Takeout Tonight: Crispy Beef with Broccoli

Since we are eating from the pantry, I was excited when I saw this recipe because I had all of the ingredients on hand and it is fairly healthy. I've tried to make several Chinese recipes over the past few years and none tasted as good as take out but this one makes the cut. As a plus, it showed me a way to use up the bottle of oyster sauce that has been taunting me in my fridge the past few months. I bought it for a recipe that I wound up not liking and then had no idea what to do with it.

This recipe comes courtesy of the current (Feb. 2010) issue of Parents Magazine.

Crispy Beef With Broccoli

Beef Marinade:
1 1/2 tsp reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 tsp cornstarch
freshly ground black pepper to season the beef

Stir-fry Sauce:
3 Tbs oyster sauce
2 tsp water
2 tsp balsamic vinegar

To prepare:
1 lb beef top sirloin or flank steak, thinly sliced into 1/8"-thick strips
1 1/2 lbs broccoli, cut into bite size florets (about 4 cups) (I used frozen)
1 Tbsp canola oil
1 Tbsp minced garlic (6 cloves)

1. In a medium bowl, combine the ingredients for the marinade. Add the beef and let marinate for 10 minutes at room temperature or refrigerate for a couple of hours.

2. In a small bowl, using a fork, mix together the ingredients for the stir-fry sauce. Set aside.

3. In a wok or large saute pan, add 1 inch of water and bring to a boil. Add broccoli and cover to cook for 3 minutes. The broccoli should be bright green and crisp-tender; you should be able to pierce the stem with a fork. Using a slotted spoon, remove broccoli and pat it dry.

4. Discard the water in the pan and dry it well. Place over high heat and when hot, add the canola oil and swirl to coat. Add the garlic and fry for 15-30 seconds, until fragrant. Toss in the steak strips, keeping them in one layer and fry 30 seconds. Flip the strips and cook the other side for 1-2 minutes more or until done.

5. Pour in the stir-fry sauce and stir to combine. Add the cooked broccoli back into the pan and toss to coat well. Serves 4 as part of a multicourse meal.

Food Friday: Mini Frittatas

I originally saw this recipe on the Food Network and put it in the back of my mind as something to make for MOPS one day. It is a Giada De Laurentis recipe and is super easy. A few days after watching this episode, I received a frantic email that we wouldn't have enough food for MOPS the next day and could I bring more. I immediately found this recipe online and am glad I tried it. It is a wonderful way to clean out the pantry as you can vary the ingredients for what you have on hand. I used leftover ham from Christmas (from my freezer) and shredded Mozzarella cheese.

Mini Frittatas

8 large eggs
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/4 tsp salt
4 oz thinly sliced ham, chopped
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley (I used dried as it as all I had)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray 2 mini muffin tins (each with 24 cups) with nonstick spray. Whisk the eggs, milk, pepper, and salt in a large bowl to blend well. Stir in the ham, cheese, and parsley. Fill prepared muffin cups almost to the top with the egg mixture. Bake until the egg mixture puffs and is just set in the center, about 8-10 minutes. Using the rubber spatula, loosen the frittatas from the muffin cups and slide the frittatas onto a platter. Serve immediately.

Organizing with Modular Mates

With this month's Eat from the Pantry Challenge I've been going through my kitchen cabinets to see what I have. I'm finding them horribly disorganized despite the fact that my husband organizes them several times a year. There is a lot of odds and ends food that I forgot were in there. It just so happens that Tupperware is having their annual Modular Mates sale right now. These are wonderful at organizing your cabinets and helping you find space you had no idea was there. It also helps you waste less as you can easily see how much of a product you have.

Last year when they went on sale, I was still pretty new to Tupperware and not really sure this product was for me. I bought a few samples though so I could display them at my parties and figured I would try them for awhile in my kitchen and see how I liked them. Once they made them into my cabinet, I was quickly sold. My husband and I decided to save up some money and buy more when the sale came along this year. We plan to add a few each year as finances allow.

This is a picture of our snack cabinet before my husband and I attacked it. I was taking pictures with a crazy kid running around so I didn't get a picture of the whole cabinet - the other side has spices and cooking supplies. The multiple boxes of brownies are thanks to Nana - she spoils our oldest with them but once a new box arrives he just "has" to open it instead of finishing the old one. I usually combine them when there is enough room in the new box but I hadn't in awhile.


This is the after picture. The majority of the items on the bottom shelf were in other cabinets or on the counter because there was no room. The sugars were in my baking cabinet and way up high where they were hard to get too. There is still room for more in this cabinet which excites me. We would like a few more Modular Mates in there too but have to wait until finances allow.

I do not have pictures of the other cabinets as they are not done but I do have a few Modular Mates in them as well. Through a sales challenge last month, I won the Large Carry-All Container. I was excited for it and was thinking it might be good for toys but really had no idea how I would use it. While organizing the kitchen I realized I had coffee supplies tucked here and there all over my kitchen. I rounded up the filters, different coffees, and creamers and put them in this container. It now sits in an unused cabinet just below the coffee maker. I love knowing where everything is now and I'm more likely to actually use all of those samples I have as I can see them. Plus, the lid is too hard for my kids to take off but easy enough for me. This cabinet is not used much simply because the kids take everything out of it.

This little project has me excited to work on other parts of the kitchen and I will as time allows this week.

Eat from the Pantry Update

I'm happy to say that I'm clearing some things out of my freezer thanks to this challenge, but I'm not happy to say I'm going to have to up the budget a bit - there is no way we are going to make it this month on $100. This is due to three things I didn't account for:

1. One of our dogs has been sick for about 6 months. Her blood work finally came back normal last week but she is still having problems maintaining weight. In order to help her, we are to soften her food with whole milk. Between the kids and the dog, we went through 3 gallons of milk last week (and that doesn't count my soy milk). At $3 a gallon, that adds up quickly.

2. Our baby is having problems gaining weight also and we were told at his 6 month appointment to feed him as much as he would eat - starting with a min. of 3 jars of food a day (he was already eating 2 at this point). My goal the entire time with feeding was to grind up what we eat and let him have that for each meal. Think again. He loves baby food but he only loves it from a jar. I did a mix of jar and homemade food with our first but this one will only eat the jar kind. It adds up quickly but I will do anything to help this one maintain his weight.

3. My husband would decide out of the blue on the coldest day of the year that he suddenly needed to go to the store. He came home with about $10 of junk. That isn't a lot but when you are trying to only spend $100 for the month, that is 10% of the budget.

I'm still working on using up what is in our freezer and finding ways to utilize the random items I find in our pantry so the challenge is helpful. It is also helpful in that I still plan on spending less overall this month than normal so that extra can be moved to next month's budget as some of these expenses will not be going away for awhile.

How are all of you doing? Stay tuned this week as I plan to post some of the recipes I've been using with to help me with cleaning out the freezer and pantry.

Weightloss with Wii

For Christmas, my husband saved his money up and blew the budget by buying me a Wii,Wii Fit Plus, and My Fitness Coach. He found a fabulous deal on Amazon which helped a little. I've been asking for months for his encouragement with weight loss and have received very little encouragement but he thought the Wii might be just the thing that would help me. I've wanted a Wii and Wii Fit for awhile now but did not think I had time to add one more thing to my already busy day. It turns out it was a great investment.

My oldest loves to "exercise" with me. He usually stands next to me and mimics what I am doing. When he is full of energy and driving me crazy, we turn on the running game, put the remote in his pocket, and tell him to run around the couch. The first time, he ran 2 miles! Keep in mind he is just under 4 years old - now you know why I'm exhausted keeping up with him. At his preschool, they have Jazzercise once a month. He always dreads this day and usually spends part of the time in trouble. Jazzercise was this week and he came home all excited because he liked it now. When I asked what changed he said it was because he likes exercising with mommy. I thought that was precious and then realized what an influence I have on his level of activity throughout life.

I've even caught my husband trying out the Wii Fit games and he always jokes that he doesn't believe in exercise. We are both very competitive so we work towards beating each others score on all of the games. I'm praying the excitement continues once the newness wears off because I am enjoying seeing my whole family get into exercising and seeing them realize that exercise can be fun.

I also enjoy My Fitness Coach because it tells me which days to exercise and I can set up workouts according to the time I have available - as little as 15 minutes. When kids are underfoot and time is of the essence, it is great to know I can get a quick workout in.

Stay tuned as I continue through this journey of losing the baby weight. I feel I'm making a turn in this journey as I've been exercising 5 days a week now for two weeks and I'm actually starting to look forward to it each day. Next up, food challenges.

Goals for the New Year

I'm a big believer on setting goals and I know I'm much more likely to accomplish them if I share them so I'm going to share a few of my goals for this year with you all. First of all, I'm not a huge New Year's resolution fan but I am a fan of attainable goals. I'm not one to set new goals at the beginning of the year, rather I sit down a few times a year and review my current goals, then add or subtract from there. I won't bore you with all the steps I've set out to accomplish these goals but I need a few of these to be out there in the public so that I have the motivation to not give up half way through.

1. Weightloss. You've heard me talk about my struggle to lose the baby weight over the past six months. Expect a few more posts regarding this as I have a new resolve to get it off. I have 20-25 pounds to lose and my goal is to get it off by my birthday which is June 5. Of course, I'm still breastfeeding and if my weightloss interferes any with that, I will move the date but I'm determined I'm not going to be this size for forever.

2. Clutter Control. My house is a perpetual mess. I know what it takes to keep it clean but I would rather play with my boys than keep up with the clutter. My husband and I have spent many hours over the Christmas break cleaning up the house and I want to keep it this way. If you ever visit, please do not expect a perfect house but hopefully it will be a bit cleaner than in the past.

3. Blogging. I enjoy blogging but struggle with time management with it. My head is constantly spinning with post ideas but I sit down to write and get distracted. My goal is at least 3 fresh posts a week and I plan on accomplishing that by setting "office hours" each week.

4. Tupperware. I mentioned before that I actually have an office for my Tupperware business now. I'm treating this as an actual job, not just a hobby so my goal is to have "office hours" each week instead of grabbing a few minutes here and a few minutes there. My husband is very supportive of this as he sees the potential I have in this business. My other Tupperware goal is to move up two levels by the end of the year. I became a Manager at the end of the year and I want to keep climbing up the ladder as I feel my real calling is in motivating others to achieve their dreams.

These are my main goals for 2010. I have a few smaller goals but these are the ones weighing heavy on my heart at this time. I encourage you to sit down and create goals, then break them down into more manageable goals.

Back from a Break & Pantry Challenge

I had no intentions of being gone so long from this blog but life got in the way. Thanks to numerous holiday events and then a sick baby, there was little computer time left. During the break I cleaned out our office though so I now have a place to work on my Tupperware and blog. I'm still not sure how things will work out once my husband starts back to school in a few weeks but this is his last semester so the end is in sight!

I'm going to start off the year participating in the Eat from the Pantry Challenge that Money Saving Mom and Life as Mom are hosting. I actually was planning on doing something similar before I saw them post the challenge so this was the boost I needed to follow through. My challenge will be to eat from the freezer though. For my long time readers, you will remember that we receive a quarter of a beef every year for Christmas from my in laws. For the past few months I've been trying to eat more from the freezer in order to have space for the beef. Thanks to my husband emptying out the freezer and our other two smaller freezer spaces (more on that in a minute) we had plenty of room but we came across several bits and pieces of meals and random items that really need to be used up.

Back to the extra freezer space - A year and a half ago, we had a flood in our house when the water line broke on our fridge. Insurance did not cover the cost of the fridge and we did not have the money to fix it or buy a new one at the time. Fast forward to November 2009. We had decided we wanted to replace the fridge rather than fix it because there is no lock on the ice/water area and our oldest thinks it is fun to play with. We had been saving money towards this when an appliance store in town sent us a flyer advertising a one day sale. We went on a whim and wound up with a fabulous deal on a new fridge. We put the broken one in the garage as there have been many times we wanted an extra fridge. So, when we cleaned out the deep freeze, I put all the random items I want to use up in the garage fridge/freezer. Having it all in one space makes it a ton easier to find what needs to be used and motivates me to do something with it.

I will have to go to the store for fresh produce, milk and some pantry items this month as my pantry is only well stocked with barbecue sauce and beef broth. Somehow I don't think those two things will get me very far. My plan is to only shop the sales though and make do with what I have in my pantry. My goal is to only spend $100 this month. My normal budget is $200-250 so we will see how it goes.

We ran to the store for milk on New Year's Day and I spent $16 but I do not anticipate needing anything else this week so I'm off to a good start. I will keep you updated on how we do this month, as well as share tips and recipes using our pantry items.