Mango Steak Stir Fry

This recipe comes from  OurBestBites.com. It has a distinctly Thai flavor to it. I think it's probably the mint. Whatever it was, delicious would be a great way to describe it. Though next time I might add a bit more salt and red pepper flakes.

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 teaspoons soy sauce (if this needs to be gluten-free, check the soy sauce label)
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
12 ounces flank steak, thinly sliced (if it’s semi-frozen, it’s easier to slice)
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon cooking oil (olive, coconut, or canola), divided
1 small red onion, sliced
1 medium red bell pepper, sliced
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 teaspoon minced fresh garlic
1 cup cubed, ripe (but not too ripe) mango
1/4 cup fresh basil, roughly chopped or torn
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint

Instructions:
Whisk together the water, lime juice, sugar, soy sauce, and corn starch. Set aside.

Toss together the basil, cilantro, and mint and set aside.

Sprinkle the steak with crushed red pepper and black pepper and toss to combine. Heat half of the oil in a large skillet or wok over high heat. When hot, add the steak and cook for about 3-4 minutes or until almost cooked through. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Heat the remaining oil in the skillet and add the onion, pepper, and ginger. Cook for 1-2 minutes or until tender-crisp.

Add the garlic, steak, mango and stir-fry until the steak is cooked through.

Add the sauce and cook until thickened slightly.

Serve immediately over rice and sprinkle with herb mixture. Serves 4.

Calories: 215
Fat: 11
Fiber: 2
Carbs: 13
Protein: 16
WW Points Plus: 6

Cabbage Enchiladas

Credit http://healthylivinghowto.com/1/post/2012/01/winner-winner-beef-enchilada-dinner.html for this recipe.

A weird thing happened. My kids asked what we were having for dinner (8,000 times) and every time I told them it was cabbage enchiladas, they said things like, "That sounds yummy!" & "Mmmmm". It was kind of weird, but I ran with it. In the end, everyone liked the meal. I didn't even have to remind them to stop staring at the food and put it in their mouths. And this enchilada sauce is super good. I'm officially saying goodbye to the canned stuff.

• Enchilada Sauce
• 2 Tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 2 Tbsp. Chili Powder
• 1 C. Beef broth
• 5 oz. tomato paste
• 1/2 tsp. oregano
• 1/2 tsp. cumin
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt

Directions

In saucepan over medium-high heat, whisk together all ingredients except olive oil.

Bring to low boil then reduce heat to low to keep warm.

Before pouring over cabbage rolls, whisk in olive oil.

 Beef Enchilada Cabbbage Rolls

• 1 lb. Ground Beef
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 green pepper, chopped (optional)
• 1 tsp. sea salt
• 1 tsp. ground black pepper
• medium head cabbage
• shredded cheese
• 2-4 avocados

In a large stockpot, add a couple of cups of water and bring to boil.

Remove core from cabbage and very carefully peel off 10-12 leaves.

Place leaves in boiling water and turn off heat.

While cabbage leaves are softening, pan fry ground beef, onion, salt and pepper in skillet.

Once ground beef is cooked though, remove from heat and add crushed garlic.

With tongs, remove one cabbage leaf at a time, fill with beef mixture, roll tightly and lay in glass baking dish.

Cover cabbage rolls with enchilada sauce and sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes.

Serve with avocado slices and sour cream and enjoy!

Chinese Orange Beef

Recipe taken from OurBestBites.com and slightly adapted from ATK Quick Family Cook Book

Ingredients
2-3 teaspoons grated orange zest (I just zest 1 whole orange)
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons Asian chili sauce
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
2 teaspoons cornstarch
vegetable oil for pan
1-1/2 pounds flank steak, trimmed and sliced thin across grain and lightly sprinkled with salt and pepper (to clarify: that’s one steak, that weighs about 1.5 pounds)
3-4 green onions, sliced
hot white or brown rice for serving

Instructions
Whisk orange zest and orange juice, brown sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, chili sauce, ginger, and cornstarch together in a bowl.
Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Drizzle pan with oil and tilt to coat. Add half of beef, breaking up any clumps and let cook without stirring for one minute. Stir beef and continue to cook until browned, about 2 minutes; transfer to a bowl and cover. Repeat with remaining beef and transfer to bowl.
Whisk sauce to recombine, add to now-empty skillet, and cook over medium heat until thickened, about 2-3 minutes. Return cooked beef, with any accumulated juices, to skillet and toss to combine. Serve over rice and garnish with green onions.

Roast

This is an adaptation from Paula Deen. While it's a roast recipe, it's also good with pork chops. Mmmmmm.

hunk of meat
salt
pepper
garlic powder
onion
garlic
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/4 C. red/marsala cooking wine
2 Tbsp. beef bouillon (or 2 cubes)
3/4 C. water
1 bay leaf

season the meat all over with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Sear it in a hot pan, getting all the sides nice and golden. Then transfer to slow cooker or roasting pan, depending on your method of cooking.

combine soup, wine, boullion and water. Pour over the meat. Add bay leaf.

Cook for 7ish hours in slow cooker or 2-3 hours in oven (though I don't know what temp. since that's not how I make it.)

The gravy from this is crazy good, so you'll want to be sure to serve it with some mashed or roasted potatoes and carrots.

Korean BBQ Beef

Yep, another one from my new favorite site. It's similar to the orange Thai beef skewers, but still worth posting on its own.

1 1/2 lb. sirloin steak, cut against the grain into thin (about 1/4″) slices
1/2 c. rice wine or pear juice (1 4 oz. bottle of pear juice from the baby food aisle is perfect and cheap)
1/2 c. low-sodium soy sauce (regular soy sauce makes it taste vaguely like beef jerky)
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. (1/2 for us) Sriracha chili sauce
1 1/2 tsp. sesame oil
Combine wine or pear juice, soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, chili sauce, and sesame oil in a large bowl. Add sliced steak. Marinate at room temperature for 1 hour or up to 8 hours in the refrigerator. Preheat the grill. While the grill is heating, thread the steak pieces onto bamboo skewers (I just cooked mine in a grill basket.) Cook over medium-high heat for about 3-4 minutes per side, being careful not to let the meat get too cooked. Serve immediately; serves 4-6.

Orange Thai Beef Skewers

I keep thinking I'm just putting my favorite recipes here, but so far I have loved everything I've tried from OurBestBites.com. Getting sick of hearing about them yet? Try their recipes and you'll understand. So far this is my absolute favorite.

1 orange
1/4 C soy sauce
1/4 C seasoned rice wine vinegar
1 T honey
1T sesame oil
1 t ground ginger
1 t coriander
4 cloves garlic
2-4 t Sriracha chili sauce*

1 1/2 lb flank steak (I used milanesa, which is already cut super thin)

*Sriracha is a really great hot chili sauce that can easily be found in most grocery stores in the Asian foods section. It has a rooster on the bottle- you can't miss it! If you have to substitute, you could easily add cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes, or plain ol' hot sauce to the marinade.

Grab a bowl for your marinade. Zest your orange and add all of the zest to the bowl. Then cut the orange in half and add all of the juice as well. You should have at least 1/4 C orange juice and anything more than that is just fine. To the orange mixture, add soy sauce, vinegar, honey, sesame oil, ginger, coriander, and garlic. Then add Sriracha to your liking. I've found that once these are marinaded and cooked, the spice mellows quite a bit. I add 2t Sriracha and it's mild enough that my toddler gobbles them up. It's not even really spicey, just flavorful. So if you like heat, I'd do more like 3-4 teaspoons of Sriracha. Whisk the marinade so everything is combined.

Take the flank steak and slice it across the grain into about 1/4" slices.

When you're ready to get cookin' preheat your grill. Then take your skewers (pre-soaked if you're using wood/bamboo ones) and thread on the strips of meat, just like you're stitching.Place them on the grill. These cook really fast. Overcooked flank steak will be tough and chewy, so don't over do it! They should only take about 3-4 minutes on each side. Flip half way through.

Now these don't only cook fast, they cool fast. So get the rest of your meal all ready, set the table, gather the kids, etc. Grill these up at the last minute so you can serve them hot off the grill, literally.

I usually make this with scallion rice. I cook 1C dry rice in 2C water and when it's done I hit it with a couple pats of butter, a big handful of sliced green onions and a splash of lime juice. With lots of kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.

Nachitoches Meat Pies

Another big winner from OurBestBites.com. I made a double batch but only put half of it in pie crust and the other half in pizza dough, calzone style. We had the pizza dough tonight and loved it. The others are still in the freezer.

1/2 lb. lean ground beef
1/2 lb. ground pork
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1/2 red pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
5-6 cloves garlic, minced
2+ tsp. Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning (it’s the cheapest, best, and widely available)
Tabasco sauce to taste (start with about 1/4 tsp.)
1 can beef broth
Pie Crust, tripled
1 egg
1/4 c. cold water

In a large skillet, brown ground beef and ground pork, breaking the meat into small pieces. When it’s about halfway cooked, drain excess fat (if necessary) and then add green and red peppers, onion, celery, and garlic. Cook until vegetables are tender and onions are translucent. Add 2 tsp. Tony’s and 1/4 tsp. Tabasco. Add beef broth and bring the mixture to a boil over high heat. Cook for about 20 minutes or until most of the liquid has evaporated. Season with additional Tony’s and Tabasco if necessary, keeping in mind that the seasonings will mellow in the pie. You can refrigerate this mixture for 3-4 days before baking the pies.
Prepare pie crust and roll the entire ball onto a floured surface. For large (meal-sized) pies, I use a bowl that’s about 6″ across the top; I just invert the bowl onto the dough and trace a knife around it to cut the dough. Put meat in the middle of the dough, fold over and crimp the edges.

Preheat oven to 400 and spray a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray. Place prepared pies onto your baking sheet. In a small bowl, whisk together egg and cold water and brush over the pies.

Bake 25-30 min. or until golden brown.

FREEZER INSTRUCTIONS: You could do this one of two ways; you can freeze them unbaked and just add the egg wash and bake them for an extra 15-20 minutes, or you can bake them and heat them up in the oven or microwave, whatever suits your needs better.

Crock-pot Mongolian Beef

This was a goodie! Everyone in my family liked it, except the 4-year-old who doesn't like anything that's not Cheeto-based.

1 lb beef flank steak, sliced thinly across the grain
1 medium white onion (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup light soy sauce or 1/2 cup Braggs liquid aminos
1 cup chicken broth
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground ginger or 1 inch piece fresh ginger grated
1/2-1 teaspoon red pepper flakes, to taste
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 cup cut scallion, in 1 . 5 inch pieces (green onions)
1/3 cup fruity white wine

1 Slice the flank steak thinly across the grain - the strips should be 2 to 3 inches long each; set aside.

2 Combine the onion, soy sauce, broth, garlic, hoisin, brown sugar, ginger, and pepper flakes, then put the mixture into the crock pot.

3 Put the cornstarch in a large Ziploc bag; add the sliced beef and toss well to coat. (It practically kills me to use up a gallon bag for such a simple task, but I did, and the food was worth it in the end.)

4 Add the coated beef into the crock pot, gently pushing it into the liquid to cover; pour the white wine over - do NOT stir.

5 Cook on low for 4 to 5 hours; an hour before you're going to serve, turn the crock pot to high, add the cut scallions, stir, and cook for an additional hour.

6 Stir, and serve over rice or noodles.

Rosemary Garlic Beef (from Better Homes and Gardens)

1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 rosemary branches, leaves chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
3 pounds sirloin tips, in thin strips or 1 1/2-inch cubes
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Mix together olive oil, vinegar, rosemary leaves, garlic, red pepper flakes and 1/2 teaspoon of the salt in a non-reactive 3-to 4-quart bowl. Immerse the beef in the marinade. Refrigerate 4 hours to overnight.

To cook, remove as much marinade as possible from the beef. Thread the beef on skewers, or on sturdy sprigs of rosemary. Sprinkle all sides with the remaining teaspoon of salt and the pepper. Grill over medium-high heat, turning every 1 1/2 minutes, until beef is deeply browned on the outside and still rare on the inside, 8-10 minutes (or to personal preference).

I marinated the steak (I used steak instead of sirloin tips) overnight and then all day. It was fantastic! We ate it with wild rice, rolls, and salad.

Tostadas

This is a great go-to meal. Easy to make and yummy to everyone.

1 lb. ground meat
1/2 C. chopped onion
1 pkg. dry enchilada seasoning
1 1/2 C. water
8 oz. tomato sauce
16 oz. refried beans
1/2 C. evaporated milk

Toppings:
Cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, olives, gr. onion, chips, etc.

Brown meat & onion. Drain if necessary. Stir in enchilada seasoning, water and tomato sauce. Simmer 15 min.

Stir in beans & milk, heat through. Let it sit a bit if you want it to thicken up.

Serve over chips and add toppings.