Green Beans and Mushrooms

Chris and I are trying to add vegetables into our diet. He gave me a funny  look when I grabbed the giant bag of frozen green beans at Costco for Thanksgiving. Then one night he brilliantly came up with this simple recipe that we both love.

1 lb of frozen green beans
1 package of giant mushrooms, sliced into large chunks
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons of season salt

Heat oil in frying pan, add mushrooms and green beans. Heat on medium until mushrooms are done. Add season salt to taste.

This recipe is great served with Skillet Salmon

Home Made Tortillas

1/4 cup butter

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup hot water

Blend the softened butter with the flour until it looks like the consistancy of cornmeal. Add the salt. Pour in the hot water a little at a time until you have the right consistency. (Doughy but not sticky). At this point you could let it sit for 20 mintutes, but that is optional.

Seperate the dough into six balls. Take each ball one at a time and roll it out on the counter. Make sure you place plenty of flour under the dough and on the rolling pin. (If you don't have a rolling pin use a clean bottle in your cabnit). As you are rolling out the dough, flip the dough and roll it out until it is the shape you want. You want to get them as thin as possible with out it ripping.

Once the dough is rolled out, place them one at a time into a hot skillet. Turn constantly until the tortilla is slightly brown like the picture above.

These are real easy to make but make a big mess, so I like to make a double batch and use them for several recipes. Tortillas freeze well.

White Girl Enchiladas

I love Enchiladas. It used to be that at every Mexican resturant I would order chicken enchiladas with red sauce. The red sauce started giving me heart burn however, so I found a great recipe for green sauce enchiladas. Then I moved to Korea and cannot find enchilada sauce. I was delighted on a recent trip back to America when my friend Laura served us enchiladas in white sauce. I could eat them without them eating me and I could find most of the ingredients in Korea.

Due to the ingredients I had available I had to modify almost every ingredient in her original recipe, but this is what I did.

2 cups chicken or turkey
360 grams of plain yogurt (or one container of sour cream)
1 envelope of cream of mushroom soup
1 1/2 cups of water
1 cup of milk
9 or 10 tortillas (click her for my homemade tortilla recipe)
Lots of cheddar cheese

Bring the soup and liquids to a boil in a sauce pan. Stir the mixture until most of the lumps are out.
Add in the chopped meat and yogurt/sour cream.

You will layer the pan like you would for lasagna. Place some sauce on the bottom to keep the enchiladas from sticking to the pan. Then layer tortillas, sauce, and cheese, repeat tortillas, sauce then cheese two more times or until your pan is full.

Bake at 400 for 40 minutes.

The next time I make this, I will make it in the crockpot and see how long it takes.

If you are cooking this meal in America you may want to follow Laura's original recipe instead of mine:

3 lbs. cubed boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked

1 container of sour cream

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can cream of mushroom

1 8oz. can diced green chili's 

soft tortilla shells

shredded cheddar cheese

combine chicken, sour cream, cream of chicken, cream of mushroom, and green chili's in a bowl. In a baking dish, spread a thin layer of sauce on the bottom to prevent sticking, on the top of the sauce layer tortilla shells until covering sauce. Then add another layer of sauce and top with cheese. On top of the cheese add another layer of tortilla shells. Then add a layer or sauce, and top with more cheese. Bake, covered, at 350 for 40-45 minutes.

Be careful when buying yogurt in Korea. I use plain yogurt instead of sour cream because it is cheaper and I can buy it in smaller quantities. This time we accidently bought the wrong yogurt so our enchiladas had a sweet taste to them. Since I was using turkey it reminded me of cranberry sauce. 

Cinnamon Rolls - Easy

I love fresh baked cinnamon rolls. However I don't have much patience to deal with yeast. So I am thankful to my friend Cheri who made me cinnamon rolls one day that did not require yeast. Here is a recipe I adapted from ehow.com. If you go to their website you can see their step by step pictures. I am only posting the pictures I took of my rolls..


Read more: How to make easy Cinnamon rolls in 10 minutes | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_4686415_make-easy-cinnamon-rolls-minutes.html#ixzz15xkWGzKB

These are what they looked like fresh out of the oven before I put the glaze on. I don't own a cookie sheet so I used two glass pans. They fit perfectly into my roaster oven. I used the wire rack from my toaster oven as a cooling rack.

 Things You'll Need:

DOUGH

2 cups of white flour

3 teaspoons baking power

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 cup of butter (softened)

2/3 cup milk

FILLING

3 Tablespoons melted butter

1/4 cup of white sugar

1/4 cup of brown sugar

3 teaspoons of cinnamon

3 teaspoons of nutmeg (Optional)*

GLAZE

1/3 cup packed powdered sugar**

1 Tablespoon milk

1. Assemble all ingredients, big mixing bowl, measuring cup and spoon. Getting all your supplies together, makes for quick mixing. I measured out the dry ingredients first and set them aside because I only have one measuring cup.

2. DOUGH - Sift and mix all dry ingredients.

3. Add the butter to the flour mix. Mix with a fork or beaters until it is the consistency of cornmeal.

4. Add milk, the amount of milk tends to vary. Add until dough makes a soft ball, with a little dry flour mixture around the ball.

5. Roll out on a floured board, in a rectangular shape. Dough should be about 1/4" thick. Spread melted butter all over the top of the rolled dough.

6. FILLING- Mix the dry filling ingredients and spread them over the melted butter.

7. Roll the cinnamon buns,starting from the longest side, lengthwise. Roll tightly all the way up, slightly pinching the edges together.

8. Use a piece of dental floss or a sharp knife and cut the roll into 1" slices. I cut some thick and some thin. We decided that we like the thicker rolls better because they are soft in the middle.

9. Put on a greased cookie sheet, with about 1/2" between each cinnamon roll. Bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes, or until slightly brown on the top.

10. After the cinnamon rolls have cooled, add a white icing to the top. Serve slightly warm and enjoy!

*Nutmeg is not in the original recipe I added it because Chris always asks for nutmeg whenever I add cinnamon and sugar to something.

** I did not have powdered sugar, but that is not a problem. I just took regular sugar and blended it in the blender.

Apple Banana Bread

I often make this cake when I have apples and bananas that are to old to eat. 

1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 stick butter
3 ripe bananas
1 tsp. baking soda
2 cups flour
1 tsp. vanilla
2 or 3 peeled, chopped apples

Beat sugar, eggs, and butter. Slice in bananas. Mash them with a spoon or a potato masher.  Add baking soda, vanilla, and flour. Fold in chopped apples. 

Place a round piece of parchment paper on the bottom of the crockpot and rub butter around the sides. Cook on high for 1 hour and then cook on low for 1 or 2 more hours until a toothpick in the center comes out clean. 

You can also bake the cake for 60 minutes at 350 degrees in the oven instead of the crockpot. 

Tip: When the cake is cooling remove the lid. We forgot to do this so our cake was a little gooey on the top. 

Strawberry Short Cake

Well after 16 months of living in Korea without an oven we finally have one. So of course I had to make my favorite dessert.

Strawberry Topping:

4 cups of  whole frozen strawberries

2 tablespoons of sugar 

1 cup of heavy cream

1/4 cup of sugar

1 teaspoon of vanilla

Yellow Cake:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1/2 cup butter

1 cup milk

3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 eggs

1. Remove the strawberries from the freezer. Place them in a bowl and add 2 Tbs of sugar. Let them defrost. As they melt use a fork to pry them apart. You can mash them up if desired.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour one 9x13 inch pan. Mix together the flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.


3. In a large bowl, cream sugar and shortening until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition. Add flour mixture alternately with milk, beating just to combine. finally, stir in vanilla. Pour batter into the prepared pan.


4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 40 to 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.


5. When the cake is cooked let it cool. 10 minutes before you are ready to serve the dessert prepare the whipped cream.


6. Place the heavy cream in a blender (A mixer is better, but I only have a blender). Add the 1/4 cup of sugar and the tsp of vanilla. 


7. Blend the mixture until it thickens. 


8. Slice the cake. Place the strawberries on top of each slice and then top them with the cream. 

Skillet Ramen Noodles with Pork

2 packages of instant Ramen noodles of your choice
1 package paper thin sliced pork

1 package of mushrooms, chopped

1 egg

2 Tbs of butter

1.     Add the ramen noodles to a pot of water and the mushrooms, bring the water to the boil.

2.     After the noodles have cooked for about 5 minutes, drop in the pork.

3.     Cook for another two minutes.

4.     Drop the egg into the water and stir it.

5.     Drain the water.

6.     Add butter and the seasoning packets to the noodles.

7.     Serve warm. 

Crockpot Ham Sauté with Cranberry Orange Barley Pilaf

Chris and I love food. We have tried dieting off and on for the last three years since we got married but nothing seems to take the weight off. We have decided to take a different method to dieting. Instead of depriving ourselves of the things we love, which we would only be able to do for a limited amount of time, we have decided to add healthy things to our diet instead of taking bad things away. Our theory is that if we had enough healthy items we wont have as much room for the bad stuff, but can still enjoy them once in a while. We are not going to diet we are just adding good things to our menus.

A few months ago, I was reading an article in the Kids Times about how healthy barley is. I had never cooked with it before, but decided to give it a try. Koreans really like barley and drink lots of barley tea. Chris tried the tea when he was sick, but said it tasted too grainy. So I decided to look up some recipes. I found several. The next step was to find barley. Most American recipes calls for Pearl Barley. I could not find it. Instead in Korea I am using Sweet Barley.

This recipe is a combination of two recipes that I found and combined together. Most of the barley recipes that I am going to try I found at www.barleyfoods.org

Start with the Pilaf, it takes some time to cook.

Cranberry Orange Barley

1 TBS olive oil
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 cup pearl or sweet barley
1-1/2 cups cranberry apple juice
3/4 cup fat-free chicken broth
1 cup dried cranberries
2/3 cup sliced almonds, toasted

In a frying pan heat the oil. Add the garlic and sauté  for 1 minute. Add the barley and cook for 2 minutes. Add the cranberry juice, broth and grated orange peel. I grated the orange right over the pan. Bring it to a boil. The next step it is lower the heat and let it simmer for 45 minutes. I don't have the space or proper pan to do this so I throw the mixture into my Crockpot on low for 45 minutes and the barley comes out just right.  This also leaves the frying pan available to make the ham saute. When the 45 minutes are up add the cranberries, almonds and orange slices to the pot and cover and cook for 10 more minutes.

Start chopping all the vegetables for the Ham Sauté as soon as you are done with the Pilaf. It takes a lot of time to chop all the vegetables.
Ham Sauté

1 TBS Olive oil
1/2 cup onion chopped
1/2 cup celery sliced
1 cup carrots sliced
1 cup mushrooms sliced
1 cup chicken broth or water
1 tsp gingerroot minced
1 TBS cornstarch
3 TBS soy sauce
3 TBS rice wine vinegar
2 TBS honey
2 Tsp sesame oil
1 cup cooked ham or pork tenderloin

Sauté the onions, celery, carrots and mushrooms for 1 to 2 minutes in olive oil.  Add the chicken broth and bring it to a boil for 3 minutes. 


In another bowl combine the cornstarch with the remaining ingredients minus the ham.  Add it to the pan of vegetables. Cook until thick about 3 minutes. Add the ham and stir until the ham is warm. 


Serve over the Barley Pilaf. 

Crockpot Potato Soup with Clams

This recipe was for plain potato soup but the soup was bland so we added clams to it, which improved it greatly.

6 small potatoes chopped not peeled
1/2 medium onion chopped
water
3 strips of bacon
1/2 lb (200 grams) fresh shelled clams chopped
2 cups of milk
1 TBS Butter.

Place chopped potatoes and onion in crockpot. Add just enough water to cover the potatoes. Cook on low for 8 hours.

Add the clams and turn the pot to high.

Fry the bacon in a frying pan. When crispy, crumble it and place it in the pot. Add about 2 cups of milk or cream and the butter.

Stir just until the milk or cream is warm.

You can add all the ingredents in the morning. We don't because we often forget to buy the clams early. We like to use only fresh clams and we often forget to buy them the night before. (Except the bacon, it is best added just before serving.

You do not have to use a Crockpot to make this meal. Just boil the potatoes like you would for mashed potatoes. When they are soft add the other ingredients. Heat until warm and serve.

Chris likes this as a soup. I prefer clam chowder. So I took the leftovers (only one serving) the next night, and put it in a frying pan. I brought it to a boil slowly being careful not to scorch the milk. Then I took half a cup on cold water, added 1 TBS flour and shook it up. I added it to the pan and stired until it became thick. So I had a nice filling chowder.

Skillet Beef Oriental

This is one of our favorite recepies. Chris' mom use to make if for him when he was a child. We enjoyed making it in college because it was quick, cheap and easy to clean up. One day I asked my mother-in-law why this recipie was called Beef Oriental when there was nothing oriental about it. She said that it was not the original recipe, she modified it to save money. I tried the original recipe. We liked it but still think the simple recipe is better. I will post both.


Simple Beef Oriental


1 lb ground beef
2 envelopes/cans of cream of mushroom soup
2 envelopes/cans of Milk
3 stalks of celery, chopped
4 cups of cooked rice*


*I often would forget to make the rice until the beef oriental was finished. To solve the problem I printed out the recipie and wrote "MAKE THE RICE FIRST" in large letters at the top of the page. It worked.


Cook ground beef, celery, and onion until done. Drain. Pour the soup envelopes over the meat mixture. Add milk to each envelope and then pour it over the soup. This is an easy way to measure with out using an extra dish and it gets all of the soup mix out of the envelope. Mix and simmer for 15 minutes.


Turn off the burner. Add the rice to the mixture. Stir and serve.

Chicken Gravy

Chicken Gravy

Oil from cooked chicken

Flour

Milk

Salt

Chicken bullion

When you are finished frying your chicken do not remove the oil or clean the pan. Instead take 2 table spoons of flour and mix it well with a cup of cold water. Pour this into the pan with the oil. Bring it to a boil. Add as much milk as you need to make the amount of gravy that you want.  Add one teaspoon of chicken bouillon (I use Better Than Bullion from Costco). The gravy should thicken as you stir it. Add salt to taste.  Serve over Crispy Garlic Chicken or Creamy Mashed Potatoes. 

Crispy Garlic Chicken Cutlets

Crispy Garlic Chicken Cutlets

Serves 3 to 4

Look for cutlets that are between 1/4 inch and 1/2 inch thick or make your own by slicing 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts in half horizontally.

1 cup plus 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

4 garlic cloves , minced, plus 6 cloves peeled and smashed

6 thin-cut, boneless, skinless chicken cutlets (about 1 1/4 pounds), trimmed

3 slices hearty white sandwich bread , torn into large pieces

1 cup all-purpose flour

3 large egg whites

1 tablespoon garlic powder

4 tablespoons cornstarch

Salt and pepper

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 200 degrees. Combine 3 tablespoons oil, minced garlic, and cutlets in a zip-lock bag and

refrigerate while preparing remaining ingredients. Pulse bread in food

processor until coarsely ground. Bake bread crumbs on baking sheet until

dry, about 20 minutes.

2. Spread flour in shallow dish. In another shallow dish, whisk egg whites

until foamy. Combine bread crumbs, garlic powder, and cornstarch in third

shallow dish. Remove cutlets from bag and season with salt and pepper. One at a time, coat cutlets lightly with flour, dip in egg whites, and dredge in crumbs, pressing to adhere. Place cutlets on wire rack set over baking sheet and let dry 5 minutes.

3. Heat 1/2 cup oil and 3 smashed garlic cloves in large nonstick skillet

over medium heat until garlic is lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Discard

garlic and fry 3 cutlets until crisp and deep golden, about 2 minutes per

side. Transfer to paper towel-lined plate and place in warm oven. Discard

oil, wipe out skillet, and repeat with remaining oil, garlic cloves, and

cutlets. Serve.

Save the garlic oil for chicken gravy.

Creamy Mashed Potatoes

Creamy Mashed Potatoes

5 to 7 Potatoes (2 per person)

Butter

Milk

Salt

Decide if you want your potatoes peeled or not. We like ours with the skins on because that is where all the nutrients are. If you are not peeling them scrub them real good. If you do peel them rise them after you have removed the peels.

Cut the potatoes into bite sized diced pieces.  Put them in a large pan. Add enough water to cover them and then turn the burner onto high. Cook the potatoes until you remove one and you can smash them easily with a fork. Or you can taste one and see if you like the texture.

When the potatoes are done to your liking, strain them in a colander removing all of the water. Place the drained potatoes back into the pan and add several pats of butter, at least ¼ a cup.  Use a potato masher to mash the potatoes. When the butter is melted add the milk, at least half a cup. Then add salt. Taste the potatoes and keep adding these three ingredients until you like how they taste. Be careful with the milk because you don’t want them to be too runny. Also don’t add the milk while the potatoes are still steaming or the texture will come out wrong. If you don’t have a potato masher you can mash them with a large spoon or a fork.

Goes great with chicken gravy

If you need to make the potatoes ahead of time you can keep them warm in the crockpot for up to 3 hours on a low setting. Try to stir them every hour. You will have steaming potatoes when it is time to eat. 

Crockpot Coffee Cake

Crockpot Coffee Cake

Batter:

1 ½ cups flour

2 ½ cups baking powder

½ tsp. salt

1 egg

¾ cup sugar

1/3 cup butter, melted

½ cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla

Topping:

½ cup sugar

½ cup brown sugar

¼ cup flour

¼ cup butter, softened

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.  Beat eggs until frothy. Beat in the sugar and butter. Beat until well blended. Add the milk and vanilla.

Add the dry ingredients slowly; do not over mix or it will be dry. Pour into a well greased crockpot. (I rub butter along the bottom and sides.

Mix together the topping ingredients and pour over the batter, spreading evenly, but do not mix it in with the batter.

Cover the crock pot for two hours turning it on low. Check after 1 ½ hours.  It is done with the sides are crisp and it is not longer gooey in the middle. Try not to lift the lid too often or it will not cook evenly. 

Chocolate Covered Bananas

I was bugging Chris one night  to find us a snack. I usually have only one rule when it comes to snacks: it must always involve chocolate. One night we were almost completely out of chocolate (yes, my world was coming to an end) and Chris came up with this quick and simple snack.

1 banana
2 tablespoons of Nestquick chocolate milk powder

1. Split the banana in half long ways and place it on a plate
2. Sprinkle the banana with the chocolate powder
3. Place the banana in the freezer for 15 minutes until chilled. 

The first time we made this we froze the banana competly and it was to hard to bite into. We have also tried it without putting it in the freezer and came to the conclution that 15 minutes is just enough to chill it.

Enjoy. This is a quick, simple and not too unhealthy snack.

Skillet Spaghetti

Spaghetti is one of the easier items to make while you are in Korea. I found all of the ingredients at Lotte Mart. Here are some tips to save money. First decided which sauce you want to use. I didn't care for the flavor of the Korean spaghetti sauce so I bought the American one. The difference is about 3,000 won. So try the Korean sauce and see if you like it. I also tried Hines Original Spaghetti sauce in a packet and it was very plain. I tried it because it was only 1,000 won. I like the Rinaldi Sauce the best. I find it ironic that it is what I use in Korea, because I used to buy it in America and it was the cheapest jar. Now it is the most expensive. Another way so save money on sauce is to buy the Costco giant-sized plastic container of Prego Sauce. It is large enough for about three meals. This works if you have the freezer space for the left overs.

You can make your spaghetti right from the jar. Sometimes I use the jar and add some of my own seasonings like oregano and fennel. You can also make your own spaghetti sauce in the Crock pot. I will post a link when I decide to make that version of it. I only recently found canned tomatoes. They don't have them at Lotte Mart but I found them at Home Plus. I will have to check out the prices and see if it is worth making your own.

For the meat you can buy the hamburger at LotteMart or you can get it at Costco. It is cheaper to buy it at Costco. We buy a large pack sperate it into 1/2 lb servings, place them in individul zip lock bags, put all the smaller bags in a larger freezer zip lock and place them in the freezer.



1 jar of Spaghetti Sauce
1 package of spaghetti noodles
1/2 lb of hamburger
1 tbs oregano (optional)
1 tbs fennel (optional)
1 onion diced (optional)
1 tbs garlic minced (optional)
1/2 tbs salt (optional)
1 tbs olive oil (optional)

1.  Brown the hamburger until it is no longer pink
2. Add the onion and cook until soft
3. Add the jar of spaghetti sauce and the remaining ingredients. 
4. You can serve it right away over noodles or let it simmer for a whole day. The longer you let it simmer the better it will taste. If you don't add your own seasonings don't worry about simmering it.
5. To cook the pasta bring a large pot of water to a boil. 
6. Add the desired amount of noodles. You can break them in half to help them fit in your pan.
7. Cook until desired doneness. About 10 minutes.
8. You can add olive oil to the pot to keep the noodles from sticking. 
9. When the noodles are done serve them with the spaghetti sauce over it. 

Skillet Fried Rice

I love fried rice. This is one of those dishes where you open up your refrigerator and pantry and see what you can throw into the pan. It is great if you have left over white rice.

2 cups of cooked white rice

2 Tbs of butter

2 eggs

The following items are optional:

1 can of corn

1 can of spam, ham, cubed chicken or bacon

Mushrooms of your choice

1/4 cup of white or green onions

Any left over vegatables you might have

Sea salt or salt

1. Heat the butter in a large skillet on medium heat
2. Add the rice and fry
3. Add all other ingreadents except the egg and cook until soft
4. Beat the eggs in a bowl
5. When all other items are cooked create a well in the middle of your skilllet and scramble the eggs.
6. When the eggs are cooked mix them with the rest of the mixture. 
7. For flavoring you can add a little soy sauce or season salt. 

You can make this for any meal or use it as a side dish

Skillet Salmon (Quick)

When I first started making salmon I tried all kind of recipes from different cook books. I added different spices and tried it BBQed and even in foil packets. Finally not long after we were married Chris admitted that he just preferred his salmon cooked plain. So here is the world's simplest salmon recipe.

We try to eat salmon once a week. When we were in America we bought indually frozen packets of Atlantic salmon from Costco. Unforutally due to import taxes the price is doubled at the Costco in Korea and we could no longer justify purchasing it. Not long after this disappointment I found the seafood section at Lottemart. They have fresh salmon steaks for reasonable prices.

2 large fresh salmon steaks
Season salt

1. Sprinkle an unheated skillet with season salt
2. Place salmon steaks on top of the season salt
3. Turn the burner on medium
4. Sprinkle season salt on the top side of the steaks
5. Cook for 5 to 7 minites until the salmon is cooked 3/4 of the way on the edge then turn it
6. Cook on second side for about 4 to 6 minutes
7. Serve with rice. We sometimes sprinkle the leftover salmon juice on white rice. 

This is great served with Green Beans and Mushrooms click here for the recipe.

Skillet Ramen Noodles with Steak

Growing up I often enjoyed packages of ramen noodles for lunch. When I went away to college I started to learn all kinds of variations and ways to fancy up this bacholor meal. Ramen noodles are very popular in Korea. I am amazed at the large selection of different types of ramen packages that you can find in Korea. My husband created the following recipe. Why? Well if any recipe does not have meat in it Chris finds a way to add it.

2 packages of instant Ramen noodles of your choose
2 slices of steak or cut up beef in cubes
Salt or season salt
2 Tbs of butter

1. Open the ramen package and set aside the season and dried vegetable packets.
2. Cook the noodles for about 7 minutes or until the desired doneness. Do not overcook them or they will be soggy.
3. While the noodles are cooking heat a large skillet.
4. Add the cubed beef to the skillet and sprinkle with season salt or regular salt
5. Cook stiring constantly until the meat is brown and no longer pink inside. 
6. When the noodles are done drain the water from them. 
7. Toss the noodles with butter and the seasoning packet in a bowl. 
8. Add the meat to the noodle mixture and enjoy. 

We have made this recipe with several variations. Sometimes we do not buy cubed steak. Instead we buy regular steaks cook them and eat the noodles with butter as a side dish. When we were in America we made a similar dish and also added frozen vegetables.

We do not use the extra dried vegetables packages that come with Korean ramen. Since we drain the water they do not get soft enough. I save them to put in soups later.

Chris likes the spicy noodles and I like the mild ones. To solve this problem we boil the two packs of noodles together and them mix them with the spice packets separately.