An Asian Sensation!

Two nights ago, Scott asked me to brainstorm for Thursday night's dinner, so immediately, I started thinking, but of course I drew a blank. Thankfully, he sent me a helpful text message, "look through all your good Asian recipes." Well, to clarify, they're not my recipes, they belong to Pinterest and to the users who posted them on Pinterest. On the other hand, they are good, so I thumbed through the few that I had repinned, and the Mongolian Beef stuck out for me. 

Mongolian Beef has been one of my favorite Asian dishes since I could remember, and the Elephant Bar Restaurant makes a pretty mean Mongolian Beef that I remember and love all too well. So, I figured if they can do it, I surely can do it. I found a very easy to follow recipe right here with very few ingredients. 

For, the most part, Scott and I stuck to the recipe but we made a few changes. Here are the ingredients that Scott and I used, but feel free to stick to the original.

• 1 pkg of stir fry steak pieces
• 1/4 cup flour
• 3 tsp. of veg oil
• 1/2 tsp. of grated ginger
• 1 tbsp chopped garlic
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 3 green onions chopped 
• about 1/2 cup mushrooms
• about 1/2 cup broccoli 

Pat the meat dry and coat completely in flour. Toss in a strainer to shake off any excess flour. The recipe says that the meat should be lightly coated. Where we used flour, she used cornstarch. I don't really know the difference, so feel free to use either. Set the meat aside and start on the sauce. While you're preparing the meat, be sure to get a pot boiling with water and cook white rice according to the package.

To make the sauce, heat half the oil in a wok on medium-high heat. Add in the garlic and ginger. Immediately add the water, soy sauce, brown sugar and red pepper flakes. Cook this mixture for about 2 minutes, then transfer to another container. 

Add the meat back to the wok and fry it until it is brown. Throw in the mushrooms and the broccoli and add the sauce in. The recipe instructs that you can now continue to cook the sauce to reduce and thicken it, or you can finish it as is. Scott and I cooked it down for another 5 minutes or so. Be sure to add in the green onions at the last minute. Pour it over a bed of white rice and enjoy! 

Seriously, this turned out so well! I was pleasantly surprised. I would venture to say that it is just as good as any Chinese or Japanese steakhouse...not to mention, it's super quick! Give it a try and let me know what you think! I'm definitely going to make this one of my go to meals! What is your favorite Asian inspired dinner? And can anyone tell me the difference between cornstarch and flour?

Taco Bell...but BETTER!

I am reluctant to say that on Thursday I went out to Hooters with Scott for dinner. I try my very best to not eat there, but when your boyfriends' friends are in town, you can't say no. So, thankfully, we made up for our typical Thursday on Friday. I am pleased to report that dinner was a smashing success! 

My travels through Pinterest never fail me when it comes time for inspiration for interesting and new dinner ideas. Last week, I found this recipe for Chicken Ranch Tacos and I knew instantly that we had to give it a try. I give many thanks and a shout out to Pedey from Do You Smell That!? for an amazing recipe! Without further ado, here is my culinary journey through tacos. 

Chicken, Bacon, Ranch Tacos

• 1 pkg of thinly sliced stir fry style chicken (cubed)
• 1/2 pkg to 1 pkg of taco seasoning
• 1/4 cup ranch
• splash of water
• tortillas (warmed)

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lettuce

sour cream

hot sauce 

shredded cheese

extra ranch dressing

bacon bits

Season and cook the chicken through in a medium sauce pan on medium high heat. Add the taco seasoning to the pan and incorporate. Add a splash of water, and then add the ranch. Incorporate all together and you're finished! The entire process should take between 10 and 15 minutes. (cooking the chicken through is the longest part)

Finally, just assemble a taco like you normally do. Scott and I used lettuce, sour cream, hot sauce,bacon bits and some shredded cheese blend mix. We also used soft tortilla shells instead of hard taco shells, but that is only because he doesn't like hard tacos. One final note, my recipe differs slightly from Pedey's, but we used her recipe as a guideline, and I give 100% credit to her!!

On a side note, as self-proclaimed sous chef last night, Scott's contribution to the meal was a delicious side dish of sauteed cauliflower and green beans! His recipe was pretty fool proof with the star ingredients obviously being green beans and cauliflower...and whatever marinade was left in the fridge (which turned out to be a zesty sesame ginger dressing). He sauteed the veggies all the way through with the marinade, and put a lid on them to steam them in the final minutes of the cooking time. The final product should result cauliflower that's tender and green beans that still retain a bit of a snap!

Do you have any killer taco recipes you want to share? Or any recipes using tortillas? I think they are so versatile! Comment below and tell me about them! I'd love to hear what you have to say!