Korean Beef

My baby girl is all grown up (sniff sniff sniff).  She has graduated from high school and is now looking forward to a Summer of relaxation and vacationing before heading off to college.  Aside from my obvious denial that this is happening, I’ve been trying to acclimate back to our normal level of chaos, as opposed to the glorious mayhem that has ensued with all of the Senior activities over the past few months.

As I continue school drop-off and pick-up duty for Timmy, who still has almost two more weeks of school left after all of this winter’s snow days, plus refocusing back on work, Catherine leisurely wakes up at whenever o’clock.  After becoming bored with watching tv, she starts asking about “what’s for dinner”.  Now this is where my baby has grown up – she has made dinner for the past two nights in a row!  She has found the recipes, prepped and cooked the entire thing.  The only thing I have to do is… clean up (oh fun!).

Let me just say she has done a fabulous job.  Tonight’s meal she found on Pinterest after I told her that our meat options for dinner were chicken breast, ground beef, pork chops or sausage. She found this recipe pretty quickly.  It has a similar flavor to a Mongolian Beef recipe I tried a month or so back, but this was SO MUCH better… and seemingly so much easier to make.  Two words for this meal – Absolutely Delicious!!!  It is also very similar to the PF Changs Chicken Wraps that we make, so we adapted the idea of serving over shredded lettuce, along with the beef and rice.  Let’s just say we have now found a new go-to recipe!

• 1 lb. ground beef 
• ½ cup brown sugar 
• ¼ cup soy sauce 
• 1 Tbsp. sesame oil 
• 3 cloves garlic, minced 
• ¼ tsp. ground ginger 
• 1 tsp. crushed red peppers 
• Salt and pepper
• Shredded lettuce 
• Rice, cooked 
• 1 bunch green onions, diced

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and brown hamburger with garlic in the sesame oil.
2. Drain most of the fat and add brown sugar, soy sauce, ginger, salt and pepper and red pepper.
3. Simmer for a few minutes to blend the flavors.
4. Serve over a bed of lettuce, steamed rice and topped with green onions.

Adapted from Six Sisters’ Stuff blog

Nutritional Data (Calculated from MyFitnessPal.com)

¼-cup serving size* – Yields 6 Servings

If you are not counting your calories – you will mostly go for at least a ½-cup serving!!!

Mexican Stuffed Shells

I was a good girl for lunch, but I’m not sure if that held through dinner – although in my defense, I only ate 3 shells.  In my defense, let me also say for the record that I love Mexican food (not that this is a shock to anyone).  I saw this Enchilada Stuffed Shell recipe on Pinterest and made a few modifications, and let me just say – hmmmmmmmmmmm, ummmmmmmmmmmmm, good!

• Box of large pasta shells (stuffing size), boiled to al dente and cooled
• 1 jar of salsa
• 2 lbs. hamburger – browned and drained (seasoned with taco seasoning optional)
• Large can refried beans
• 1 cup of shredded cheese (cheddar or pepperjack, more if desired)
• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 20 grape tomatoes, diced and quartered (more or less as desired)
• 2 cups of shredded cheese (again, cheddar or pepperjack)
• Fresh cilantro
• Scallions chopped

DIRECTIONS

1.      Spoon a little salsa on the bottom of a large 9x13” pyrex dish.

2.      Brown hamburger until thoroughly browned and drain fat.

3.      In the skillet, mix refried beans, cooked hamburger,1 cup of the shredded cheese, and diced onion until combined.

4.      Using a large scoop, scoop bean/cheese/meat filling into the cooled shells.

5.      Place into pyrex on top of the salsa.

6.      Cover shells with diced tomatoes, the remaining salsa and sprinkle with cilantro and cheese.

7.      Bake covered at 350 till bubbly. 

8.    Top with chopped   

Adapted from Life With the Crust Off blog

Firehouse Chili

It's a snowy, snowy night and we were supposed to go to a holiday party.  Hearing the news making it sound like snowmageddon, we decided it was best to stay home; however, not having been prepared to stay home (and no desire to go out to the grocery stores along with the rest of the State of Massachusetts), I took to pinterest and found this recipe that used things I actually had in the cupboard and the freezer.  Served along with some casserole elbow macaroni, it proved to be a fabulous comfort food kind of dinner for a bitterly cold, snowy night.  Oh yeah, and spice-ay!  YUM!

• 1 onions, chopped
• 3 Tbsp. butter
• 3 cloves mined garlic
• ½ tsp. salt
• ¼ tsp. red pepper flakes
• 3 hot Italian sausages
• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 can diced tomatoes (plain)
• 1 can diced tomatoes with green chilies
• 1 oz. chili seasoning mix (see recipe below)
• 1 can red kidney beans
• 1 can yellow corn (or ½ bag of frozen yellow corn)
• Water, if desired

DIRECTIONS

1. Sauté onions in dutch oven in butter until translucent.
2. Add garlic and sauté for one more minute.
3. Remove all but about ½ cup from the sauté pan and reserve for later use.
4. In same dutch oven, brown the sausage and ground beef with the ½ cup of onions, salt, and pepper flakes.
5. Once browned, add in reserved sautéed onions, canned tomatoes, and chili seasoning.
6. Add kidney beans and corn.
7. Simmer for at least 1 hour.
8. If a thinner chili is desired, add water as needed.
9. Serve with casserole elbows, or tortilla chips, with some cheddar cheese sprinkled on top and enjoy!

Adapted from Doughmesstic.com blog

Chili Seasoning Mix

• ¼ cup flour
• 4 tsp. chili powder
• 1 Tbsp. crushed red pepper
• 1 Tbsp. onion powder
• 1 Tbsp. garlic powder
• 2 tsp. white sugar
• 2 tsp. ground cumin
• 2 tsp. dried parsley
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. dried basil
• ¼ tsp. ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. In a bowl, stir together flour, chili powder, red pepper, onion, garlic, sugar, cumin, parsley, salt, basil and pepper.
2. Store in an airtight container.
   
   Makes ¾ cup, but for the recipe above, use 3 oz.

Adapted from allrecipes.com

Beef and Cheddar Casserole

Yesterday I took out some ground beef from the freezer thinking I'd make tacos, burritos or nachos.  But then thinking about how my poor husband had gone his third day with no lunch, and he's probably sick of me making taco meat, I put it in the fridge and made something else.  Since today was Day 4 of no lunch for my work warrior, I looked at things I had already pinned on Pinterst for something using the ground beef, but that didn't involve taco seasoning.  I had saved this from Food Network, and I have to say, I REALLY liked it.  I think I have found a new go-to comfort food recipe.

• Kosher salt
• 12 oz. wide egg noodles
• 1 ½ cups sour cream
• ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan
• 1 lbs. ground beef
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 bunch scallions (white and green parts), finely chopped
• 1 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 1 tsp. Italian seasoning
• (1) 14 ½ oz. can petite diced tomatoes
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Grease a 2-quart baking dish.
3. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the noodles and cook to al dente according to the package directions.
4. Drain and put pasta in the prepared baking dish.
5. Toss with the sour cream, Parmesan and ¼ teaspoon salt.
6. Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the ground beef and cook, stirring, until no longer pink.
7. Add the red peppers and scallions and cook until crisp-tender, about 3 minutes.
8. Make a space in the pan, add the tomato paste and toast for a minute.
9. Sprinkle with the Italian seasoning and ¼ teaspoon salt.
10. Add the diced tomatoes, stir and bring to a simmer.
11. Cook until slightly thickened, about 2 minutes.
12. Pour the beef mixture over the noodles and sprinkle with the shredded cheddar.
13. Bake on the middle rack until the cheese is melted and the edges are bubbling, about 15 minutes.
14. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Adapted from Food Network