How are your gardens coming? I hope you have been seeing and ‘tasting’ great success! My most recent favorite item in my garden is the fresh broccoli. I have never had success with growing broccoli until this year with the square foot gardening method. I have been amazed at how quickly the broccoli has grown from a small transplant and produced such large amounts of broccoli. The heads of broccoli are big and beautiful and are so sweet tasting–the broccoli in the store doesn’t even compare. We have been dipping the broccoli in ranch dip, eating it in garden salads, and tonight I used the fresh broccoli in a beef stir fry. The flavor is so incredible, if you have never tried growing broccoli before, give it a try! Here is a link to Emily’s website where she discusses the details of growing broccoli. This has been the favorite item I have ever grown, it is SO fun to have a produce section in my own backyard–love it!! I just learned great new’s on Emily’s website that I can plant new broccoli plants 9 weeks before the fall frost (July 14th here in my area in Utah) and I can have a fall harvest–I am going to have a whole 4×4 dedicated to yummy broccoli.This month for our Positively Preparing goal on our blog I am encouraging you to work on your garden, along with add to your food storage two items I couldn’t live without! I have talked about this money saving tip before (here) and if you haven’t used Beef or Chicken Bouillon in your cooking, you are in for a treat! My kitchen and storage couldn’t live without this favorite product of mine. It adds so much flavor to my recipes, is easy to use, and is SO much less expensive than beef or chicken stock from a can.

We have been working with Augason Farms and they were nice enough to put their chicken & beef bouillon on sale for the next week or two. If you have a Walmart near you that sells these items (many in Utah do), then buy them there and then you won’t have to pay shipping. If not, now is the time to purchase them online.

If you don’t have these items in your storage yet, make that your goal for this month. I am not sure what a year supply is of these items is, but I feel better when I have one of each open in my pantry and one of each sealed in my food storage. I hope you enjoy this recipe I came up with for easy Beef & Broccoli Stir Fry that uses the bouillon in your storage 😉
The key to a great stir fry is to saute the ingredients separately so that the vegetables don’t become over cooked. Saute the onions and steak first and then saute the broccoli just until tender–don’t over cook or you will have wilted and gray broccoli.

Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry
Sauce
  1. 3 T. cornstarch
  2. 2 c. beef broth (or 2 c. water & 3 t. beef bouillon)
  3. 1 c. apple juice
  4. 1/2 c. soy sauce
  5. 1/3-1/2 c. brown sugar (depending how sweet you want your stir fry)
  6. 1 t. fresh grated ginger (or 1/2 t. powder)
  7. 3 cloves garlic, minced
  8. 1/2 t. sesame oil
  9. 1/2-1 t. red pepper flakes
Stirfry
  1. 1-2 lbs. boneless beef steak (I used petite sirloin but most cuts will work fine)
  2. Salt & pepper for frying (I used Montreal Steak Seasoning)
  3. 1 lb. fresh broccoli florets (you could also use fresh snow peas from your garden too)
  4. 1 onion, sliced
  5. Olive oil for frying (about 3-4 T.)
  6. 4 c. cooked rice
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Instructions
  1. Slice the onions into medium sized pieces. Wash the broccoli and cut into bite sized pieces about 1/2-1 inch thick. Slice the steak into one inch pieces as well (steak is easiest to cut when it is slightly frozen). Mix all of the sauce ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.
  2. In a large saute pan, bring the stove to high heat. Drizzle a few tablespoons of oil into the pan and begin sauteing the onion until it begins to caramelize. When the onions are soft, add the pieces of steak and saute until the steak is nearly all cooked through (still slightly pink--don't over cook or it will be too tough). Remove the steak and onions and set aside.
  3. Add more oil to the pan and place the broccoli pieces into the pan. Season with salt and pepper. When broccoli is hot, add a few tablespoons of water and let broccoli begin to steam. Once the broccoli is slightly soft, but still very green, remove from the pan and add to the steak and onions. In the same pan, add the sauce ingredients and whisk on medium heat until sauce begins to thicken (about 1-2 minutes). Once sauce is thick, add the broccoli, steak and onions back to the pan and keep warm until ready to serve. Serve beef and broccoli over cooked rice.
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