Beef Stir Fry

 

Zack had a craving for stir-fry the other night, so we threw together a variation on our Korean Beef. We didn't do much measuring, so you're really going to have to trust your taste buds if you're going to make this one.


Here's what you need:
About 1/4 cup of low sodium soy sauce
About 1 Tbsp Rice Wine Vinegar
About 2 Tbsp Plum Sauce
A couple dashes of sesame oil
Juice of 1/4 of a lime
About 1 Tbsp honey
1 flank steak
Low Fat Sesame Ginger Newman's dressing
2 cloves of garlic
4 carrots
1/2 a package of snow peas
1/2 a can of bean sprouts
2-3 scallions
sesame seeds
1 cup Jasmine rice
1 1/2 cups water


Here's what you do:
Slice the flank steak into about 1/4" pieces. Put into a small bowl and coat with the sesame ginger dressing. Let that marinade while you prep the rest of your ingredients.

Peel and slice the carrots. We cut some of the bigger pieces in half so that they would cook at the same rate.

Mince the garlic and slice the snow peas. We forgot the picture of the snow peas, sorry.

In a medium bowl, combine the soy, sesame oil, plum sauce, vinegar, lime and honey. Whisk to combine everything. Taste to make sure that it's nicely balanced and then set aside.

Rinse your jasmine rice in a medium bowl. Drain the rice, then rinse it again. Drain the rice a second time, then add to a medium sauce pan over high heat and bring to a boil. We didn't take pictures of the rice making. Once the rice comes to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and let it cook without touching it for 20 minutes.


Place a 12" skillet over medium-high heat and coat the bottom with olive oil. Let the pan get screaming hot, then add the garlic and let it soften.

Let the garlic hang out for about a minute, then add the beef.

Brown that up for a couple of minutes, then remove to a bowl and set aside.

Drain the liquid from the pan, add a little clean vegetable oil, then add the carrots.

The carrots are going to take the longest to soften, so let them saute for a couple minutes before adding the peas.

Saute the vegetables until they're soft, then add bean sprouts.

Next, add the beef back into the saute pan.

Now, top all that goodness with the sauce you mixed up earlier.

Toss everything around and let the sauce reduce a bit.

Put a layer of rice down in the bottom of the bowl.

Top with your stir fry. We also garnished with fresh green onion and sesame seeds.

Enjoy!

Pineapple Sausage Casserole

Hello all - it's Michelle flying solo. Zack had to work last weekend, so I threw together this casserole. As I was telling him what all I was going to put in the dish, he became more and more skeptical of the meal. After tasting it, he didn't complain about the flavor at all. All of our left overs are gone.


Here's what you need:
1 red bell pepper
2 cloves garlic
3 scallions
Juice of 1/2 a lime
1 package smoked sausage
12 oz jar of pineapple preserves
2-3 Tbsp low sodium soy
1 cup jasmine rice
1 1/2 cup water


Here's what you do:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.


Start by doing a rough chop on your red pepper.

Smash your garlic.

Throw all of that into a food processor and pulse until the pepper is quite fine.

Once that's prepped, put a 12" skillet over medium heat and let it start heating up.


Pour the 1 cup or rice into a bowl.

Rinse thoroughly twice to remove some of the starch.

Start your sausages browning by putting just about a tablespoon of olive oil in the skillet and adding the sausage.

In a medium sauce pan, add the rice and 1 1/2 cups of water and bring to a boil.

Once it comes to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook untouched for 20  minutes.

While the sausages are crisping up (don't forget to turn them every now and again), slice up some scallions.

Now for the sauce... Pour the pineapple preserves into a medium bowl.

Add the soy sauce.

And squeeze in the lime.

Combine that together and set aside for a bit.

Once your sausages are crisp, remove from the pan and add the red pepper/garlic mixture to the pan. Let that brown a bit.

Once the pepper has browned up a bit, add the preserve mixture to the pan.

Slice the sausages into thin, bite-size pieces.

And, add them back to the pan.

Throw in the green onions, and give it all a good stir.

For me, this process took about 20 minutes, which was exactly the amount of time that the rice needed to cook. So, fluff the rice up and then add to the pan with everything else.

Toss everything around to get it all coated in the sauce.

Transfer all of that into a casserole dish and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the top gets crispy.

Scoop out a generous helping and serve.

Enjoy!