Roasted Garlic Beef and Vegetable Stir-Fry

Benjamin found this recipe on the McCormick website a few years ago and it is still on our menu as a favorite. We love it and hopefully you will also!

Roasted Garlic Beef and Vegetable Stir-Fry


Simplify a beef stir-fry with McCormick® Roasted Garlic & Bell Pepper Seasoning Blend.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Makes 6 (1-cup) servings.


Ingredients:
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 cup water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon McCormick® Roasted Garlic & Bell Pepper Seasoning Blend
1/2 teaspoon McCormick® Ground Ginger
1 tablespoon oil
1 1/2 pounds boneless sirloin steak, cut in 1/4-inch strips
3 cups assorted vegetables such as broccoli florets, red bell pepper strips and snow peas


Directions:
1. Mix cornstarch, water, soy sauce, Seasoning Blend and ginger in small bowl until smooth; set aside.
2. Heat oil in large nonstick skillet on medium-high heat. Add beef; cook and stir 5 minutes or until no longer pink. Remove beef from skillet. Add vegetables; cook and stir 3 minutes. Return beef to skillet.

3. Restir soy sauce mixture. Stir into skillet. Stirring constantly, bring to boil on medium heat and boil 1 minute. Serve over cooked rice, if desired.

Mongolian Beef

We like this recipe for both beef and chicken. The chicken is a little quicker since I skip the cornstarch step since it does not need to be tenderized like the beef.

Ingredients:
2 t vegetable oil•
1 T garlic,• chopped
1/2 C soy sauce•
1/2 C water•
3/4 C dark brown sugar•
1• C vegetable oil
1 lb flank steak•
1/4 C cornstarch•
2 large green• onions, sliced

Instructions:
1. Heat 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil in saucepan over medium-low heat.
2. Add garlic, then quickly add the soy sauce and water.
3. Dissolve the brown sugar in the sauce, then raise the heat to medium; boil for 2-3 minutes or until the sauce thickens.
4. Remove sauce from heat.
5. Slice the steak against the grain into 1/4-inch slices, then cut into bite size pieces. (Tilt the blade to a 45° angle to get a wider cut.)
6. Dip the steak into cornstarch; set aside for 10 minutes.
7. Heat oil over medium heat in a wok or skillet. (Make sure the meat can be mostly covered with oil.)
8. Add the beef to the oil and sauté for two minutes or until the meat just begins to darken on the edges. (The meat does not need to be cooked through—just evenly.)
9. Use a slotted spoon to remove the meat; empty the oil from the skillet.
10. Put the meat back in the skillet; cook for a minute.
11. Add the sauce; cook for one minute while stirring, then add the green onions.
12. Cook for one minute, then remove the beef and onions to a serving plate; leave excess sauce in pan
Serve over white rice.

Chinese Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Original recipe was by Rachel Ray- 30 min meals, but made it into our own recipe with a few changes. This is one of our favorites! Enjoy

2 large chicken breasts
2 TBsp Peanut oil (or vegetable oil, peanut oil is a little lighter)
***I like to marinade the chicken in McCormick Zesty herb (marinade directions is on the back of the package) for at least an hour before cooking. Then I omit the oil for cooking the chicken. It adds a lot of flavor, but you don’t have to do this.
Salt & Pepper
3 garlic cloves (pressed is best, but finely chopped would work)
1 inch piece of ginger root (peeled and finely chopped or grated)
1 orange ( you’ll use the zest)
½ red bell pepper, diced small
1 can (8 oz) sliced water chestnuts, drained and chopped
3 green onions chopped
3 Tbsp Kikkoman Stir-Fry sauce (I’m very generous with the sauce. I add it in last and keep adding it until it looks the way I want it to.
Green leaf lettuce (get it as crispy as you can… you could use any kind, but this is our favorite kind)

First, I like to go through the recipe and chop everything I can so once the chicken is cooked I can throw it all in and have it done quickly.

Chop the chicken into small bite size pieces. Heat Skillet or wok. (I have used my large skillet on the stove or the electric skillet and they both worked great for this. Add oil (if you don’t use marinade) to hot pan. Add chicken to the pan and sear the meat by stir frying it for a two or three minutes. Season with salt and pepper, then add garlic and ginger (we have found that by grating the ginger directly into the pan that it adds more flavor). Grate desired amount of orange zest into the pan, add red bell peppers, water chestnuts, and green onions. Cook for another minute, continuing to stir-fry the mixture. Add the desired stir fry sauce- I don’t measure this as it really depends on how much you want to put in. To eat, pile spoonfuls onto the lettuce leaves and fold up the wrap, eat and enjoy. (The recipe says to garnish your platter with the orange wedges, but we always eat it too fast to do that)

Stir Fry Ginger Beef
From: Simply Recipes

The trick to a good stir-fry is working with a very hot, relatively stick-free pan. I say relatively stick-free because you don't want one of those stick-free pans with the coating that peels off, but say more like a well-seasoned wok or a cast iron frying pan. Hard anodized aluminum will work too, as its surface is bonded into the pan and can take high temperature cooking. Cooking on high heat allows you to get a good sear on the meat and vegetables without overcooking them.
What can I say about this recipe? Not much other than I really like it. The beef strips marinate in a soy, vinegar, honey, ginger marinade, and then fry up quickly with garlic, chile, and more ginger. Top with cilantro and serve over rice. Quick, easy, good.

Stir Fry Ginger Beef Recipe

Ingredients
Marinade
• 2 Tbsp unseasoned rice vinegar
• 5 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp honey
• 1 Tbsp peeled, grated fresh ginger
• 1 teaspoon chile pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
Beef and stir-fry
• 1 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 lb top sirloin steak
• 1 Tbsp corn starch
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil (preferably peanut)
• 1 Tbsp sesame oil (optional)
• 3-4 green onions, cut on a diagonal, 1/2-inch apart, including the greens
• 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 2-3 hot chiles, preferably red serranos, seeded, sliced (**Used Yellow serranos since that was all that were available and they were great- make the dish)
• 1-inch nob of ginger, peeled, cut lengthwise into matchstick shapes
• 1/2 cup loosely packed, chopped cilantro




Method

1 Chill the steak in the freezer for 30 minutes before you slice it, this will make it easier to cut in thin slices. Slice the steak first crosswise in 1/2-inch thick slices. The cut each slice lengthwise into strips.
2 In a medium bowl, whisk together the marinade ingredients; the soy sauce, vinegar, grated ginger, honey, red chile flakes, and cumin. Mix the beef in with the marinade to coat and let it sit for at least 30 minutes, and up to 4 hours, in the fridge.
3 In a small bowl, mix the corn starch with 2 tablespoons of cold water to make a slurry.
4 Heat the oil in a wok, or a large sauté pan, over high heat until it is nearly smoking. As the oil is heating up, pat the beef dry and separate it into small batches no larger than what can fit into the palm of your hand. Working in batches, sauté beef until just brown outside but rare inside, no more than 1 minute. Transfer beef to a bowl.


5 When all of the beef is cooked, put the chiles and garlic into the pan and stir-fry 30-45 seconds. Add the julienned ginger and cook for 30-45 seconds more. Add the beef back to the pan. Add the cornstarch slurry. Add the scallions and mix everything together. Cook for 1 minute.
Turn the heat off and mix in the cilantro. Serve at once with steamed white rice.
Serves 4-6.

Fabulous Orange Chicken

From: Copied from website...will try and figure out which one..but they adapted the recipe from Blog Chef

If you are partial to deep-fried chicken, feel free to deep-fry the chicken and serve it with the thickened sauce. But if you want a lighter, baked version, follow the recipe below.

You won't be disappointed either way because the sauce makes this dish shine and it is fantastic!

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 2" cubes
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons oil or butter

1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1/3 cup rice vinegar
2 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon orange zest
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon finely minced ginger
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons green onion
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup water

Heat oven to 350. In a shallow dish combine the flour, garlic powder and pepper. Dip each piece of chicken in flour mixture and coat evenly.

Pour oil (or melt butter and pour) in a shallow baking dish, large enough to accommodate chicken in a single layer. Arrange chicken in pan and bake uncovered for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan combine water, fresh orange juice, rice vinegar, soy sauce, orange zest and whisk over medium heat for a few minutes. Then stir in brown sugar, ginger, garlic, and green onion and let it come to a boil. Combine cornstarch with water and let it dissolve and add it to the sauce until thickened.

After chicken has baked the 30 minutes, turn each piece over and pour 1/2 sauce mixture evenly over chicken. Bake another 30 to 40 minutes basting frequently.

Serve chicken over rice with extra sauce on the side.