Beef Broccoli and Sesame Noodles

This month, for one of my freezer meals, I put together my grandmother's recicpe for beef broccoli and added a great sesame noodles that I got off the Pioneer Woman website. We love these noodles and they are so easy to make with things we normally have on hand.

Beef Broccoli:

1 lb broccoli (you can either parboil some fresh or used frozen)
1/2 lb steak, sliced thinly (the recipe calls for round steak but you can use whatever you like)

Marinade:
2 t. sugar
1 T. soy sauce
1 T. cornstarch
1/8 t. grated ginger
salt and pepper, optional (I usually leave out since soy sauce has plenty of salt)

Marinate meat for 5-10 minutes and then cook until done.

Sauce:
1 beef buillon cube
1 C. water
1 T. cornstarch
1-2 T. soy sauce

Dissolve buillon cube in water. Allow to cool and add cornstarch or dissolve cornstarch in a little cold water. Add soy sauce. Add sauce to meat in pan and cook and stir until thick and bubbly.

Stir in broccoli. If the sauce is too thick, add in 1/4 C. water. If you want it thicker, dissolve more cornstarch in some cold water and add to meat mixture.

To prepare for freezer, combine uncooked meat and marinade in one bag. Prepare sauce and choose the option to allow buillon and water to cool. Add in cornstarch and soy sauce - this goes in another bag. I use frozen broccoli in another bag. Put all a big ziplock so they are all together and easy to grab when you make this meal.

Prepare from frozen by allowing all the ingredients to thaw. Follow the steps above, skipping the marinating time since it already got that while thawing and reincorporate corstarch in the sauce before adding to the hot pan. You might also want to microwave the frozen broccoli if it's not as soft as you'd like to eat it by just thawing.


Sesame Noodles :

12 oz. spaghetti noodles
1/4 C. soy sauce
2 T. sugar
3-4 cloves garlic (the more the better, I say!)
2 T. rice vinegar
2-3 T. sesame oil
4-5 T. canola oil(I usually use half this amount and don't miss it)
3-4 green onions, sliced
2 T. hot water

Cook noodles according to package directions. Mix the rest of the ingredients and pour over cooked noodles. Toss and serve.

For my freezer meal, I just put all the sauce ingredients, minus the hot water into a baggie. Keep the pasta on hand in the pantry.

Prepare from frozen the same way as above, allowing sauce to thaw first. Add in hot water and whisk sauce before adding cooked noodles.

Herbed Roast Chicken

I saw this one on Rachel Ray and decided to try it. While it was cooking it smelled so good! I loved using all these fresh herbs and it really is a pretty simple recipe.

1 Whole Chicken
Fresh herbs like tarragon, parsley, thyme, etc.
Butter or Olive Oil

Roasting Veggies:
Potatoes
Carrots
Onions
Fresh Basil (optional)

Rosemary Garlic White Sauce:
3T butter
2T flour
1 C cream or milk
chicken stock
2 bulbs of fresh garlic
about 1/2 C fresh rosemary, chopped

Chop up your fresh rosemary. Slice about 1/4 of the bottom of the garlic bulb off (the rest of the bulb will stay in tact). Smash the side of bulb of garlic that you cut off into your rosemary pile and then drill liberally with olive oil. Wrap it in tin foil and roast it in the oven for about an hour. You will make the sauce with this later.

Prepare your potatoes - if you can find small ones, pour them on the bottom of you roasting pan. If not, cut them into the size of pieces you'd like. Cut the carrots into about the same size as your potatoes. Same thing goes for the onions, if you can find small ones, great, if not cut the onions into the same size pieces as your potatoes and carrots. Mix all this in the bottom of your roasting pan. I also added some fresh basil in the mix.

With the chicken, pull the skin away the meat (around the breast and also the legs) a bit and slip in your fresh herbs in between the skin and meat (I only had fresh tarragon and I loved it). Rachel Ray said to rub your bird down with butter - you probably could use some olive oil - and then salt and pepper. Place it on top of the veggies and cover with tin foil.

Bake at 375 for about an hour or till the juices run clear. Remove the tin foil after about 40 mins to allow the chicken to get some color. (I put my garlic in to roast at the same time as the chicken.)

Once the garlic is done, gently squeeze out the roasted garlic/rosemary into a bowl and set aside for the sauce.

For the sauce:
Melt 3 T butter in a sauce pan. Add about 2 T flour and cook to form a ball for about a minute. Slowly add 1 C of cream (or milk) while stirring. After that, add in chicken stalk until you reach the desired consistency of sauce you'd like. Add the garlic rosemary and stir into the sauce for about another minute.

Prepare:
Remove and cut your chicken into pieces. If you want to add some fresh spinach to your veggies and toss it around for a side salad you can. Top your chicken with the sauce.