Quick Dinner

Last night Matt came home really hungry.. and he forgot that he was supposed to pick up dinner. So I didn't have anything planned and had to do a fridge scramble to get the boy fed. He kept saying he would scrounge for dinner which usually means Cheerios or something, but I'm not really okay with that. After a long day at work, he needs real food. On a normal day he eats 2-3 servings worth of dinner (and doesn't gain a pound, how unfair is that?) so cheerios really wouldn't cut it. We had two leftover, extremely lean steaks and broccoli from the CSA membership. What to do? Broccoli Beef! Of course I didn't let the fact that I had never made broccoli beef before deter me.. and I have no idea what goes in it. So here's what I did.

Ok, I'll admit it.. it looks a little like dog food. But it tasted really good and got Matt fed in a hurry.

I threw some rice in the rice cooker first with half the usual amount of salt since I knew I was going to use soy sauce in the beef, I didn't want the dish to be too salty.

The Beef Mixture

2 lean steaks (I think what I had was sirloin steak) cut into thin strips against the grain.

JMC salt and pepper to taste

Approx. 2 Tbsp of soy sauce

Garlic Powder

1/4 cup chicken broth

1 package of Country Gravy (I know, weird)

So I threw the chopped up steak in a plastic bag, added the salt, pepper, and garlic powder and gave it a good shake. Then I seared the beef really quickly in my ceramic coated cast iron skillet (any heavy skillet is fine) and added the soy sauce and chicken broth and started it simmering. It didn't look quite right... I thought it should be more creamy/gravy-ish. At first I was just going to add flour or cornstarch when I got the bright idea that a packet of Country Gravy mix might punch up the flavor. So I sprinkled that over the top of it and started mixing. It looked pretty good and smelled great. I added all the broccoli florets and popped the lid on while I waited for the rice to finish. When the rice beeped, I checked on it and the broccoli was tender but not mushy, which is just how we like it. It's probably nothing like real Broccoli Beef, but Matt didn't seem to mind. He ate the leftovers for breakfast.  I guess those Cheerios will have to wait for another day.