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What I Made: Pepper Steak

/ CSA in the City / 1 Comment

You know when you’re trying to eat healthy, but you live only a 15 minute walk from Chinatown and/or have multiple food delivery apps on your phone that can get food to your face in no time flat?  I face this problem more than I like to admit, so it’s nice to have a few go-to recipes to crush that craving for greasy Chinese food.  I’ll definitely add this pepper steak recipe to the arsenal: it’s only a few ingredients, but packs lots of flavor.

You brown the steak, then cook the onions, peppers, and pour on a simple sauce of soy sauce, corn starch and sugar!  I served mine over vermicelli noodles, but rice would be delicious also.

PepperSteak

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What I Made: Venison Pot Roast

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This summer has not been a scorcher like we have grown accustomed to around these parts.  We have even had some downright cool days, especially considering this is usually the hottest part of the year in the DC region!  That’s my excuse, at least, for why I made a meal more closely related to fall or winter cooking.  Nothing like coming home on a dark, cold evening to a roast waiting in the crock pot.  It even tastes pretty great in the summer, too.

Instead of the classic beef or pork, this roast was made with some Grade-A Colorado venison tenderloin.  The fact that I got potatoes and onions this week, combined with carrots from last week, meant a roast was the obvious choice. As with most crock pot recipes, add all the ingredients, set on low for the day, and let the crock pot work its magic.

 

Veggies for roast

Potatoes, onions, and carrots for pot roast base.

Naturally, I was too busy digging in to get a photo of the finished product.

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What I Made: Bok Choy Two Ways

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I used up my bok choy with two simple recipes this week.  The first was a spaghetti with bok choy, poached egg, and Italian cheese, adapted from this Vegetarian Times recipe.  I left the egg in the water for two long, and it was definitely not runny and delicious like I had hoped.  Turns out, I should have cut the heat from the water once I added the egg, then removed it to dry off after the cooking time was up.

 

The second recipe made for lots of delicious leftovers.  The beef is a Beef with Lemongrass recipe from a random Wok and Stir Fry cookbook that I found in a box.  (The best thing about living in the city is boxes that say “FREE BOOKS”.)

BeefwithLemongrass

 

The bok choy recipe is adapted from Stir-Fried Bok Choy with Roasted Peanuts from my new go-to CSA cookbook, The New Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. I didn’t have peanuts or peanut oil, so I left out the nuts and substituted vegetable oil that I had on hand.  My adaptation is below:

2 tsp vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 1/2 pounds bok choy (stems sliced into 1 inch pieces and leaves roughly shredded)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
4 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
2 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce (note: this is plenty of salt for me, but the original recipe suggests adding more)
2 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 3 tablespoons water

Heat oil and stir fry garlic and ginger for 1 minute.  Add bok choy and stir fry until wilted.  Add soy sauce and cornstarch/water mixture and stir fry until bok choy looks glazed, about 1-2 minutes.

Please enjoy a blurry picture of my leftovers, below.

Bokchoy_lunch

A decidedly unfancy look at lunch: stir fried beef and bok choy.