Beef & Broccoli

It is no secret that my husband and I love some good 'take out' Chinese food and this beef & broccoli definitely hits the spot! I found a recipe for beef & broccoli on the Pioneer Woman's television show a few months ago and had to give it a shot. We have since made this dish several times with only a few small changes to the original recipe. This beef & broccoli will definitely be making an appearance at our dinner table again soon!

This recipe will make about 4 servings of beef & broccoli:

• 1/2 cup LOW-SODIUM SOY SAUCE
• 1/4 cup CORN STARCH
• 2 Tbs BROWN SUGAR
• 1 Tbs GINGER, minced
• 2 cloves GARLIC, mined
• 1 lb. FLANK STEAK, sliced very thin
• 2 Tbs PEANUT or OLIVE OIL
• 1 lb. BROCCOLI FLORETS, chopped
• 1/4 cup BEEF BROTH
• 2 Tbs OYSTER SAUCE
• Optional: RICE or CHOW MEIN

Mix the soy sauce, cornstarch, brown sugar, ginger, and garlic in bowl. (...or in the case of the picture below, a measuring cup!)

Pour half of the sauce mixture into a separate bowl and toss the steak in it. Set both bowls aside.

Heat a tablespoon of oil in skillet (preferably cast iron) over high heat and cook the chopped broccoli until just tender. Then remove the broccoli from the skillet and set it aside.

Heat the skillet with another tablespoon of oil for a minute or so to allow it to get very hot again. Lay the slices of steak along the bottom of the hot pan in a single layer (as much as possible depending on the size of your pan). Let the slices of steak cook for a minute or two without moving them to allow the meat to brown.

Flip the slices of steak and cook for another 30 seconds before removing the steak from the heat.

Pour the second half of the sauce (that didn't have the steak in it), the beef broth, and the oyster sauce into the skillet and cook over high heat until the sauce begins to thickens. Add the beef and broccoli back into the skillet and toss with the sauce. Season with salt and pepper as needed.

Serve over rice or chow mein!

Yum!

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Beef & Broccoli

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup LOW-SODIUM SOY SAUCE
• 1/4 cup CORN STARCH
• 2 Tbs BROWN SUGAR
• 1 Tbs GINGER, minced
• 2 cloves GARLIC, mined
• 1 lb. FLANK STEAK, sliced very thin
• 2 Tbs PEANUT or OLIVE OIL
• 1 lb. BROCCOLI FLORETS, chopped
• 1/4 cup BEEF BROTH
• 2 Tbs OYSTER SAUCE
• Optional: RICE or CHOW MEIN

Directions:

1. Mix the soy sauce, cornstarch, brown sugar, ginger, and garlic in bowl. 
2. Pour half of the sauce mixture into a separate bowl and toss the steak in it. Set both bowls aside. 
3. Heat a tablespoon of oil in skillet (preferably cast iron) over high heat and cook the chopped broccoli until just tender. Then remove the broccoli from the skillet and set it aside. 
4. Heat the skillet with another tablespoon of oil for a minute or so to allow it to get very hot again. Lay the slices of steak along the bottom of the hot pan in a single layer (as much as possible depending on the size of your pan). Let the slices of steak cook for a minute or two without moving them to allow the meat to brown. 
5. Flip the slices of steak and cook for another 30 seconds before removing the steak from the heat. 
6. Pour the second half of the sauce (that didn't have the steak in it), the beef broth, and the oyster sauce into the skillet and cook over high heat until the sauce thickens. 
7. Add the beef and broccoli back into the skillet and toss with the sauce. Season with salt and pepper as needed. 
8. Serve over rice or chow mein!

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I got this recipe from the Pioneer Woman: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/beef-with-broccoli.html

#EverythingIsAwesome Breakfast Burrito

I made this for the first time a few weeks ago and I haven't stopped thinking about it since! In my household this steak and egg burrito is affectionately known as the "#EverythingIsAwesome Breakfast Burrito." The tender, juicy steak is paired with sweet onions, and then combined with scrambled eggs and creamy, nutty gruyere cheese. It is simply wonderful. There is nothing ground breaking about this dish, but the combination of flavors just work! Excuse me while I make an emergency trip to the grocery store so I can make this now...

To make 2 dinner servings (4 wraps) you will need:

• 1 Tbs BUTTER
• 1 small ONION, sliced thin
• 8 oz. STRIP STEAK
• 3 EGGS
• 4 medium sized TORTILLAS (we used the "fajita" sized)
• 1/2 cup GRUYERE CHEESE
• SALT & PEPPER, to taste

Melt the butter in a skillet and then saute the onions in the butter for about 15 minutes or until they are caramelized. 

While the onion is caramelizing, heat a cast-iron pan over medium-high heat and season the steak with salt and pepper.

Once the cast-iron pan is hot, cook the steak for a few minutes on each side.

Note: The cook time will depend on how thick your steaks are. Our steaks were extremely thin so they cooked up after 2 minutes on each side. If your steaks are fairly thick you may need to cook them for up to 5-6 minutes on each side.

When the steaks are cooked, take them off of the heat and allow them to rest for about 5 minutes. While the steak is resting, whisk up the eggs with a pinch of salt and pepper and then scramble them until sightly firm.

After the steak has had time to rest, slice it thinly against the grain.

To assemble the wrap, spoon some of the scrambled eggs onto the tortilla, lay a few pieces of steak on top, add some grilled onions, and lastly top with the gruyere cheese.

How beautiful does that look?!? I would eat this every week if I could!

Ok, I'm going to have to make this again soon... writing up this recipe has made me hungry!

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Steak & Egg Burrito

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbs BUTTER
• 1 small ONION, sliced thin
• 8 oz. STRIP STEAK
• 3 EGGS
• 4 medium sized TORTILLAS (we used the "fajita" sized)
• 1/2 cup GRUYERE CHEESE
• SALT & PEPPER, to taste

Directions:

1. Melt the butter in a skillet and then saute the onions in the butter for about 15 minutes or until they are caramelized. 
2. While the onion is caramelizing, heat a cast-iron pan over medium-high heat and season the steak with salt and pepper.
3. Once the cast-iron pan is hot, cook the steak for a few minutes on each side.
• Note: The cook time will depend on how thick your steaks are. Our steaks were extremely thin so they cooked up after 2 minutes on each side. If your steaks are fairly thick you may need to cook them for up to 5-6 minutes on each side.
4. When the steaks are cooked, take them off of the heat and allow them to rest for about 5 minutes.
5. While the steak is resting, whisk up the eggs with a pinch of salt and pepper and then scramble them until sightly firm. 
6. After the steak has had time to rest, slice it thinly against the grain.
7. To assemble the wrap, spoon some of the scrambled eggs onto the tortilla, lay a few pieces of steak on top, add some grilled onions, and lastly top with the gruyere cheese. 

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I adapted this recipe from one that I saw on the Food Network: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/jeff-mauro/steak-and-egg-burrito.html

Rib Eye Steak- Dry Rub

My husband and I have been craving a steak for awhile, so this week we broke down and got ourselves some steak! My parents are pros at cooking steak on the stove rather than outside on the grill (though, they can grill a mean steak as well!) so we decided to give it a shot instead of going out to a restaurant!

For our steak we decided to use my mom's dry rub recipe. It is has a sweet flavor from the brown sugar, a kick of spice from the red pepper flakes, but also has a smoky flavor from the paprika! It is basically delicious!

To make the steak and the dry rub we used:

• 1 RIB-EYE STEAK
• 1 Tbs SALT
• 1 Tbs BROWN SUGAR
• 1/2 tsp GARLIC POWDER
• 1 tsp PAPRIKA
• 1/2 tsp RED PEPPER FLAKES
• VEGETABLE OIL

To make the rub, simply combine the salt, brown sugar, garlic powder, paprika, and red pepper flakes in a small bowl. (My family has been known to 'accidentally' spill a little bit of extra red pepper flakes to give it more of a kick.)

After all of the ingredients are mixed well, rub the mixture all over the steaks. (We ended up having a little bit of the rub left over.)

When you are ready to cook your steak, heat some vegetable oil in a skillet or grill pan. (We used a cast iron skillet, but I think it made it a little difficult to control the temperature so we will probably use our grill pan next time.) Make sure that the oil is hot enough so that it sizzles when you put the steak into the pan. We cooked our steak for about 3-4 minutes on each side on medium-high temperature in order to get a good sear on both sides. We then cheated and cut into the middle to see how cooked it was... seeing that is was still a little rare, we turned the heat down to medium-low and continued cooking for a few minutes until it was somewhere between medium rare and medium.

Once we were happy with the cook on the steak we pulled it off the heat and prepared to start eating! In the picture below you can see how juicy it was! We also cooked up some broccoli and potatoes to go with our steak. Can't have steak without potatoes, right?!

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Rib Eye Steak- Dry Rub

Ingredients:

• 1 RIB-EYE STEAK
• 1 Tbs SALT
• 1 Tbs BROWN SUGAR
• 1/2 tsp GARLIC POWDER
• 1 tsp PAPRIKA
• 1/2 tsp RED PEPPER FLAKES
• VEGETABLE OIL

Directions:

1. To make the rub, simply combine the salt, brown sugar, garlic powder, paprika, and red pepper flakes in a small bowl. (My family has been known to 'accidentally' spill a little bit of extra red pepper flakes to give it more of a kick.)
2. After all of the ingredients are mixed well, rub the mixture all over the steaks. (We ended up having a little bit of the rub left over.)
3. When you are ready to cook your steak, heat some vegetable oil in a skillet or grill pan. Make sure that the oil is hot enough so that it sizzles when you put the steak into the pan. 
4. We cooked our steak for about 3-4 minutes on each side on medium-high temperature in order to get a good sear on both sides. We then cheated and cut into the middle to see how cooked it was... seeing that is was still a little rare, we turned the heat down to medium-low and continued cooking for a few minutes until it was somewhere between medium rare and medium.
5. Once we were happy with the cook on the steak we pulled it off the heat and prepared to start eating! 

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