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!

Kielbasa Potatoes and Peppers

I remember my mom used to make something vaguely similar to this when I was a kid. I had nothing planned for dinner last night (again) and I needed something quick because it was getting late. This dinner is fast and, as with most of my dinners, it's adaptable based on what you feel like doing.

For my version, which made enough for five hungry people, here's what you'll need:
2 packages of kielbasa or smoked sausage
A sweet onion
2 white and 2 red potatoes (big-ish ones)
mushrooms
1 whole green pepper
1/2 each large red and orange pepper
Also some butter or oil, parsley (opt), salt

The first thing is to cut everything up as shown in the pic. Slice the sausage, strips of peppers and onions. Cut potatoes into 1/4 inch rounds and then halve the rounds.
A trick that I've learned for frying potatoes is to boil them first to make cooking easier. Bring just enough water to cover the potatoes to a boil and boil for five minutes. Drain. Ok. Now you'll need two pans. For the first pan, heat some oil or butter and add drained potatoes. Put the sausage in the other pan to brown. Both on medium. For the potatoes, make sure that you always have enough grease in the pan so that they don't burn. After about 5-6 minutes, once the potatoes have started to brown nicely, add the onion and a sprinkle of dried parsley. After 2 minutes add the peppers and mushrooms. At this point your sausage should be done and you can remove it and add the grease from the meat pan to the vegetable pan for added flavor. Saute for another minute, then add the meat. Add a sprinkle of fresh parsley on top if you have any and serve it up. A quick and flavorful meal that everyone will love!

Garden Chicken Alfredo

You know those days when you don't have anything planned for dinner and you don't want (or have time) to go to the store?
Sometimes you have to just cook as you go. I started dinner by pulling a bunch of stuff out of my pantry and fridge that I thought would taste good together and here's what I came up with.

I also used olive oil, fresh thyme and basil.
This dish cooks up really quickly and I would say you could get it done from start to finish in less than 30 minutes for sure!
The 1st thing you want to do is to get a pot of water on the stove on high for the noodles. Keep an eye on it while you're making the sauce and when it starts to boil, cook the noodles to al dente, strain, rinse, and set aside until sauce is done.

Cut your chicken into bite sized squares. I used about a pound of tenders, (don't forget to cut that nasty little cord out as shown here.)
Heat about a tbsp of olive oil in a pan over med. Once hot, add 1/2 sliced onion, tbsp diced garlic, and a pkg of sliced mushrooms (always optional).
Saute for 2-3 minutes then add chicken and salt & pepper to taste. Brown chicken bringing heat up to med/high as needed. Add a small amount of sliced sun dried tomatoes like maybe 1/4 cup at the most. These can be overpowering so be careful.
Add fresh spinach to taste. I used 3 big handfuls, remember, spinach shrinks significantly while cooking.

Once spinach starts to wilt add a jar of alfredo sauce and reduce heat to low. Add three seeded, sliced roma tomatoes. Let simmer for around 2 minutes.

Stir in cooking cream and add fresh thyme, basil, and green onions to taste.

Stir in noodles and serve with garlic bread or breadsticks.

Fast, easy, and excellent for leftovers!