New Recipe: Beef and Broccoli and Cauliflower

I made a goal last year to try a new recipe each month, but I was not good about keeping track of it nor actually trying out new things, therefore the goal made its was back on my list for 2015.

I found a recipe for beef and broccoli the other day and saved it in my phone so I would have the list of ingredients when I went to the grocery store. My phone ended up running out of it’s charge while I was in the grocery store, so I was trying to remember the list and wound up in my kitchen trying to make beef and broccoli with no broccoli–oops! Luckily, I had cauliflower and subbed that into the recipe. It was very yummy.

The original recipe which I found here called for a cup of store bought teriyaki sauce. I was good, but heavy on the sauce and I wondered how healthy it really was. So I decided the second time around to try and find a teriyaki sauce recipe I could make from scratch. I found the recipe below. It is really fresh tasting. It makes about a half of a cup which reduces the amount of sauce in half. I found it to be much lighter and it reduces the overall calories, but if you would prefer something similar to restaurant style beef and broccoli, you might want to double the sauce by doubling the sauce recipe below.

Healthy Teriyaki Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup tamari (I didn’t know what tamari was and learned more here)
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon honey, melted
• 1 tablespoon garlic (about 2-3 cloves), minced
• 1 tablespoon ginger (about 2″ ginger), grated or minced
• 3 green onions (about 1/4 cup) thinly sliced
• 1 jar with lid

Directions:

1. Pour 1/3 cup tamari in a jar and add the water, melted honey, minced garlic, grated ginger, and thinly sliced onions.
2. Cover and shake for a minute until well combined. The sauce is ready to use as a marinade OR store in the refrigerator for up to a week.

The recipe for the meal is below. Really does not take too long and there are many shortcuts you can make to shorten the cooking time. You can make the sauce and rice ahead of time. You can also purchase pre-peeled garlic and frozen veggies that come in a steaming bag.

Beef and Broccoli and Cauliflower

Ingredients

• 1 lb lean (at least 80%) ground beef
• Lots of broccoli
• Lots of cauliflower
• 1 bunch chopped green onions, greens and whites separated
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 3 cups cooked white rice
• teriyaki sauce from above recipe (or if you would rather 1/2 cup to 1 cup of store bought teriyaki sauce)

Directions

1. In nonstick 5-quart Dutch oven, cook beef with salt to taste over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until brown. Drain most but not all of the liquid in the pan.
2. Steam broccoli and cauliflower. (I use the Ziploc microwave steamer bags, but you choose the easiest option for you. The original recipe has you purchasing frozen veggies that come in a bag that can be steamed which makes it super easy.)
3. Add whites of green onions and chopped garlic to pan with beef, and cook 1 minute.
4. Stir in rice and teriyaki sauce. Cook and stir about 2 minutes or until rice is heated through.
5. Stir in broccoli and cauliflower. Top with green onion tops.

So there’s my January new to me recipe and this is me making progress on my 2015 goals!