Spicy Beef & Broccoli Stir-Fry

Talk about fabulous! I never knew stir-fry could be this easy.  For some reason, I’ve always been hesitant to try and make a stir-fry.  I’m not sure why, but the concept was always intimating, but I finally tried it with this recipe from the Pampered Chef and it was amazing.  It only took me 30 minutes to make and everyone loved it.  Seriously, Jesse and I are already thinking of making it again, but trying different foods to vary it up a little.  The bonus part, the entire house smelled delicious long after dinner was over.

I love cooking with fresh veggies – they look so vibrant on the dinner plate compared to frozen – so I’m always excited to find recipes that allow me to hit the produce section more often.  That’s actually one of the best parts about this recipe.  I either had everything on hand or once I bought it, it would be ready to use again and again.  The only things I will have to buy before making this are the veggies and the meat.  Seriously, this meal probably only cost me $10 to make and I’m going to have enough for lunch for the boys tomorrow.  Granted, once I run out of the staples (soy sauce, gingerroot, cornstarch, etc), it’ll cost me a little more at the store, but it’s a 1 out of how many times?

Plus, I could so do this with chicken, pork, seafood (if Jesse would let me).  The possibilities of mixing the veggies and meat around with this recipe are going to be so much fun to explore.  We’ve been looking for another recipe to have that’s easy to make AND healthy and I think we found it.

Now I did change a few things, but mainly because of our personal preferences.  I didn’t add a whole onion and red bell pepper.  I’m not a fan of either (I don’t mind the flavor of onion, but I dislike biting into them), so I only added half.  Actually, other than those two things, I didn’t change anything else about this.  Now the spice did catch Jesse by surprise, so the red pepper flakes do give it a kick, but it didn’t bother me too much and I really don’t have that high of a tolerance anymore.  I just don’t think Jesse was expecting it.

I made this with rice, but you could easily substitute egg noodles for the rice as well.  Which gives me an idea of what to do with the egg noodles that have been sitting up in my cabinets.

My only advice, skip the sauce portion.  When you take the stir-fry from the pan at the end (and put it in some kind of serving dish), use a slotted spoon.  The sauce has the majority of the kick and both of us really didn’t see a need for it.  The veggies and meat were fabulous over the rice and we really didn’t see a need for anything else.

Oh!  I did add one thing.  I julienne’d some carrots and added that to the stir-fry at the end.  Cooked carrots may be cooked, but they are better raw in a stir-fry in my opinion.  I simplied mixed them in after removing the veggies and meat from the skillet.  They added a bright color to the mix and added some crunch.

This recipe was good.  I’m already looking forward to making it again.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 boneless beef top sirloin steak
3 cups broccoli florets
1 medium onion
1 medium red bell pepper
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1 tsp peeled, finely chopped fresh gingerroot
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 cup beef broth
rice, cooked

Directions:

1. Whisk together soy sauce, cornstarch and 1 tbsp of the oil in a bowl. Cut beef in half lengthwise and then crosswise into 1/4-inch thick strips. Add beef to soy sauce mixture; toss to coat. Cut broccoli florets in half and onion into thin wedges. Cut bell pepper into 2-in strips; set vegetables aside. Press garlic.
2. Heat 1 tsp of the oil in stir-fry skillet over medium-high heat 1-3 minutes or until shimmering. Add half eac hof the beef, garlic, ginger and pepper flakes to skillet. Using a spatula, stir-fry 1-2 minutes or until outsides surfaces of beef are no longer pink. Do not overcook. Remove from skillet; keep warm. Repeat with 1 tsp of the oil and remaining beef, garlic, ginger and pepper flakes. Remove from skillet.
3. Add remaining 1 tsp oil to skiller. Add vegetables; stir-fry 3-4 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender. Return beef mixture to skillet; add broth and bring to a boil. Boil 1 minute or until sauce is slightly thickened, stirring gently.

Yield: 4 servings

Nutritional Information: Calories 280; Total Fat 12g; Saturated Fat 2.5g; Cholesterol 45mg; Carbohydrate 11g; Protein 32g; Sodium 790mg; Fiber 3g
US Diabetic exchanges per serving: 2 vegetable, 4 low-fat meat (0 carb)