Beef and Broccoli

Not sure if this recipe is similar to Emily's, but oh well. This was Joe's favorite of the night and turned out pretty good so I thought I'd post it. Sorry the picture isn't too appetizing, but it was good!

Ingredients:
3/4 lb. lean beef, sliced into thin strips
broccoli florets, sliced small
sliced carrots
1 c. cooking oil
2 1/2 T oyster sauce
2 T. soy sauce
1 T. sugar
a few drops of sesame oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 c. beef broth
2 T. corn starch

Marinade:
1 egg
1/3 t. salt
1 T. cooking wine (I used beef broth)
1 T. cornstarch
1 1/2 T. oil
2 T. water

Directions:
Slice beef and mix with the marinade. Add 1 1/2 T. oil to beef and mix thoroughly. Set aside for 30 minutes.

While beef is marinading, chop up your veggies.

Heat your wok and stir fry the beef until nearly cooked. Remove beef and set aside. Clean out your wok add enough water to cover your veggies. Cover and let simmer until almost cooked. Drain wok.

Heat wok and add a few T oil. Add the garlic, veggies and beef back in. Make a well in the middle and add the sauce ingredients.

Cook until thickened and eat hot over rice. Yum!

Fried Rice

This was such a good recipe!! I found a few different ones again and just combined it the way I wanted with the ingredients I had on hand. I originally wanted to do Ham Fried Rice, but I didn't want to buy ham. I love shrimp, so I did that instead. I bought the little cooked shrimpies, but they weren't deveined. Let me just tell you how gross it was to devein them!! I had shrimp poo under my fingernails and it was just icky! So, my advice is to use ham or buy shrimp that is already deveined! At least it was really yummy though. :)

The other funny thing is, I never know how much rice to cook. Never. I ALWAYS make way too much. You'd think I'd learn. This was for dinner group, so I figured one cup of uncooked rice per couple. Ya...that was a bit too much. I didn't think the rice would tripple in size!! Oh well, lesson learned. We'll now be eating rice for the next week. You think I can freeze cooked rice?

Ingredients:
2 cups uncooked basmati rice prepared according to directions
1-2 c. peas and carrots frozen veggies
little shrimpies (or whatever other meat you want to use)
eggs- I used one egg for every cup of cooked rice I had
Soy Sauce
Fried Rice seasoning packet - yes, I totally cheated! I found it in in the Asian/Mexican food aisle at Smiths and it was pretty cheap.

Directions:
Prepare rice according to directions and set aside.

For Shrimp: Heat wok and add 1 T. butter. Saute your shrimp until done. Add the veggies until no longer frozen. Set aside.

Add some oil to your wok and then add the eggs. Cook/scramble until done. Add your meat (shrimp) and veggies and mix around (yes, that is the technical term- mix around...)

Then add your rice and stir until combined. Once that is mixed togther, add your seasoning packet and some say sauce. Mix around and voila! You're done!

This was soo goood! And pretty easy. The ony bad thing is that I'll be eating rice for the next week. Enjoy!

Moo Goo Gai Pan (Mushroom Chicken)

Mmmmmm. Yum! I made this a year or so ago with Buggy when we had a chinese night, but we combined so many recipes I didn't which ones I used. I didn't really keep track of what I used from what recipe or how much I used, for that matter. But I decided to try it again for dinner group last night and I even printed the recipes I used and wrote down my changes! It was very good too!!

So here ya go:

3 big chicken breast halves
1 pkg. sliced mushrooms
1 small can sliced bamboo shoots - rinsed
1 small can water chestnuts, sliced - rinsed
3 t. ground ginger
1 t. minced garlic

Sauce:
1 c. chicken broth
1-2 T. oyster sauce
1 T. cornstarch (or more, if needed)

Marinade:
2 T. soy sauce
1 T. rice wine (I used rice vinegar because I couldn't find the wine)
1 few drops of sesame oil
1 T. cornstarch

Oil for stir frying

Directions:
Cut chicken breasts into strips and mix with the marinade for 15-20 minutes.

While chicken is marinading, chop up all your vegetables. I bought mine already sliced, so that made things a lot easier.

Prepare sauce ingredients and set aside.

Heat wok and add oil. Stir fry the chicken until it changes color. The recipe then says to set aside, but I didn't. I just cooked the rest all together. Add the mushrooms, bamboo shoots and water chestnuts. Stir the sauce one more time and then add to the chicken mixture in the Wok. Cook and stir until the sauce has thickened.

Serve hot over Fried Rice. Mmmmm.

Italian Roast/French Dip Sandwiches

So between my 1:00 church, Dacia's 2:00 church, Mom's 1:00 church, and I even think Sara's 1:00 church, I've decided to start a new category... crock pot Sundays! OK... so it's not really a new category... but I will be trying new crock pot recipes every Sunday. Because how else do you survive late church? Besides, you can never have too many crockpot recipes.

So, for my first installment, we tried a new french dip recipe yesterday. I like the classic version, just fine, but I didn't have any Lipton Onion Mix on hand yesterday, so I went perusing a favorite site and came across a recipe that I had all the ingredients on hand for. The flavor was fantastic and my boys even ate all their dinner. This was easy, and super tasty. And I will try and get a picture up eventually, but getting a good picture of this dish in my lovely 5:00 darkness was a no go...

I've halved the recipe, because that's the size roast I usually prepare for my family. The original recipe calls for a full package of the Italian seasoning mix, and I didn't halve that. I thought it was fine, full strength, but you can halve it if you like...it's just trickier. Also, I will say that I find crock pot cooking times completely arbitrary. I don't know if I have a very fast slow cooker, but my foods are always way overdone when I allow them to cook to the recommended cooking times. The cooking time on this one was very long, and I think that's to get an extra moist and tender roast. But your meat will probably be done long before that time. Mine was done in about 7 hours, on low.

1 2.5 lb. chuck roast
1 can beef broth
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. onion salt/powder
1/2 tsp. dried parsley
1/2 tsp. garlic powder/salt (only use the garlic salt if you use onion powder and vice versa)
1 bay leaf
1 (.7 oz.) package Italian style salad dressing mix (Like Good Seasons stuff)

Combine water, broth, and all seasonings, including salad dressing mix. Whisk to combine.

Place roast in slow cooker, and pour seasoning mixture over the meat. Cover, and cook on low for 6-10 hours, or high 3-5 hours. (Ha ha! How's that for a range!? Again... know your crockpot and figure the time out based on the cooking history of your crock pot...)

About 45 minutes before you plan to eat the roast, remove the bay leaf and shred the meat in the pot so it can cook the final 45 minutes in all the yummy juices. Or, just shred it right before you're ready to eat it. (Obviously, you don't have to shred it early... it really only works if your husband stays home from church with a sick baby and can do it for you while you're at church...)

Serve on french rolls, with some Swiss or provolone cheese slices and enjoy!