Ginger Sesame Beef & Broccoli

Between my sister coming into town, family time, volunteering, and book club, I have not cooked a meal at home in 8 days.  I am pretty sure that is the longest I have not been in the kitchen cooking something up! But it's okay because all those things were much needed in my life.

My sister paid a visit from Connecticut and my little brother came up from Austin, and we had some major family time this weekend. It was possibly the most fun I have had with my family in a long while. I love them too much. There was a lot of eating, long discussions, and some Jenga. The time went by too quickly.  Monday came along with its usual annoying self, but ended with a good session of volunteering and some takeout Chinese. Tuesday was book club, which I look forward to every month because I get to hang out with a bomb group of women who get together for food, drinks, and chatter about life and sometimes, about the book. It is always a great time connecting with people who have similar interests and are so gracious when hosting.

And now here we are days later, and I put together a yummy beef and broccoli dish. It is pretty quick to put together once the beef has marinated.  Slice up some veggies, start your brown rice, and by then you can stir fry your beef and veggies, and BOOM, dinner is ready.  

Ginger Sesame Beef and Broccoli

1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds thinly sliced beef
1-inch nub of ginger, peeled and minced
1 tsp sugar
1 tbs black pepper
1 tbs garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tbs honey
2 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs sesame oil
1 tbs vegetable/canola oil
1 tbs corn starch + 2 tbs water, whisked (slurry)
2 tbs toasted sesame seeds (toast sesame seeds in dry pan over medium heat)
1-inch nub of ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
1 red serrano pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
1/2 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 crown broccoli, chopped into bite size pieces
Green onions, whole bunch sliced on the diagonal

Marinate the sliced beef with minced ginger, sugar, black pepper, garlic, salt, cumin, red pepper flakes, honey, and soy sauce in a large bowl. You can leave it in the marinade 30 minutes to overnight.

When ready to cook, pour sesame and vegetable/canola oil into the wok and heat over medium high until it begins to smoke. Drain any leftover marinade, pat the beef with a napkin to get rid of excess liquid, and working in small batches, cook the beef in the oil.  Be careful with spattering.  Cook the beef 1-2 minutes on each side and place in a bowl.

Once all the beef has gone through the oil cooking process, toss in the sliced serranos and ginger into the empty wok along with a dash of vegetable/canola oil if there is not enough oil leftover. Saute for 2 minutes, then add the red bell pepper and broccoli.  Cook until just slightly softened.  Add beef , cornstarch slurry, toasted sesame seeds, and 3/4ths of the sliced green onion. Stir fry all ingredients for a couple of minutes.

Garnish with leftover green onion and sesame seeds and eat over brown rice or noodles.

Enjoy!

Spicy Asian Noodle Salad

Mondays are the one day in my week I make an actual conscious decision to eat healthy. Usually it's because my weekend was an eating spree and we've just gotten groceries.  A fully stocked fridge with delicious goodies always makes my day and gets me motivated to make good home cooked meals!  This sometimes tapers off around fajita Wednesdays at Pappasitos...

Hubby and I both love our vegetables, so we end up buying quite a bit every time we hit up the grocery store. We aren't ones to normally eat a salad as our dinner, and I guess I'm only calling this a salad because it's a bunch of cold vegetables and noodles thrown together with a dressing. We both loved this salad so much.  I used a variety of veggies, coated wheat noodles with a spicy dressing, and then tossed everything together.  We topped it off with a bit of baked tilapia and roasted broccoli. Such a simple weeknight dinner you can feel good about.  I adapted this recipe from one of my favorite bloggers Budget Bytes.  She has some pretty awesome recipes, along with costs, so you can make great dinners on the cheap!

It's up to you what veggies you want to use and how little or a lot of them you want in your salad, so take away the method of this recipe and cater to your own likes and dislikes when it comes to the salad ingredients.

And yes, we eat with chopsticks.

Spicy Asian Noodle Salad

8 oz. thin wheat spaghetti
1/4 cup shelled edamame, cold
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
2 green onions, sliced thinly
1/2 cucumber, peeled, diced
3-4 large leaves napa cabbage, sliced thinly
2 carrots, shredded
handful cilantro, chopped roughly
pickled red onions (I already had these, optional)
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon Sriracha
1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
Sesame oil, drizzle

Boil noodles until al dente.  Drain and rinse with cold water.  The noodles must be completely dry in order for the sauce to stick, so give them a shake every so often as you get your vegetables ready.  I ended up sticking the noodles in the fridge to help along the process, and it worked very well.  You want the noodles to be a little sticky, not wet.

As the noodles are drying, chop, dice, karate chop your veggies and combine them in a bowl.  In a separate small bowl, combine hoisin sauce, Sriracha, and rice wine vinegar.

Once your noodles are ready, throw them in a large bowl, pour in dressing and keep tossing until all the noodles are coated.

Add your veggies and toss to combine. Drizzle with a tiny bit of sesame oil.  Eat with chopsticks for optimal experience.

Enjoy!