Family-Friendly Mongolian Beef

This is a family-friendly way to make Mongolian Beef, (meaning not spicy). You can add pepper flakes or chili peppers if you want to spice it up.

Here's what you'll need:
2lbs flank or sirloin
oil for sauteing
1 tsp minced ginger or ginger paste
3/4 Tbsp chopped garlic
1 cup soy sauce
1 cup water
2 cups dark brown sugar
1/2 cup cornstarch
green onions

For the sesame green beans:
frozen (or fresh) green beans
sesame oil for sauteing
sesame seeds
Slice beef in to thin, bite-sized pieces and toss with cornstarch thoroughly until well-coated. Allow to rest for 10 minutes. In the meantime, add a Tbsp or so of oil in a pan on med/low. Add the ginger and garlic and saute for about 1 minute.Add soy sauce and water and stir to mix evenly about 1 minute. Add brown sugar, turn heat up to medium and stir til dissolved, 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat. Now that the beef is ready, add 1 cup oil to a large wok or pan and heat on medium. Once oil is heated, saute beef for about 5 minutes, until it is a nice creamy brown color. Do not overcook.
(notice my giant 18in chopsticks lol) Once browned, use a slotted spoon to drain the beef on a layer of paper towels. Drain oil from wok and return to burner. Add beef and saute for a couple of minutes. Add sauce prepared earlier and continue cooking. Add green onions to taste, cut into about one-inch pieces. Saute one more minute and remove from heat.
Use a slotted spoon to serve over rice or noodles.
For green beans, heat frozen green beans per directions. Add 1 Tbsp sesame oil to the same pan that the beef sauce was in. Add sesame seeds to taste, saute for 1 min. Add green beans and mix thoroughly. Use slotted spoon or tongs to serve.Another delicious meal in under 30 minutes!

How to Smoke Meat (Without a Smoker)

Personally, I love the taste of smoked meat. They even make charcoal nowadays that infuses flavor into your meat. Sadly, I only have a gas grill.
I finally decided to try "smoking chips" to use in the grill and they work great! You can find them in the BBQ section by the charcoal and lighter fluid.

Here's the one that I bought.For this post I'm using beef ribs because they were an excellent price,
but you can use virtually any meat or even veggies.All I did to prepare the meat was sprinkle on some dry rub and pat it in. It was a "Montreal" blend I believe. The brand doesn't matter.
To prepare the wood chips you just use Heavy Duty Foil to make a pouch that's about 6in x 4in or so. (Enough to hold 2-3 handfuls of the the stuff). Wrap it up and then poke a few holes in the top of the pouch for the smoke to escape. The instructions are on the bag.
Turn on your grill, place the pouch in the center, close the lid and wait for the pouch to start smoking. It took mine about 15 minutes but I'm sure it varies by brand.
Once it's smoking, move it to a corner of the grill and add your meat.

As you can see, my first attempt to add the meat was unsuccessful and caused a fire that was large enough to call for help from the hubby! haha Doesn't look too bad in the pic,
but trust me, the entire grill was up in flames! Luckily, the ribs survived unscathed. I learned that the layer of fat that lines the bottom of the ribs drips when heated and is extremely flammable! Hey, I'm no expert!

My 2nd attempt, with a foil-lined grill minus a hole cut out where the packet goes.After about 20 minutes or so on the med/low
setting with the lid closed.At this point you can mop on barbecue sauce and let it cook a little longer or you can eat them just like this.As you can see, we like our beef a little rare. You can grill for about 5-10 min longer on
med/low for well-done.

Salisbury Steak with Mushroom Gravy

My husband loves ground beef! I'm not too keen on it and I wanted to try something other than the traditional meatloaf or burgers so I decided on Salisbury steak with a sort of wine/mushroom gravy. Makes 5 or 6 serving.

Let's get right to it!

Here's what you'll need:

1-1 1/2 lb ground sirloin

1/2 or so grated onion (sweet or white)

bout 1/4 of an onion (sweet or white) slivered or sliced thinly

2 garlic cloves, minced

olive oil

1-2 tbsp butter

mushrooms (we used baby bellas but any will work, canned or fresh)

red cooking wine

1 1/2-2 C beef stock or broth

flour or cornstarch

red wine vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

First mix the raw meat with the grated onion, salt, pepper, and garlic. Once mixed thoroughly, (I suggest mixing with your hand), shape into 5-6 patties. Looking back, I would have made my patties just a little thinner. Learn from my mistake. :)

Heat a pan over med-high or you can do what I did and use a griddle at about 350. Coat either one with olive oil and cook patties 2-3 min on each side until browned but not burnt. I should have cooked mine a little less, again, learn from my mistakes. haha

For gravy, melt the butter in a pan and add your mushrooms and onions to saute about 3-4 minutes. Add around 1/2 cup or so cooking wine and continue cooking, stirring some. Separately, combine the broth with either about 2 tbsp flour or 1 tbsp corn starch. Once whisked smooth, add to the pan and bring to a slow boil stirring consistently during this time.

Once thickened to your liking, add the patties and around 2 tsp red wine vinegar to the pan and heat for another 1-2 minutes. Serve with a side of mashed potatoes or rice.

Herb-Crusted Pot Roast

I thought I'd start with something simple that everyone is familiar with. It's a great way to cook those cheap chuck roasts that always looks so good in the store, and always turn out dry and flavorless.
Ingredients for the roast:
2-3lbs chuck roast
1/2 cup bread crumbs (panko would also work here)
3-4 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp ground mustard
1 tsp crushed rosemary
I also sprinkled in some sage, salt, and poultry seasoning.
Mix everything together and rub the roast with it. Be sure to get a nice coating on it.

Bake on a rack uncovered in the oven or just throw it in the roaster like I did. I would say 325 degrees for about an hour and a half to two hours.
145 degrees for med rare, 160 medium, 170 for beef jerky, haha aka well done.

As you can see I cooked mine over some fingerling potatoes, parsnips, onions, and carrots. The drippings from the meat give them a great flavor. Don't forget to add water to the bottom of your pan or your veggies will burn.