Sesame Beef with Broccoli...A New Family Favorite

I originally found this recipe on Pinterest, but it included chicken instead of beef. We eat a lot of chicken in our house, so I thought I'd do something different with the recipe and use beef instead.

I feel bad, as I cannot find the pin on my boards, but seriously, I've made a ton of changes, so here's my recipe!

Sesame Beef with Broccoli

Ingredients:

(An unnecessary photo of the ingredients I will use)

5T soy sauce

5t honey

2T vegetable oil

2 (or a lot more!) green onions, white parts thinly sliced, greens reserved

4t cornstarch

1t chili paste (I don't use it, because I never have it)

3T toasted sesame seeds (I don't toast them)

2t toasted sesame oil (I just use vegetable oil, because it's what I have)

1 1/2lb stir fry beef

1T freshly grated ginger (or just a few shakes of the powder stuff like I do)

3 cloves garlic, minced (again, or just some shakes of the powder)

1 1/2c chicken broth (I didn't change this, but yes, it seems weird, because chicken and beef together?)

1T rice vinegar

1 lg head broccoli, chopped and steamed (or boiled, because the steamer is going to be used to cook rice)

Hot cooked rice

Directions:

In a med-lg bowl, whisk together 3T of the soy sauce, 1t of the sesame (vegetable) oil, and 2t of the honey. Add the beef and coat, then let sit for 20ish minutes. (Side note: you could do this the day before and have it marinating alllll night and alllll day, or even do it in the morning.)

(Marinating beef)

In a large skillet, heat 2T of your vegetable oil over med-high heat and cook your beef. I usually do it in batches, and I don't cook the beef all the way through, because it's more tender that way. Transfer your beef to a plate.

(The beef cooking in the large skillet)

In the same skillet (using the remaining oil and drippings), add the rest of the vegetable oil and the white parts of your green onions, the ginger and the garlic. Stir while cooking, about 2ish minutes, until it's fragrant (what that means, I have no idea, but I just go with it!).

(See where I burned dinner? Thankfully I couldn't taste the burned parts...)

For the sesame sauce, whisk together in a small-med bowl the following: the rest (3t) of the honey, the rest (2T) of the soy sauce, your broth, the cornstarch, vinegar, and (optional, in my recipe) chili paste. Make sure the honey and corn starch are nice and blended in! Put this stuff in the skillet and try not to burn your house down like I did! Cook and stir 2-3ish minutes (I do longer) until it's thickened and darkened in color. Then stir in your remaining 1t of your sesame (vegetable) oil.

(Here is the sesame sauce, which includes nothing sesame at all)

(The sauce, thickening and darkening in color)

This is when I then add the beef back to the skilled and heat it up a bit more, because let's face it, it's going to be cooled down quite a bit, especially with how slow I do things!

(Broccoli, cooking)

Now, for the grand finale. In a large-ish eating bowl, put your rice (sorry, I didn't photograph the rice), then your beef with the lovely non-burned (hopefully) sauce, then your broccoli, and garnish with reserved green onions and (non-toasted) sesame seeds. Enjoy!

(Yum!)

Pancake Night!

This is my first post! In honor of pancake night at our house, I thought I'd post my absolute favorite pancake recipe! I got it from the TV show "The Chew." One of the viewers "won" with her Pumpkin Apple Pancake recipe, and I thought I'd try it, because I love pumpkin, apples, and pancakes!

MIA ROGERS' PUMPKIN APPLE PANCAKES

Ingredients:

1c flour

1 1/2t baking powder

1/2t cinnamon

1/4t nutmeg

1/8t ginger

1T butter, melted

1/2c pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)

1/4c brown sugar

1/4t salt

1 egg, lightly beaten

1c buttermilk*

1/3c peeled, diced apple (I usually use 1 apple)

Caramelized Apple Topping:

1 apple, thinly sliced

1T butter

2T brown sugar

(I usually double this recipe, because I love it so much! And really, who wants a scant amount of this apply goodness on their pancakes?!)

*If you don't have buttermilk, put 1T of lemon juice in a liquid measuring cup and fill with milk until it reaches 1c. Whisk it to combine, then let it sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes, until it's curdled. Mix it up and voila! You have your buttermilk substitute!

Directions:

In a medium bowl, toss in your flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. In a smaller bowl, place your egg, melted butter, diced apple, pumpkin puree, and buttermilk. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and let stand for about 5 minutes. At this point, you can now make your caramelized apple topping!

In a large-ish skillet, melt your butter (here's where I'd use 2T...okay maybe 3 or 4T of butter!) over medium-ish heat. Add your brown sugar and apples and stir until the apples are nice and soft, and slightly golden (8ish minutes). Oh, I can smell them already!

(This is my husband, being an awesome assistant, caramelizing the apples. Don't you love the action shot?!)

To cook your pancakes, scoop up 1/3c of the batter and plop it onto your preheated griddle. Cook on one side until it's bubbly, then flip and cook another 1 1/2ish minutes. When they are done, top with your delicious caramelized apples, some warm maple syrup, and maybe...just maybe...some brown sugar!

(Here is an unnecessary photo of the pancakes almost finished cooking.)

(The plated goodness.)

The recipe says it serves 4 people, but I can easily eat 4 of these delicious suckers myself! Enjoy, and happy Autumn!

Back to Baking!

Happy Autumn!! Obviously we are celebrating by not posting anything. We are awesome this way. :)

Autumn is my favorite time of year, something Allison & I have in common, so I thought I would actually try to post something related to it. I love baking, especially for other people, but tend not to do much of it in the heat of summer. This August the heating element in the oven went out & even though I didn't plan to bake much I felt slightly panicked at the thought that I couldn't if I wanted to. ;) Fortunately my dad put a new heating element in & the weather has turned cooler so it's time to make delicious autumn-inspired foods!

To christen the new heating element I decided to make some Peanut Butter Pumpkin Bread. It sounds like a weird combination but they work well together.

The recipe I use is from an old Taste of Home magazine but I've made a few additions of my own over time. I like it spicy. :)

Here's the recipe with my additions in bold:

Peanut Butter Pumpkin Bread (adapted from Taste of Home):

• 3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1-1/2 teaspoons salt
• 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon plus a little more
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves  
• 1 can (15 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup water
• 2/3 cup peanut butter
• Chocolate chips!

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves in a large bowl. Put the peanut butter (I prefer extra chunky!) in a slightly smaller bowl and microwave for 30 seconds to a minute so it is easier to combine with the other ingredients. Once it is easily stirred add in the pumpkin, oil, water, and eggs. Stir the pumpkin-peanut butter mixture into the dry ingredients just until everything is combined. I like to add chocolate chips at this step. As many as you'd like! Don't overstir.

The Taste of Home recipe calls for two 9x5-in. loaf pans. I've also used smaller pans and made mini-loaves. Just make sure you grease them. I use an ice cream scoop to evenly distribute the batter. When the pans are full I like to sprinkle a line of cinnamon down the length of the batter before swirling it with a knife or fork. It makes it look pretty! You can also sprinkle some sugar on top to give it an extra something. Bake at 350 degrees for 60-70 minutes. My oven tends to be hot (and the new element is very hot) so I check around 45 minutes, especially if making small loaves. Use the toothpick method to see if it's ready. Cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes before carefully removing from pan. Let cool before wrapping carefully. 

This freezes well & makes a great gift! You can add cinnamon chips, white chocolate chips, cranberries, nuts, etc. Happy eating!