Korean Barbecued Beef

When Amy and I got married, it’s no understatement to say that we didn't have a lot of extra money.

We lived in an apartment complex. Our life there mainly consisted of lugging groceries up to our place on the second floor and trying to do laundry in the communal coin-op laundry room without punching people.

But oh, the food we ate. We had this George Foreman grill that we put out on our back patio, and we tried our best to cook as many meals out on that back patio as possible. We lived and ate a lot in that first year, and when the time came, we left; but, sometimes, I miss that Foreman grill, because you don’t know classy meat until you’ve cooked it on a grill named after an American two-time former World Heavyweight Boxing Champion, Olympic gold medalist, and successful entrepreneur.

The thing about this meal is: it’s incredibly easy to make. In fact, I would say the ratio of taste-to-effort is legendary. This is what I like about Amy’s cooking. She’ll make something absolutely phenomenal, and I’ll feel all guilty about the presumed hours she spent sieving flour or stir-frying kale or something, but then she’ll tell me how she made it, and I’m just flabbergasted.

So, here’s what you should do with this dish:

Pretend it was hard to make. It won’t be that hard. Your dinner guests will take that first bite, and instantly assume that you spent all day getting this one ready. Just don’t correct them. Let them believe what they want to believe. I’m thinking that, one day, Amy will wise up and start lying to me. (DW)

2lbs beef flank steak
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/3 cup green onion, sliced
2 tablespoons asian sesame oil
3 tablespoons sugar
3 cloves garlic, minced

Rinse beef and pat dry. Cut steak at 45 degree angle across the grain. Mix the remaining ingredients in a bowl. Add beef to mixture and marinate for at least 30 minutes. Barbecue for 6-10 minutes.

I always serve this with brown rice and cooked green beans.

* This recipe was given to me by my sister & brother-in-law several years ago. (AW)

Garlic Green Beans

Green beans are a mystery to me.

Up until about three years ago, I didn't like them. Not only did I not like them, but I didn't understand how other people could like them. They were an alien concept, and I just didn't want to bother.

But, like most foreign concepts, you may need to place them in familiar settings to grasp them. So when you introduce garlic cloves to the equation, you're translating from Weird Green Bean Language to good, old, "reasonable" English, and before you know it, you're eating green beans with steaks and stir-fry, and you're saying things like "these green beans are really doing it for me."

As far as who, precisely, you're saying these things to, though, I'm not sure. But this is what good cooking can do - take the unmanageable and unfamiliar and make them delicious, even desirable.

Also: canned green beans are stupid. Go fresh or go home! (DW)

1 lb fresh green beans, washed and ends trimmed
6 cloves of garlic, cut in thin slices
1 tablespoon butter
Garlic powder & salt, to taste

Add green beans and garlic slices to a large pot of boiling water. Boil for 7 minutes, or until green beans are cooked to desired tenderness. Drain water. Add butter, garlic powder and salt to taste. Serve while beans are still warm. (AW)

Amy's Hamburgers

Hamburgers are wicked awesome. You can’t deny this; I’m pretty sure it’s in the Declaration of Independence. We hold this truth to be self-evident: Hamburgers Rule Everything.

Here’s the unspoken, unfortunate truth about hamburgers, though: it’s the concept of hamburgers that people love, and that’s what clouds the judgment of the American people. So often, average or even below-par hamburgers are treated like they’re the Second Coming. All hyperbole (“This is the Best Burger Ever.” “No, wait a second, this is the Best Burger Ever.”) is just that: hyperbole. You can’t trust it. Beware of the man who tells you that he has the recipe for the Best Burger Ever.

With that in mind, I’ve got to tell you: this is the Best Burger Ever.

Amy first made this like a million years ago. This is how a burger should taste – flavorful, smoky, fricking awesome. They cook down pretty small, so don’t skimp when actually shaping the patties. Add such magical toppings as cilantro, red onions, romaine lettuce, etc. And for goodness sake, people: toast the buns! It will take, like, a minute, and you won’t regret it. (DW)



2 lbs ground beef
1 egg, lightly beaten
1- 1 oz pkg Lipton Onion Soup Mix*
2 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce*
1 teaspoon Liquid Smoke
1/4 - 1/2 cup bread crumbs


Put all ingredients into a glass bowl and mix well. If hamburger mixture seems to soft, you can add more bread crumbs until a firm consistency. Shape into 8 hamburgers, grill, and enjoy! (AW)

*Sometimes I will substitute ¼ cup BBQ sauce for the Lipton Onion Soup Mix and Worcestershire Sauce

Chipotle Beef with Potatoes

Let me tell you about Crock-Pots, all right? Crock-Pots are BOSS. They make your house smell amazing, and they’re really not a lot of work, both pre- and post-meal. If I hear anyone ever talk bad about it, I’m going to fight them. In front of everyone.

This is one of those meals that if Amy tells me is on the docket, I get excited and kind of giddy. Crock-Pot meals have been a staple of our Saturday nights. You see, I work most Saturday nights, and Amy is often with me as well (I’m an airline pilot; she’s a stewardess), and there is, seriously, nothing better than putting my key in the front door, stepping into my house after a long night of forgetting lyrics, and immediately smelling something like this recipe.

The things that makes this dish so phenomenal isn’t just the combination beef and potatoes; although that alone will rock your face off. It’s the plethora of things you can have it, which, when I think about it, is what I love about most Mexican or Mexican-themed dishes. You got cheese, you got sour cream, you got avocado, maybe some green onions. You can improve, too – like throw in some lettuce or cilantro on top. I don’t care what you do – it’s your dinner.

This dish is messy, too, but it just doesn’t matter. Go nuts, people. I would get some good tortilla chips to go with this, because that’s what’s going to make it a party. (DW)

3-4 lbs. chuck roast, fat trimmed
1 lb. baby red potatoes
1 can (10 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
1 can (4 oz) mild green chilies
1 onion, chopped
2 teaspoons The Art of Chipotle Gourmet Paste*
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder

Cut chuck roast into 1 inch cubes. Mix all ingredients in a 5-quart Crock-Pot. Cook on low for 8-10 hours.



Serve with flour tortillas, avocado, tomatoes, cilantro, lettuce, cheese, and sour cream.








*The only store in the Livermore area that I have found the Art of Chipotle Gourmet Paste at is Nob Hill/Raleys. (AW)

Farm Fresh to You Friday

Here is what I got in my Organic Fruit and Vegetable box from Farm Fresh to You: Tangerine Oranges, Minneola Tangelo Oranges, Navel Oranges, Braeburn Apples, Fuji Apples, Pears, Grapefruit, Lemons, Mangos, Avocado, Yellow Onion, Yukon Potatoes, Green Chard, Green Kale, Leeks, Rainbow Carrots, Cucumbers, Purple Top Turnips, Red Radishes, Romaine Lettuce, and Cilantro.

I am not really familiar with cooking with turnips or radishes. I found a recipe on the Food Network for Glazed Carrots and Turnips that I am going to try next week. I will let you know how it turns out!

If anyone had any other suggestions for turnips or radishes, send me an email. I would love to hear other suggestions. (AW)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

Question: Is there, in the entire scope of the English language, a pairing of words more magical, more life-giving, more incredible than cookie pie?

Of course there isn’t. Those two words, when separated, are fantastic. You put them together, however, and you have something that can change lives.

(Other word combinations that I would say approach the power of cookie pie: unicorn army; candy rifle; cupcake trampoline.)

Amy made this dessert when we went over to our friends Scott and Ingrid’s Mansion On The Top Of The Hill. Before we ate dinner, the four of us, along with Dalene and Casey, hiked up to a cell phone tower and caught the sun hitting the Bay. It was beautiful. But, truthfully, all I could think was this: “This is great and all, but what’s that cookie pie going to taste like?”

And let me tell you, friends: it was perfect. Dense and delicious. I recommend this warmed with a scoop of ice cream. It’s perfect for any occasion, whether you’re trying to recover from a hike that you could’ve easily nailed 10 years prior, or if you’re sitting on the back porch with some friends, smoking pipes and talking about life. (DW)


1-9”uncooked pie crust (I use the store bought pie crust in the aluminum container)
½ cup chopped walnuts
½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
½ cup butterscotch chips
½ cup butter, melted
2 eggs
¾ cup white sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350F.

Place the uncooked crust on a baking sheet (you only need to place the pie crust on a baking sheet if it is in the aluminum container. If you are using a glass pie dish, no need to put it on a baking sheet).

Sprinkle walnuts, chocolate chips, and butterscotch chips on the bottom of the uncooked pie crust.

In a separate bowl, mix melted butter, eggs, sugar,flour and vanilla with fork or wire whisk until well blended. Pour on top of the walnuts, chocolate chips, and butterscotch chips.

Bake for 30- 35 minutes, or until center no longer jiggles.



*I think next time I will reduce the chocolate chips and butterscotch chips to 1/3 cup each, and then add 1/3 cup coconut. Yummy! (AW)



I found this recipe on a blog I read called A Place Called Simplicity.

Mushroom & Bacon Stroganoff

I’ll be honest with you: stroganoff, at least to me, has never sounded particularly appetizing. It’s really more the name. The word “stroganoff”, at least to my immature ears, falls under the same category as “chard” or “borscht”. Doesn’t sound appealing.

Luckily, I have a wife who is not a child, and who makes dishes that, although the names may sound funny and/or vaguely Russian, come out amazing. Disregarding the funny name [can we maybe call it “pasta surprise” or “noodle earthquake” or something a little more radical-sounding?], this is what did it for me: BACON.

I’m not one of those weirdos who bows at the altar of bacon, who’s obsessed with bacon, who wants bacon on everything, who Photoshops pictures of bacon on to everything to make it more “awesome”. No, I merely respect bacon as an ingredient that can make some good dishes greater than the sum of their parts. But man, Amy’s inclusion of bacon in this dish? This is the woman I married. Smarter than me in every way. This dish was perfect with some French bread and olive oil, and we ate it while watching a Seinfeld rerun and trying hard to ignore the small waterfall of rainwater that our clogged gutters have formed directly outside of our back patio door. (DW)


5-6 pcs bacon, cooked & crumbled
1 large shallot, thinly sliced
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
10-15 oz sliced cremini mushrooms
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons minced flat leaf parsley*
Salt & pepper to taste
16 oz cooked egg noodles*

In a large skillet, melt the butter. Add the shallots and saute until lightly golden. Add mushrooms and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add crumbled bacon and flour. Mix until well incorporated. Stir in wine and broth and cook for 5-7 minutes until most of the alcohol has evaporated and sauce starts to thicken. Remove from heat and add the sour cream, parsley, salt, and pepper. Serve with cooked egg noodles.

* Note- I didn't have fresh parsley, so I substituted dried parsley. I also substituted whole wheat penne pasta in place of the egg noodles.(AW)