Beef and Onion Stir Fry!

Ingredients!

For this recipe you will need:

A 2-3 pound beef roast. In this case, the roast I used was a 2.82 pound beef round tip roast cap off from Meijer. Another good roast is a London broil.

4-6 yellow onions, the sweeter the better

1 tablespoon sugar

molasses

olive oil

balsamic vinegar

corn starch

What you do: 

Slice the beef into thin, fairly short slices. Peel the onions and cut them into first quarters, then into eighths. You want the onions to be chunky rather than diced for this recipe. Pour a liberal amount of oil olive (I think I used about 1/8 of a cup.) to your skillet. (I use a Presto brand large electric skillet because of the size.) Add the beef and cook at about 350, or medium heat, until almost browned--only a bit of pink remains.

Add the onions. Stir them into the beef and cook, stirring regularly, until the onions are almost soft. Add the sugar, and about 1/8 of a cup of molasses. Add about the same amount of balsamic vinegar. Stir until all the beef and onions are coated. Put a couple of tablespoons of corn starch into a small bowl, cover with water, and stir until the corn starch disolves. Add the corn starch mixture to the stir fry. Stir until the meat juices thicken and coat the onion and beef pieces. Remove from heat and serve with a rice of your choice.

NOTE: This makes a very large portion, enough for two meals for 2-3 people. I don't like to cook every day and so I rely on the leftovers.

The almost finished product. This is just before adding the corn starch.

The finished product! Yummy!

Pumpkin Apple Soup

I've wanted to make a pumpkin soup for a while now, and here's the recipe came up with. It turned out to be very tasty and very filling. I suspect it will be just as tasty served cold as hot.

What you need:

2 cups of chicken broth (I make my own.)
1 1/2 cups apple juice or apple cider (I used the "Simply Apple" juice brand, found in the refrigerated section of your grocery store.)

1 1/2 to 2 cups water
1 twenty nine ounce can of pumpkin
1 tsp fresh grated ginger root
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste

1 four ounce box of wild rice
1 large apple, diced, but with the skin on

What you do:

Cook the wild rice according to package directions.

In a large soup pot, combine chicken broth, apple juice, water, ginger, vanilla, spices, and pumpkin. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Let simmer for about 15 minutes.
Add the apple and wild rice. Simmer another 10 minutes or so, or until the apple dices are soft. Taste. Add more seasonings if desired.

Serve and top with a sprinkle of thyme.

NOTE: This makes about 6 very generous servings. Halve the recipe for less people. This soup is very rich and filling: serve with light sandwiches or a salad. While the picture shows this served in a large bowl, small portions are best. Since the soup is more of a sweet soup, sandwiches or salads with some bite--such as with horseradish, brown mustard, onions, or peppers--would be especially tasty.

Enjoy!

Roasted Vegetables!

On Thanksgiving, my sister-in-law made the most delicious roasted vegetables, and I immediately had to make them. 

Here's what you need:

Ingredients

1 butternut squash

3-4 beets

1 bag of fresh brussel sprouts

olive oil

sea salt

Here's what you do:

Peel the squash. (This is the hardest part of the process.) I use a paring knife. Others recommend a peeler, but I haven't had much luck with using one. Cut the squash so you can remove the seeds and pulp. Then cut the squash into 1 1/2 to 2 inch sized pieces. There is no need to be real uniform with these, and it's all right if some are larger than others.

Peel the beets. Cut into pieces as you did the squash.

Wash the brussel sprouts.

Take the portion size of vegetables you want to eat and put them into a large ziplock bag. Add a tablespoon of olive oil, and shake gently so as to coat the vegetables. Pour into the pans (I use two 9x13 inch metal pans) and sprinkle with sea salt.

Here is what my vegetables look like before going into the oven. Note that in this particular picture, the white vegetable is turnip. (And I didn't like how the turnips tasted when cooked this way. No I did not, precious.)

Bake for approximately an hour at 400 degrees. Vegetables should be browning on the top, particularly the brussel sprouts, as a signal that they are done. The brussel sprouts may actually look crispy on the top, and this is perfect. Serve. (And eat!)

I'll post a picture of the finished veggies soon. We ate these too fast for me to remember to take a picture. 

EDIT! Here's the picture of the cooked veggies. I actually like them to be a bit browner than this, but we were hungry and I hurried them along. 

Of NOTE: The squash and beets keep well in a ziplock bag in the fridge, once they are peeled and prepared. Keep the veggies separate--that is, squash with squash and beets with beets-- or you'll end up with red squash, which could be disconcerting to diners when you serve it later on. So bake only the portion size of veggies you'd like to eat, and then bake the rest later in the week.

Variations of this: Use summer squash, zucchini, red, orange, or yellow bell peppers, and mushrooms instead of the veggies listed above. Slice the veggies into about 1/2 inch thick pieces, including the mushrooms. (Note: I used presliced portabello mushrooms--large mushrooms meant nice large pieces.) Put the veggies into the pan as before, but place the mushrooms on the top. Reduce the baking time to only about 20-25 minutes, or until the squash is soft.

Enjoy!