Beef with Snow Peas

This has become my "go-to" recipe lately. I love it - and it's SO SIMPLE. I originally found it on The Pioneer Woman's blog - I love her - have I mentioned that?

Ingredients

1-1/2 pound Flank Steak, Trimmed Of Fat And Sliced Very Thin Against The Grain

1/2 cup Low Sodium Soy Sauce

3 Tablespoons Sherry Or Cooking Sherry

2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar

2 Tablespoons Cornstarch

1 Tablespoon Minced Fresh Ginger

8 ounces, weight Fresh Snow Peas, Ends Trimmed

5 whole Scallions, Cut Into Haf-inch Pieces On The Diagonal

Salt As Needed (use Sparingly)

3 Tablespoons Peanut Or Olive Oil

Crushed Red Pepper, For Sprinkling

Jasmine Or Long Grain Rice, Cooked According To Package

In a bowl, mix together soy sauce, sherry, brown sugar, cornstarch, and ginger. Add sliced meat to bowl and toss with hands. Set aside

Cut the ends off peas and peel out the vieny {yes I made that up} thing.

Heat oil in a heavy skillet (iron is best) or wok over high heat. Add snow peas and stir for 45 seconds. Remove to a separate plate. Set aside.

Allow pan to get very hot again. With tongs, add half the meat mixture, leaving most of the marinade still in the bowl. Add half the scallions. Spread out meat as you add it to pan, but do not stir for a good minute. (You want the meat to get as brown as possible in as short amount a time as possible.) Turn meat to the other side and cook for another 30 seconds. Remove to a clean plate.

Repeat with other half of meat, allowing pan to get very hot again first.

After turning it, add the first plateful of meat & peas.

And the rest of the marinade.

Stir over high heat for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Check seasonings and add salt only if it needs it. Mixture will thicken as it sits.

Serve immediately over rice. Sprinkle crushed red pepper over the top to give it some spice. :::::DROOOL:::::::

Meal Plan 23!

Well, that was fun last week kind of having a week off from shopping at least! :)

We are in full force of our new budget and I have to say, it's kind of nice knowing exactly how much I have to spend on what! We are doing the envelope budget... gas, groceries, diapers, dog food, and fun money. The rest goes into our account and I have the monthly bills split equally so I pay half with Adam's first paycheck on the 5th and the rest with his check on the 20th. Leaving the rest to be transferred to our savings. I imagine there is a much better way to do this and I probably will end up adding more envelope categories as we go. OH, and any money left in the envelopes.. yup, goes directly to savings!

So, on to week 23! Again, I'm going to try to limit my grocery list for the sake of having something left over to save on the 20th :) But I also still want to try new stuff... I'm really enjoying cooking again. I know, I go through phases...

Spanish Rice Bake - I will probably use ground turkey instead of beef since I already have it on hand.
Biscuits and Gravy - Adam's absolute breakfast fav! And we bought everything to make it on Sunday but he ended up going hunting so I think I'll surprise him with it one night this week :) Also, we don't have a recipe... just buy sausage, gravy, biscuits and cook according to package directions. I imagine one day I should attempt this from scratch. I linked to the Allrecipes.com search for recipes... you're welcome! :)
Split Pea Soup - Adam said he'll hate this so I imagine I'll do this in the crockpot one day and have most of it for lunch but I wanted to include it for the recipe. I'm going to take some of the advice given in the comments to make it better :) I've been craving it for a while with all this cold weather! It's not a crockpot recipe but I'll probably make it and then throw it in the crock to simmer and stay warm.
Beef with Snow Peas - Have I mentioned I love the Pioneer Woman? Anyway, this one has become one of my favorites. Seriously.
Calzones - I linked to a recipe for your convenience but I'm going to take my pizza crust recipe and fill it with our fav ingredients {pepperoni, mushrooms, black olives, onions, maybe some sausage if I can fit it in the budget}. That's called winging it. :)

The Grocery List:
1 pound lean ground beef {turkey!}

green bell pepper

1 (14.5 ounce) can canned tomatoes

1/2 cup chile sauce

ground cumin

Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

cilantro

Grands Biscuits
Packaged Gravy
Breakfast Sausage
1-1/2 cups dried split peas
1 pound ham bone
onions

dried marjoram

celery

carrots

Potato

1-1/2 pound Flank Steak
Soy Sauce
Sherry Or Cooking Sherry
Brown Sugar
Cornstarch
Minced Fresh Ginger
8 ounces, weight Fresh Snow Peas
Scallions
Long Grain Rice
Pepperoni
Pizza sauce
Mushrooms
Black Olives
Sausage {maybe}

Not TOO bad of a grocery list {remember stuff I need is in bold} - definitely won't break my budget! :)

Meal Plan 16!

July 22nd - July 28th

This might be a little off since it's only Thursday and I haven't done a meal plan since early July {and I didn't follow it all that well?!} Anyway - this meal plan will be for an odd week {Fri - Thur} because I am hitting the grocery store tonight for the first time in a long time aaaand because we'll be leaving next Fri for Tonasket.

The first week of August we'll get back on track... promise. :)

Uno: Grilled Chicken with Rosemary & Bacon
Due: Panda Express Orange Chicken
Tre: Beef w/Snow Peas
Quattro: Pioneer Woman - My Favorite Meatloaf
Cinque: Pad Thai... I'm a little nervous about this?!?!

The Grocery List:
6 Boneless skinless chicken breast
Fresh rosemary
Bacon
Scallions
Oranges
Flank steak
Snow peas
Ground Beef
Rice noodles
Fish sauce
Bean sprouts
Lemon