I had Koren food for the first time not that long ago, and the dish that I ordered was bulgogi.  I was in love.  I also thought that I could make it, and I did – it was fantastic!  We had pickled carrot & daikon and white rice with our bulgogi.  We bought our pickled carrot & daikon from the Asian market in Boulder, but have made it before, years ago (so maybe I have had Koren food before).  I’m not sure what recipe we used, so if you’d like to make your own just do a google search.

This serves 4.

Ingredients:

• 1-1.5 pounds of thinly sliced rib-eye or sirloin steak (slice across the grain in paper thin slices – partially freezing the beef helps with cutting clean slices).
• ⅓ cup of soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 tablespoons sesame oil
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• ¼ of a medium yellow onion, halved and sliced into medium moon shaped slivers
• 2 green onions including the white parts, finely sliced into small pieces
• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
• ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 2 pinches black pepper
• ¼ tablespoons of ginger, finely minced

1. Cook rice according to bag instructions.
2. Whisk all the ingredients, except for the beef and onions, together in a medium bowl. When most of the sugar has dissolved add the beef and onion slices to the bowl and massage the marinade with your hands into each slice of beef.
3. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.
4. Pan fry the beef by place a few slices of the beef in single layers and completely flat on a hot sesame oiled frying pan and fry each side until cooked.  (Some people like to cook the beef until some of the edges have turned dark brown and crispy)
5. Serve with a bowl of hot rice and pickled carrot and daikon.

I made this amazing tomato gallette for book club – I will be making one again in the future.  The greatest part about a gallette, is that you can add whatever you want!  It’s pretty much like a pizza which is why I love it so much (yes, I could eat pizza probably every day).

I used a balsamic-dijon mustard mix on the bottom (so different than your standard pizza), then layered it with goat cheese and feta cheese.   I used regular ‘ol tomatoes as well as two colors of heirloom tomatoes – I wanted lots of color.  I topped it with buffalo mozzarella and then sprinkled fresh basil on top after I pulled the galette out of the oven.   As always I used a store bought rolled crust, because I’m deathly afraid of making a crust from scratch.  I will conquer my fears…this year (hopefully)!

You will need:

1 box of refrigerated crust (or, if you’re adventurous make yours from scratch)

1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons of dijon mustard

goat cheese (your choice on amount)

feta cheese (your choice on amount)

2-3 tomatoes of your choice

buffalo mozzarella cheese (your choice on amount)

fresh basil, chopped or torn

To assemble:

1. Begin by rolling each pie crust (I used both rolls that came in the box) just a tad bit thinner than it comes.  Lay one crust down on a parchment lined cookie sheet, then lay the second crust down making sure to overlap the two sides a bit; press each side together.

2. After mixing the balsamic vinegar and dijon mustard spread over the crust, going all the way to the edge.  Sprinkle on the goat & feta cheeses.  Place the tomatoes over the cheeses, leaving a little space between each.  Place the buffalo mozzarella pieces in between the tomatoes.

3. Bake for about 30 minutes in a pre-heated 350 degree oven.

4. After the crust has turned a golden brown remove the galette from the oven and sprinkle with the torn basil leaves.  Cut and serve immediately.  This goes great with red wine!

Happy May 1st.  It’s snowing in Colorado.

I believe that my new favorite Italian sauce is the bolgnese sauce.  I have pretty much only recently discovered it, and namely because of this fantastic little family owned Italian restaurant in Boulder, off 30th & Arapahoe.  I tried making this sauce a few years back, but I’m pretty sure it was a “healthy” version and it pretty much sucked.  There are some recipes that are just meant to contain whole cream and lots of unhealthy stuff.  But, my rule is, if it’s every once in awhile and I work out and eat healthy (salads, namely) who really cares.  We all must live, and to me living is eating amazing food and enjoying every bite.

This recipe is adapted from an Emeril Lagasse recipe, and is pretty darn good.  Since this needs to simmer for a really long time, I made it in the crockpot.  It makes a lot, about 8 servings but it freezes well.

olive oil

I love mac & cheese, despite the fact that it’s really not healthy at all, so I only have it about once a year.  This recipe combines regular cheese with Velveeta cheese, and that’s what makes it so dang creamy!  I used a whole box of pasta, so this makes a lot.

Ingredients:

1 box of mini shell, or elbow or any kind of pasta, really

2 – 3 cups milk (start with 2, add more if needed)

1/2 teaspoon pepper (add more if needed)

6 ounces Velveeta (don’t cheap-out, brand name is better than store brand)

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. Cook the pasta until it’s al dente – it’s going to cook in the cheese for a few minutes, so you don’t want it to be too soft to begin with.

2. Pour the milk into a large saucepan adding the pepper, Velveeta, and shredded cheddar cheese – continuously stir so that the milk and cheese do not burn.  Once the cheese is completely melted, add the cooked pasta and stir to combine.  Cook for an additional 5 minutes, and add any extra milk, pepper or cheeses if necessary.

* Note: you can also bake with fresh panko bread crumbs – pour the mac & cheese into a baking dish, sprinkle 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs on top and bake in a your broiler for about 2 minutes.

This is a really simple, yet amazing salad – it goes perfect with BBQs, or really any summer time meal.  We made this when Colorado was sunny, before our two mid-April snowstorms (15″ last Monday/Tuesday and it’s snowing right now)

1-2 ripe tomatoes (depending on how many people/how much you like this salad), sliced into bite-sized pieces

fresh basil, torn into bite-sized pieces

buffalo mozzarella, sliced into bite-sized pieces

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

sprinkling of ground pepper

sprinkling of Lawry’s seasoning salt

1. After slicing the tomatoes & buffalo mozzarella and tearing the basil leaves create rows in your dish – tomato, mozzarella, basil (or whatever order).

2. Pour the olive oil and vinegar into a plastic tupperware with a lid, then sprinkle in the ground pepper and Lawry’s seasoning salt – close the lid and shake.

3. Drizzle the mixed vinaigrette over the tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and basil and serve.

When I was a kid we would go up to Apple Hill in Placerville, CA during apple season, close to where my grandma & grandpa lived.  I have fond memories of bundling up in warm clothes to go get apples – we always went to Boa Vista.  They had the best apple cider and mile-high apple pies.  On occasion we were allowed to get an apple fritter.

I attempted to make my own apple fritters – though they tasted pretty good, and pretty close to the real thing – they weren’t quite spot on.  I’m not sure what to change.  Even still, I couldn’t stop eating them!

Ingredients:

1 heaping cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
dash salt
1 – 2 teaspoon cinnamon (depending on how much you love cinnamon)
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 egg
1/2 cup milk + plus more if needed
1 – 1 1/2 cups chopped (pinky nail sized or smaller – mine were too big, so make them smaller than the pieces you see in the pictures) granny smith apple (this was about 1 1/2 apples)
oil for frying – you will need lots!!!

About 3 tablespoon milk and 1 cup powdered sugar glaze for dipping or just powdered sugar for dusting

Directions:

1. Mix all dry ingredients together, slowly adding the wet ingredients but leaving out the apple pieces.  Once the dry & wet ingredients are completely mixed gently fold in the apple pieces.  The batter should be the consistency of a light cake mix.

2. Pour a ton of oil into a deep skillet, it needs to be HOT so do a test by dropping a bit of dough into the oil – if it  floats to the top of the oil then the oil is hot enough.

3.  Once the oil is blazing hot, scoop about 4-5 balls of dough into the oil using a cookie scooper or soup spoon – you want to make sure the balls are not touching each other.  After the first side is a golden brown carefully flip each ball over and continue frying until the other side is a golden brown.  At first my balls were too big and the outside burned a little but the inside was still not fully cooked, so I just made smaller balls.  I also didn’t have enough oil at first and after I added more the apple fritters cooked more evenly.

4. Place the cooked apple fritters on a paper towel covered plate, and once you have cooked all of the dough combine the powdered sugar & milk – it should be about the consistency of syrup.  Drizzle the powered sugar glaze over each apple fritter.

This is a pretty simple and quick recipe.  It calls for A1 sauce, which is weird but it worked out.  The next time we make this recipe we will be experimenting with other Asia sauces.

Ingredients:

• 1 package per person of beef-flavored ramen noodles
• 1 pound beef top sirloin steak
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon peanut or sesame oil
• 4 tablespoons water
• 2 tablespoon A1 steak sauce
• 1 medium carrot, shredded
• 1 bunch sliced green onion
• 2 handfuls of washed spinach
• 1/4 cup salted peanuts, crushed
• 1 lime cut into wedges
• 1 egg per person

Directions

1. Boil the noodles according to the package directions (without using the seasoning packet); drain and set aside.

2. Cut the steak into thin strips.

3. In a large skillet, stir-fry the beef and jalapeno in the peanut or sesame oil for 1-2 minutes or until meat is no longer pink.  Remove and cover to keep warm.

4. Combine the cooked noodles, water, steak sauce, carrot, onion and contents of the seasoning packet – cook and stir until heated through.  Return the beef mixture to the pan and add the spinach and keep on low heat.

5. Cook the eggs.

6. Place a scoop of noodles with an egg on top in each bowl, and then squeeze the limes over each bowl and sprinkle with peanuts.  Serve immediately.

This is a pretty tasty bread, though it tastes mostly like banana bread, save for the flaked coconut on top.  This recipe made one loaf and 24 mini muffins.  I think next time I’ll make them all muffins (regular size & mini size).

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups white flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2-3 large overripe bananas, mashed (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup turbinado sugar

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F.  Lightly grease a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan and/or muffin tin (or use liners) and set aside.

2. Cream together the butter and sugar until it is light and fluffy, then add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.  Mix in the vanilla.

3. In a separate mixing bowl mix or sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  In another bowl mix together the mashed bananas and the coconut milk.

4. Gradually add the dry ingredients alternately with the wet ingredients into the butter and sugar bowl.  Mix until just combined.  Stir in 1/2 cup of the coconut.

5. Scoop the batter into the prepared baking pan and/or muffin tins. Mix the remaining flaked coconut and turbinado sugar and sprinkle onto the bread and each muffin top.

6. Bake for 1 hour – 1 hour and 30minutes (depending on elevation) until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

7. Let the bread cool down in the pan and then transfer the bread to a cooling rack to cool completely before slicing.  Place the muffins directly on a cooling rack.

Another Asian dish!  This one is tasty and pretty easy.

You will need: