Quick-ish Sirloin Stir Fry

Sometimes I feel like a super-hero.   Sometimes I feel like a super-hero who needs a vacation.   Today it was a bit of both.  Even though it has been minus 30 for almost the past 2 weeks and I am in desperate need of a beach vacation, for an icy cold Monday...I was pretty super-hero-ish.  Here is a snapshot of my last 24 hours.

Last night:  Took out a piece of sirloin steak from the deep freezer and put in the fridge for a nice slow defrost.

This morning:  Got up at 5:15 am, went to work out; got home, showered, changed, had a coffee and muffin (yes, homemade) and put my lunch together.

Before work: It was the best time cut the steak as it was partially frozen and cut beautifully into thin strips.  Made a kick-ass marinade and refrigerated til I came home.

Home from work: Made rice in my favourite kitchen appliance, the instant pot!  Add equal amounts of rice and water, high pressure for 4 minutes, slow release, no fuss, no overflow, no questioning "is it done?".   It's.  Just. Done.

Hubby fried the steak.

I chopped and sauteed veggies.

Voila!  A meal that is easy and delicious!  My 18 year old telling me "Mom...this is good AF" says it all!.


Here's the recipe as best I can remember.  Those who know me know that when it comes to recipes, I look stuff up and then I make stuff up.  


For the marinade:
1/4 cup olive oil
a few dabs of sesame oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
3 - 4 cloves minced garlic
a few squirts of nice seedy mustard

Pour the above over sliced sirloin steak, cover and refrigerate til you get home.


Veggies  - basically anything will do...this is what I had in my fridge
Fresh green beans - chopped
broccoli -chopped
zucchini - quartered and chopped
1/2 red pepper - sliced\
2 - 3 cups fresh chopped basil


Chop and cook the veggies
Saute veggies in a little oil.  Throw in some chopped garlic and a dab of sesame oil.  Once veggies are done, add about 2 cups - 3 cups of chopped fresh basil so it is just wilted into the veggies.


Cook the steak
When ready to cook, add 3 - 4 teaspoons of cornstarch to the meat and fry in cast iron skillet (or any fry pan).

Time to Eat!
Add the beef to the veggies.   The cornstarch + steak will make a nice sauce.  Add a bit of water or white wine to the pan that originally had the steak...*deglaze the pan and add this mixture to the veggie/steak mixture.  YUM.

Fill your bowl with some rice and top with veggies/steak.

Garnish ideas:  Chili flakes, Sriracha, cilantro...whatever!

*de·glaze

Dictionary result for deglaze

/dēˈɡlāz/

verb

1. dilute meat sediments in (a pan) in order to make a gravy or sauce, typically using wine.

   
   

   "deglaze the pan with the white wine"

What's Cookin' at 11 pm? Beef!

My favourite slow cooker cook book!

Fall is a great time for slow cooked meals that warm the heart, belly and soul.  So what else would I be doing at 11 pm at night, but preparing dinner for tomorrow!  I am trying desperately to use up things from my deep freeze in anticipation of buying not 1, but 2 farm fresh 20-plus pound turkeys from my turkey connection at work.  So tonight, I pulled out all of the beef we had left from our 1/4 cow purchase last year. It included 2 big round steaks and one pack of stewing meat...perfect for slow cookin'!  Flipping through the beef section, there were a lot of recipes, but I needed quick, simple, and easy to throw together in the morning while I am half dazed, sipping on coffee.   I actually found 2 that I liked, and of course did my own thing, kind of a variation of both.

Beef-a-la-slow-cooker

First, I cubed all the beef, and threw it in the ceramic part of the slow cooker.   I added a few cloves of minced garlic, 2 TBSP of brown sugar, a bit of sea salt and some beef spice mix I had from Epicure (love Epicure!).  Once it was all mixed, I threw it in the refrigerator, just about ready to go for the morning.  All that's left to do is add a bit of water, ketchup or tomato sauce, a dash of Worcestershire sauce, and 3/4 can of beer.


Guess I'll be having a bit of beer after breakfast tomorrow!  When I come home from work, the beef will be oh-so-tender, and all that's left to do is cut the buns (from Cobs Bakery, of course!!) and whip up a salad.  Dinner is served!

Ahhhhh.......Serendipity......

Today was a beautiful day for September.   Sunny and warm with a light breeze, and still too early in September to be so busy that you don't see the light of day.

There were some great moments of today that were so serendipitous, I had to share...

I had three hours to myself this afternoon since our daughter was on a play-date (can you still call them "play-dates" when they are 10 years old?) and my son was at hockey practice with the hubby.  3 hours!  Can you imagine?  I decided I was not going to do any house-tasks (not a difficult decision for me) and I ended up spending a luxurious afternoon trying to finish the second instalment of the Hunger Games.

Then, my hubby comes home around 3:30 without our son.  So lets add this up.  No son.  No daughter. Just me. Just hubby. Hmmmmmm.  So what to do with all this time?   We were both hungry...starving...for.....food!  So we opted for an early dinner (we ate at 4:30!!)  with a bottle of one of my fave California Red's, Deadly Zins.




Our supper tonite was again, one of our favourites...BBQ steak and salad.   Hubby does a phenomenal steak, and we had a few NY cuts and one small tenderloin cut in the freezer.  I made a salad with fresh veggies from the Farmer's Market, and it was delicious!  I had some green beens, Swiss chard, and fresh tomatoes. I steamed the green beans, and wilted the chard and once we were ready to eat, I added the tomatoes.   The dressing was super simple and inspired by Health Stand Nutrition, where I do some nutrition consulting.   It has red wine vinegar (had none, so used rice vinegar), sesame oil and minced garlic.    Steam the greens, throw in the reds, toss in the dressing and voila!

Delicious and nutritious, and tonight, it was all kid-free.   It really can't get any better than that!    Ahhhh....Serendipity.


Addendum:  A special thank you to our friends, who had our children today and fed them supper.  These serendipitous events could not have occurred without you guys!

Best Jerky Ever!

The original title of this blog was "Lets Have a Jerk-Off!" but thought maybe it would be misinterpreted!

Anyway.

Food when you are camping often takes on two themes.  There are the old faves, like smokies over the fire, the night everyone has steak, and eating those darned "Spits" til your lips and tongue hurt.  Then there's always the new stuff that people want to try and share with everyone.  This year, my brother-in-law made the mother-load in beef jerky, and shared it with all of us (much to our delight!).   Not only did he make beef jerky, but he made SIX different kinds!

Six kinds of Jerky!  Original, Hickory, Mesquite, Cajun,
Pepper, and my personal favourite...INFERNO!

I asked my brother in law for some of the specifics about his food dehydrator, the spices he used, and other pertinent info.....here's what he wrote...

It is a Nesco FD80 that can be expanded up to eight trays.  The main thing about picking out a dehydrator is that the motor is on top, then it doesn’t get messy at the bottom.  And I like the square one as well, you can add a lot more onto them.

For the jerky mix, I had made my own, but it’s much easier and more tasty if you buy the packs.  I have bought from Cabela’s and Bass Pro Shop and they are both good.  I tend to use the Cabela’s a little more, just because you prepare it without water, therefor it takes less time to dehydrate, but they are both good. 

Here are some of the links he sent for the spice mixes:

http://www.cabelas.ca/index.cfm?pageID=71&&section=1189&section2=1305&ID=3300

http://www.basspro.com/Backwoods-Jerky-Variety-Seasoning-Pack/product/36725/116559


And for the dehydrator itself...

http://www.londondrugs.com/Cultures/en-US/Product+Detail/Homeware.htm?BreadCrumbs=Homeware;Homeware;Appliances;Food%20Savers%20and%20Dehydrators&ProductID=3256484&ProductTab=3


Thanks for sharing the jerky, bro!!!!  I know what my next appliance is gonna be!!

Happy Birthday To Me!

Happy Birthday Sherene!

Last week was my 43 birthday, and for those who know me, you know I LOVE MY BIRTHDAY!  I think that most July people would agree that they too love love LOVE their birthdays, especially if have been blessed with being both July AND Leo!  Thank you to my family (who live quite far from me) for all the birthday wishes that were emailed, phoned, facebooked, texted, etc...  LOVE IT!   My aunt sent me my birthday horoscope, which I also loved:  Your birthday resolutions will have more power than usual this year, so think hard about what it is you most wish to accomplish then promise yourself that you will make it happen. Do something special every single day.

To celebrate my birthday week, we went camping last week with the kids, and 2 other families as well (both from my hubby's side of the fam).  We camped at Kikomun Creek Provincial Park, which is absolutely one of the most beautiful and clean and well kept campgrounds I have ever been to.  It's just outside of Fernie, BC, and the weather could not have been more spectacular.  It really was a great birthday week!  We had great food, happy hour drinks and happy hour appies, time to relax and visit, spent time reading (for me that was the second instalment of Fifty Shades), swam, visited friends of ours who have a place on Lake Kookanusa, spent a day on their boat (thanks!!), hiked around Surveyors Lake and ate the BEST home-made beef jerky ever, thanks to my fave brother in-law :-)

A beautiful, healthy and delicious
breakfast featuring my new fave
Oikos Yogurt!  Tres Yummy!

For my actual birthday (July 24th), I had an amazing continental breakfast presented to me (thanks to my "cousin-in-law"...who was also intertwined in Fifty Shades!) and got to relax in my gravity chair drinking my coffee and eating my delicious breakie (while my daughter gave me a foot massage!).

Breakfast AND a foot massage!

Cheers sis!! (wish my eyes were open!!)

My fave sister-in-law (also furiously reading Fifty Shades) gave me a beautiful scarf from Switzerland, which I LOVE, and Swiss chocolate!  Yum!!!







My son gave me a Pandora charm (my fave animal....a giraffe) and my daughter gave me some beautiful earrings along with some home-made gifts that included some Spa-coupons (her room for a massage), a home-made jewellery box, and other treasures that she created for me.  Hubby's gift....of course....it was Neil Diamond himself, singing in concert (awesome!).

Happy Birthday To Me!  What a great day
and a terrific family pic!

6 different kinds of jerky,
all meticulously labelled
and incredibly delicious!

My brother-in-law gave me the assortment of beef jerky that he made and it was really the best beef jerky ever (worthy of its own posting once I get all his ingredients and the brand of his food deyhydrator!).  Dinner that night was of course appies:  ribs, wings, and dessert was a delicious chocolate cake (made by my husband) but it was the black-bean cake recipe, which I know does not sound that good but truly, it was DELICIOUS!  It had a full can of black beans, no flour, and was so moist and fantastic and by the way...freezes beautifully!!!    The recipe and link for that is posted below!





I will be posting some of the foodie pics, and other camping pics, but for now, really just wanted to say thank you to everyone who made my day so special and memorable, and also need to say thank you to E. L. James (author of...you guessed it the "Fifty Shades" series), who provided some great entertainment during the camping trip!

Black Bean Brownies

Ingredients

• 1 (15.5 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 3 eggs
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon instant coffee (optional)
• 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease an 8x8 square baking dish.
2. Combine the black beans, eggs, oil, cocoa powder, salt, vanilla extract, sugar, and instant coffee in a blender; blend until smooth; pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top of the mixture.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until the top is dry and the edges start to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 30 minutes.

Nutritional Information per serving:  Calories:  126   Total Fat:  5.3 grams  

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/black-bean-brownies/

Chuck-Brisket

Easter dinner was a bit different this year, as usually we are somewhere else, eating someone else's turkey or ham. This year, we stayed home, and rather than buy a huge turkey, we decided to cook something we had already in our deep freeze.....chuck roast. hmmmm. Not really sure about that, but okay, I'll give it a try. I looked up the cut on Wikipedia. I had no idea what part the "chuck" came from, or if it was the same thing as brisket. I knew that a chuck roast has to be slow cooked on low heat in order for it to be tender. I just didn't know how to prepare it at all. That's the great thing about the internet...I looked up "best brisket recipes" and "best chuck roast recipes" and then just decided to make it up on my own. I did find out that the chuck is in the front of the cow, and the brisket, also in the front, is just lower down. The 2-D picture of the cow and the cuts of meat was actually very useful. Its probably not proper to call this a brisket at all, but I did combine the chuck and the brisket recipes I found AND I think the word "brisket" makes it sound better than just "chuck". Either way, the meal ended up being incredibly delicious, with mashed potatoes, steamed veggies, and Yorkshire pudding. Don't forget the horseradish!

My version of a "chuck-brisket" roast:

• 4-5 lb chuck roast
• 1 TBSP sea salt (I used a bit less)
• 1 TBSP sugar
• 3-4 cloves of fresh minced garlic
• 1 TBSP dry mustard powder
• 1TBSP of thyme
• 2 tsp Montreal Steak Spice
• 2 tsp black pepper

Mix the dry ingredients together and rub onto the roast. Then with a knife, make some small slits in the beef, and stuff in some garlic cloves. Cover the bottom of the roaster with water, enough so it won't dry out. Bake uncovered at 350 for the first hour, then reduce the heat to 300 for another 4 hours covered. Check once to make sure the roaster has enough water.

Once it was cooked, I let it sit for about 45 minutes, and then sliced it up. It sliced beautifully, and for a cheap piece of meat (did I really just type that???) it was delicious!