L to R): tako poke with seaweed, white rice, and some furikake and togarashi; white rice, cabbage, chuka iidako and shoyu; brown rice, seaweed, togarashi, furikake and spicy tako poke.

Banana Rice

This is just a little change-up for those of you who like oatmeal and bananas for breakfast. Today instead of using oatmeal, I used last night's white rice!

Ingredients:
Rice
Banana
Brown sugar

Directions:
Combine rice and banana in bowl. Stir / mash the bananas and rice until your desired chunkiness has been achieved. Sprinkle the top with brown sugar ad microwave for 2-3 minutes until the sugar has melted.

Maybe toss in some raisins? Yum.

V8 Barley Soup

Ingredients:

1 cup dried pearl barley
1 cup rice
1/2 cup peas
1/2 cup corn
1/2 cup chopped mushrooms
salt
pepper
dried basil
12 oz V8 juice
water
chives

Directions:
Put about 4 cups water into large pot. Boil and add barley and a few pinches of salt. This should cook for about 30 minutes to soften the barley. Add rice and cook for another 10-15 minutes or so, until rice and barley are al dente, or almost done. Add about 10 grinds of fresh pepper, 3-4 shakes of basil and the vegetables. Add more water as needed or boil it off to create the consistency you desire. More water will be more soup-like, or if you boil more off, it will be a thicker stew. Once you have your desired thickness, stir in the V8 and cook a minute or so more to make sure everything's heated.

garnish with fresh chives, and salt & pepper to taste

Kidney Shrimp Rice Potato... gumbo?

1 cup rice
1 cup water
3 med red potatoes or 2 large red potatoes, boiled
1 can kidney beans
1/2 can coconut milk
2 cups precooked/tail-removed shrimp

cover potatoes with water and boil in a pot for about 20 minutes, or until fork tender. remove from water and put in bowl. chop up the potatoes with a fork. don't mash them but cut them up so that they are bite-sized / chunky or so.

cook the rice in a pot. add rice and water cook covered over med-high heat for about 5 minutes or until water is all absorbed. stir a bit to keep to keep the rice from sticking to the bottom.

keeping the rice in the pot, add kidney beans (juice and all), potatoes, shrimp and coconut milk. stir to combine and keep on warm/low heat to keep warm.

you might add some salt and pepper to taste, but its surprisingly tasty as-is.