Traveling Tuesdays (Totally behind!)..Korea!

1st place in the season!

Tisk tisk...I'm totally behind. I'm not really sure why...no excuses. I guess it was because this past week was kind of busy!! Monday and Tuesday, Matt and I spent time mentally preparing ourselves for our big games on Wednesday for the Fort Leavenworth Volleyball Championship. Sounds important doesn't it. :) Well it was. To us at least...haha. Wednesday night we set out to maintain our winning streak with our volleyball team that we weren't on at first, but then we were asked by one of Matt's instructors (a LTC...couldn't say no! lol) after the first game to come help the next week. And somehow after that...we were just on the team! Of course Matt and I are awesome, so we were a great addition to it. :) Tooting my own horn. Actually it was a lot of fun. But we ended up 1st in the whole season. Which was awesome. So Wednesday night we had to play a team to get to the final championship game obviously. And we beat them 2-0; they had improved so much throughout the season I was a little concerned at first. But we pulled through. Then we waited while the other teams played each other (somewhat of a bad place to be in since you cool down) and finally were able to play the team that I knew we were going to have to play. One that was made up of all dudes. And especially this huge, tall, muscle-y black guy who is so awesome in volleyball it's unreal. If he gets a good set...he smacks it down...no questions asked. Of course, this same guy also smashed it into my head lol, but it's cool! We joked about it later. This team ended up beating us in the first match 26-24...which was our first loss of the season! So we pulled ourselves together and ended up beating them out the next two games with not so close scores *pat on the back*.  It was honestly a lot of fun and I wish the season was still going on. I hope I'll always be able to play volleyball at some point in my life. I'm so used to being in that setting, that it's like home each time I set foot on a court. :)

Season and Tournament trophies

So that was our Wednesday. Of course, we'll back track to Tuesday for our World Cuisine night! :) We "went" to Korea! I've been wanting to make Bulgogi, or Korean BBQ for a while just because the flavors sounded so good. And I was finally able to do it! I kind of mixed two recipes together because I didn't have some things on one, but did have things for another. Here's how I did it!

Ingredients!

BULGOGI (KOREAN BARBECUED BEEF)
Yields 4 servings

Ingredients (what I used!)

1 pound top sirloin steak trimmed
2 tablespoons brown sugar
3-4 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
Crystallized ginger (got to use it up!)*
2-3 teaspoons dark sesame oil
4 big cloves of garlic (yummy)
Cooking spray

Added:
Chili Garlic Sauce for some heat!
Sliced onions
Snow peas
Sliced mushrooms 
Green onions (why not.)

*Note: The recipe called for 1 teaspoon fresh minced ginger. I used about 5 pieces of the crystallized ginger and minced as best as I could. It's sticky!

Yea...whisk action shot!

 First thing I did was mix all the ingredients together, minus the meat, to form the marinade. I then sliced the meat thinly. They suggest freezing it for about an hour wrapped in plastic wrap to get it to the 1/16 of an inch thickness; however, I had the meat in the refrigerator after it had thawed out and it was fine. I would just suggest making sure it's cold enough to slice thinly. Obviously.

I know...the raw meat..kind of nasty

Next, I put all of the meat into a Pyrex dish, along with the marinade and covered it for a good four hours or so. During this time I flipped the meat around a couple of times for even coating, watching some Paula Deen, and ran 3 1/2 miles. All in a days work. :) After all of that, it was time to cook! When I opened the Pyrex up, *sniffs* yummy. Seriously. All those flavors mixed together. Mmmmm!!

Amazing smells from this dish!

I heat up my grilling pan which I coated with some cooking spray and let the meat sizzle away. It took about 6 minutes total since the meat was so thin. And then I decided...okay I know traditionally it's served with rice on lettuce wraps..and I'm totally cool with that since I eat like a rabbit anyways, but I do have a muscular man that I have to feed..and he looked at me funny when I told him the traditional way because I guess it sounds too rabbity to him..what else can I add? Oh yes...maybe some sliced onions, snow peas, green onions, and left over mushrooms! Since it also said that sometimes other veggies are set out as fillings with the meat. Why not! So I sauted up the veggies in some cooking spray!

Mmmmmm....

I added everything in with the beef on the skillet just so everything could get flavored up together and then served it with some jasmine rice and of course...a salad! Matt was a happy camper. And so was I since it was a veggie packed dinner and super tasty! The meat comes in at about 208 calories per serving and I'm sure adding the veggies added on a bit, but not by much. It's veggies! It was really good and although it was a bit like my other Asian dishes, the taste was definitely different than the rest. I would highly recommend it! I wouldn't even mind trying it the traditional way. Here's the website: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/bulgogi-korean-beef-barbecue-10000000429500/ (didn't use mirin)

This weekend was a fun and also relaxing weekend for us as well. Friday we went to a Brazilian restaurant. Where they come around with these huge skewers of meat. You felt a little caveman-ish. Grunting at the meat as it was presented to you....okay maybe not me personally, but the guys sure were! :) It was really good. And a neat experience!! Saturday and Sunday were spent lounging and getting ready for Matt's brother, Mark, to come into town on his pre-deployment leave. We are really excited to see him, as we haven't seen him since Christmas/New Years. Today, Monday, we took him to Fort Riley, Kansas to see his friend (and ours too!), Thomas, who is stationed there with his wife! We played some disc golf and had a lot of fun catching up. Matt and I left Mark there to come back to Leavenworth so Matt could rest up for class tomorrow (back to the grind!), but Mark will be joining us again tomorrow and will be here through Sunday. We plan on taking him to the two disc golf courses we found here in Kansas as well as out to a little place called High Noon Saloon for some pool (and of course local people watching) on Thursday. Matt's been teaching me pool. :) And I plan on hopefully doing a fire pit at our house so Mark can maybe meet the neighbors. We're just really excited to show him a good time before he leaves to go to sea for 8 months or so. I'm hoping to take some pictures. As I always talk about doing...but never do. This time I'm going to REALLY try. Pinkie swear. Well, I suppose that's all for now. Of course, tomorrow is Tuesday again...so hopefully I won't fall behind. We're doing a Hawaiian pig roast! Not really...but I've read that it's pretty darn close! It was either that or Australia and since Matt was born in Hawaii, I couldn't resist! :) Take care!!! 

RIP Queen Anne Boleyn ~ May 19, 1536

Hever portrait

Not many people know exactly how I got hooked on the Tudor time period. It was by mistake really. Of course, I had studied History in college and I’m sure at some point I had heard in passing about the “tyrant” Henry VIII. Looking back on my course catalog book, there was even a class that I could have taken specifically for the Tudor time period (1485-1603). I am now kicking myself that I didn’t take that class. Fortunately, as a side note, the Master’s program in Colorado allows you to take an undergraduate class as an elective…so here’s hoping there’s a Tudor class. :) Anyway! So there I was in Target in 2008. Wasting time by just walking around and I happened upon the book aisle. I was looking around and saw “The Other Boleyn Girl” book. It caught my eye because I saw actual actors on the cover, since the movie had just come out. I hadn’t heard of the movie being talked about on any previews or anything so I was intrigued. I picked it up and read the first few lines… Spring 1521 “I could hear a roll of muffled drums. But I could see nothing but the lacing on the bodice of the lady standing in front of me, blocking my view of the scaffold.” Hooked. I went ahead and bought the book and sitting down in the food area of Target, I read 100 pages. It was a book I couldn’t put down. I hadn’t really experienced that before. Matt noticed this and looked online to see if there were other books that had been written by the author, Phillipa Gregory. Yep! Apparently, it was a series! Score! He started looking further into it and ended up on Wikipedia. Reading on with a few clicks here and there and suddenly he said those words… “this book is based on real people…” Wait. What??? Real people? You mean this crazy stuff actually happened in history? This man had how many wives?? And it started. I really attribute Matt for sparking the passion. Which is something I enjoy talking about, because he really encouraged me when he saw I had a liking for the subject. I wanted to know more. Of course as time has gone on, I’ve found out that the book is based very loosely on what actually happened. Don't get me wrong. It's a good read, as are the others!! However, Claire, from The Anne Boleyn Files (a great website I started following in 2009), has really done a lot of damage control for it—trying to make up for the lies in that book. However, she admits, and I agree, that although it makes us aggravated…many people learned about Anne and her time period through researching after reading the book. It was a catalyst if you will. Since then I have read and learned so much, not only on the website, but in the many books I've gotten.

I know it's crazy to be so passionate about someone or something that happened close to 500 years ago. Believe me. I've seen people's faces when I start talking about it. But I think the reason I'm so passionate for Anne and for that time period is that she's someone who all women can look up to. During her time she was considered fashionable, quick witted. Someone who everyone noticed! She was strong, passionate, learned, opinionated. Definitely a woman who challenged things in a man dominated world. I'm sure that's why Henry VIII first fell in love with her. She made him think. They were in the same mind and thought on topics of the day. I truly believe they were a dynamic couple. And that's why I feel she's someone to look up to. Who doesn't want to be a strong woman? Someone who isn't afraid to speak up for what she believes in. It's a strength that many people, myself included, strive for. But thinking of this strength she had leads my thoughts to her horrible death because not only was she strong during her life, she was even more so as she faced death. Anne was sent to death on trumped up charges which included adultery and incest of all things. Five men (George Boleyn {her brother}, Henry Norris, William Brereton, Francis Weston, and Mark Smeaton) were all tried, found guilty, and sentenced to death because of these charges of adultery and incest. Anne was also tried and found guilty. The King commuted her sentence of burning to beheading (how nice of him) and went one step further in ordering a well trained expert French swordsman from Calais. This, to me, was ironic and I'm sure was some what of a jab from Henry VIII because Anne spent many years in France and had a very large soft spot in her heart for France. So how appropriate to have someone from France come execute her. The five men were executed one after the other on May 17, 1536. Anne was scheduled to be executed the following day, but the swordsman was held up so her execution was finally scheduled for the morning of May 19th. Contemporary accounts of her execution talk of how dignified she was. How at peace she looked. Can you imagine??? I'd be shaking! I think, though, she was truly at peace knowing that all would be well. She would be taken from a world that had turned it's back on her. Her daughter would be taken care of. Everything would be okay. She climbed the scaffold and composed herself, then spoke.

“Good Christian people, I have not come here to preach a sermon; I have come here to die. For according to the law and by the law I am judged to die, and therefore I will speak nothing against it. I am come hither to accuse no man, nor to speak of that whereof I am accused and condemned to die, but I pray God save the King and send him long to reign over you, for a gentler nor a more merciful prince was there never, and to me he was ever a good, a gentle, and sovereign lord. And if any person will meddle of my cause, I require them to judge the best. And thus I take my leave of the world and of you all, and I heartily desire you all to pray for me.”

The Tudors' scene of Anne's death

After she spoke, her ladies readied her for her death. She paid the executioner, who asked her to forgive him for the job he was about to do. She was blindfolded and then knelt in the straw. The crowd that had gathered knelt down too...one by one. Anne prayed several times, “O Lord have mercy on me, to God I commend my soul. To Jesus Christ I commend my soul; Lord Jesu receive my soul.” The executioner noticed Anne turning her head waiting for the blow, so he called out to his assistant for his sword. Her head followed the noise, the executioner came behind her and with that Anne's life was ended. Her turmoil was over. She was buried in an arrow chest in St. Peter ad Vincula, the chapel within the Tower grounds. 

Memorial plaque within St. Peter ad Vincula

I say all this to show you how strong she was until the end. I know many people have their opinions on whether she was guilty or not. I personally believe she wasn't guilty at all--merely the victim of the politics of her day. But that's not the point here. The point is that a life was taken far too soon. The point is that I'm passionate about this person because of her strength and because of how she was in life and how she left this world--dignified and a true Queen. She left her print on this life and people are still talking about her, remembering her, fighting for her. She left a legacy in her daughter, Elizabeth I, who led the world into a Golden Age. In the end, even if she died a traitor's death, she still affected people then and now and her story will always spark an interest in those who read about her. So today, I remember Queen Anne Boleyn...not only to commemorate her death, but to celebrate her life! 

Memorial at the Scaffold site

Traveling Tuesdays...Japan!

So I asked Matt (as I usually do) Japan or Korea? And he said Japan. So I got to researching on the internet which sometimes takes a really long time because I always have specifics on the meal; which usually revolves around calorie count and if it's been reviewed by other people. I like to see others opinions and what they did or didn't do with the recipe. This time, however, I was super lucky and came across this really neat website that a twenty something girl in Japan has been posting on. Her recipes are traditional Japanese recipes that are "healthy and easy to make." Sold! I got to looking around and found a couple of really interesting recipes that were few ingredients (more of looking in the pantry and trying to use up stuff before we move!) and that were really easy time wise. I let Matt choose ultimately and he chose a Mushroom and Pork Stir-fry! It was delicious! And I can't wait to share...so here it is!

MUSHROOM AND PORK STIR FRY
Serves 2 (I made it for 4, but did not double the sauce)

Ingredients (with some tweaking!)

1/2 lb pork tenderloin sliced (I used 1 lb)*
1/4 lb Maitake mushrooms*
1/4 lb Enoki mushrooms *
1 clove garlic, minced
1-2 green onions chopped
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp sake
1 tbsp soy sauce (I used lite/low sodium)
1/4 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
dash of pepper and salt at the end

Added:
~1 tbsp chili garlic sauce (for heat)
Good bunch of yummy snow peas! (for color!!! and taste!)

*Notes: As noted, I used a one pound pork tenderloin by Hormel. They had a $2 off coupon at the commissary so I took advantage. These pork tenderloins are super yummy and it just so happened that they had a teriyaki flavored one, so I went with that. And honestly, it added to the taste! I also could not find the type of mushrooms that the recipe called for (I knew I wasn't going to be able to and any case, she said all mushrooms work) so I used shiitake mushrooms, baby portabellas, and regular white capped mushrooms (since I had those for another recipe). I took about 6-8 of each and sliced them up. It looked like a lot, but once cooked down it's not that much and I loved the flavor. I had never worked with shiitake mushrooms before. They smelled pretty shroomy and the under part of the cap was really furry feeling. :) :) :) But I liked them!

Directions:

All sorts of mushrooms!!

First thing I did was the chopping before dealing with the pork (once again!). I'm a huge freak when it comes to germs and cross contamination, which is probably a good thing. So I chopped up the mushrooms (after washing them) and washed the snow peas. Minced the garlic (I used two big cloves...can't go wrong with garlic! Although my dad wouldn't agree tee hee) and finally chopped up the green onion.

Snow peas!

The next thing I did was rinse the pork and pat dry before slicing it. I used the same technique as last weeks recipe slicing the pork length wise then into smaller slices. It worked out well! And since it was teriyaki flavored it already smelled really good. After slicing and dicing :) I put the tablespoon of butter (I used I Can't Believe it's Not Butter Light with Olive Oil) and the minced garlic into my pan and started the cooking! I love the smell of garlic cooking!

yummy!!!

Obviously not cooked yet :)

Once the garlic cooked, I added the pork in and cooked it until I could not see any pink left. While the pork was cooking, I mixed together the sake, sugar, soy sauce, chili garlic sauce, and salt in a small bowl and set it aside. I then removed the pork from the pan and cooked the mushrooms and snow peas in the juices that the pork, butter, and garlic had given off. I cooked them until they were tender.

Once everything was cooked, I added the pork back into the pan along with any juices that had accumulated and also added the sauce mixture in. I brought it to a boil and made sure everything was evenly coated then turned down the heat. The last thing I did was sprinkle the chopped green onion over the stir fry. I served it with simple white rice and a nice salad of course!

I'm not really sure of the calorie count, since she did not provide it. But I looked into other stir fry type dishes that had similar if not more added ingredients and they were running between 250 and 300 calories a serving. So I'm cool with that! :) And honestly, it was a very healthy flavorful dish. Everything was very fresh and simple, which is a great way to just let the flavors shine without anything covering them up. The sauce was very light and didn't require a lot of any extras that I didn't have...besides the sake. Which I went ahead and bought. Matt has never had a sake bomb. I figured maybe I could make him one someday soon :) Overall, I was really pleased with this dish. I actually want to make other things that she has listed on her website. So I may do that one day! :) I hope you are able to try it. Here is the website and if anyone tries anything else off of her recipes, let me know! :) http://www.japanfoodaddict.com/pork/mushroom-pork-stir-fry/
------------------------------------------------------------------------
So on an unrelated note, this week I've been thinking about doing a post for Saturday and have kind of been thinking and brainstorming about it. Saturday is May 19th which was the date that Anne Boleyn (my historical heroine!) was executed in 1536. For many of you that know me, I have a passion for Tudor history, a passion that would fill up several bookshelves in fact. It's developed rather quickly over the past three years and I just can't learn enough about it. It's not just the Tudors themselves, but the history leading up to it (aka War of the Roses type stuff). It's the intrigue and mystery of it all. I feel, though, that Anne's story is a sad one. And since learning about her, I feel for her as a woman. She lived during a time when men ruled the world and yet, she held her own. I have always believed her to have been innocent...merely caught in a world of manly politics. This week has been one where many historical events have happened relating to her death. Most recently, yesterday (5/15) would have been her trial (along with her brother) where they were both convicted and learned that they would die. I can't even imagine what they were thinking and what they were going through. Feeling powerless and not able to stop anything that was happening. I feel her story, along with the others involved is an important one. Not only because she was unjustly convicted and sent to death for something she didn't do, but also because in those moments of not being able to do anything and feeling that powerlessness set in, she stood strong and courageous until the end. And I think that's what I most admire. Her strength. So I feel that I should honor her somehow and will be posting something on Saturday about her. Until then, if you want to learn more about her and others during that time period, I suggest looking into my favorite website www.theanneboleynfiles.com. Claire has been doing some great articles this week and it's worth a look!  Until then, I hope everyone has a great day!! :)

Traveling Tuesdays!! China...again!

Yea yea yea...I decided to "go" to China again. Hey, the food is really good. :) This week I made Pork Chop Suey. I came across it really because it had a lot of ingredients that I needed to use up! In fact the whole weeks menu revolved around using things up. Heck, yesterday I made mashed potatoes with one baking potato, one yukon gold, and four red potatoes. It worked. It was tasty. Matt enjoyed it--not only for taste, but the frugality of it all! Usually when I make the menu up for the week I try to do a little bit of everything--fish, chicken, pork, beef. Keeps it interesting. So when I saw this recipe for Pork Chop Suey, I jumped on it! Here's how I did it:

PORK CHOP SUEY
Serves 4, 1 cup per serving

INGREDIENTS

1 cup reduced sodium chicken broth
3 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons molasses, preferably blackstrap*
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
5 teaspoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons canola oil, divided
1 pound pork tenderloin, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/4 inch thick pieces
1 medium onion, slivered
1 medium red bell pepper, thinly sliced
3 cups bean sprouts
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger*

Added:
1 tablespoon of chili garlic sauce (for some heat!) 
1 can of bamboo shoots (not very tasty straight from the can/not cooked...hey, I was curious!)
1 can water chestnuts (very tasty straight from the can! LOVE water chestnuts) 

Serving options:
Udon noodles or spaghetti noodles ( I used linguine!)

*Note: I used regular molasses as far as I know. I was lucky enough to find it in the commissary honestly! :) And I used crystallized ginger because I had it. Worked perfectly fine!

Piled Veggies

First things first. Before I even touched the pork, I did all the chopping which included the bell pepper, onion, and ginger. I drained the canned veggies and washed off the bean sprouts. Then I set everything aside!









The next thing I did was make the sauce. Which was super easy. Once the sauce is made, transfer about two tablespoons of it into a smaller bowl and add the cornstarch. Stir until well dissolved and set aside. Next thing was to slice the pork tenderloin.

Sauce with cornstarch

Slice the pork lengthwise and then into 1/4 inch thick pieces. Once this is done, add a tablespoon of canola oil to a large pan and cook the pork until it's not pink anymore.

After the pork has cooked, remove it from the pan and put it into a bowl or on a plate (you'll want any extra juice it gives off as it sits!). Add the other tablespoon of canola oil to the pan and cook all your veggies for about 3-4 minutes.

Veggies with the sauce

You then add your sauce (not the cornstarch one!) to the pan and bring it to a boil. Cook all of this for about 3 minutes, while stirring constantly.

Reduce your heat to medium and add the pork (and any accumulated juices) back into the mix along with your cornstarch mixture to thicken the sauce up! Serve all of it over Udon noodles or in our case linguine!

Matt let me take a pic of his food :)

Overall....YUMMY!!!!! It was really good. And easy! The total calorie count for one serving was 280 calories. Not too shabby! I served a salad on the side as usual. Love my salads! :) Here is the website if you want to try it out: http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/pork_chop_suey.html and if you do, I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!!

I thought I would also do some weekly recaps while I'm here. :) Let's see...not too much has been going on. Matt and I have been frequently starring houses on realtor.com. We have found a lot of homes we LOVE (read: that have great Jeni approved kitchens haha!) and are just having to play the waiting game since we are renting. There is a home that we are specifically eyeing and we are really hoping that it doesn't get snatched up. A lot of homes in the area that are slightly over our price range are starting to be reduced into our price range, which is exciting. Of course, the $6000/month house isn't being reduced. Darn. I totally wanted that indoor pool. Haha! In my dreams, right? The house is gorgeous. Sigh.

Matt and I were recently recruited by one of his instructors to play on his intramural volleyball team..why? Because we're awesome...that's why. :) We've played three games and it's been a lot of fun. Of course this makes me miss my volleyball playas on our SSC team (shout out to Begging for It! Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh...Oh myyyy...). This past Monday we played an all guy team (I'm one of three chicks on mine) and they were super tall ...well tall to me..haha! I would say Matt's height plus a few inches. We played really well as a team and won. Which was exciting because they weren't being very nice. One of the guys kept yelling "NOPE!" every time we lost a point. I didn't realize we were playing in the Olympics...hmm. :) We have to play them again next week. So crossing fingers that we win again.

This past weekend I got new shoes. This may seem like a random piece of information, however, you, my friend, were not wearing shoes that were literally falling apart as you ran. My heels are very happy. I was really excited to get them and after a week of working out twice a day, I can say that they are amazing! :) I'm pretty sure I hear my feet singing lovely songs each time I wear them! :)

I've been also looking/applying for jobs. I'm not really sure what I want to do since I'm planning on going to grad school hopefully starting in January 2013. I'm studying for the GRE while Matt studies for a test he's taking. I would prefer to be able to work while taking classes. I just don't want to get into something job wise that will prevent me from going to school. Meaning a straight forward type job that I enjoy, but doesn't follow me home at the end of the day. :) As of right now, I've figured out that I want to get my Masters in History and I have been also looking into doing Historical preservation work. I'm a firm believer in preserving our History for generations to come! As I'm sure a lot of people are. I think it's important for people to see where we've been. I think it'd be fun to work in that type of field...and teach Tudor History. Tudor History 101. :) I'm really nervous about taking the GRE because I'm not a very good test taker. I get really nervous and jittery. It's pretty bad. But I will study my booty off and hopefully do well. I plan on going to the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. We shall see. I am excited about going back to school. My brain needs stimulating! I actually miss school things such as taking notes or listening to lectures. I thought I would never say that!! 

Other than that, everything has been the same!! Animals are great. Matt's great. I'm great! :) Well I suppose I'll leave you alone for now. Hope you've enjoyed my updates! Have a lovely Mother's Day weekend!

Traveling Tuesdays....China!

So for this week's world travel cuisine I asked Matt if he wanted to "go" to India or China. He chose China! :) I decided that doing a stir fry would be cheating, so I chose to do a Mongolian Beef dish with snow peas and red bell pepper (for added veggies!). I know...kind of stir fry-ish...but it's something I've never done and hey, China is big and has so many amazing dishes that I plan to do one or two other recipes in the weeks to come! For tonight, however, here's this tasty recipe!

MONGOLIAN BEEF
Serves 4

Ingredients

1 pd flank steak, trimmed of fat and sliced into thin slices
Cooking spray
1/3 cup hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons peeled and minced fresh ginger*
1 teaspoon roasted minced garlic*
2 teaspoons dark sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper*
4 green onions

Added: snow peas and red bell pepper
 
*Note: I used the following things because I had them on hand (1) instead of fresh ginger, crystallized ginger (2) plain fresh garlic and (3) ground red pepper

The first thing I did was slice the flank steak and set it aside while I cut up the bell pepper, green onions, garlic, and ginger.











Next thing is to spray a pan with the cooking spray and start browning the flank steak.

Sizzle sizzle

Yummy sauce :)

While the meat was browning I mixed together the hoisin sauce, water, ginger, garlic, sesame oil, and red pepper. Smells great, by the way! :) I also whipped up some boil in a bag jasmine rice (as suggested by the website).

Once the meat was browned I took it out of the pan and set it aside in a bowl. I put the bell pepper and snow peas into the pan to cook up without over cooking the meat.

I added the meat back in with the veggies once they were tender and mixed the green onions along with the sauce to coat evenly over everything! Let it cook for about 2 minutes and serve! That's it!

Matt and I really liked the dish! It was spicy since I used ground red pepper and probably should have used less since it was supposed to be crushed red pepper (whoopsie!), but we both really liked it a lot and liked the spice! And it was easy! Always a plus. The calorie count for the dish is 240 calories per serving. I served it with a side salad and of course the rice. Matt likes his rice. :)

Overall, I think this was a successful "trip" this week and I would definitely make it again. I hope that if you make it, that you like it just as much! :)

Here is the recipe: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/mongolian-beef-10000001896064/