homemade beef & broccoli

tonight i made, for the very first time ever, chinese. i decided to start with stir-fry, and i choose beef & broccoli. mainly, because i found a fairly simple recipe, but who doesn't love beef & broccoli?!

anyway, i've been wanting to get into making chinese food because we have a wok & some great cookbooks by Martin Yan. the recipe i used today, however, is from a Great American Recipes card i ended up with sometime in the last couple years. the recipe was fantastic! i had a little trouble getting the sauce to thicken [took an extra minute & a half than what was called for], and we decided that next time we'll use more brown sugar [just our taste]. i made white rice to accompany the meal. mr. phipps loved it, and i was pretty stoked to have tried it out. it's a great introductory recipe. it was easy & did i mention delicious? i can't wait to venture more into asian cooking.
i'll share the recipe & some photos. enjoy!

Beef & Broccoli Stir-Fry
serves: 6, prep time: 20mins, cook time: 15mins


ingredients:
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. cornstarch
1 tbsp. firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp. black pepper
2 tbsp. vegetable oil, divided
2 lb top sirloin, sliced 1/4-inch thick
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
2 medium heads broccoli
2 tsp. grated fresh gingerroot

steps:
1. in a small bowl, combine soy sauce, lemon juice, cornstarch, brown sugar, garlic & pepper. set aside.
2. heat 1 tbsp. vegetable oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. add beef & stir-fry until almost cooked through, about 2 mins. transfer beef to a plate & cover to keep warm.
3. heat remaining oil in wok/skillet. add onion & stir-fry for 5 mins. cut broccoli into florets & add to wok/skillet with 1/2 cup water. bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat & simmer for 3 mins.
4. return beef to skillet with soy sauce mixture; add ginger. bring to a boil & cook stirring constantly, until sauce thickens, about 2 minutes. serve hot.

Oatmeal Cookies

i always love tuesdays because they are like my friday. i got off work a little early today and decided to come home and make oatmeal cookies. i had been looking thru cookbooks and found a recipe from Mrs. Fields Cookie Book that i wanted to try. the recipe is called "oatmeal raisin chews" but i decided to use craisins instead.

Oatmeal Chews


2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup quick oats [not instant]
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup salted butter, softened
2 Tbsp. honey
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups craisins [or whatever fruit you prefer]
[optional] 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
combine flour, soda, salt & oats. mix well with wire whisk, set aside.
blend sugars with mixer at medium speed. add butter & mix to form a grainy paste. scrape down sides of bowl, then add honey, vanilla & eggs. mix at medium speed until light & fluffy.
add flour mixture, craisins & nuts. blend at low speed just until combined.
drop onto cookie sheets. bake for 20-24 mins or until cookies are a light golden brown.
yield: about 3 dozen

                                       

i was really impressed with this recipe. the cookies are delicious [if i do say so myself!], moist, & chewy. i will definitely be making these again in the future.

ALSO, it's late, but, yesterday was Captain's [our nickname for Kevin] birthday! happy one year old my sweet little monster.

sandwich delight

it's amazing what a cupboard will hide! while moving we found a sandwich grill we had gotten as a gift for our wedding. and a couple weeks ago when my parents were up helping us unpack my mom suggested that we use it to make lunch. i just wanna say... if you have never used one, you're totally missing out! it's probably one of the greatest things ever.
we have this one by Cuisinart; it's really reasonably priced. there are several out on the market, however, if you have a different  preference or price range. this one grills 2 at one time, so that is an awesome feature. it not only grills your sandwich into delicious yumminess, but it also seals off the crust and cuts it on the diagonal. it transforms a blah lunch/dinner into something amazing. i think we've had more sandwiches in the last 2 weeks than i had in the previous year. there are so many options, and we are having a great time coming up with new spins on a classic.  my current fave is kind of our take on a Monte Cristo. kind of.

ingredients [for two!]:

-4 slices of bread

-deli sliced turkey, ham or both

-cream cheese

-2 small slices sharp cheddar cheese

-spreadable butter

-raspberry preserve 

steps:

lightly butter 1 side of each slice of bread. lightly spread cream cheese on 2 slices, on the non-buttered side. place on grill butter side down. add meat[s] and cheese. grill sandwich. add preserves to your preference and enjoy!

sandwiches have never been more delicious or easy! do you have any sandwich favorites? 

no flour peanut butter chocolate chip cookies

i found this Emeril recipe in a magazine at work, and i decided to try it out since i already everything for it at home.

ingredients:
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 large egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract

preheat oven to 350 degrees. combine all ingredients in a bowl; stir well until smooth. drop onto cookie sheet using about 1 tbsp per cookie. press down with fork to form crosshatched pattern. bake about 10mins. makes 2 dozen.

it was really easy and mr. phipps said it had become one of his favorite cookies of all time. super delicious.

long day, hard work

it has been an incredibly long day, but i finally finished my gingerbread house after work. i guess today was fitting seeing as it snowed quite a bit. i can say this is one of the hardest things i've ever done. holy cow! i'm not sure if it was so tough because i thought it should be pretty easy or what. although my mom did tell me that a coworker of hers said it was really tough, so i feel a bit relieved about it.

it definitely looks homemade, but i like that because it is! haha and really... i couldn't get it any other way. i did go a bit above the basic and made actual windows on each side of the house out of candy. so i'm pretty stoked on those. they aren't as beautiful as the ones in the book, but they'll do for my first one. i opted for a more basic house because as i was attempting to roll the dough out i realized that something fancy probably wasn't going to happen, especially in any normal amount of time. i can honestly say this will most-likely NOT be a phipps christmas tradition, but you never know. i could get brave again some year and pump another one out. i'm glad i tried it out; i no longer wonder about it.

as for the recipe... i'm still not sure what i think about it. i want to say it was good, but it was so hard that i want to say it was terrible. user error i suppose. there was a lot of tips though, i will say that. the book called for a cathedral not really a house, which i think would be nearly impossible! she also included a royal icing recipe which worked okay. i had to adjust it a bit because it wouldn't stiffen, but we are pretty highly elevated, so that could've been the problem. she has so many recipes for christmas cookies, ones i've never heard of before, so ultimately, if you can find a copy, you should pick it up.

peppermint bark

mr phipps loves, with a capital L, peppermint bark. he mentioned it a few days ago when we were browsing william-sonoma. i decided to try it from scratch as a surprise for him. it passed his taste test & even got a "perfect, better than william-sonoma"
i figured i'd share in case anyone out there is curious since christmas is obviously the perfect time for said treat. the original recipe can be found here
i altered it a bit at home because melting chocolate via stovetop has never been my specialty & quite frankly white chocolate can be quite testy over the stove anyway. however, if you are a purist & want to use the stove i salute you. if you are going to microwave it, don't use the oil. you'll need a glass bowl heating at medium power in 30 second intervals, stirring in between. slower is always better when melting chocolate & you'll get yummy, perfectly melted every time. i also used a dark chocolate instead of semi-sweet because i feel it compliments the white chocolate & peppermint better, but that's a personal opinion.

note: the recipe calls for high-quality chocolate. honestly it really is better because lower quality chocolate can cause the layers to separate while you are breaking/cutting it to serve.

ingredients:
8oz high-quality [dark, semi-sweet, or milk] chocolate, broken into pieces
8oz high-quality white chocolate, broken into pieces
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract, divided
8 candy canes, crushed
wax paper
9x9" pan

instructions:
1. lightly grease 9x9" pan & line with wax paper, smooth out wrinkles; set aside
2. place [dark, semi-sweet, or milk] chocolate in glass bowl & microwave at medium power for intervals of 30 seconds, stirring in between, until melted. when melted, stir in 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract. pour chocolate into the prepared pan, & spread evenly over bottom of the pan. sprinkle half of the crushed candy canes over the chocolate layer. refrigerate until completely hardened, roughly 1 hour.
3. place white chocolate in glass bowl & microwave at medium power for intervals of 30 seconds, stirring in between, until melted. when melted, stir in the remaining 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract. pour the white chocolate directly over the chocolate later; spread evenly. sprinkle the remaining crushed candy over the top and gently press in. refrigerate until completely hardened. removed from pan; break [or cut] into small pieces.

here are a few pictures from the process:



enjoy all the treats this holiday brings!

cheeseburger- redesigned

today was more of a lazy day, however, three great things came from it. i got to spend time with my best friend, i did more organization around the house [things have been shifting around since we found out we have a mouse visiting us on and off... not the most welcome of visitors] and i tried a new recipe for dinner: all-american cheeseburger soup.

i found the recipe a few years back in a magazine [i wish i could remember which one] and have been meaning to try it ever since. luckily it got lost in my recipe book and resurfaced! mr. phipps LOVES cheeseburgers, so this cold day seemed perfect for it.
it was quite tasty, although, i have to admit it didn't taste much like cheeseburgers until the toasted bun [served on the side] was dipped in. it was an extremely hardy soup. i think this will be a yearly soup at very least!

Stuffed Peppers

i thought i'd share this recipe. it's really easy and so delicious.

ingredients:

4-6 medium bell peppers
1lb. ground beef
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 cups cooked rice
1 8oz. jar of Kraft cheez whiz
dash of pepper
dash of basil (or garlic salt)
optional: 1/4 cup dry bread crumbs
           1 Tablespoon melted butter

in case you are unfamiliar with Kraft cheez whiz, it looks like this-










steps:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
[recipe calls for COOKED rice. minute rice works well. you can cook the rice while the peppers are parboiling]

1. remove tops & seeds from peppers. parboil [place in pot of boiling water] for 5 mins. drain.










2. brown meat, drain
3. add onion to meet & cook until tender.


4. stir in rice, cheez whiz & seasonings.
5. fill peppers [a tablespoon works well] & place in baking dish.

 * tossed butter with bread crumbs & place on top of peppers
bake for 40 mins.



- i only used 2 peppers instead of 4-6, so we had extra meat/rice mixture to use as burrito filling or to eat alone.