Beef Lo Mein

I love Beef Lo Mein at Chinese Restaurants and wondered how easy it would be to make at home, turns out pretty darn easy!  The prep work is the most time consuming, the actual cooking is pretty quick.

I found a recipe on Pinterest and hubby took over and made it for me.  The conclusion; better than any Restaurant!  I skipped the mung beans and bamboo shoots because I don't like them!  We also doubled the recipe!

Ingredients

4 oz. flank steak
1 teaspoon corn starch
1 teaspoon soy sauce, plus 1 tablespoon (divided)
1 teaspoon oil, plus more for cooking
8 oz. fresh lo mein egg noodles or regular white noodles
2 cups shredded Napa cabbage
2 cups of mung bean sprouts (we skipped this)
1 medium carrot julienned
1/2 small red bell pepper, julienned
1/2 cup fresh sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup sliced winter bamboo shoots (we skipped this)
2/3 cup snow peas
1 scallion, julienned
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon shaoxing wine
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
Pinch of salt
Pinch of sugar

Slice the beef into thin 2-3 inch strips and mix well in a bowl with corn starch, 1 teaspoon soy sauce, and oil. Set aside.

If using white noodles, boil them in about 2 quarts of water, rinse in cold water and drain. If using lo mein egg noodles, you can skip this step. If you can't get lo mein or other fresh noodles at your Asian grocer, fresh or dried linguini pasta will do also.

Cut your veggies and have them all ready for cooking. Heat the wok until smoking slightly and add a couple tablespoons oil to coat the wok and sear the beef. Take the beef out of the pan and set aside.

Add the garlic and all the vegetables to the pan except the dark green parts of the scallion and the snow peas. Stir-fry on high heat for a minute and add the wine in a circle around the perimeter of the wok.

Add the noodles and beef back to the pan and mix well from the bottom up for about 30 seconds. Then cover the wok for one minute. Remove cover and add the remaining tablespoon of regular soy sauce, the dark soy sauce, sesame oil, salt, sugar, bean sprouts and snow peas.

Mix well and stir-fry for another minute, or until any remaining liquid has evaporated. Plate and serve!

I love our cast iron WOK, it gets hot and holds the heat well.  It is Coleman brand!

Cherry Sour Cream Pound Cake

It was Father's Day and I had a pint of fresh Oregon Red Cherries and decided to make a Pound Cake. I found a recipe for Sour Cream Pound Cake and added my Cherries. 

Pitting the Cherries takes time and is a pain in the rear but worth it.  This turned out to be a delicious cake.  My Husband who is not a sweet eater, loved it!

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 large eggs

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup sour cream

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1.5 cups of pitted cherries, chopped

Preheat oven to 350°

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together.

Add the sour cream and mix until incorporated.

Sift the baking soda and flour together. Add to the creamed mixture alternating with eggs, beating in each egg 1 at a time.

Add vanilla and cherries, fold in

Pour the mixture into a greased and floured loaf pan.

Bake for 40 minutes to 1 hour or until toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.  (This cake took almost 90 minutes to cook, probably because of the added moisture from the Cherries)