Garlic Beef and Broccoli Lo Mein

This claims to be a 20 minute recipe; I think it took me longer but it was still fast and easy to make. This was perfect for a Sunday after church when everyone who was home needed to get out of the house fairly quickly. No time to grill yesterday! This had good flavor, maybe needed more garlic or maybe some Siracha. Still, very good and Bob would have liked it if he had been home.

Garlic Beef and Broccoli Lo Mein
serves 5-6

8 oz lo mein noodles or spaghetti
3 c broccoli florets
1 Tbsp olive oil
8 oz flank steak, sliced against the grain
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium carrot, shredded
1/4 c brown sugar
1/4 c soy sauce
2 Tbsp hoisin sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp minced ginger
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp pepper

In a small bowl whisk together the brown sugar, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, sesame oil, ginger, red pepper, and pepper.

In a large pot cook the noodles according to package directions. Add the broccoli the last 5 minutes of cooking and cook until tender. Drain the noodles and broccoli and put in a large bowl. While the noodles are cooking add the olive oil to a medium sized skillet. Cook the steak until no longer pink. Add the garlic and carrots and cook for a minute more. Add the steak to the bowl with the noodles and broccoli, give the sauce another stir and pour over the noodles and steak, toss to coat everything.

NOTES: I used angel hair pasta but I think if you're not going to use lo mein spaghetti would be a better choice. The recipe calls for flank steak which would have been delicious but I used pre-sliced stir fry meat. Any sort of meat, thinly sliced is fine.  

slightly modified from The Recipe Critic

Chicken and Spinach Quesadillas

It's been over the top hot here. Like crazy hot and humid, not wanting to cook anything hot. But eating still has to happen. I was mulling over what to make, what I had in the fridge, what was easy that didn't require the oven or grill and these quesadillas were born. They were really good!

Chicken and Spinach Quesadillas

sliced mushrooms
minced garlic
olive oil
baby spinach
sliced or chopped cooked chicken
shredded mozzarella cheese
tortillas

Heat the olive oil in a skillet and add the mushrooms. Sauté for a couple of minutes then add the garlic and a sprinkle of salt, sauté for another minute or two and add a couple of handfuls of spinach. Cook until the spinach wilts.

Layer a tortilla, some cheese, cover with some of the spinach mixture, add some chicken, then more cheese and a top tortilla. Cook on a griddle until the cheese is melted and the tortillas are nicely browned.

College Eats

My older daughter is in her second year at college. We've played around with her meal plan (her school only has two options), started with the "bigger" one last fall then changed to the "lower" one in the spring. She's still on that one which basically gives her 10 meals a week. We talked last night and figured out how it will work. Her biggest issue is breakfast. She's not a breakfast eater in general and doesn't like many breakfast foods. This semester her first class is at 8:00 two days a week, 8:30 two days, and 10 the other day. On Tuesdays (an 8:30 day) she is in classes until mid-afternoon so she really needs to eat something in the morning and also have a snack handy to eat in between classes. She's saving her dining hall meals for lunches and dinners (she also gets points to use in the snack bar which she'll use some days for lunch/dinner) so we needed to come up with some easy, dorm friendly, portable breakfast ideas. She's got a fridge and microwave in her room and she's checking on what the dorm kitchen has although I'm not sure how often she'll make use of that just because of time.

I wanted to get these ideas down here so that they can be easily found again when she needs them. Since she's not a big breakfast food person we're also thinking outside the breakfast box for ideas.

Baked potato - russet baking potato, shredded cheddar cheese, small sour cream, salt & pepper; stab the potato with a fork, microwave for 5 minutes, check for doneness and microwave longer if needed. cut open and top with cheddar cheese, a small spoonful of sour cream, salt & pepper

Quesadilla - tortillas, shredded cheddar cheese, deli ham, baby spinach; put a tortilla on a paper towel, top with cheese, ham, and spinach (optional), and top with another tortilla, microwave for 30 seconds, slice and eat

Scrambled egg - egg, splash of milk or water, salt & pepper; scramble egg in glass bowl/measuring cup and add the milk or water and seasonings, microwave for about 90 seconds; the eggs can be eaten as is or added to a burrito

Breakfast burrito - tortilla, scrambled eggs, shredded cheddar cheese, salsa; lay out the tortilla, spread the eggs in the center and top with cheese and salsa; fold over one edge of the tortilla, then the two sides, and roll up

Breakfast burrito #2 - tortilla, scrambled eggs, baby spinach, salt & pepper; lay out the tortilla, spread the eggs in the center, season with salt and pepper, top with spinach and roll burrito as above

Apple and peanut butter - slice an apple and serve with peanut butter, a cheese stick on the side and maybe a small handful of almonds