Mongolian Beef

Mongolian Beef

As I previously predicted, I flaked out. I didn't completely flake, but I have not been keeping up with my posting. From everything that I have been learning about social media, blogging, and blah, blah, blah, etc. is that posting regularly and multiple times a week drives traffic to your blog. While that is very relevant for my job - here...I'm not that concerned yet!
I have been cooking though! I'll catch up, and I have a lot to catch you up on...so, let's get started. The photo above is the Mongolian Beef recipe from the November anniversary issue of Cooking Light. This recipe is great if you are short on time. The other great thing is that the majority of the ingredients are those that should already be in your pantry. I did make a couple of changes. I did not have peanut oil and substituted vegetable oil. You could use canola oil too. Part of the reason that peanut oil is being used is because it can withstand higher heat. Vegetable oil can too but is not as healthy. Canola oil can be used in a pinch but may not handle the heat as well.
My sister wanted to make this recipe and I suggested that she use canola oil to her as she did not have peanut oil. It seemed to work out for her. I also suggested that she cut the amount of chile paste in half because it's kind of spicy. I went for full spice...maybe a smidge extra, Damon and I are spicy folks. Both my sister and I added extra veggies. I added broccoli and carrots and she may have too - but to be honest, I forget if she did!
This recipe is great. It's fast, easy, and pretty tasty. We've made it twice and it was something easy enough for Damon to make (I'm teaching him to cook a few things...as they say "teach a man to fish").

Mongolian Beef

Ingredients
2 tablespoons lower-sodium soy sauce 
1 teaspoon sugar 
1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 teaspoons dry sherry
2 teaspoons hoisin sauce
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon chile paste with garlic (such as sambal oelek)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons peanut oil (vegetable or canola oil will work too)
1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic
1 pound sirloin steak, thinly sliced across the grain
1 cup chopped broccoli (optional)
2 carrots sliced (optional)
16 medium green onions, cut into 2-inch pieces

Directions
Combine first 8 ingredients, stirring until smooth.
Heat peanut oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add minced ginger, minced garlic, and beef; sauté for 2 minutes or until beef is browned. *If you are added broccoli and/or carrots add it here and sauté for about 2 minutes. Add green onion pieces; sauté 30 seconds. Add soy sauce mixture; cook 1 minute or until thickened, stirring constantly.

Note: If you feel like you need a bit more "sauce" add about 1/4 cup of water at a time until you reach a desired consistency. I used about a 1/2 cup of water... and it's because I added broccoli and carrots and it sucked up all the sauce!

Enjoy!

A Pinterest Recipe that is NO JOKE...The Nutella Cookie Recipe

The Nutella Cookie

There has been this recipe floating around on Pinterest that claims to be fast and easy. You may have seen it, you may have pinned it - The Nutella Cookie...don't add the sugar! I pinned it. Of course I pinned it, who doesn't love Nutella? I have not tried many of the recipes that I have pinned, but last night it just so happens that I finally tried the Nutella one.

Damon and I were both looking for something sweet to eat. I was also being kind of lazy and didn't really want to make a complicated dessert. Damon says to me,"Come on! You can make something out of nothing!" And all of a sudden it dawned on me: I have Nutella, flour, and eggs! I'm doing this! So I pulled up Pinterest, found the recipe and made the damn things in all of 20 minutes. They are good too. Not too sweet, kind of fluffy.

The point is that this Pinterest recipe is no joke. It is fast and it is good.

The Nutella Cookie
1 cup Nutella
1 cup All-Purpose Flour
1 egg

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Put all items in a bowl and beat for about 2 minutes with a hand mixer until it forms a thick dough. You could do one of 2 things - either treat it like a drop cookie and take a small spoonful of dough and drop it on to the cookie sheet OR you can form little balls and put them on a cookie sheet and slightly flatten them out. Then put them in the oven for about 6-8 minutes, and voila! Nutella Cookies.

SO GOOD.

Cooking from Recipes: Creamy Tomato Soup

Creamy Tomato Soup dusted with Parmesan cheese

OK. I kind of flaked out for a week or so. I will not make excuses, but I will say that I warned you about the possibility.

I made this Creamy Tomato soup on October 19th. My friend Rob came to visit and I decided to make a nice soup and served it with "adult" grilled cheese. With the seasons changing, the leaves falling, and the nice crisp cool air - it called for soup! The recipes were all from the October issue of Bon Appetit. The photos in the magazine were so much more appealing looking than my photos above, especially the photos of the varieties of grilled cheese. 

This recipe was great. It was fast, easy, and delicious. The only change I made was that I added 4 fresh diced Roma tomatoes to the recipe. I don't really know if it made a difference, but it turned out. It was creamy and had a bit of a...tanginess...as Damon says. In any event, I think it's an excellent recipe to try.

Creamy Tomato Soup from Bon Appetit