Category: BEEF

BEEF AND BROCCOLI STIR FRY

Beef and Broccoli Stir-Fry
yields 4 servings
2 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch, divided
1/4 tablespoon salt
3/4 pound lean sirloin beef, trimmed, thinly sliced against the grain
2 teaspoons canola oil
1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth, divided
5 cups broccoli, florets (about 12oz bag)
1tablespoons ginger root, fresh, minced
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, to taste
1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup water

  • On a plate, combine 2 tablespoons cornstarch and salt; add beef and toss to coat.
  • Heat oil in a large nonstick wok or large deep skillet over medium-high heat.  Add beef and stir-fry until lightly browned, about 4 minutes; transfer to a bowl with a slotted spoon.
  • Add 1/2 cup broth to same pan; stir to loosen any bits on food on bottom of pan.  Add broccoli; cover and cook, tossing occasionally and sprinkling with a tablespoon water if needed, until broccoli is almost crisp-tender, about 3 minutes.  Uncover pan and add ginger, garlic and red pepper flakes; stir-fry until fragrant, about 1 minute.
  • In a cup, stir together soy sauce, remaining 1/2 cup broth, remaining 1/2 tablespoon, cornstarch and water until blended; stir into pan.  Reduce heat to medium-low and bring to a simmer; simmer until lightly thickened about 1 minute.
  • Return beef and accumulated juices to pan; toss to coat.  Serve.  Yields about 1 1/4 cups per serving.

Modifications:
-I also added 2 stalks of green onions and a few mushrooms.

Here’s what you’ll need:
If you are using fresh broccoli, cut up the broccoli.  Mince 1 tablespoon of fresh ginger and 2 cloves of garlic.  Trim and slice the beef.

I went ahead and added some green onions and mushrooms.

Put some cornstarch in a bowl and then toss and cover the beef.

Heat some canola oil in a wok or a pan.  Put the beef in the wok until lightly brown, around 4 minutes and then pull out and sit to the side. 
Pour 1/2 cup of chicken stock in to the pan.  Stir the pan and get all of the leftover meat and crumbles.  Add the broccoli, cover for about 3 minutes until tender-crisp. (They will also turn a very bright green)
Uncover and add the ginger, garlic and any other veggies.  In a separate bowl or cup, mix 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1/2 cup chicken broth and about 1/2 Tablespoon cornstarch.  Mix and pour into the wok.  Let simmer and thicken just a couple of minutes.  I added some rice to the pan (see below for details) and then put the beef back in.
Here’s what you’ll end up with:
I served this with one of those whole grain rice-in-a-bag.  I boiled them separately and then threw them in the wok at the end when the beef went back in the wok.

You could do all type of variations and add a lot more veggies.  You could buy a bag of frozen stir-fry veggies, add grated carrots, or bean sprouts.

1 serving of the beef and broccoli (1 cup)=5 points
1/2 cup of the rice=4 points

STUFFED SHELLS

STUFFED SHELLS adapted from Weight Watchers
15 large shells, cooked and drained**
1 pound lean ground beef
1 1/2 teaspoon Pampered Chef Italian seasoning
1 medium onion, chopped
8 ounces tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon beef bouillon granules
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons Classico tomato pesto
1 cup shredded cheese

  • Brown meat and onion, Drain.
  • Whisk together tomato sauce, water, bouillon, garlic, pesto and seasoning.
  • Stir 1/2 cup of tomato sauce mixture and 1/2 cup of cheese into beef mixture.
  • Stuff shells with meat mixture.
  • Pour 1/2 of remaining sauce on bottom of the baking dish.
  • Put shells on top of sauce.
  • Pour remaining sauce over shells.
  • Top with remaining cheese.
  • Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

**If you prefer the shells and beef mixture can be tossed and cooked as a casserole. When I do this I use the smaller shells, but same proportions.

CRY BABY BURGERS and ROASTED PAPRIKA POTATOES

CRY BABY BURGERS

1 pound ground chuck

sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

1 small can jalapenos, drained and chopped (save a small amount for the mayo)

1 small can green chiles, drained and chopped

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

2 slices pepper jack cheese

jalapeno mayo (small amount of minced jalapenos whisked into mayo)

caramelized onions – 1 small Vidalia onion, thinly sliced

  • Combine ground chuck, jalapenos, green chiles, salt, pepper and Worcestershire sauce until well blended.
  • Form into 3 patties. Refrigerate for several hours.
  • Whisk together mayonnaise and minced jalapenos.  Refrigerate until chilled.
  • Sear and brown patties, turning frequently until cooked through.
  • While cooking the patties, melt a small amount of butter in another pan and caramelize onions to desired doneness.
  • When burgers are done, top with cheese, mayonnaise and caramelized onions.
  • Enjoy!

ROASTED PAPRIKA POTATOES

2 pounds baby red potatoes

sea salt and fresh ground black pepper

Hungarian paprika

1/4 cup melted butter

  • Scrub potatoes.
  • Boil for 10-15 minutes.
  • Drain the potatoes until cool enough to handle.
  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  • Spray a 9×9 shallow baking dish with PURE.
  • Place potatoes on bottom in an even layer.
  • Smash each potato slightly.
  • Evenly sprinkle with salt, pepper and paprika.
  • Pour melted butter evenly over top.
  • Bake 30 minutes until crunchy and bubbling.

PO’ BOY BEEF WELLINGTON & TASTE and CREATE

Taste and Create was started as a food event by Nicole from For the Love of Food.  The whole purpose of Taste and Create was, and has been, and continues to be to create a community of bloggers who test each others’ recipes and share links. The participants of the event are paired together and try a new recipe from one another’s blog. 
This month my partner is Kat from STUDY FOOD.  She has some really interesting recipes, but I settled on one that my family would eat LOL without asking. “What’s in this?”  I get a bit too creative at times so wanted to treat them to a straight forward home style meal.  So I chose her Po’ Boy Wellingtons because I just loved the irony of students eating beef wellington, a previously reserved for the rich recipe.  Hubby gave them 2 thumbs up!  They were wonderful and I think I’ll make them again using hamburger steaks next time. Even more PO Boy!! LOL
Kat’s recipe in black, my adaptations in red:
Beef: Here, I only had bolar (blade) roast – which I cut a 350g steak from. Because bolar has a reputation of sometimes coming out tough – I marinaded it in the juice of two lemons, a tsp of olive oil, salt and pepper for an hour a side – hoping that the acid in the lemon juice would break down some of the fibres while the oil would stop the meat from drying out too much… If you’re using rump steak, or another, more tender mean you can leave that bit out…  If using Bolar Beef:  Bake your beef, SLOWLY for 45ish minutes @ 150 degrees while wrapped in foil – this’ll make your Beef Wellington a little dryer than strictly desirable (unless you like your meat well done, in which case it’ll be just the same as normal….) but it should also make it somewhat more tender than partially or fast baked Bolar.

If using not Bolar Beef:  Before browning the meat I  like to rub a little more olive oil, salt and pepper into each side – just to add flavour.  Brown the meat on all sides over LOW heat. You are only browning the beef NOT cooking it – so don’t leave it on the heat for too long! Once all sides of the steak are browned wrap it in foil and leave it to cool before shrouding in pate, mushrooms and pastry…
The purpose of browning the meat first is not only to add flavour but also to prevent it from leaking onto the pastry later.


LOL Kat didn’t quite know what my flank steak was all about and I really didn’t know what her Bolar beef was about, but I did google it and then set off to buy my meat, but was distracted by the wonderful manager’s special markdowns that were going on at the end of my local store’s meat counter.  OOH, top sirloin at rock bottom prices – SOLD!

Duxelles: hubs won’t eat mushrooms so I had to get creative here.  I had some left over roasted carrots and some sauteed brussels sprouts.  I was making dinner for 3 so opted to make each one a different flavor, but boy did I mess up the kitchen!!
10 grams butter
1 teaspoons oil
1/2 a tiny onion (or shallot, I guess…) diced as fine as you can
3 cloves garlic, minced or very finely diced
80 grams mushrooms – chopped into the finest dice you can manage
1 teaspoons dried, mixed herbs
2 tablespoons milk

  • Melt the butter in a frying pan with the teaspoon of oil over LOW heat…
  • Briefly fry the onion and garlic until fragrant before adding the finely chopped ‘shrooms. When cooking the mushrooms you may notice that they soak up all the butter pretty quickly – keep stirin’ ’em over low until they release the butter again and begin to brown. At this point add the dried herbs.
  • Continue to fry the mushrooms/onions etc until the pan starts to dry out a little – now pour in the two tablespoons of milk. Cook until as much of the milk has evapourated as you think will happen and the mixture is a dry-ish paste.
  • I tip mine out of the frying pan and into a sieve over a bowl – just in case there’s anymore liquid to drip off…
Crepes: (Kat advises against cooking these in a bowed pan – it makes life very difficult) I skipped this as I used Pepperidge Farm Puff pastry and this was just more than we needed.
1/4 cup flour
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon oil
  • Whisk all ingredients together in a bowl and allow to sit for and hour or so. The mix will be fairly liquid – but it will thicken over time.
  • Once rested, fry 1/2 of the mix at a time in a non-stick frying pan until cooked through on both sides. Set aside to cool.
Pate: I skipped this too – just more than we needed.
Kat borrowed some homemade pate from a flatmate – she loosely followed this recipe for Chicken Liver Pate from this month’s Foodtown Magazine.

Pastry:
Kat used shop bought pastry – because that’s what she had! And so did I!

Final Assembly:

  • Cut cooked steak into two. I cut them before cooking. 
  • Cut pre-rolled pastry square into two.
  • Butter, egg or water the edges of your pastry with whatever you have handy… I used egg
  • Lay your pancakes on each of the pastry pieces and cut to fit. I omitted.
  • Spread half of the pate (I omitted) and half of the duxelles over each of the pastry/pancake halves.
  • Plonk steak pieces in the middle and wrap pastry over it sealing all edges/gaps… 
  • Place on a cookie rack on a baking tray – seam side down. 
  • Make slits half-way through the pastry (purely aesthetical) and brush with egg or butter or milk… I used a butter egg mixture
  • Bake @ 220 for 20-30 minutes, until pastry is golden and crispy. I used 400 F.
This recipe was a raving success!! Tasty, yummy and well worth the time and effort to make the 3 different veggies!

Nacho Slide-Size Burgers

Nacho Slide-Size Burgers from Rachel Ray
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 15-ounce can lard-free spicy re-fried beans
1 1/2 pounds ground sirloin
1/4 cup grated onion
2 large cloves garlic, grated or finely chopped
1 tablespoon ancho or other medium-heat chile powder (about a palmful)
1/2 tablespoon ground cumin (about 1/2 palmful)
1/2 tablespoon ground coriander (about 1/2 palmful)
1/2 tablespoon sweet smoked paprika or sweet paprika (about 1/2 palmful)
Salt and pepper
Extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) or vegetable oil, for drizzling
24 tortilla chips
2 cups shredded yellow sharp cheddar, smoked cheddar or pepper jack cheese
1 heart romaine lettuce or 1/2 head iceberg lettuce, shredded
2 plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
Pickled sliced jalapeño chile rings, drained, for serving

  • In a medium saucepan, bring about 1/2 cup water to a boil. In a small cup, mix the tomato paste with a few spoonfuls of the boiling water to thin the paste. Add the re-fried beans to the pan, stirring with the water in the pan to thin out a bit while they heat through. Lower the heat and keep the beans warm.
  • Place the beef in a bowl and add the reconstituted tomato paste, onion, garlic, chile powder, cumin, coriander and paprika; season with salt and pepper. Form the meat into 8 small patties (thinner at the center than at the edges). Heat a griddle or skillet over medium-high heat. Drizzle the patties with EVOO, add to the griddle and cook for a couple of minutes on each side.
  • Position a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat the broiler. Place the burgers on a rack-covered baking sheet and top each with about 2 tablespoons beans. Spread 3 chips with some of the remaining refried beans and pile on a burger (the beans are the glue between the chips). Repeat with the remaining chips, beans and sliders. Top the chips with the cheese and broil for a minute to melt.
  • Scatter the lettuce on plates or a platter and top with the sliders, tomatoes and pickled Jalapeños.
Here’s what I started with:

  • Measure out some tomato paste.  Put 1/2 cup of water on to boil.  Once it is boiling, put a few spoonfuls of hot water into the tomato paste.
  • Put some re-fried beans in with the remainder of the boiling water.
  • Put 1 1/2 pounds of ground sirloin into a bowl and add 2 grated garlic cloves in with the meat. 
  • Add 1/4 cup of onion, the reconstituted tomato paste, and all of the spices.
  • Shape the burgers and put them into a medium-high cast-iron skillet.
  • Turn on the broiler.
  • Pull the burgers out of the skillet and put them on a baking sheet.  The burgers did fall apart a bit.  Next comes a couple of tablespoons of the re-fried beans onto the burger with some tortilla chips and cheese.
  • Into the broiler for a couple of minutes.
Here’s what you’ll end up with:
These little sliders are perfect for Sunday football and they give you the taste of two favorite tailgating foods; nachos and burgers.  They did fall apart a bit while in the skillet but I was able to form them back together on the baking sheet and then “glue” them together with the re-fried beans.  The actual ground sirloin and herbs could definitely be used in tacos and would taste great!
I served them on a bed of lettuce with some tomatoes, jalapenos, sour cream and salsa on the side.  I ended up just tearing my burger all apart and basically made a “nacho/taco” salad out of mine.

STIR FRY BEEF & VEGGIES ~ Healthy Meals

Hi.  I’m back with a healthy meal to share.  Not only was it healthy, but it was quite tasty as well.
STIR FRY BEEF & VEGGIES
1 pound of stir fry beef, the leaner the cut the better, cut into trim strips.
1 red pepper, washed and sliced thin
1 green pepper, washed and sliced thin
1 tablespoon of olive oil 
3-4 cloves of garlic. 
1 bottle of your favorite stir-fry sauce
rice
  • Put a tablespoon of olive oil in the stir-fry pan and let it warm up.  
  • Add the beef and peppers.  
  • When the beef is almost cooked brown, press three or four cloves of garlic and stir into the mixture. 
  • Add the stir-fry sauce.  
  • Let this simmer for about 10 minutes.
  • Meanwhile, cook your favorite brand of white or brown rice, about a 2-cup serving.
  • Serve the stir-fry beef and veggies over rice.  
  • Add a side.  We chose broccoli.
The entire stir fry dish with rice has a total of:
1,034 calories
48 grams of fat
240 cholesterol
438 of sodium
6 grams of fiber
54 carbohydrates
8 sugars
89 grams of protein
 Divide these numbers by the number of servings you will use, and you have a healthy, lowfat, low calorie meal.
We had 5 servings, so each of our servings came out to 207 calories and 9.6 grams of fat. 
This is a low sugar, low fat, low cholesterol, low carb meal.

COMFORT STEW

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1 1/2 pounds select stew meat
2 (10 ounce) cans French onion soup
1 (10 ounce) can cream of onion soup
1 (10 ounce) can cream of celery soup
1 (16 ounce) package frozen stew vegetables, thawed
  • Place stew meat in sprayed slow cooker.
  • Add soups as listed and spread evenly over meat.
  • DO NOT STIR. Turn slow cooker to HIGH and cook just long enough for ingredients to get hot.
  • Change heat setting to LOW, cover and cook for 7 to 8 hours.
  • Serves 4 to 6.
Happy Eating…


BUNLESS BURGER SERIES #3~BURGERS w/ CARAMELIZED PEACHES & RED ONIONS, GORGONZOLA CREAM CHEESE MAYONNAISE & MUENSTER

Good Morning everyone.  Tamy here filling in for Martha K who was filling in for Kris on Simple Saturday, who had originally traded with Martha MM.  So sense it was already so complicated, I’m bringing you a not simple, but not complicated recipe for the upcoming holiday weekend.  It’s perfect for outside eating and celebrates the fruit of the month also, peaches!  I hope you enjoy it.  We make it quite often and really have been enjoying going bunless.
BUNLESS BURGERS w/ CARAMELIZED PEACHES & RED ONIONS, GORGONZOLA CREAM CHEESE MAYONNAISE & MUENSTER

2 – 1/3 pound burger patties
2 teaspoons liquid smoke
sea salt & white pepper
grated Muenster cheese

Caramelized peaches & red onions
2 tablespoons butter
1 extra large red onion, thinly sliced into rings
2 small peaches, chopped
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

Gorgonzola Cream Cheese Mayonnaise
2 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 ounces gorgonzola cheese crumbles, room temperature
1/4 cup mayonnaise

  • In a small food processor blend together the cream cheese, mayonnaise and Gorgonzola cheese crumbles.
  • Combine ground beef, liquid smoke, salt and pepper to the meat and hand form the patties.
  • Grill burgers inside or out.
  • In a large sauce pan melt butter.  
  • When sizzling add onions and saute’ until translucent. 
  • Add peaches and saute’ until juicy.
  • Add balsamic vinegar and continue sauteing until moisture has sizzled away.
  • Plate burger.
  • Spread on Gorgonzola mayo.
  • Top with peaches, onions and then sprinkle with muenster cheese.  
  • I use the pan lid over the plate for a minute to melt the cheese.

PASTRAMI BURGERS

These couldn’t have been much simpler and were super tasty!

PASTRAMI BURGERS
1/2 pound ground beef per person
1 slice BOAR’S HEAD pastrami per person
1 green onion, minced per person
1 clove garlic, minced per person
1 slice provolone cheese per person
1/3 cup bread crumbs per 4 burgers
1 JUMBO egg per 4 burgers
salt and pepper to taste

  • Mix all ingredients together except cheese.
  • Form burgers by hand.
  • Chill 2 hours.
  • Pan fry or grill.
  • Top with provolone cheese and serve.

HAMBURGERS

Hubby’s Hamburger Recipe…
3 pounds ground beef or ground turkey
1 1/2 tube of Ritz crackers
1/2 cup of BBQ sauce
1/4 cup of Worcestershire sauce
3 tablespoons soy sauce
garlic salt to taste
garlic powder to taste
pepper to taste

  • Mix all ingredients together by hand in large bowl
  • Form into desired size patties
  • Cook on grill to desired doneness with or without cheese
  • Enjoy with your favorite condiments
  • Happy Eating…




Fire Day Friday: Beef Teriyaki

I think most food bloggers fantasize about having their own cook book.  Sure, we know that it won’t likely happen but it is fun to daydream, right? 

So it was nice to see fellow food blogger Matt Armendariz of MattBites succeed in having his book On A Stick! published this year.  It is a creative concept of “80 Party-Perfect Recipes” impaled on kebabs. 

Here is an adaptation of one of the recipes from Matt’s book.

Beef Teriyaki
adapted from On A Stick!

1 flank steak
16 bbq skewers
2 tsp sesame oi
salt & pepper

Teriyaki Glaze
1 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp mirin
1 Tbsp garlic, minced
1 tsp ginger, minced
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water

If you are using bamboo skewers, soak them in water for at least 30 minutes.

Start your grill for medium heat (300-350f).  In a small sauce pan on the grill, mix together the soy sauce, sugar, honey, mirin, garlic and ginger and simmer for 15 minutes.  Stir frequently and keep an eye on your heat.  Sugary sweet sauces like this will burn quickly if your temps get away from you.

Stir together the corn starch and water and stir into the teriyaki mixture.  Simmer another 5-7 minutes.  Remove from heat. 

Bring the grill heat up to 400f.  Slice the steak across the grain in 1/4″ strips like this.

Thread the steak onto the skewers in a weaving fashion.  Grill for 2 1/2 minutes then flip.

Grill another 2 1/2 minutes and flip again.  Brush the top with some of the teriyaki glaze and cook for 2 more minutes.

Flip, brush with glaze and cook for a final 2 minutes.

Remove, sprinkle with sesame seeds and cilantro. 

Remove sticks before eating…..

The salty sweet (or is that sweet salty?) taste was exactly what you want for beef teriyaki.  This dish is one that Vlad the Impaler would be proud to serve.

MOROCCAN BEEF & NOODLES

As always, I saw a recipe that looked reallllllllllllllllllllllllly good.   I stashed it away while I thought about it and then got a bee in my bonnet today and had to make despite the 100 degree heat!  As always I had to make my own modifications for our likes and dislikes, but we loved it.

MOROCCAN BEEF and NOODLES  adapted from Taste of Home

1 1/2 pounds chuck roast, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 leek, sliced thin
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 can fire roasted tomatoes (undrained)
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup vegetable broth (I used Better than Bouillon base + water)
flour for dredging
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons paprika
2 cups wide egg noodles

  • Melt butter in the bottom of a saute pan. 
  • When sizzling, add leeks and garlic.  Saute until fragrant.
  • Toss beef pieces in flour until well coated.
  • Add beef pieces to pan and saute several minutes.
  • Sprinkle all the spices over the beef and stir well.
  • When beef is browned, add broth and tomatoes.  Simmer 15 minutes or so.
  • Add noodles and simmer another 10 minutes or so until noodles are tender.
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