Korean Ribs and Baked Beans

I marinated some Korean ribs in olive oil, broiled steak seasoning, parsley and black pepper overnight. Make sure you gently massage the seasonings in.

Cover and bake at 385 for about 25 minutes. You want the meat to cook through. Remove the foil and bake uncovered until they brown. Don't overcook the meat or it will end up tough. Note: these will be really greasy after cooking. Place a rack in the pan so that they can drain.

Brown some ground beef/turkey with onions and green peppers.

I'm using canned beans

Add your beans, a handful of brown sugar, a couple of squirts of mustard and my secret ingredient :)

Once your meat has been cooked and drained, had that mixture to the beans and stir gently.

Looks good huh?

Place into a cassarole dish and bake (covered) for about 40 minutes on 325. I like to slow cook my beans so the flavor blends in.

Kitchen Recreations: Beef Larb

If you live in Atlanta, then I'm sure you've experienced one of our city's best Thai restaurants, Top Spice. If you haven't, unfollow my blog RAT now (I'm kidding). Top Spice is by far one of my favorite restaurants and my goal is to try at least every item on the menu. One of my favorite items it the Beef Larb (for my more health-conscious folks you can get it with chicken too). The recipe is very simple: minced sirloin beef, green onions, shallots, lime juice, fish sauce, rice powder, ginger and cilantro. It's served with a head of cold, green cabbage to cut the heat. OMG you will love this dish. I attempted to recreate it the other night and it came out pretty darn good. 

Simple Beef Stiryfry

Sauteed some fresh mixed veggies with corn, squash and zucchini with a little olive oil. You don't want to cook them all the way or else they get too soft.

Once the veggies are done, brown some stir fry meat. To go leaner, use thin sliced steak. Season lightly with sea salt and pepper. Pour a little stir-fry sauce on top while it's hot and let it rest.

I liked this sauce but it tasted a little bland. I prefer the original flavor when it's all said and done.

Toss the meat and veggies together and pour in some sauce. Mix well and let cook/simmer for 10 mins. Serve or rice and enjoy!

To tips to make it healthier:

1. Use thin, lean beef. I like the protein that you get from beef but you can do this with shrimp or chicken too. 

2. Adding corn gives it a great texture and a hint of sweetness. Of course I used fresh corn so it tasted even better.

3. The teriyaki sauce was good but it's higher in calories than the original (which was 10 calories). Plus the original flavor tasted better. 

4. Serve over brown rice instead of white.

5. Mix the rice in so that your portions are smaller.

6. Mix sure you don't overcook the veggies. Once you add the sauce it can turn soupy so make sure you cook it with the cover off.

Cube Steak with Rice

My son is 3 and the woman he marries better be able to whip up his favorite meal: cube steak with rice.  My cube steak with homemade gravy is one of his favorite meals and this kid can pack it way. Ladies, if you ever want to whip your man up a hearty meal, try this one. ;)

Season the cube steak with a little seasoning salt and broiled steak seasoning. You may want to beat it a little to tenderize it. Next, lightly flour  them.

Brown/fry them in regular cooking oil (olive oil burns quickly). They cook pretty fast so it shouldn't take too long. Be sure to keep flipping them over so they don't burn. Drain on a paper towel when they are done.

You will have "crust" (flour) stuck to the bottom of the pan. Save it. Scrape it to loosen it up. Drain a little bit of the oil (there should be abour 3 tablespoons left in there).

After releasing the "crust", throw some chopped onions into the skillet. Sautee until the  onions turn translucent.

Mix half a cup of flour and almost two cups of water. Make sure all the flour has been dissolved into the water. This is going to be your gravy.

Pour it right over into the skillet with the onions, "crust", and oil.

Keep the heat low and keep stirring the mixture. As it heats, it will thicken. If you want a thinner gravy, add more water. If you want it thicker, add more of the flour and water mixture.

As it thickens, season it black pepper.

And sea salt. See it thickening up? Keep stirring and be sure to taste it to make sure its seasoned to your liking.

Turn the heat off and start adding your cube steak back into the skillet with the gravy.

Put them all in and mix into the gravy well.

Looks good huh? Turn the heat back on low and them slow simmer for about 15 minutes. Make sure you watch it and keep turning them so they don't stick.

Serve with some freshly snapped greens beans slow cooked with smoked turkey and served over rice. The gravy will be so good you can eat it over rice by itself.





Enjoy!

Braised Beef Short Ribs

I found this Braised Beef Short Ribs recipe over at the Pioneer Woman's site. I made a couple of changes to it.

Shucked some fresh corn for the side.

I seasoned the short ribs the night before with sea salt, pepper, and seasoning salt then lightly floured them before cooking.
Sear in a skillet with olive oil until brown on each side. This may take a while but brown them as much as you want.

Sit them to them to the side to drain.

Using the oil and fat left in the pan, sautee 1/2 red onion, 1/2 cup carrots and 1 celery stalk (if you choose). Cook until the veggies start to get soft.

Add 2 cups of red wine (preferrably NOT the cooking wine but the real stuff). Let it cook down so that the alcohol will cook out of it.

Add two cups of beef or chicken broth. This mixture will need to cover the ribs so make sure you add equal parts of each.

Once the liquid has simmered and cooked down, add the ribs back into the pot. Toss in a few sprigs of fresh Thyme, Rosemary and Sage (those were my preference). Cook for 2 hours on a low heat (oven = 375 degrees; stovetop = low heat).

Once done (your kitchen will smell HEAVENLY while it cooks), let the meat rest so that fat and oil can rise to the top. Laddle it off and mix the remaining sauce at the bottom.

I served mine with mashed red potatoes, fresh corn on the cob, and covered the ribs with some veggie red wine reduction at the bottom of the skillet. Yum!

What I liked: It wasn't very hard to cook at all. This would be perfect if you were having people over for dinner and wanted to whip something up. Most ingredients are already in your pantry. I also loved how the dish smelled while cooking. Each bite is just as aromatic as next.

What I disliked: I should have used a Dutch Oven. I think it would have come out a tad bit better if I put it into the oven and let it cook in there. The meat wasn't quite falling off the bone like I wanted but it was tender.