It’s the Broccoli Beef noodle stirfry. Which almost turned into broccoli beef and sugarsnaps and noodles. I only had a half a bag of broccoli in the freezer.

I actually *bought* [...]]]>

Today’s Good Luck Meal is in honor of our love of Chinese food. And also the fact that Jaden posts awesome recipes.

It’s the Broccoli Beef noodle stirfry. Which almost turned into broccoli beef and sugarsnaps and noodles. I only had a half a bag of broccoli in the freezer.

I actually *bought* oyster sauce so I could make this recipe and make it properly. And we’re using angel hair pasta because I found a steal of a deal on it and might possibly have purchased 10 pounds of it. And today? PICTURES!!!!!

Here’s the cast of characters:

And here’s another character forya:

He was doing homework and offered commentary while I cooked.

Beef. Sliced while mostly frozen. It was at this point that I realized that I would have to half the recipe – it calls for a pound of beef and that lovely was a thin steak – only half a pound. Which actually works out since I only have half the broccoli as well.

Noooooooooodles. I brought the water to a boil & let the noodles soften off the heat.

Doesn’t that look tasty? I’m so hungry…and I’ve just eaten!

While the beef was cooking, I went ahead and mixed up the broth, oyster sauce, and soy sauce. I love that little jar – I dunno if you can see the detail, but it’s got a 4 oz and 8 oz mark. It makes mixing/shaking just that.much.easier. And if you’ve paid attention to what I’ve written and to the recipe, you’ll realize what I did at this point – that’s about twice the amount of liquid that I need for the recipe.

Whups.

Beef. It’s whut’s fer dinner.

Broccoli’s turn in the pan!

Does that mean I have a hotspot in my pan?

And tossed back in the pan to mix and heat through.

Do I HAFTA eat it??!!??

He tasted it, declared it unfit for consumption and went to cook his own dinner. His brother, however, snarfed the entire bowl and asked for seconds.

Hello, lover.

Chinese Beef and Broccoli Noodles

3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons oyster sauce
3 tablespoons Shaoxing wine, sake or dry white wine (I used wine)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon tapioca starch or cornstarch (I used cornstarch)
1 teaspoon dark sesame oil (I only had regular, not dark)
1 pound beef sirloin, thinly sliced
1 pound fresh or 10 ounces dried noodles
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 large garlic cloves, crushed and finely chopped
1.25 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 pound Chinese broccoli or regular common broccoli, cut into bite-size chunks or florets
Freshly ground black pepper
Directions:

In a medium bowl, whisk together 1 tablespoon each soy sauce, oyster sauce and rice wine. Add the sugar and continue to whisk until completely dissolved. Stir in the tapioca starch and continue stirring until smooth. Add the sesame oil and beef, and mix well. Marinate for 20 minutes. Drain and discard the excess marinade.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook the noodles until 1 minute shy of done and drain. (We’ll finish cooking the noodles at the end)

Heat 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil in a skillet or wok over high heat and stir-fry the garlic until fragrant, about 1o seconds. Add the beef and stir-fry until tender, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Add the remaining tablespoon of oil and when hot, add the Chinese broccoli, stir frying so that the oil coats the Chinese broccoli. Pour in the 1/4 cup of the stock, turn the heat to medium-low and cover with a tight fitting lid. Cook the Chinese broccoli until tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer the Chinese broccoli to the same plate.

Add the remaining cup of stock and the remaining 2 tablespoons each of soy sauce, oyster sauce, and rice wine to the same skillet and bring to a boil over
high heat.

Add the noodles and cook until the liquid has almost completely evaporated, leaving the noodles lightly moistened,2 to 3 minutes. Return the beef and broccoli to the skillet and toss to mix the ingredients thoroughly. Season with pepper to taste and serve.

I didn’t grow up poor, but my children have.

First, let me be perfectly clear: I use the word “rich” with my tongue firmly in cheek. [...]]]>

So Cracked published an article titled The 5 stupidest habits you develop growing up poor and I wryly laughed as I read and nodded my head.

I didn’t grow up poor, but my children have.

First, let me be perfectly clear: I use the word “rich” with my tongue firmly in cheek. When I was growing up we had a nice house and my parents stayed married (another decision that I didn’t agree with at the time but now understand). My brother and I had our own rooms, sleepovers pretty much whenever we wanted, a decent-sized yard, bikes, cheerleading, and sports.

And I feel really lame for making such an explanation (compensation much?) but I feel it’s important for you to understand where I’m coming from.

It’s important for you to understand that this is NOT the way I was raised.

There is a sense of disbelief, of surreality that comes with going from rich to poor. Not just an “oh no, not that anything but that” but an “Oh. Yeah. That” as well. There is no cushion when life’s cudgel comes your way. It hits hard, it hits fast, and leaves you bewildered and stressed.

I became afraid to say “well at least I still have X” because as soon as the words came out of my mouth, X would be broken or missing or otherwise not-available.

I never had a problem applying for Medicaid (the children MUST be able to go to the doctor), but the need for SNAP (food stamps) and yes, even Welfare was met with foot-dragging dread.

They’re needs-based programs, right? And heaven knows, we qualify.

Except we’re taught, raised, indoctrinated in Bootstraps Theory. Get a job, do it well. Do what it takes to support your family.

Providing the information they require is truly an invasion of your lifestyle. Birth certificates, social security cards, copy of your lease/deed, copy of your paychecks, proof of child support (or proof of an open case), copy of your power bill. All of it. Just to prove that you’re poor.

Like it’s something we would want to brag about…

(In a Sociology class, I proposed an application kiosk a’la WalMart for benefits applications. Click to apply, let the government provide the data since the copies of your paychecks are already in an IRS taxpayer database, have an interview and be done with it.)

The stereotypes that come with government benefits…they are intimidating and terrifying. People feel they have the right to comment on your use of these benefits. They are “hardworking tax-payers” and you’re spending “their” money. People don’t think (or care) about how they sound as this stuff falls out of their mouths:

“She’s buying beer? Why is she spending money on beer when she’s on food stamps??!!?? How much of MY money is going to support that?”

“You know they have a large family so they can get more benefits! The Gov’mint should DO somethin’ about that!”

Yeah…the government should DO something. Like legislate what we can buy (Dear Senator: flour, sugar, eggs and baking powder do indeed make cake. Are you going to hand out cake pans, make sure the oven works, make sure that person knows how to bake?)

So I decided to give it a whirl and wrap my brain around planning a weeks worth of meals. Honestly, it gave me a [...]]]>

Have you heard of this concept??!!?? There are people who actually….PLAN…what they’re going to serve their families. And they make this plan for an entire WEEK! The mind: boggled.

So I decided to give it a whirl and wrap my brain around planning a weeks worth of meals. Honestly, it gave me a bit of a headache.

First I decided to get the boys involved. We need to eat healthier as a family, and we need to get through a rather interesting set of food issues. I’m going to have the boys keep a food diary, and we’re re-introducing a whole load of tastes and textures. We’re also discussing how foods can be VERY different but have things in common (pizza has sauce, cheese and crust. Spaghetti has noodles, sauce and cheese. See? two things in common.)

Then I wrote the meal plan down in my book, made sure we had all the ingredients…and we went for it.

The first thing that I noticed is…our plan cannot be set in stone, with the exception of the rare crockpot meal. Our schedule is subject to change at a moment’s notice these days: when “Hurry up and get your homework done so we can go to the Y” gets homework done inside of 30 minutes, you can bet your sweet bippy WE ARE GOING TO THE Y.

Hurdle #2 showed up on crockpot day. I decided to make mac & cheese in the crockpot. Great idea on the “get kids to try different versions of familiar foods” goal list, HORRIBLE idea on a day that I had to work.

I poured all the ingredients in the crockpot, told the sitter to lift the lid every 30 minutes and stir, and it should DEFINITELY be done by dinnertime.

I got home from work and was slammed in the head by the smell of over-browned cheddar. The sitter looked at the crockpot and said “oh, it’s still got three more hours to cook!!! The boys ate pb&j for supper!”

It was a burned, curdled mess in my crockpot. Turns out the sitter doesn’t know how to cook.

The courage to actually COOK (as opposed to ordering takeout) came from Jaden Hair. Her Mother’s Famous Chinese Egg Rolls is the most thorough (yet accessible) egg roll recipe I’ve seen. Jaden was kind enough to post an entire list [...]]]>

Last week was Chinese New Years. What better time to eat for luck?

The courage to actually COOK (as opposed to ordering takeout) came from Jaden Hair. Her Mother’s Famous Chinese Egg Rolls is the most thorough (yet accessible) egg roll recipe I’ve seen. Jaden was kind enough to post an entire list of Chinese New Year’s recipes, so I decided to combine that with my need to get the boys to try new foods.

When I decided I wanted to cook, the menu was going to be: Egg Rolls, Beef & Broccoollii noodles, and the Pear & Shrimp Stirfry.

See? Shooting for balance here, people!

And then reality kicked in. On a day where I spent most of the morning at the gym, then took the boys for their therapies and THEN stopped by Mama’s for a quick visit…a whole lotta cookin’ wasn’t going to happen. A choice had to be made… and it was made based on the fact that shrimp thaw faster than beef (I’d put the meat in the freezer to help firm it up for slicing…and then left it there. OOPS!)

So. The Fresh pear and shrimp stirfry for me, and pizza for the boys.

It was….delicious. Amazing. I was SO afraid that the shrimp would be rubbery (I’m paranoid about overcooked shrimp, y’all.) but it.was.perfect.

There is just one problem. The recipe says “serves 4 as a side”.

There ain’t no way. I ate the whole thing.

*burp*

Next week I’ll do the beef & broccoli and egg rolls. I might even take pictures!

And even if it fails massively, at some point I *will* try this:

Doesn’t that look like FUN??!!??

Yeah. I know. A girl can dream though, right?

This week the boys and I are going to be starting food diaries (Them to track variety in their diets, me to [...]]]>

Diet and Exercise:
Went under the bus. My coworker went on vacation (too tired to eat, much less work out or cook) and then PMS reared its head and well….

This week the boys and I are going to be starting food diaries (Them to track variety in their diets, me to track trends) and I’m going to add in a yoga class.

I’ve stopped buying “family size” bags of chips.

Develop side business, track spending:

Two websites worked on, another in the works. Hopefully this is the start of a wonderful trend.

Tracking spending is easy when you have no money to spend. After careful examination, I’ve decided that taking a magnifying glass to my budget is the wrong approach. There simply are no more places to cut. There’s no less-expensive brand to buy, I’m not going to drop the thermostat any lower than it already is, and I’m (slowly) repairing All The Things instead of replacing them.

I *do* need to work on food waste. Food fatigue kicks in on about day 3 – I simply don’t want any more leftovers. I need to get better about freezing or otherwise using them up.

Uncluttering

This is becoming A Process. Take books off shelf, put toys on. Sort through the kids’ clothes for the resale shop. Clean out the pantry & donate to the food bank.

I’m taking this off the “30-day challenge”. There’s no way I can do this in 30 days.
______________________

I knew there would be challenges at the outset. I now know that when they say “She’s going on vacation” I need to lay in a supply of frozen meals and make a crockpot full of grits or oatmeal. (And that the week she’s on vacation is NOT the week to try a new crockpot oatmeal recipe.)

ONWARD!!!!