Italian roast beef over egg noodles

I like a good pot roast every so often, but sometimes I get tired of doing the whole "meat and potatoes with gravy" thing every time. My mom described this dish to me last week and I tried it out the other day. There's no set recipe, so this is just me sort of making it up based on what my mom tried and liked. It ended up being a perfect combination of flavors when serving it italian-style over noodles: garlic, tomatoes, and onion. Ryan and I both liked it a lot, and he said I could make it again which is always a good sign. :)

pot roast

1 can of italian tomatoes, stewed or diced

3-5 garlic cloves (depending on how much you like garlic, but more is better for this dish)

white onion (as large or small as you want, depending on how much onion you like)

salt and pepper and/or any kind of italian seasonings

Cut your garlic cloves in half (ish) so they have a point to each piece. Then make holes in your roast with a sharp knife so that you can insert the pieces of garlic into the holes all over the meat. Do this as much as you want - it really added an awesome flavor to the meat!

Spray your crockpot with Pam. Cut the onion into wedges or slices (whatever you like), and put them on the bottom. Put your meat in and season it with salt and pepper or other seasonings. Pour your can of italian-style tomatoes over the top and around the sides. Cook on low for 7 hours.

We pulled the roast apart into smaller pieces once it was done cooking, and served it over whole wheat egg noodles with a little parmesan cheese sprinkled on top. It was yummy!

**One can of tomatoes was plenty, but the stewed tomatoes didn't have enough pieces of tomato once you serve it over noodles, in my opinion. Next time I'll try diced and see if that works better. I also added a tiny bit of water, but it was totally unnecessary since it ended up plenty liquidy. Or maybe you could try 2 cans of stewed tomatoes but drain one, so you get more tomato but not all the liquid.

Beef and Broccoli

So I got this recipe from a good friend and actually made it for the first time tonight! It was absolutely delicious! I really don't cook much asian food even though I love it, but I am glad I tried this because it was really good. My husband served his mission in Hong Kong and so he knows asian food, and he couldn't stop talking about it. SO now that I have talked it up...it better live up to its expectations :)

Beef and Broccoli

1lb top round beef steak
1/2 cup soy sauce
4 T. sugar
1/2 cup apple juice
4 T. cornstarch
2 cups water
2 cups fresh broccoli florets (I used more than it called for)
4 T. vegetable or olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 T. sesame oil
Cut beef into 2 in. strips; set aside. In a large skillet, stir-fry broccoli in 2 T. oil for about 5 min. over med. heat. Place broccoli in a bowl and set aside. Pour remaining oil in skillet and cook steak on med-high heat until browned. Add garlic and cook one minute. While steak is cooking, combine soy sauce, sugar, juice, cornstarch, and water in small bowl. Pour soy sauce mixture over meat and cook until thickened. Stir in sesame oil. Add broccoli and remove from heat. Serve over rice.

My friend's tips:
*I usually precut the broccoli and steak and put them in tupperware so when I go to cook, everything is ready.
*Sometimes I add sliced carrots! (I added carrots and I will add them everytime! They add so much to the flavor!)
*KEEP stirring the broccoli--it burns FAST.

Enjoy!

Lion House Beef Enchiladas

Sauce: I only make 1/2 the sauce because it's WAY MORE than more-than-enough! So I have already halved the recipe for you here.

1 1/2 cans (8 oz.) tomato sauce
1/2 can (1 pound) chili con carne without beans
1/2 can (1 pound) kidney beans
1 1/2 cups tomato juice
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

Mix all ingredients together in saucepan. Simmer on low heat for 30 minutes.

* I made this for dinner last night. I only made half of the recipe because it's just me and Dan (too spicy for Amelia). This means I only made half of the half-recipe of the sauce (confused yet?) and I STILL had more than enough on the enchiladas and I had this much leftover still. I don't know why the recipe calls for so much. I guess maybe you could make the full recipe of the sauce and freeze it for the next time you make it?

Filling: This is the full recipe for the filling - 1/2 the sauce is plenty for the full filling recipe

1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1 tablespoon taco seasoning
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 teaspoons oregano
Dash Tobasco Sauce
12 corn tortillas
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/4 cup ground onion

Brown beef in skillet. Add tomato sauce, taco seasoning, red pepper, oregano, and tobasco sauce. Mix thoroughly. Divide beef mixture evenly onto tortillas. Sprinkle cheese and ground onion evenly over beef mixture; roll up tortillas. Place seam side down in baking dish. Pour sauce over top. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with additional cheese before serving.

Sorry, I'm not so good at making the food look tasty in pictures, but believe me, these are GOOOOOOD!

So sorry, I probably made this more confusing than needed to be. If you have any questions let me know. These are SO tasty! Good old Lion House - they really know what they're doing!

Beef Sesame

I used to have a recipe for a Beef Sesame that was really good and I can't seem to find it. So I looked one up the other day because we really like it. I don't remember where it was from, but here is what I found:

- 1 lb. sirloin steak, cut into 1/8-inch strips

- 2 tablespoons sugar

- 3 tablespoohs cooking oil, divided

- 2 tablespoons soy sauce

- 1/4 teaspoon pepper

- 3 green onions, thinly sliced

- 2 cloves garlic, minced

- 1 tablespoon sesame seed

Place beef in a glass bowl. Combine sugar, 2 tablespoons oil, soy sauce, pepper, onions, garlic and sesame seeds. Pour over beef and toss to coat. Let stand 15 minutes. In skillet or wok, heat remaining oil over high heat; add beef and marinade. Stir-fry until beef is brown and has reached desired doneness. Serve immediately over rice or noodles.

It was really yummy...

(I got pictures this time! Are you proud of me? ...Even though in this picture it slightly resembles dog food, I promise it tasted good!)