Browse Recipes

“Put Some Mustard On That!” Warm (or cold!) Potato SaladBy MikeMy friend Michelle is an amazing cook. She's also a fantastic teacher and principal, but cooking has remained a big part of her life, and she has been a wonderful source of information and inspiration for me over the years. This is based on one of her PUBLISHED RECIPES! The only reason my recipes are published is that I make this website! She's the real deal and you can find the original recipe here . I love this recipe. It's a fantastic go-to potato salad for dinner or a picnic/bbq lunch. My friend Maggie, who is both a great artist and fantastic cook, took the picture below when she made this for a lunch she was hosting. Thanks Maggie!
Irish Soda BreadBy MikeWhen I was 16, my family ventured to Ireland for a 3-week bike trip.  It was not a tour, but just my adventurous dad leading us around the country.  We camped half the time.  We were always hungry after a big ride, and we would love anything our parents would make at camp.  This is where my dad uttered his wisdom that I repeat often: "There's nothing like food when you're hungry!"  Truer words have never been spoken. When we stayed in bed and breakfasts, which was a nice break from camping, we loved the breakfasts we were served, at least at first. Eggs, bacon (kind of soft, but very tasty), two sausages, a small glass of orange juice, and brown soda bread. After a while, the lack of variety got a little old (definitely a first world problem), but the brown Irish soda bread was something I looked forward to every day.  It filled me up and gave me energy for the day, and I absolutely loved it with good creamy butter.  40+ years later, I still do! I found this recipe many years ago at recipeland.com.  I have not changed it, and it is a super easy bread to have in the house any time.It makes spectacular toast in the morning, and goes well with any soup or salad. Enjoy.  
Thai Red CurryBy MikeI love Thai Gang Ped (Red Curry). When you go to Thai restaurants and order this, all you do is pick what protein to go with it. Tofu is my favorite, but you can't go wrong with shrimp or chicken. If you can learn to make the sauce, you have a ready made meal sitting in your pantry at all times.
Pasta with Garlic and Oil (Aglio e Olio)By MikeThis is such a great classic dish, and you almost always have the ingredients for it right in your pantry. We always have peeled garlic in our fridge, and we have a few fresh or frozen veggies. That's all you need. And the secret ingredient is the pasta water. Adding that at the end has a crazy amazing impact on the consistency of the dish. Don't forget to save some!
Beer Battered Fish TacosBy MikeThere's a place about 5 miles from our home, Malibu Seafood, that serves the best fried fish tacos I've ever had. It's a long line in the summer, so we don't go then. As Yogi Berra said about one of the top restaurants in NY, "No one goes there any more. It's way too crowded." Ha! Well, we go in the off season. So in the summer, I'll try my hand at making my own. They're not as good as the ones at Malibu Seafood, but I love them.
Skillet CornbreadBy MikeI love cornbread. Always have. I've gone through phrases in how I made it. My recipe for years was the Marie Calender's mix, which was a little sweet, but so easy, and really, really good. Then, my mom made this recipe for me a few years ago. It is a non-sweet cornbread with a super crispy kissed-by-butter exterior. And on top of being the best-tasting cornbread I've had, it's yet one more opportunity to utilize your cast iron skillet. Bring this to a pot luck or your own table and once again, you are a hero for the day!
Sheri’s Spanish RiceBy MikeOur friend Sheri loves to entertain in her beautiful home.  One of the dishes we have 'stolen' from her is her Spanish Rice.  It is spectacular and it's now a regular in our home.  The pineapple juice element adds so much to the recipe!
Disneyland Turkey Legs (aka Caveman Pops)By MikeMy family loves Disneyland. They go several times a year, and if we lived closer, they'd go more. I go once a year and enjoy myself immensely. But . . . I don't need or want more than that. What I do love about Disneyland, and if I lived closer might be worth the price of an annual passport, is their high quality turkey legs. Caveman Pops. I love a good meal on a stick, and this is the mountaintop of such meals. This is my attempt at reaching the Caveman Pop Summit. Enjoy!
Pastrami CheeseburgersBy MikeGuy Fieri from Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives loves a good burger, and so do we! His favorite burger is the Pastrami Burger from a place called Hodad's in San Diego. Mike Hardin , who ran the place until he recently passed away, had a tatoo of Guy on his thigh. I'm not going to do that. But I'm still a fan, and we will go there one day, have this burger and meet his son who's now running the place. In the meantime, it's a good day when pastrami cheeseburgers are happening in my house. One of the keys to recipes is the amount of mustard you put on the bottom bun of each burger. It's a lot! But when I was serving these up to my son Ryan and his friends, his friend Dusty said, "Mike. I now know what you're superpower is. It's mustard. Nobody else knows the right amount of mustard like you do." So I got that going for me. Which is nice.
Jilly’s Chili (2014 Malibu West Chili Cook-Off Winner!)By MikeEvery Halloween, we get a LOT of trick or treaters at our house. Like 500. Kind of crazy. We always have hot dogs, hot links, cole slaw, and chili for any of our friends who want to take a short break. They can get some food and a beverage while thier kids count and/or trade their loot. Jilly's Chili is the star of the show. People know it's no ordinary chili. She won the Malibu West Chili Cookoff, and Jilly's name is perpetually engraved on the Malibu West Chili Cook Off plaque. Yes - That is big. Really big. She deserves it. Jilly's Chili is vegetarian, it's real, and it's spectacular.
Shrimp and GritsBy MikeI love going to The Faded Rose restaurant in Little Rock, Arkansas and eating their Shrimp and Grits! The fry a grit cake, which is really good, but more work than I'm willing to do without a deep fryer. I find that just good old cheesy grits is a nice base for this meal. And then it's just shrimp and veggies, with a little cajun flavor, making a simple but wonderful dish.
Pulled Chicken in the CrockpotBy MikeI cobbled this recipe together because of a grocery store trip. I found some frozen boneless chicken thighs, and was trying to figure out what to do with them. So I decided to just throw them in the crockpot, still frozen, with some sliced onions and BBQ sauce. It's such a simple recipe, but you're left with some nice pulled chicken for some super good sandwiches.
Chicken WingsBy MikeWings are something I've always enjoyed, but I've never made them until recently.   I'm a fried chicken lover, but it's so much work, and until I get an outdoor fryer, I'm steering clear.   When I do, chickens and catfish beware! These wings are not too hard to make, and the results are fantastic.  
Tomato Bread SoupBy MikeThe first time I had Tomato Bread Soup (Pappa al Pomodoro) was with my friend John at Drago restaurant (it is now closed) in Santa Monica.  I'm a fan of tomato soup (but not a fan of Campbell's Tomato Soup as a kid), but this was something special.  This is thick and rich, and a perfect lunch on a cool day.  I brought Jill there later and she endorsed the soup and said that we had to learn how to make it.  Well, it took me a few years, but I found and adapted a recipe from Ina Garten (who always gets it right), combined it with what I remembered from Drago, and we love it.
Salmon – Cast Iron Skillet StyleBy MikeThis is one of my favorite ways to cook salmon. It's so easy, and it looks fantastic. The key is the cast iron skillet, which starts on the stove, then finishes in the oven. The time on the stove makes it brown and beautiful, and the oven makes the fish perfectly done.
Roasted Brussels SproutsBy Mike"OK, OK. Quit wrinkling your nose. This is good stuff." That's what I wrote when I first published this recipe. Then, restaurants everywhere started serving really awesome brussels sprouts. They saw what I saw. They are a fantastic dish, royalty in fact, worthy of the Thanksgiving table and great for any meal. This is how we make them. We love them!
Roasted Cauliflower, Broccoli, and/or OnionBy MikeThis is an alternative to the grilled veggie recipe on this site.  They crisp up and it's a great side dish.  Tip: The cauliflower is especially good as a low-carb crouton to top a salad or a soup.  Try it!
Pineapple SalsaBy MikeThis is a fresh and wonderful addition to fish, turkey, or chicken. It’s great with grilled food. Very simple to do, but it’s better if you make it ahead of time and let it marinate in its own juices.
Pasta PrimaveraBy MikeThis is a favorite in our house.  It's one of Jill's favorite vegetarian dishes and I love it too.  I was inspired by a favorite restaurant in Santa Monica called Il Forno Trattoria. They key is chopping the vegetables in small chunks where several of them can be on your fork. It's cheesy, light, fresh, and wonderful!
Ranch DressingBy MikeWe don’t use Ranch dressing much, but sometimes you need it. It’s great with the fish tacos topping if you add some zing to it with cayenne or Tabasco or spicy salsa. We are not big mayo people, so Jill has reduced the Mayo in this one.
Mom’s Brown RiceBy MikeThere's an Eric Church song, Springsteen, great song, where he sings, "Funny how a melody, sounds like a memory . . . " Just as songs jolt our memories, so do recipes. I'm thrilled that many people have used the recipes on this site, but for me, much of the reason I do this is to keep memories alive for me, and for my family. Thanks for being part of it. This was something that appeared on our table a lot growing up. I loved it every time!  (Did I really like mushrooms as a kid?  What's wrong with kids today?) I don't make it as much as I used to, but I will always keep it in my recipe box.
Lemon ChickenBy MikeThis is another recipe I grew up with. I remember watching Mom make it all in the pan, and it was soft and buttery chicken that was filling and wonderful.   She would serve it with her brown rice recipe, making quite a meal. I was a pretty lucky kid. This is now my son Dawson's favorite chicken recipe.  He asks for it when he has friends over for dinner!  I could not ask for higher praise!
Green Goddess DressingBy MikeHomemade dressings are a huge part of our eating at home experience. The two dressing we do actually purchase in a bottle, because they is easy and super tasty, is the Balsamic Fig Dressing from Stonewall Kitchen, and the Feast from the East Sesame dressing. Other than that, it's all homemade. This Green Goddess dressing is not only a spectacular dressing. It's also a phenomenal dip for fresh cut veggies.  It's adapted from Ina Garten's The Barefoot Contessa at Home. It just feels healthy, even as you're making it.
Korean MarinadeBy MikeEvery year, we go "glamping" (glamour camping) at El Capitan Canyon above Santa Barbara with four other families. Jill's friend Shari and I love cooking for the group. Shari is an outstanding cook who carries a tackle box of cooking tools on every trip. It's a good look. I've learned a lot from Shari over the years, and I'm happy to share one of her recipes here. This Korean marinade is so easy, and it's perfect with any beef, pork, or chicken. And I always reserve one half cup (at least) to spoon over the dishes as I serve them.
Jilly’s Balsamic DressingBy MikeThis is the stand-by dressing in our house.  It's quick to prepare, and you can vary it by using different olive oils,  balsamic vinegars, and mustards.  It gets raves when guests have it, and it goes with almost all foods.  Don't be afraid to adjust ingredients to your tastes. We don't make it ahead - it's so easy we make it on the spot. You get to a point where you can eyeball the ingredients and make it even faster.
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