~Mongolian Beef~

I have officially decided that I hate computers.  Maybe the ipad and phones too.  Yeah....my phone drives me nuts. 
I have spent the first three and a half hours, this morning, trying to add a personalized navigation bar at the top of my blog.  See the pretty "Home" button.  That is the result.  Don't all rush to compliment me on a job well done, all at once now....  I do not claim to be at all tech savvy.

My "about me" says that I like to cook.  I REALLY do!!!  My blog doesn't show signs of that yet, but today that is going to change and you guys get to be the lucky readers to read my first ever cooking post.  Side note:  I like to cook, not so much bake.  Measuring is not exactly a top priority in my world.  Either is turning on the oven.  Don't ask why because I really don't know........  Hmmm, things for me to ponder the rest of my day.  ANYWAY, I wanted to first say, WOW.  Trying to take pictures while fixing a meal I have never made before while not exactly knowing how to work my camera, plus having four kids running through the kitchen and screaming, and making a complete mess.  Let's just say.....everyone who has a cooking blog is AMAZING in my book.  I was stressed out with just trying to take pictures of food.  That is really hard!!  I mean REEEEAAAAALLLLLYYYYYY hard.  It's not the person running the camera either.  Honest.  It's not.  I mean it.

Mongolian Beef:
I got this recipe from Pinterest which led me to here.  We all know and love Pinterest, don't we?  I do.  I like to waste lots of time on it.  But when I can make an entire weeks menu from just what I find on there, I don't consider it a waste at all.  My husband might feel differently.

You will need:
1 lbs of flank steak, thinly sliced crosswise (I have four kids, so I used 2 lbs of sirloin steak)
1/4 cup of cornstarch (didn't have, so I used flour in the same amount)
3 teaspoons of canola oil divided
1/2 teaspoon of grated ginger (about 1/2 inch piece)  (I used dry)
1 tablespoon of chopped garlic (about 2 -3 large cloves)
1/2 cup of water (I used 3/4 cup)
1/2 cup of soy sauce (I use low sodium) (I used 3/4 cup)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes (didn't have, so I used a pinch of cayenne pepper)
3 large green onions, sliced crosswise into thirds  (oops...I forgot in all the chaos:)

So I took the steak and patted it dry with a paper towel, cut it according to the instructions.  Crosswise means against the grain.  If you take your steak and pull it in different directions, you will see the way the meat pulls.  You want to cut it in the opposite direction.  Then I added the flour, mixed her up with my freshly washed hands and set it aside.


I put half of the canola oil in a large pan and heat it up.  (Note on the next step.... have your ingredients measured out and ready to add.  It will prevent anything from burning.)  I added the garlic and ginger and then immediately added the rest of the ingredients, except green onions.
Cook that for a couple of minutes, transfer to a bowl and set aside.
 
Put the rest of the oil in the pan and add the meat.  I started adding it slowly so I could get some nice browning on my pieces but I soon realized that, despite my monstrous pan, I was still going to have too much meat to have just a single layer, so I decided to just throw it all in and cook it until brown.  Then add the sauce and cook until it thickens up to your desired likeness.


I served mine with white rice and sauteed green beans. 

So my thoughts on this dish?  YUM!!!  I would do some things differently, like probably cut my meat a little thicker or cook the sauce longer before doing the meat.  I wanted the sauce to be a thinned gravy consistency and ended up overcooking my meat.  I also added a little bit of honey to the sauce at the end, but don't think I needed to.  I would also, DEFINITELY, add the green onios next time.  I didn't realize I had forgotten until I was plating it up.  I was very sad:(

Enjoy!!!