White Girl Homemade Broccoli Beef

So I made some Broccoli Beef and white rice one night a week or so ago. It was DELICIOUS if I might say so myself, but my favorite part about the night was that Cousin (no his name is not "cousin" but that's what I call him--not sure if I've ever mentioned him on here, but he's our "roommate" and my cousin) had a buddy over that night, and I told them that there were leftovers in the kitchen if they wanted some. Cousin loves when I cook. First of all, because he moved from living with our grandma to living with me, so he loves a good home cooked meal. Second, because he's not the most independent guy so cooking is kind of outta the question for him (haha if he sees this he will NOT agree). Well, anyway back to my story, Cousin was glad I cooked and got a big plate, however, his friend whom I've never cooked for before said (and I quote) "No offense, but I'm kind of afraid of a white girl in Oklahoma making Chinese food at home." haha I've never laughed so hard in my life, but long story short, he ate it and so I guess this small town white girl is a better cook than I thought. :-)

 

Now after all that bragging here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

Vegetable Oil

Cornstarch

Baking soda

Low-sodium soy sauce

Brown sugar

Head of Broccoli

Sugar

Flour

White Rice

Flank steak

First you must marinade the meat. I purchased about 1 3/4 lbs of flank steak from the grocery store. 

I bought it home and sliced it thin AGAINST the grain into strips like this:

 Here in this pic I am mixing the beef with the marinade. 

The marinade recipe goes as follows:

• 1 1/2 - 2 lbs flank steak
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce (if not using low sodium I would use more sugar to counter ALL the salt)
• 1 Tbsp water
• 2 Tbsp Vegetable oil

Whisk together the ingredients then toss in beef. Marinade COVERED in the refrigerator for 45 minutes or longer.

While waiting on the meat to marinade, start preparing the head of broccoli by cutting into florets.

I used "boil in the bag" rice because it's quick and easy. I started boiling the water in a pot for the rice.

Then I started making the sauce:

 Sauce recipe (I prepared in a 2 cup measuring cup for easy pouring and less dishes) whisked together:

• 1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar (pictured above)
• 4 cloves of garlic minced (pictured below)
• 2 Tbsp flour
• 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar (original recipe called for sherry. I did not have any on hand so I used an acid I had instead, and it was delicious)
• 3 Tbsp Vegetable oil

While the rice is boiling and now that the sauce is ready I started heating up 2 Tbsp of vegetable oil in a large skillet over HIGH heat. (Asian food is very quick cooking so all this prep needs to be done ahead of time so that it can be thrown together quickly to be prepared correctly.)

When the oil is hot and "shiny" or shimmering, put in broccoli florets. Saute about 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Broccoli will start to brown on edges quickly.

 

After 3 minutes it will not be "done", but remove it from the pan, and add another Tbsp of vegetable oil to pan and then add marinaded beef. 

Cook the beef with 1/2 of the sauce mixture and saute for 3-4 minutes or until beef is cooked through and no longer pink.

 Then, add the broccoli and the rest of the sauce mixture. Cook another 1 minute.

I then poured the rice into the bottom of a serving dish and topped it with the broccoli beef.

 It was THAT easy. Hope you all enjoy!

Kristen's Chicken

I've really been wanting to add some of my recipes on my blog, but I always forget to take pictures of my food before it gets devoured so I never do. Today when I made my homemade chicken nuggets I finally remembered to take some pictures so I can share this yummy recipe with you.

These are HOMEMADE breaded chicken nuggets and breaded fried squash.

First, I made a breading station using 3 pie plates.

The first and third plates include the same ingredients.
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. onion power
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground black pepper
2 Tbsp. Lawry's Seasoning Salt

The middle plate had an egg mixture containing 3 large eggs and approximately 2 Tbsp. of cold water.

I had 10 boneless, skinless chicken breast tenderloins. I cut them into 1" cubes. I first put about half of the cubed chicken into the first flour mixture to cover, then I shake off the excess flour and put it into the egg mixture and move the chicken around in the egg to cover. With a fork I pick up the chicken so the excess egg can drain off. Then, I put chicken into the third pan containing the flour mixture and coat it. I put the coated chicken into a separate plate, and continue with the second half of the chicken through the same process.

 (It's a little messy, but so worth it)

I then fry the chicken in 360 degree vegetable oil in my deep fryer for approximately 4 minutes per batch (do not overcrowd oil so chicken will come out crispy and will not stick together). When I pull the chicken out of the oil I place it on a paper towel lined plate, and I sprinkle salt on chicken as soon as it comes out of the fryer.

This same process can be used with whole chicken strips instead of nuggets, but will need to cook for 5-6 minutes.

**I use the exact same process for squash and zucchini and cook for 2-3 minutes. If I make it at the same time as the chicken, I bread the zucchini first to avoid cross contamination with the raw chicken.**

I serve this with Ketchup or Ranch Dressing. I make homemade ranch with 1 Buttermilk Recipe Hidden Valley Packet, 1 cup real Mayo, and 1 cup of buttermilk. I wisk it all together, then let it sit in the refrigerator covered for at least 30 minutes before serving.

It's my favorite! I hope you ENJOY! :-)

Joys of Adulthood

First of all, I want to give a quick update on my pawpaw... he went back to the doctor yesterday for his follow-up appointment after surgery last week and we got a wonderful report. The mass they removed last week was superficial so when they removed it they definitely got it all so no chemo and after monday no more catheter!!! Thank you so much for your prayers!

Other than that exciting news let's see... what has been going on in my world?!?! I have been a busy busy woman lately it seems. I had a three day weekend last weekend which I couldn't have been more excited about, and I have another one this weekend--talk about a lucky girl! (I traded shifts with another manager because he is going to Vegas in a week and then I will be working 11 days straight without a day off so I will be less excited then haha.)

We went to the Full Moon Cafe in Tulsa last Saturday night with another couple and had so much fun! I didn't know the place even existed. For those of you that enjoy a casual drink and dueling pianos this is the place to go! I used to go to piano bars all the time when I lived in Florida and I LOVE them, but I didn't even know there was one so close to home. I will definitely be dragging AJ back there soon.

Then Sunday my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew came over for dinner. They came over so my brother could try to fix my dryer that decided to DIE last week--one of the not so fun things about being an adult, but oh, how I love spending time with them. Let me take this opportunity to tell you my favorite part about being a "grown-up". I love that my brother and I (who are only 17.5 months apart) can be so close. I consider him and his wife to be some of my very best friends. In high school, I never would've guessed I could say that about him, but it's true. I love that we've grown up and learned to appreciate and love one another. I love my sister-in-law not only because of the great friend she is to me, but also, the wonderful wife she is to my brother and mother she is to my nephew. I hope that when my younger siblings (they are 18, 15, and 12) grow up we can all be as close and that they have as amazing spouses as well--being the oldest of 5 I want lots and lots of nieces and nephews and bunches of in-laws. :-)

Showing off a pic of my nephew and his cool tricks... or maybe he was "saving it for later" either way he's pretty impressive in my opinion lol.

Then my Monday off was pretty un-eventful. I relaxed at home all day and did some dishes and picked up the house a little (which now on Friday you can't tell I did anything--oh well, another one of the things I DON'T love about being a grown-up lol). Tuesday it was back to work then dinner with a good friend--and the borrowing of the washer and dryer so I could have clean clothes for work because my brother was not successful at fixing my dryer on Sunday :-(

Wednesday I got to see my sweet nephew again. Wednesdays are our days together and I cherish that time with him so much--I've been babysitting him at least one day a week since he was 5 weeks old and I wouldn't trade that time with him for anything in the whole wide world, but this Wednesday his mommy was sick so she was going to drop him off and then go back home to be sickly. Plans changed and she ended up sickly on my couch all morning then taking him home early. I was sad to see him leave early and sad to see her sick but so glad to spend one on one time with her--that doesn't happen nearly often enough.

Thursday boring except the part where we got the good report on my pawpaw! I passed out Pampered Chef catalogs to potential customers then went to work. Today I went and got my nails done--two and half hours later they are super cute. I've had a pretty great night at work. I found out my nephew started walking--can't wait to see it for myself. I'm going to try and get some sleep tonight because I have some exciting super secret plans for this weekend (more details on monday after I get back from my trip and the secret will be over and I can explain how exciting it is)...

Hope you guys have a wonderful weekend! God Bless! :-)

Appalled

Sorry Folks, but I need to do a little venting because I am in shock of something that happened this evening. (There is a little graphic language in this because it is dialouge in the story so please keep that in mind when reading.)

A little backstory...

A few months ago it was kind of getting late in the night, and I was at work--there weren't many customers in the restuarant at the time. One of my servers came into the kitchen crying because a man was being rude to her. She said he was angry and rude because there was lettuce on his burger and was apologizing to me because she didn't remember him asking for no lettuce. I calmed down my employee and fixed the man's burger and walked into the dining room (took a total of about 3 minutes to fix). I found the man angrily standing in front of the entrance to the kitchen--waiting to speak to me. I smiled and told him I had fixed his burger, and while holding it in my hand, he continued to belittle and scream at me about how incompetent he thought my employee was for putting lettuce on his burger. (Does any one else see a problem with anyone getting this angry at a stranger over lettuce?!?)

He refused to eat the burger or even take it to go--even though it was IN MY HAND and fixed. He left angry and swore he'd never be back; however, the next day he returned when I wasn't there and joked with the staff and manager on duty at the time laughing while saying "I was an asshole to those girls last night."

Since then he's been in a couple times, always speaks and is genuinely pleasant to me, and I try not to hold it against him. BUT we still fondly refer to him as "the burger guy" haha...

Then tonight....

A friend and I went to a local restaurant for her to have a late dinner, and I was going to have dessert and sit with her so she didn't have to eat alone. We were seated at a booth in the back--there were only about 3 other tables in the restaurant including a couple at one booth right behind us and then a couple guys at the bar--one of which happens to be one of my employees.

My friend was texting and receiving messages while we sat and waited on the server to bring our drinks and take our order. The woman at the booth behind us said something (I'm assuming asking what the noise was) I didn't understand and he loudly said "I guess it's someone's f***ing phone going off!" I asked her if she heard him--she hadn't and then she put her phone on silent so it wouldn't disturb anyone including them.

The server brought our drinks and there was a piece of ice stuck to the side of the glass. I was talking to my friend while trying to get it unstuck with my straw and knocked my glass over! It was embarrassing because I hadn't even taken a drink out of it yet, and it almost went all over my friend. The woman from the next booth again yelled "That's what you get you stupid bitch!" I was shocked. Then my employee joked from the bar "Hey, Kristen! Do you need a lid?" I joked back "I think I need a sippie cup!" We laughed and the man then said loudly "I think you need a f***ing babysitter too!"

I am a 25 year old adult professional woman in a nearly empty restaurant being treated so horribly by a stranger that I nearly LOST it. I was angry I needed to walk away. So I went to the restroom to get away and chatted with my employee and his friend at the bar briefly and walked back to the table...having to walk past the angry booth to get back to my seat. Apparently while I was in the bathroom, the couple was still angrily speaking loudly about us and my friend turned around and said to them calmly "Didn't your mother ever teach you that if you don't have anything nice to say then you probably shouldn't say it?" The woman yelled back something about jumping over the booth to get at my friend.

They were packing up to go boxes and about to leave when I walked past them, but I got a good enough look at him to realize he was "The Burger Guy" and it ALL made sense.

Although when this all happened his back had been toward me, so there was no way he knew it was me before I went to the restroom, but the attitude made sense. It is clear that he/they do not care who you are or if there is a reason--they will be rude. I am still in shock at the way this situation unfolded (over a cell phone getting text messages at 10pm in a nearly empty restaurant). Some people have ZERO respect for people or know how to behave appropriately....

Change is Good

Today I woke up and went to a baby shower for a sweet friend of mine--an old co-worker. She's expecting a little girl. I am so happy for her and enjoyed catching up with friends I hadn't seen in awhile. Today was a reminder that change is good. Even though I have a new job now and we don't see each other often, I know that I still have true friends I can count on. In my opinion, those are the best kinds of friends--the ones that you don't have to talk to every day, but you know that they are there no matter what because they're that good of a friend--just a phone call away.

After all the baby shower festivities, my mom came over and spent quality time with me painting my kitchen. So excited! I love the new color and my kitchen looks SO much better (even thought it didn't look bad before it wasn't what I preferred). It's now a neutral tan (rather than bright red and sage green). So now I feel like the walls need something bolder on them. Now I see that the decor that was on the bright walls isn't bright/dark enough to be on the tan walls... Well guess that means I get to go shopping. Oh, darn. I guess I will take one for the team and go shopping for stuff for my kitchen--MY FAVORITE THING TO DO!

Also, this comes at a perfect time because I am having my first Pampered Chef party next weekend. I am also very excited about this. I finally signed up to be an Independent Consultant for Pampered Chef last week. My starter kit was delivered on Thursday, and it felt like Christmas at my house! I just kept opening more and more boxes of great kitchen gadgets and products. I cannot wait until everyone is at my house next week for my party so I can show off all these great products!

Hope you all are enjoying your weekend as much as I am... Tomorrow we're headed to spend time with AJ's family for his grandpa's 80th birthday--excited to get to spend time with his family and share in the joy of this amazing milestone of 80 years....

I made a quick salsa for the birthday party that is my favorite and so very easy.

Recipe:
2 cans original Rotel
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can chunky Rotel
half a bunch of Cilantro
4 green onions
4 garlic cloves
juice of 1 lime
salt to taste

Put one can of original Rotel, Cilantro, 2 green onions (green and whites), garlic cloves, and salt into food processor until smooth.

Open the other cans and put contents in a large bowl. Add the blended mixture from food processor. Add other 2 green onions (green and whites) sliced into small rounds. Add juice of lime. Let sit in refrigerator for at least a couple hours to let flavors mix.

Serve with Tortilla chips.

Super Bowl = Super Food

I've been wanting to post about the yummy goodies I made for the Super Bowl this past Sunday, but silly me, I forgot to take pictures of these delicious foods. However, I got the recipes off of Pinterest. I will add the links from there and tell you what I did differently, if anything, to make it.

**Not all these pictures are not my own. They belong to the original poster. Please follow the link with the recipe to see the Original Post.**

Let's start with dessert--it's my favorite, and I've never really been a fan of "saving the best for last" anyway.

S'mores Krispy Treats
Link to Recipe from Pinterest
Although these do not have "Rice Krispie" cereal in it, they are made about the same way and are even more delicious.

The recipe calls for:
1/4 cup butter
1 (10 oz) bag regular marshmallows (I used mini marshmallows because I think they melt faster)
1 box of Golden Graham cereal (I broke up the box inside the bag to make both smaller and larger sizes before putting it in)
1-2 cups Chocolate Chips (I used semi-sweet mini chocolate chips)
Magic Shell (optional) (I did not use this)

Before I started I put my chocolate chips and about a cup of the marshmallows in the freezer. I melted the butter in a large pot, and then melted the marshmallows in the butter continuously stirring (just like in Rice Krispie treats). When the marshmallows had melted into a smooth mix, I added the partially broken up Golden Graham cereal. I let it stand for about a minute then I stirred in about 3/4 of the frozen chocolate chips (if you do not freeze them, I learned the hard way that it becomes a big chocolate mess instead of a pretty treat--still yummy but not pretty) and the frozen marshmallows. The chocolate and marshmallows start to melt a little but do not spread throughout the entire mixture, and I enjoyed this better than the last time I made it. I spread it into a buttered baking dish (I think mine was a 9"x11" pan) then topped it with the remaining frozen mini chocolate chips.


Next, I made Pizza Muffins. I have made these twice now and been a big crowd pleaser.

Pizza Muffins
Link to Recipe from Pinterest

This recipe calls for:

3/4 cup flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon Italian seasoning

pinch of red pepper flakes

3/4 cup whole milk (I used 2%)

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I just realized that I did not add Parm but it was fine without it)

1 cup cubed pepperoni

1/2 cup store-bought pizza sauce (I used a jar of Marinara from the spaghetti sauce aisle instead of the pizza brand because I like it better)

I doubled this recipe and made 24 regular sized muffins... the recipe called for 24 mini muffins without doubling anything.

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.

This is not in the recipe, but I browned up some Italian Sausage (the bulk kind not in the casing) and let it cool and drain on a paper towel covered plate. Then, I mixed up all the ingredients (I also added some garlic powder and onion powder--about a half of a teaspoon each) in a large bowl (including the sausage). Let stand for a few minutes--I took this time to spray cooking spray on the muffin tins and to chop up some cooked bacon (also not in the recipe). I then scooped out the mixture into the muffin tins (1/2 - 3/4 full--they do not rise much). Then I topped the muffins with chopped cooked bacon and shredded Colby and Montery Blend Cheese (also not in the recipe). Bake for 18-22 minutes. Then put on serving dish with heated marinara.

I also made some homemade buttermilk ranch dressing to go with this. I used Hidden Valley Buttermilk Recipe Packet with 1 cup of real mayo and 1 cup of buttermilk. Wisk together and let it stand in refrigerator for at least half an hour before serving.

I also made some Spinach Dip, but I will save that one for another day because I did not like the way it turned out and am looking for a new recipe.

Hope you all enjoy... Have a great weekend...

"Normal" Weekends

Wow... What a weekend off! I have LOVED it... Starting this weekend I have Saturday AND Sunday's off now... If you know anything about the restaurant industry, then you know that is unheard of, and I couldn't be any happier about this. AJ has "normal" weekends off too so we got to enjoy two full days off together, and it was wonderful.

Yesterday, we went to the pig show (first one I'd ever been to) to watch my brothers and 3 year old nephew (well technically he's my cousin, but my family's kinda special so don't ask me to put the family tree together... just trust me he's more like a nephew because his momma is one of my dearest friends). They did their pig showing things--still not sure how it all works, but I was supportive and pretended I had a clue. I also had an excuse to wear my cowboy boots so I was excited.

This is what my super cute boots look like. LOVE them--bought them for a George Strait concert in 2008 and have only worn them like 10-15 times since so I get pretty excited for any chance I get to wear them. I had so much fun watching them show their pigs--they did so good in my untrained clueless eyes, and I couldn't be any more proud of them...

Then went for a "night on the town" with AJ and one of my bestest friends in the whole world. That was a blast--but one of those "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" kinda nights, so, that's all the details I can give you. Then this morning woke up much too early for a Sunday off of work, and went to a yummy breakfast, took a big ol wonderful Sunday afternoon nap that can't feel nearly as good on any other day of the week, and then some good friends came over for dinner. I made roasted pork loin, rolls, salad with homemade ranch dressing, corn, and roasted/fried potatoes. These potatoes were my demise tonight. I am normally a pretty decent cook and have people over for dinner almost every Sunday night--it's my favorite time of the whole week. I have made roasted red potatoes with butter, salt, pepper, and vegetable seasoning a million times, and they are usually pretty fail-proof. I seemed to forget how long they take in the oven, and it seemed like they would NEVER be finished. The pork loin was done to perfection and waiting on the potatoes (guess I should've started them before the meat instead of the other way around). So, being impatient and surrounded by hungry people, I poured the potatoes in a pan on the stove, cranked the heat up to high, and fried those bad boys in aforementioned butter until they were golden and wonderful (I mean, what wouldn't be wonderful after frying in butter?).

Moral of the story: If all else fails, fry it. Oh, and don't forget that roasting potatoes in the oven takes a very long time so you should probably start cooking them before 8pm!

Hope ya'll have a great week and enjoyed your weekends as much as I did!