Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry

What a great way to satisfy your Chinese food cravings without picking up the phone to call for takeout. We typically start a pot of rice at the same time we make our stir fry and also use frozen egg rolls as a side.

1 1/4 lbs flank steak thinly sliced
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon vegetable oil divided use
2 cups broccoli florets
2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 cup oyster sauce
1/4 cup beef broth or water
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon cornstarch
 salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Heat 1 teaspoon of oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the broccoli and cook for approximately 4 minutes or until tender.
2. Add the ginger and garlic to the pan and cook for 30 seconds more.
3. Remove the broccoli from the pan; place on a plate and cover.
4. Wipe the pan clean with a paper towel and turn the heat to high. Add the remaining tablespoon of oil.
5. Season the steak pieces with salt and pepper and add them to the pan in a single layer - you may need to do this step in batches. Cook for 3-4 minutes on each side until browned and cooked through.
6. Add the broccoli mixture back to the pan and cook for 2 more minutes or until warmed through.
7. In a bowl whisk together the oyster sauce, chicken broth, sugar, sesame oil and soy sauce. In a small bowl mix the cornstarch with a tablespoon of cold water.
8. Pour the oyster sauce mixture over the beef and vegetables; cook for 30 seconds. Add the cornstarch and bring to a boil; cook for 1 more minute or until sauce has just started to thicken.  Serve immediately, with rice if desired.

Tupps Tidbits:  You will wonder why the meat goes dry, tough and chewy? Don’t buy pre-packed beef strips for stir fry, just buy a small steak and slice it up.

This recipe is a classic dish of beef sauteed with fresh broccoli and coated with a sauce.  It is a healthy and easy dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes.  This recipe was tasty but we felt we had made other similar recipes with a better, savory sauce.  This recipe is NOT A KEEPER at our house.

Where did we find this?  https://www.dinneratthezoo.com/beef-and-broccoli-stir-fry/

Cheeseburger Tots

The Minnesota Vikings did NOT make to the Superbowl, but these tasty appetizers were a hit. They are tater tot bites filled with hamburger, cheese, pickles, and a special sauce.  We could not believe 3 tater tots fit into each "mini"  muffin cup to make these... but they did!

Ingredients:

48 Tater Tots , frozen
1 lb Ground beef
1/2 c Onion , finely diced
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 tbsp Mayonnaise
2 tbsp Yellow mustard
2 tbsp Ketchup
2 tbsp Pickle relish
1 c Cheddar cheese , shredded
Mini Pickles for garnish

Special Sauce Ingredients:
1/2 c Mayonnaise

3 tots in 1 cup!

4 tbsp Pickle relish
2 tbsp Yellow mustard
1 tsp White wine vinegar
1 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Onion powder
1 tsp Garlic powder

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 425°F.
• Brown ground beef in a skillet over medium high heat. Once meat has browned drain the grease then add beef and onions back to the skillet and cook until softened.
• Add mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup, and pickle relish to the ground beef and stir to combine. Salt and pepper to taste.
• Grease a mini muffin pan and place three tater tots in each cup. Bake for 10 minutes.
• After 10 minutes remove the muffin pan from the oven and use a tamper to press the tater tots down into each cup. This will create a tater tot cup.
• Fill the tater tots with the ground beef mixture and top with cheddar cheese.
• Place the tater tots back in the oven and cook for another 15 minutes.
• Remove the cheeseburger tots from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes before removing them from the muffin pan.
• While the cheeseburger tots cool mix together all of the special sauce ingredients.
• Drizzle the special sauce over the cheeseburger tots and top with mini pickle slice.

You know how much you love cheeseburgers and tater tots, right?  Well prepare yourself for the tastiness that happens when you bring them together.  As an added bonus you could easily make this Gluten Free.  This recipe is a KEEPER IN OUR HOUSE!

Where did we find it?   https://www.homemadeinterest.com

Winter Salad with Homemade Vinaigrette

This is a simple winter salad that is beautiful, delicious and really easy to make.  It is full of  winter fruits and nuts.  We paired it with cooking a whole chicken in the oven and mashed potatoes.

10 oz. Mixed greens
3 Pears, chopped
2 cups Pecan halves

1 cup dried Cranberries
1/2 cup Blue Cheese, crumbled

Vinaigrette
6 Tbs. Champagne Vinegar
2 Tbs. Dijon Mustard
1/2 cup Olive Oil
1/4 tsp Salt

1. In a large bowl add greens, pears, dried cranberries, and pecans.
2. In a small bowl whisk together the vinaigrette ingredients.
3. Pour vinaigrette ingredients over salad & toss.
4. Top with crumbled blue cheese.

This would be great for lunch, dinner and parties all winter long! We could not find Champagne Vinegar so we substituted using Pomegranate Vinegar.  Also we used feta cheese in place of blue cheese,  due to just a personal preference. Loved the pears in the salad! This recipe is a KEEPER IN OUR HOUSE!

Where did we find it?  https://www.homemadeinterest.com/

Slow Cooker Chicken Parmesan Pasta

The first recipe of the year is a pretty simple one using Penne pasta in the crockpot. Penne is a type of pasta with cylinder-shaped pieces.  Add a lettuce salad s & bread and you have an awesome Italian dinner.

Ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 (28-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes
1 onion, diced
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional
1 pound penne
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

Directions:

1. Season chicken with salt and pepper, to taste. Place chicken into a 6-qt slow cooker.
2. In a large bowl, combine crushed tomatoes, onion, basil, oregano, parsley and red pepper flakes, if using. Stir into the slow cooker and gently toss to combine. Cover and cook on low heat for 4 hours.
3. Remove chicken from the slow cooker and shred, using two forks.
4. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions; drain well.
5. Stir pasta and chicken into the slow cooker; top with cheeses. Cover and cook on low heat for an additional 10-20 minutes, or until the cheeses have melted.
6. Serve immediately, garnished with parsley, if desired.

We took a picture of the chicken and sauce after it cooked all day.  The house was filled with the scent of Italian seasonings. The taste was delicious and full of flavor.  We made 1/2 the recipe and plenty leftovers for the two of us.  Also, the leftovers heated up well. This recipe is a KEEPER IN OUR HOUSE!

Where did we find it?   https://damndelicious.net

Welcome to 2018!

This is our 6th year of our food blog and excited for new recipes in 2018.

I’m Deanna, food eater & writer.  We will "try" make one NEW recipe a week, taste it & decide it if is a “Keeper” or “NOT A KEEPER” in our house.

About us…we both love to eat and enjoy eating at home  & saving money.

Sean loves to cook and I love to bake.  We are constantly finding new recipes and saving them but never make them or try them and end up eating the same thing every week.   We hope to come up with delicious recipes to spice up our and your dinner rotation.   

The recipes are either original (created by Sean), family recipes, or have been adapted from magazines, cookbooks, newspapers, and internet. The majority of the recipes comes from sources, which we always credit when we can! We also “try” to keep them on the healthy side.

We are the photographer’s. The camera of the moment is an iphone or ipad. 

Only we enter the recipes, others aren’t allowed to submit recipes on their own (sorry), but you certainly can email us to tell us about something fabulous that you think we should know about or if you tried a recipe listed and if it was a “Keeper” in your house.