Tasty Time: Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry

Another dinner hit!  Tonight's dinner comes from http://www.diabeticlivingonline.com/recipe/meat/beef-broccoli-stir-fry/.  No, I'm not diabetic, but this sounded delicious!  As always, I made my own changes and it came out so yummy!

Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry

Original recipe from website:

• 2tablespoons  reduced-sodium soy sauce

• 1tablespoon  cornstarch

• 1tablespoon  white vinegar

• 1tablespoon  grated fresh ginger

• 1/4teaspoon  crushed red pepper

• 2cloves garlic, minced

• 12ounces  boneless beef top sirloin steak

• 1small bunch broccoli (about 1 pound)

• 2teaspoons  cooking oil

• 2medium carrots, bias-sliced 1/8 inch thick

• 3/4cup  reduced-sodium beef broth

• 4green onions, bias-sliced

• 2cups  hot cooked spaghetti squash or angel hair pasta

My recipe:

2T reduced-sodium soy sauce
1T cornstarch
1T white vinegar (I only had apple vinegar, so that's what I used)
1T minced ginger
1/4 t crushed red pepper overflowing
1T minced garlic
1lb lean stew beef (hey, I'm lazy)
a bunch of broccoli
a handful of matchstick carrots
2T olive oil

In a bowl, mix soy sauce, cornstarch, vinegar, ginger, crushed red pepper and garlic.  Toss in the meat and coat.  Cover and let it sit for 10 minutes.  Now my sauce was pretty thick, so I didn't drain it like the original recipe says to do.

In a wok or large skillet, large skillet for me, heat 1 teaspoon of the oil on medium-high heat.  Add the meat and cook it until it's almost done with a little pink.  Remove the meat from the skillet and toss your veggies into it with another teaspoon of oil.  Cook until your desired tenderness.  I covered my skillet for a few minutes to get a good steam going.  Add the meat back to skillet, mixing it all together.

I ate it just like this, but it would be really good with white rice or noodles.  I might try it with chicken next time.  Yum!!

Crock Pot Citrus Chicken

Anything my son will eat is worth sharing.  I made him chicken nuggets tonight and snuck some of this chicken on his plate and he is already asking for thirds!

The original recipe is here: http://luscious-food-recipes.blogspot.com/2013/02/citrus-marinated-roasted-chicken-recipe.html

And here is what I did with it (same ingredients minus the oil, just cooked it different)

4 frozen chicken breasts

2 large lemons (1 squeezed and 1 cut up into chunks)

1 large orange (half squeezed and the other half cut into chunks)

4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

1T dried oregano

1 1/2 T soy sauce, low sodium

2t honey

1/4t crushed red pepper flakes (I did 1/2)

What I added to it:

baby carrots

broccoli

I don't have a roasting pan, so I brought out the crock pot.  I haven't used it in a while since we are on a low carb diet and all of my slow cooker recipes are pretty heavy on the carbs.  I thought, why not! 

I sprayed my pot with cooking spray and threw the frozen chicken on the bottom.  In a small bowl, I tossed together everything else.  It was at this point that I read in the original recipe that this is a marinade and should have been soaking for hours, but I did not have hours and skipped actually marinading it.

I turned the crock pot on high and cooked it for 3 hours, then tossed in carrots that I cut up into thin slices and broccoli.  After another hour of cooking, I chunked up the chicken, not quite shredding it because my daughter likes to eat big chunks.  I let that soak in for another half an hour and then it was served.  

This would be really good paired with white rice, but since we are low carbing it these days, we ate it as is. Hmm, it would be really yummy in lettuce wraps!