Korean Beef

My friend, Amy McAllister, told me about this great recipe she's been trying lately. It's from a darling little blog called lizzy writes. I tried it last night, and it was amazing! She used hamburger, but since I was taking dinner to a friend in the hospital, and it was Sunday dinner, I decided to use flank steak. I got a huge steak at Wegman's, which I thought would be plenty to feed the 7 of us, plus take dinner to two others, but I underestimated how much my family would love it! We ended up eating all of it in one sitting, without saving some to take to our friends. I had to act quickly and I cut up some chicken breasts. I added some red peppers to the chicken as it sautéed, and it turned out amazing. Essentially, this is a really good teriyaki sauce, or a stir fry sauce. It's just the kind of sauce Rick loves-with garlic, ginger and very sweet. I've adjusted the recipe slightly from Lizzy's by adding a little corn starch to thicken it and I used a little less brown sugar  than she does.

2 lbs. flank steak, lean ground beef or chicken
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. soy sauce mixed
2 T. corn starch
1 T. sesame oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 t. fresh ginger, minced
1/2 t. crushed red peppers
salt & pepper
1 bunch green onions, diced

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and brown meat with garlic in the sesame oil. Whisk corn starch into soy sauce and add to meat along with the brown sugar, ginger, salt and pepper and red peppers. Add any other vegetables at this point (peppers, mushrooms, broccoli, etc.) and cook until tender-crisp. Simmer for a few minutes to blend the flavors and thicken. Serve over steamed rice and top with green onions.

BBQ Sandwiches

This recipe is another that is almost embarrassing to post, but I assure you it is amazing! I even fed it to a US Senator and his staff this past Sunday! It's something my mom used to make all the time with left over roast beef and it's one of Rick's favorite meals. You can use either beef or pork. If there is time, I like to make homemade rolls to serve it on, but the kaiser rolls at the bakery will do just fine on a busy day!

1 medium roast
1 lg. bottle of ketchup
3 T. yellow mustard
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. dried onion

If you are cooking a roast for this recipe, cook it for a couple hours in a crockpot, with salt and pepper, just until it's cooked through. Take the roast out and drain it and slice it up (it's usually not tender yet). If you are using a left over roast, slice it up and continue from this point on.

Put the roast in the crockpot (which should be empty of liquid) and add the ketchup, mustard, brown sugar and onion. Cook for another couple of hours until it is falling apart. This is a recipe that really has no measurements. Just keep adding things until you get the perfect taste. It is such a yummy, mild, BBQ sauce.

When you are ready to eat, slice rolls in half, spread with butter and broil until toasted. Spread the BBQ beef onto the rolls and serve!