Thursday, August 16, 2012

Recipe: Slow-Cooker Pepper Steak (Pix Included)

Hey all. As promised yesterday, here is the first of two Beef recipes I am making this week.

   



Slow-Cooker Pepper Steak

This recipe is a favorite in our home. It is my husband's favorite and it's really easy to make! Toss all of this in and cook for a few hours, serve over noodles or rice. It's perfect for a Sunday afternoon or a mid-week meal.

  I only made a half-recipe last night, so the photos will only show the half-recipe!

Here's How:




You Will Need:

- Large Crockpot
- 2 pounds beef sirloin, cut into 2 inch strips ( I used Cubed Steak meat this time)
- Minced Garlic to taste (or Garlic Powder)
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 cube beef bouillon
- 1/4 cup hot water
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 2 medium onions (chopped)
- 2 large green bell peppers, roughly chopped
- 2 (14.5 ounce) cans stewed tomatoes, with liquid
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce (or roughly 3 to 4 packets from your fave Chinese diner! LOL)
- 1 teaspoon white sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt


To Make:

 1)Start by adding the veggie oil to a large frying pan on High Heat and add meat.

 2)Brown on all sides


3) Pour contents of the skillet into your Crockpot, juice and all. It gives it a great flavor!

4) In a bowl, or I just use a coffee mug, mix hot water and beef bouillon cube.  Add corn starch. Pour in Crockpot and give it a quick swirl in with the meat. This will help thicken the sauce a bit.

5) Chop your veggies



6) Add vegetables, stewed tomatoes, soy sauce, sugar, and salt to Crockpot and give it a quick mix.  


7) Cover Crockpot and put on low heat for 5-6 hours or high heat for 3-4 hours.


Your kitchen will start to smell so yummy as it's cooking!

8) Once cooked, I always transfer mine to a different dish just so that it doesn't cook too much.





To assemble:

Place noodles/rice at bottom of the bowl


Then add your freshly made Pepper Steak!




Now it's time to enjoy this warming, delicious, and delightful meal!


Buon Appetito!







Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Life-Update & Puppy Pomodoro: A Skunk Adventure

Hey guys! It's been a crazy week! Last night ending with a closing-shift and Pup covered in tomatoes.

I've got two recipes for you this week. I'm starting one right now and marinating the next for tomorrow. (posts to follow)

I normally work around 55 hours a week, so a girl gets pretty tired... That being said, I called in sick today. I do not feel well! I know it's just pure exhaustion. So I took a "me" day to relax, as much as I could, lol. I'm still doing laundry and vacuuming, but I baked a delicious pumpkin dessert, and cooking today is pretty relaxing to me.

                           Puppy Pomodoro
 Last night as we were closing up shop at my Part-time job, I get a phone call. My husband, in a haste to get the words out fast enough and express the urgency of the situation, told me that Pup got a skunk shower.
Now, I have never had this happen, the first thing I asked was, "Is he okay?!"
My husband confirmed that Pup was fine, just a little upset by the fumes. (Thank goodness he is okay)
 "Where is he?"
My husband then tells me that he is inside in our bathroom... As you can imagine, I was a little upset. Fresh skunk spray in our house!
Taking control of the situation, I asked him to move Pup to the guest bathroom and that I would run to the store and grab some tomato juice/sauce/SOMETHING tomato-ey to rid Pup of the noxious fumes. Praying it would work.
( I grabbed 4 cans of tomato puree {they were on sale!})

 Now, as soon as I pulled up to the house, I smelled the yucky skunk funk... I came inside and then we slathered Pup down in all four cans of tomato puree, let it soak in for about 10 mins, then we washed him with a little bit of Dawn dish soap.

Verdict: Tomato puree works great for getting rid of skunk smell!!! Puppy smelled great! The house.. well... the house wasn't bad, we opened all the windows and turned up the fans. But the bedroom, whew! Couldn't sleep in there! Hahhaa! Hubbs and I had to sleep on the couch for the night.


This morning the bedroom and house are sans skunk smell.

I hope Pup  has learned to stay away from the skunks, but who knows. He saw squirrels this morning and was in full chase! Oh, the life of an innocent Pup!

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Baking Review

Here's just a quick review of all the baking I've done since I've started this blog! I'm getting back into the swing of things and will have more posted soon! Happy Baking!