Sally's Stew

1 lb. large stew beef chunks
2 teaspoon olive oil
1 large onion, thickly sliced into wedges
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
2 teaspoon sesame oil
3 Tablespoons Water
Heaping Tablespoon Cornstarch
1 red bell pepper, cut into strips and then cut in half
Fresh Broccoli florets
1 3/4 cup Chicken Broth
1 Tablespoon Butter
3/4 teaspoon Salt
1 cup Jasmin Rice
A few tablespoons toasted sesame seeds for garnish (optional)

Pound beef chunks flat with meat hammer/tenderizer or bottom of flat heavy object. Place in bottom of crockpot

Combine oil, onion, garlic, soy sauce, water, brown sugar, ginger, hoisin sauce, and sesame oil in a small bowl.

Pour over beef and stir to evenly distribute.

Cook on high for 1 hour and on low for 4 hours.

Remove as much of the liquid and place in saucepan.

Make a slurry of water and cornstarch.

Add to liquid and cook until it thickens. (add a little more cornstarch/water mixture if not thick enough. 3:1 ratio water to cornstarch). It should be like a nice thick gravy or sauce.

Return thickened liquid back to crockpot and stir.

Place red bell pepper and broccoli florets on top of beef and sauce and stir a little to get moist. Cover. (20 minutes is just right about the amount of time for cooking the rice.)

Start making your rice by bringing broth, butter, and salt to a boil until butter is melted. Stir in rice.

Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 15 minutes.

Remove from heat, uncover, and fluff with a fork.

Serve stew over rice and add sesame seeds to garnish.

Banana Apple Bread

2 3/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, melted
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup plain greek yogurt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
3 very ripe bananas, mashed
2 apples, peeled, cored, and cubed
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1/4 cup flour
3 Tablespoons Butter, softened

Preheat oven to 350.

Grease two 7x3-inch loaf pans.

In a bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt until thoroughly combined.

In a separate mixing bowl, beat the melted butter with 2 cups of sugar until smooth, and mix in the eggs, one at a time, followed by the Greek yogurt and vanilla extract.
Stir in the flour mixture just until incorporated.

Fold in the bananas, apples, and chopped walnuts until combined; do not over mix. There should be small chunks of banana visible in the batter.

Pour half the batter into each prepared loaf pan.

Mix the brown sugar, sugar, cinnamon, flour, and softened butter together in a bowl until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Sprinkle half the crumb topping over each loaf.

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, then remove and cover each pan with aluminum foil. Return to oven, and bake an additional 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaves comes out clean.

Allow to cool before serving.

Note: if using mini loaf pans cook for about 20 minutes before covering.

Mini Apple Pies

3 granny smith apples cut into small 1/2in bits, peeled and cored
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 box of Pillsbury pie crusts (2 chilled NOT frozen crusts)
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons of chilled butter cut into 12 equal portions.
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 Tablespoons melted butter

Mix apples with flour, sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground ginger, and salt.

Unroll your first pie crust and cut several circles out. Continue this until you have enough crusts (12). I found that a wide mouth mason jar ring worked perfectly, or my 1 1/2 cup measurer.

Line each cup of your muffin tin with a tiny pie crust.

In a large saucepan combine apples mixture, lemon juice, and water. Bring to a boil striring constantly, then remove from heat.

Gently fill the crusts with your apple mixture. You should be able to fill until slightly mounded. and put a dab of butter on each pie.

Cover as desired with left over dough. It doesn't have to fit perfectly. Picture shown with doing a lattice but too doughy. Just place a small circle on top that doesn't need to fit exactly.

Mix remaining sugar and cinnamon in a pinch bowl.

Brush pie tops with melted butter. then sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture on top.

Bake at 400 for 20 minutes.

recipe makes 12 mini pies or 6 Texas sized muffin pies

Tomato Basil Pasta - No Straining, just Stirring

1 lb. Linguine, broken in half
1 can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes with liquid
1 large sweet onion, cut in julienne strips
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons dried basil leaves
4 cups Chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons dried oregano leaves
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 oz bag Baby Spinach, chopped
Salt and Pepper, to taste
Parmesan cheese for garnish

Place pasta, tomatoes, onion, garlic, and basil in a large stock pot. Pour in broth. Sprinkle on top the pepper flakes and oregano. Drizzle top with oil.

Make sure the ingredients are submerged under the liquid. Place lid on top and heat on high. Once it comes to a rolling boil remove lid and turn down heat to medium.

Cook for 10-15 minutes without lid while pasta continues to boil over medium heat. Cook until most of the liquid is adsorbed, stirring every few minutes to avoid sticking. Do not over stir! Keep it at a boil at all times!

Stir in spinach and season to taste with salt and pepper, stirring pasta several times to distribute the liquid in the bottom of the pot and wilt spinach.

Serve garnished with Parmesan cheese.

Beijing Style Tomato and Egg Stir Fry

6-8 Eggs, scrambled

salt and pepper to taste
2-4 Tablespoons Oil for stir frying
2 Serrano Chili, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon Ginger, grated
4 Tomatoes quartered and cut in half
1 bunch green onions, cut into 1/4 inch chunks
sprinkle salt
2 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Rice Vinegar
1 teaspoon Sesame Oil

Scramble eggs with salt and pepper in a pan over medium heat. Remove eggs from pan before they have fully cooked, set aside.

Heat oil in a wok - heat should be on high, but do not burn the oil.

Add the serrano chili, garlic, and ginger and stir it around in the hot oil but do not burn (turn heat down if smoking). Add tomatoes and green onions to the hot pan. Stir about 2 minutes.

Add to the tomato mixture Salt, Soy Sauce, Rice Vinegar, and Sesame Oil. Return the Scrambled Eggs to the mixture. Stir about 1 minute.

Serve over rice if desired.

Note: A good way to use up left over scrambled eggs.