recipe of the week: mongolian beef (crock pot or not)

once upon a time, i decided that i wanted to make mongolian beef.
and none of the recipes i found seemed perfect, so naturally i decided to make my own :-)

here's what you need:

1 pound (or a bit more) flank steak
1/4 cup cornstarch
olive oil
3 large cloves garlic, minced
1 inch ginger, grated
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons brown sugar
5 green onions, sliced into 1/2 or 1 inch pieces
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup water

begin by slicing the flank steak against the grain into very thin strips

admire

place your corstarch in a mixing bowl

toss the steak strips in it until they are well coated

in a large skillet heat garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes in olive oil for 3-5 minutes

add coated beef strips and fully cook

grab your green onions

add them to the mix (perfectly ok to do this while the meat is browning, of course)

yum.

add the brown sugar

once the meat is fully cooked, mix the hoisin and soy sauces

pour into the mix and add the water

this is the point where it can go one of two ways. either simmer it on the stove until you are ready to serve it

OR pour into a crock pot and use the lowest setting (i just kept it on "warm") to continue simmering it throughout the day.

serve over brown rice. so, so yummy.

 

recipe of the week: spinach tortellini soup (slow cooker!)

spinach tortellini soup (in the crockpot!)

2 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon butter

2 cups vegetable broth

3 cups water

6 oz raw mushrooms, washed and sliced (i use the wild mushroom blend from whole foods)

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic

1 tablespoon basil

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon cayenne peper

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 tablespoon red pepper flakes

freshly ground black pepper

2 cups cheese tortellini

4 cups fresh spinach leaves, torn

1 cup skim milk

1 cup whipping cream

fresh parmesan cheese to top

begin by stirring together in a crock pot the vegetable broth, butter, water, flour, mushroom, onion, garlic and spices.

 cover and cook on low from 6-8 hours

 add torn spinach leaves

 and tortellini.  stir together and cook for another 30 minutes or so

 add milk and whipping cream

 cook on low for another 20-30 minutes

 and enjoy!

 top with parmesan cheese if you wish. (we wish :-)

*adapted to eliminate pre-packaged mixes and to fit our tastes from this recipe

recipe of the week: chicken ranch tortilla soup (slow cooker recipe)f

as much as i love pinterest, there have been a few ideas that i have tried and been disappointed by.


one was the sausage egg breakfast casserole. ick.
another was the chicken ranch tacos. cooked in the crock pot. they SOUNDED right up my alley. and so i followed the instructions


put chicken (2 pounds--i used a pound of breasts and a pound of thighs) in crock pot

 add taco and ranch seasonings (of course, it called for the prepackaged stuff...no thanks from me, but you can do what you like)

 (i used two tablespoons of each)

 a cup of chicken stock

 and cook for awhile

 shred cooked chicken

...


and then i tasted it.
and it.was.bland.
(to me)


i could NOT get excited about this at all.  so i froze half of the mixture (the recipe for what i did with that will come later) and with the other half, i decided to try my hand at chicken tortilla soup.  only, since there was the ranch element in the chicken i decided to make it a chicken ranch tortilla soup.


so. here's the (much tastier) outcome. turning a pinterest fail into a recipe that my husband immediately said to "keep in the rotation" isn't a bad deal at all :-)
(i still haven't salvaged that breakfast casserole. some things are lost causes.)


chicken ranch tortilla soup

1/2 chicken cooked as above (or similarly), reserved in crockpot (the other half you can save for a second batch, another recipe, or just double the following ingredients)
theoretically, i cook the chicken overnight on low, then start the soup before i head out the door for work.
olive oil
1 large can crushed tomatoes
1 large onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic
1 can black beans
1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 pound shredded chicken (preferably cooked as above, or similarly)
2 cups corn (i used trader joe's fire-roasted)
1 1/2 tablespoons ranch seasoning (separated)
1 1/2 tablespoons taco seasoning (separated)
avocado (1 for every 2 adults eating)
cilantro
tortillas


in a saucepan on the stove, heat olive oil and saute the onion in the 1 tablespoon each of the ranch and taco seasonings for 5-10 minutes

 add the crushed tomatoes and chicken broth and simmer while you assemble the other ingredients in the crock pot.

 to the chicken in the crock pot, add the corn, beans and cilantro

 pour the tomato mixture over

 warm through. i cooked for probably 4 hours on low, but you can simply set your crock pot to "warm" if that's an available option.  about 10-20 minutes before serving, "wake" the spices by adding the additional 1/2 tablespoons of the ranch and taco seasonings.

 ladle into bowls and top with fresh avocado slices, cilantro and strips of tortillas (or tortilla chips if you prefer)

the caloric damage on this isn't too bad either.  the avocados add the most in terms of fat and calories, but since it's a good fat i don't get too worried.  here's the nutrition facts based on 6 servings and 1/2 avocado in each serving.

if you make it without avocado, here's your nutrition info.

recipe of the week: (slow cooker) thai red curry beef

i'm having quite the blossoming relationship lately with my slow cooker.
wednesdays are SLAMMED for both my husband and me, so wednesday has become "crock pot night" at our place
sometimes that's tossing everything together wednesday morning, but more often than not i prepare it tuesday night and plug it in as i head out the door.


i made this recipe for the second time this week.  the first time, i followed it nearly exactly (from the williams-sonoma website).  but i felt that while the sauce had great flavor, the meat itself just tasted like lumps of beef.  well, they were after all!


so i've revamped the recipe a bit, and we had it for dinner again this week.  this time was a little more to my liking, so here's my adaptation of the recipe!


thai red curry beef

marinade for the meat:
2 - 3 tbsp red curry paste
salt & pepper
garlic powder
juice of 1/2 lime
mint flakes


2.5 pounds lean stew meat
olive oil
1 sweet onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup (or more to taste) red curry paste
2 cans coconut milk
salt, pepper, cumin, a smidge of cayenne, crushed coriander seeds, mint leaves (to taste) - i use a mortar & pestle to combine
1 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 can bamboo shoots
fresh mint and cilantro


begin by combining the stew meat with the marinade ingredients.  mix well, and then refrigerate for at least an hour.

heat 2 tbsp (ish) of olive oil in a large pot.  in batches if necessary, brown the meat a bit on all sides.  you're not cooking through, just getting a little color on the meat.

transfer the meat to the crockpot.

add the onion and garlic to the pan, as well as the spice combo.

cook for five minutes, and then add the red curry paste.

stir the paste into the onion/garlic mixture and cook through for another minute or so.

pour in the coconut milk and stir well, scraping any reside off the pan while you're doing so.  add the fish sauce, lime juice and brown sugar.

bring mixture to a boil, then transfer to the crockpot as well.

cook on low for 6-8 hours, and 5 minutes before serving stir in the bamboo and a second round of that spice combo.  i also added another tablespoon or two of the red curry paste.

serve over rice and garnish with the mint and cilantro.

this is not a low-fat recipe.  after all, it has two cans of coconut milk in it.  however, fat (especially good fat) is not the problem, at least not for me.  i try to stay low-sugar, and this recipe fits the bill.  here's the screenshot from myfitnesspal of the breakdown (including rice...we use brown basatmi).

(lots of fun recipes linked up if you click on this button!  yummy!)