Asian-Style Pepper Steak: Take Out Fake Out

Joe picked up some London Broil the other day after seeing a really good price in the Acme sale ad.  I was trying to decide what to make using one of the packs of meat and I decided on Pepper Steak.  Instead of using my recipe, I decided to try my friend Lisa's recipe. 

But true to my usual form, I didn't follow her recipe completely!  Mainly, due to the fact that I didn't have all of the ingredients.  Plus, she makes her recipe in the crock pot.   I didn't have much luck using the crock pot for Pepper Steak in the past, so I used my dutch oven on the stove.  Other than that, I didn't stray from the original recipe TOO MUCH! 

You'll want to check out Lisa's recipe if you plan on using the crock pot to prepare this meal.

Here's my version of Lisa's Asian-Style Pepper Steak: 

Asian-Style Pepper Steak

Ingredients:

• 1-2 lbs. London Broil, diced
• A-1 Steak Sauce
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
• salt & pepper
• 1 tsp. beef bouillon granules
• 1 cup boiling water
• 3 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 tsp.  sesame oil 
• 1 Tbsp. ground ginger
• 4 Tbsp.  Worcestershire Sauce
• 1/4 cup soy sauce*
• 2 small onions, chopped
• 1-2 red bell peppers, chopped

Directions:

• Marinate diced meat in A-1 Steak Sauce, overnight. 
• Remove meat from marinade with a slotted spoon and add to hot olive oil in a large pot or dutch oven with the cayenne pepper and salt and pepper, over medium high heat to brown the meat.  
• Mix the bouillon granules with the boiling water and add to the pot along with the the remaining ingredients. 
• Bring to boil. 
• Cover and reduce heat. 
• Allow to simmer for about 20 minutes to a half hour. 
• Add peppers and oinons, continue to simmer until veggies are tender.
• Serve over your favorite white or brown rice. 

*I didn't realize we were out of soy sauce.  After searching for substitutions, I found an easy solution to my problem on allrecipes.com.  I found out that for a 1/2 cup of soy sauce, you can mix 4 Tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce with 1 Tbsp. of water.  Since I only needed 1/4 cup, I cut that in half.  I didn't miss the soy sauce at all! 

This dish was excellent!  I may never switch back to my recipe again! 

As it was cooking, I tasted the sauce to see if it was tasting like I thought it should taste.  I was so tempted to call Joe and ask him to pick up egg rolls on his way home from work.  I resisted!  But I'll be buying some frozen egg rolls from Costco or Trader Joe's to keep in the freezer just for this meal! 

I served this over white minute rice with a some steamed broccoli on the side.  I really enjoyed this Asian-inspired meal.  I think I will make this often when I crave take-out but can't fit it in the budget.  It's a very frugal meal if you manage to get a decent sale on the meat.

This post is linked to Taste the World hosted by Alison at Hospitality Haven. 

Click the button below to find more Chinese inspired meals. 

Rice-A-Roni Fake Out

While taking stock of my pantry, I found 3 bags of fine egg noodles.  I didn't even realize they there!  I don't use them and I didn't buy them!  Sometimes Joe does the food shopping and odd things like this end up in our pantry! 

I made chicken noodle soup the other night and included some of the fine noodles instead of the heartier noodles that I prefer.  I was shocked at the small amount that was needed from the bag!  Still had more than half a bag left and 2 more full bags in the pantry!  I'll never use them up! 

I saw a recipe on the package for Pasta Rice Pilaf.  After checking to see if I had all the ingredients, I planned this for dinner the next night! 

I am known to be product loyal with some things.  For instance, Acme's knock off of Bush's beans are awful!   Other things, I love buying the store brand in order to save some money.  Giant brand of Raisin Brand is just like Kellogg's Raisin Bran.  (Before that  discovery, I could only eat Kellogg's Raisin Bran...see, I'm product loyal.)

I was super-surpised and thrilled with this recipe!  Not only did it taste better than beef-flavored Rice-A-Roni, it was easy, made larger serving sizes and I am sure WAY cheaper!!!!  (I don't have a price break down at the moment.) 

So, here's the recipe: 

Pasta Rice Pilaf

Ingredients:

• 
  
  1 cup uncooked long grain rice
• 
  
  1/2 cup fine egg noodles
• 
  
  1 Tbsp. butter or margarine
• 
  
  2 3/4 cups water
• 
  
  2 Tbsp. dried minced onion
• 
  
  4 tsp. beef flavor bouillon granules
• 
  
  chopped fresh parsley, optional 

Directions:

• 
  
  In large skillet, cook rice and noodles in melted butter or margarine, stirring frequently until rice and noodles are lightly browned.
• 
  
  Add water, onion and bouillon granules.
• 
  
  Bring to boil.
• 
  
  Reduce heat, cover and simmer 15 minutes until rice and noodles are tender.
• 
  
  Garnish with fresh parsley if desired.

I served this with grilled London Broil and steamed broccoli. 

This recipe makes 4 hearty portions.  Hubby and I have big appetites and usually when a recipe serves 4, we don't have any leftover.  I had plenty of rice to put away! 

I left off the fresh  parsley, since we didn't have it, and I'm not much for garnishes when it's just the two of us for dinner. 

The recipe calls for beef bouillon, but I cannot wait to try it with chicken bouillon next time! 

Also, the recipe calls for the fine egg noodles, but I'm sure this would work great using the broken spaghetti, angel hair or vermicelli bits left at the bottom of the boxes.  Save them up and use them for this recipe!  I also think that orzo pasta would be a great match too!  We always have a 1/2 a box or so left in the pantry! 

This post is linked to Food On Fridays. 

Chocolate Gooey Butter Cake Cookies

We do a lot of visiting over Christmas and New Years. I planned making some Cranberry Walnut Fudge and baking a few Gooey Butter Cakes to take to the homes we were visiting.

My friend Lisa posted a recipe for Gooey Butter Cookies that I just had to try! I had all of the ingredients so I made a double batch and took a half a batch to each house for Christmas Eve/Christmas Day.

When I first saw her recipe, I immediately wondered how great a chocolate version would be! I found out on New Year's Eve, when I made a batch of each! YUM!!!!!

Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

• chocolate cake mix
• 1 egg
• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1 stick of butter, softened
• powdered sugar

Directions:

• Add cake mix, egg, cream cheese and butter in a bowl. Mix until well combined.
• Chill over night (or at least 4 hours)
• Roll into balls to desired size.
• Roll in powdered sugar.
• Bake at 350* for 9-12 minutes.

I plan on making these, using Lemon cake mix for Easter.

Taco / Enchilada Filling

A few weeks ago, we were in the mood for tacos for dinner. I usually use a taco seasoning packet but we didn't have any left in our pantry. Instead of sending Joe out to pick up a seasoning packet or just planning something else for dinner, I decided to check out my cookbooks and see if I could find a basic recipe that I could match up with items in my pantry.

I found a recipe for Tacos in the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook and I had just about all of the ingredients, but as usual, I tweaked it a bit to fit our tastes.

Taco/Enchilada Filling

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 3 tsp. minced garlic
• 1/4 cup diced chili peppers, drained
• 2 tsp. chili powder
• salt
• hot pepper sauce to taste
• 1 can chili beans

Directions:

• In skillet or dutch oven, cook ground beef, pepper and garlic until meat is browned and onions and peppers are tender.
• Drain fat.
• Stir in the chili peppers, chili powder, and salt.
• Add several dashes of hot pepper sauce to your liking.
• Add canned chili beans and cook until heated through.
  

We made soft tacos that night for dinner and I froze the leftover filling.

Tonight, I thawed the frozen filling and made enchiladas with it. We LOVE enchiladas and LOVE that we now have another type of filling for them.

There is still a bit of the filling left, so later this week, I plan on making a taco pizza using Pillsbury Pizza Crust, some salsa, Mexican blend cheese and the last bit of the taco/enchilada filling for the pizza toppings.

I'll be linking this recipe to the following blogs this week:

• Tasty Tuesday
• Tuesdays at the Table
• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday

Ultimate Recipe Swap: Breakfast: Potato-Asparagus Omelet

It's Thursday! It's time for another Ultimate Recipe Swap hosted by Life As Mom. This week's theme is Breakfast!

I'm terrible at making breakfast. I think the reason I am terrible, is because growing up, I never saw it being prepared. Now, I don't mean that my parents never cooked breakfast. Oh, they did. But I HATED breakfast food (even cereal) as a kid/teen and I usually hid in my room until everything was cooked, eaten and cleaned up before making my way downstairs on the weekends! If I was lucky, Dad forgot to save me a plate of eggs! (Sometimes, I wasn't so lucky...blech!)

So, while I watched other meals being prepared, I never watched to learn how to fry an egg or cook bacon or make a pancake.

My tastes have changed a lot since then. I like most breakfast foods now and can even cook some. To this day, I've never made a single pancake! French toast or scrambled eggs are more my speed!

A couple of years ago, I wanted to make my husband a nice Easter Sunday breakfast before traveling to visit my parents. I wanted something a little fancier than just scrambled eggs. I don't have exact measurements, because really, anything goes with this one!

Potato-Asparagus Omelet

Ingredients:

• O'brien potatoes (frozen)
• oil
• eggs
• milk
• leftover asparagus (chopped)
• Canadian Bacon (diced)

Directions:

• Cook Canadian Bacon until slightly browned, remove from pan, set aside.
• Cook O'brien potatoes in hot oil according to directions on package.
• Add Canadian bacon and asparagus to potatoes and heat until asparagus is warmed.
• Scramble eggs and milk and pour over potato mixture.
• Cook until eggs are done.

Notes:

• Cheese would be a good addition to the recipe.
• This can be "chopped up" as the eggs are cooking or left solid more like and omelet.
• Leftover asparagus works best, since it's already cooked. If you don't have leftover asparagus, be sure to steam the asparagus before adding to the potato mixture. Otherwise, they'll take too long to cook with the other ingredients.

I've made this a few times since that first time and have switched it up according to the ingredients on hand. Sometimes with the meat, sometimes without. Sometimes without the potatoes. Whatever. Just throw in what you have, throw in what you like!

Angel's Pound Cake

One of my favorite cakes is pound cake. Growing up, I have some fond memories of birthday cakes from the local bakery that were pound cakes. There's a bakery in Philly that makes the absolute best pound cake. You can buy it as a birthday cake, wedding cake, even in loaves. All with their signature sugary icing. Mmmmm!

As an alternative to the pound cake from the bakery, Mom would often buy Sara Lee pound cakes from the freezer section of the grocery store. A favorite treat was sliced strawberries with vanilla pudding on top of a slice of Sara Lee pound cake. Mmmmm!

As an adult, I was introduced to homemade pound cakes. One of the ladies I worked with would often bring in a cake to share with us. What a great treat for a Monday morning! Seriously, I remember being on the bus on my way to work on a Monday morning, thinking to myself: "I really hope Angel brings in a pound cake today!" Angel enjoyed to cook and brought in all sorts of treats for us, but the one that sticks out in my mind the most is her pound cake.

Even after she left to move to another state, we still had her pound cake. She gave us all the recipe and occasionally someone would make it and bring it into work. No matter who made it, we still always called it Angel's Pound Cake.

Angel's Pound Cake

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks margarine, softened
• 1 stick butter, softened
• 8 oz. Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
• 3 cups sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 tsp. almond extract
• 6 large eggs
• 3 cups flour

Directions:

• Cream margarine, butter, cream cheese and sugar together, well.
• Add flavoring. Blend well.
• Add eggs one at a time with 1/2 cup flour with each egg, beating well with each addition.
• Pour batter into prepared (greased and floured) tube or loaf pans.
• Bake at 325 degrees for 1 1/2 hours.

Notes:

• Do not preheat oven.
• To make a marble cake, reserve one cup of batter. Add 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa. Mix well. Drop by spoonfuls onto the batter in the pan and swirl with knife.
• Angel also baked these pound cakes in coffee cans. Perfect size cake for a small group!

This cake is great when topped with this frosting:

Fantastic Frosting

Ingredients:

• 1 small box instant pudding (any flavor)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 8 oz. cool whip

Directions:

• mix ingredients well and frost cake

I'll be sharing this recipe with the following carnivals:

• Tasty Tuesday
• Tuesdays at the Table
• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday

Be sure to check them out for great recipes!

Also, in addition to hosting Tuesdays at the Table, Cole is having another giveaway this month in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month! Click here to read more about it and don't forget to enter!

An Award....or two!!!

I am very lucky to have been given this award by two of my new blog friends. Thanks so much Geri from Heart N Soul Cooking and Mandy from Home is My Paradise. They were both very kind in sharing their awards with me. (Sorry ladies for taking so long to follow up on this, it's been a tough couple of weeks!)

I am super excited to get this award, since I am so new at this whole thing! I've wanted to start a blog for a while, but it took a little fire under my butt to get me motivated to actually do it! My friend Lisa, started her blog Extraordinary Life, and I immediately felt left out! I had to have one too! Except, now, I have two blogs - this one and Under the Big Oak Tree!

I'm having loads of fun sharing recipes and ideas with other ladies all over the internet and of course "meeting" new friends!

Neno's Award—Rules and Regulations

1. As a dedication for those who love blogging and love to encourage friendships through blogging.

2. To seek the reasons why we all love blogging.

3. Put the award in one post as soon as you receive it.

4. Don’t forget to mention the person who gives you the award.

5. Answer the award’s question by writing the reason why you love blogging.

6. Tag and distribute the award to as many people as you like.

7. Don’t forget to notify the award receivers and put their links in your post.

I'd like to share my awards with a few of my blog friends:

Lisa @ Extraordinary Life

Joy in My Kitchen

Cole @ All the Small Stuff

It's a Very Cherry World

I could go on and on listing great blogs to pass the award on to, but then we'd all be here for a while!

Thanks again to Geri and Mandy for thinking of me (and my blog)!!!