Month: July 2016

My husband said, “Make sure to save this recipe for if/when we have kids.”  It makes a lot and it tastes similar to the goulash I ate growing up.  It’s supposed to be a one-dish wonder, but I was afraid the noodles wouldn’t hold up, so I did them separately.  So now it’s a two-dish wonder :-).

Ingredients:

2 pounds ground beef

1 onion, chopped

3-4 garlic cloves, minced

1 large can of diced tomatoes (1 lb, 12 oz)

4-8 oz cans of tomato sauce (32 oz total)

3 bay leaves

3 T. soy sauce (I use Kikkoman’s Gluten Free Soy Sauce)

2 T. Italian seasoning

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp garlic powder

2 c. macaroni noodles (I used HEB’s gluten free elbow noodles)

Directions:

Cook the ground beef in a deep skillet or wok.  Add onions and garlic and cook until they soften, maybe 5 minutes.  Add remaining ingredients except for the noodles.  Cover and cook for 15-20 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring water to a boil and cook macaroni noodles according to the package’s directions.  Once cooked, drain and then add to beef mixture.  We served it with a side of green beans.

Original recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/bobbys-goulash-recipe.html

I have started this thing where I am trying to use up sauces and such that I have just sitting around.  I have had rice vinegar in my cabinet for awhile and it is time for it to get moving.  Fortunately, I found this recipe.  My advice it to chop, juice, and zest all ingredients before starting to cook.  The way I made it, it wasn’t very spicy, but you could always leave the jalapeño seeds in or add in some chili peppers to spice it up.

Sauce Ingredients:

1 T. oil (I used canola)

1 and 1/2-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped

1 jalapeño, chopped (I easily removed the seeds with a grapefruit spoon)

2 T. orange zest from a navel orange

3 garlic cloves, minced

juice of the navel orange that you just zested

1/4 c. brown sugar

1/4 c. rice vinegar (not the seasoned kind)

1/4 c. soy sauce (make sure it’s gluten free if you are eating gluten free)

1 T. fish sauce (I know Thai Kitchen is gluten free- not sure about the others)

Beef Ingredients:

1 egg (I used 1 Ener-G egg which is 1 1/2 tsp of the powder plus 2 T. water)

1 T. cornstarch

1 pinch of sea salt

1 to 1 1/2 pounds of steak, cut into 1-inch slivers (I used sirloin steak I think, but flank or rib-eye would do also)

1/4 c. canola oil

1 bunch of green onion, sliced into one inch pieces with white and green parts separated

Broccoli, optional

Sauce directions:

Heat oil in a 2-quart saucepan.  Add in ginger, orange zest, and jalapeños.  Stir for 1-2 minutes to heat them up, then add garlic.  Stir for another 1-2 minutes.  Add remaining sauce ingredients to the pan and stir well.  Bring it to a boil and then reduce the heat and simmer while continuing to stir.  Sauce should thicken and reduce a little.

Beef directions:

In a medium bowl, make Ener-G egg (see directions on the box) if not using real eggs.  Add in cornstarch and salt and stir well.   Add sliced beef and mix well (I used my hands.)  Heat the oil in a wok or large skillet.  Add in beef and cook for 1-2 minutes on one side, add the white parts of the green onions, and then turn the beef over.  It will be medium/medium-rare at this point.  Cook until the outside of the meat is browned and then pour in sauce and green onions.  Mix in steamed broccoli.  Serve over basmati rice.

Original recipe:

http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017697-orange-beef