SuzyQ Quinoa or End-of-month Quinoa... both veggie and meaty recipe.

Its the end of the month. Looks in fridge. Hmmm... what do we have to work with. My friend Lorna will be thrilled, NO mushrooms (sobs madly). Ah well... This recipe is interchangeable in its veggies. Use what you have, just try and make it fairly even amounts of each. I used literally what I had left. And this is what happened :)

Also, this can be a vegetarian dish, or, a with meat dish. I kept the meat separate, so that if I want some of this yummy stuff for breakfast tomorrow, I won't overdose on protein. The name? For some reason, my friend Suzy (who is Vegan) kept coming to mind, Ashley too... :) Q is for Quinoa... So, its a friendly dish, all around. A lot of steps I know, BUT, its one of those COEMT! :) Makes a HUGE batch. YUM!

A note about the Kabuto or whatever they are called tomatoes. These are weird in color, brownish/red. Weird ugly, but oh SOOOOOO tasty! They are I think kind of like heirloom tomatoes, sure taste like them! If you can't get these, (they can be pricey, these were 50% off :) get regular tomatoes, preferably fresh off the vine (hard in winter, I know :|)

Oh, and if you value your sanity, do NOT eat Quinoa with chopsticks. Seriously!


Ingredients:




1 large head of broccoli (about 1.5 lbs), chopped small, and evenly.

1 cup of baby carrots, sliced lenghtwise

1 med onion, sliced

2 cups of sliced almonds

garlic puree, divided

Kabuto Tomatoes (or any heirloom tomatoes) 3 sm-med, sliced in thin quarters.

Mirrin sauce (about 2 tsp)

salt and pepper

soy sauce

olive oil

butter (or olive oil if you prefer)

Cooked plain Quinoa (about 4 cups cooked)



If adding meat, prep the following

1 lb steak

1 lb shrimp, raw and shelled.



Steak Marinade:

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp sodium reduced soy sauce

salt and pepper (about 1/8 tsp)

2 tbsp sesame seeds

1 tsp fine sugar

2 tbsp cornstarch

3 tbsp cold water

1 tbsp garlic



mix well.



Cut steak in small bitesize pieces, try to cut evenly.

Add marinade, and mix well. Put aside. (while you are cooking, you will mix it every once in a while).



Shimp Prep:



I used raw, shelled shrimp.

In bowl, add shrimp, 1-2 tbsp garlic, to taste, salt and pepper (about 1/8 tsp), 1 tbsp olive oil

mix well. set aside. you'll stir every once in a while, just like the beef.

~~~~ COOKING ~~~~ I cooked everything on high



In large teflon pan, put 2 tbsp butter OR olive oil, 1/8 tsp of salt and pepper each.

Add 1/2 sliced onion, brown well.

Add quinoa, break up any lumps, and stir-fry for about 8 minutes or so, until heated through, and you see some of the quinoa get toasty.

Put aside in large bowl.

Add 2 tbsp olive oil, heat.

add 1/4 sliced onion, and brown well.

add both broccoli and carrots, and stir fry for about 7 minutes, veggies will become bright green and orange. Salt, garlic (1 tbsp or to taste) and pepper to taste.

Add almonds, mix well, stir fry, stiring constantly, for another 3 minutes or so.

add 2 tbsp soy sauce, and mix well. (the soy sauce adds flavor, and being liquid, will help "steam" the veggies.

At this point, if you are doing the veggie Quinoa, skip the steps below, and go to Final step.



Remove veggies in a separate bowl.



Add steak in hot pan (do not drain), stir fry until evenly brown. The cornstarch makes a kind of pasty coating, this is normal, just tap your spatula on the side, and mix it back in. When the meat is dry, and there is no more "pastiness", its ready. Remove.

is ready :)

Add 1 tsp olive oil, heat. Add last 1/4 sliced onion, brown well.

Add shrimp (and all bowl content), stir fry for abour 2-3 minutes on each side (depending on size of shrimp. do NOT overcook!)

do NOT overcook shrimp! these are just about done, as we'll be frying them a bit more in a minute!

Add beef, ad stir-fry vigorously for another 3 minutes max!

Remove from heat in a bowl.



FINAL STEP:



Add Quinoa back into pan, and add veggies. Stir-fry until fully warmed through, then add tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste. Stir fry very briefly, to not overcook tomatoes. Serve immediately, with sesame seeds sprinkled on top if desired.

IF using the meat recipe, serve Quinoa mix in bowl, and add 4-6 tbsp of the meat mixture on top, sprinkle with sesame seeds and enjoy!

With meat

Without meat

I hope you've enjoyed this recipe, I'd love to hear your comments... You can email me at ladybug(@)mail2freedom.com (remove the brackets () to send) :)

Cyncerly, Cyn

One box goes a loooong way :)

used up the rest of the box and ended up with at least 5 meals. see the dessert photo. yum. simple, healthy satisfying :)

added in stir fry: shrooms, snow peas, baby carrots, steak, tonato (cored) and 1/2 avocado :) salt, garlic and pepper

results:

add these at very end!

mmmmm.... needs salt tho.(the dinner lol) dessert is lo-fat vanilla yogurt and an orange to dip in!

Quinoa? a new discovery

I had a box of Quinoa sitting on my counter for a looong time. Everytime I felt the "guts" to get it over with, I'd chicken out. Takes too long, its weird, its too different, its "healthy super nut food". ok. (lol) So today, the Lord gave me the guts, the time, and the willpower to cook and try it.

this is today, from my kitchen window, these birdies were NOT getting THIS bird food!

First thing I thought was, this looks like the bird seed I put out, if I don't like it, I know where its going! (rofl!) But it won't be going nowhere but in my stomach, and a small container of it to a bed-ridden friend who also has been putting off trying it ^_^ (I don't have a picture of bird seed, but you know... budgie food - see above)


I used to think that I didn't care to try new stuff. Looking back on all the weird and new and different foods I've tried in the past 5 years or so, I'm starting to rethink my self-observation! From Sushi (including the raw fish, and the veggie one), to brown rice, to tillapia (which I oh YUCK! red lobster, gotta get fresh fish guys really!) and on to Quinoa. Cooking with my wok has opened so many doors, and now that I have to eat healthier and in smaller but more frequent portions, this is leading to a new road to discovery! I want seconds, but sadly, I'm FULL! (giggle). I'm definitely going to keep experimenting with this. If you want to try out the recipe, check it out here.


Rice cooker baby! :) All I did was follow the instructions on the box. PERFECTION!




I dunno... this looks... obscene for some reason. This way (plain) its very bland.




Me and my garlic! (and shrooms! :) I stir fried it quickly, and did not overcook it. It was good. YUM! This little amount made for 2 meals!




Steak, shrooms, red onions, quinoa, and carrots. oh, and Garlic! I was STUFFED!


I want to try to do a sort of fruit and nut salad with this stuff. yippeee! (lol!)

So here's what I did. I call this Quinoa on the seat of the pants.

I put a box of quinoa (250g) in my rice cooker bowl, rinsed it (I wasn't sure if I should or not, apparently, if you don't it can be bitter - better safe than sorry). Then I added 2 cups of water, and let the rice cooker work its magic.

The aroma in the house was strange and new, and rather nice. Kinda like a woodsy nutty mushroomy smell. Then again, maybe I'm just loosing it.

While that was cooking, I sauted mushrooms with garlic, salt and pepper in a pan.
When then quinoa was cooked, I laid super thin raw fresh red onion slices on top, put the Rice cooker cover back on, and went back to work.
I pan fried a steak, with butter and garlic, salt and pepper. Put it aside.
While the steak was cooking, I steamed a bag of baby carrots (my motto is, cook once eat many times, so I'm cooking in BATCHES) ^_^

Now, I tried the quinoa at this point and was like, ohmygosh this is ewe! (lol!) Then I tried it again, and was like, oh, ok, it needs seasonings! DUH! of COURSE! plain rice is boring. plain pasta is boring! noooooo problem!

In my steak pan I'd used, I added a 1/4 tsp of butter, browned it, added about 1 tbsp of pureed garlic, lightly browned that, added about 1.5 cups of the sauteed shrooms with onions, and I'd say about 1.5 cups of cooked bland tasteless boring quinoa. Salt, pepper. (I use a salt grinder, cuz its like, you know, more fancy. lol)

I put the heat down to medium, and quickly stir-fried the lot. I wasn't sure how long to cook it, as I'd never done that before, but I stir-fried until some of the quinoa appeared toasted kind-of. Then I put half of that in my plate, along with 1.5 cups of carrots, steak, and another generous round of shrooms (I got a pile of them on special... :) and oh MAN! was it good!

I noticed that the juices of the steak blended with the quinoa, and I'd cut up an avocado (but it wasn't all ripe - yeeeesh!) but the little bits that were, made it taste even better (see the post below of mixing rice with avocado).

If you've not tried this "superfood" try it, its light, different, fluffy, healthy, awesome!

Cyncerely, Cyn

Hmmmm... what to cook, and what to eat!

I've been running around like a chicken without a head, or so it seems. Not feeling much like cooking, and my keyboard is acting up on my laptop. I never realized eating on a regular basis (aka multiple small meals a day) could be such a PAIN! (lol).

So, I went and got meat last week. The roast is going back. :( I cooked the three steaks, nothing fancy, in a pan, and stuck them in a container to slice off as I needed for meals. Then, I ran out. Oook... Looked in the freezer, and there was frozen cooked ground beef I'd made up last month, and thought, might as well use this up.

I cooked some sticky (sushi) rice (I LOVE my rice cooker). Put some in a bowl, added ground beef on top, nuked it nice and hot, added a couple of dashes of soy sauce, and 1/2 an chunkily sliced avocado. I didn't expect the mix that ensued, nor the most amazing tasting thing either! The creaminess and coolness of the avocado, with the very hot meat and rice, and saltiness of the soy sauce. OH WOW! :)

I salt (very lightly) the avocado before I eat it plain too. It was very good actually, and I was thriled. Easy peasy! Off to cook more rice. I'll try to figure a new recipe to post on here :) I can't wait for summer for FRESH stuff.

As I write this, its blowing snow, there's 2-3 inches of it on the ground. I guess this year, my birthday will NOT be free of snow. Sigh.

Much love and blessings!

Cesear Salad - an old classic, with a different twist.

Yep. Its official, back on the salad kick. So I'll be posting salad recipes (probably - depending on my ability to get my hands on salad lol!) for the next little while!

Here's the deal. I like cheese. I like meat. I like salad. I like almonds. I like croutons, but they are fattening (I said the F-word. omgosh!) I like ceasar dressing, and refuse to compromise on taste/quality (that's where the cals add up!) And I don't eat bacon. So, basically, we'll have salad, with ceasar dressing. I've been told this is very good, and very filling. (that was when I made it with croutons... :) you can use croutons, if you like.

I use Romaine lettuce, and unlike a "real" restaurant who think you have a shovel for a mouth, I cut it in BITE SIZE pieces. Nothing gets my goat (baaaaa!) more than eating salad that is in HUGE chunks. I use Romaine for 2 reasons. Apparently, it has more nutrients than head lettuce, and if you get it fresh (and if its from the garden, when it hasn't bolted yet), then its actually pretty tasty. The other reason is, its the only salad my dad will digest (come to think of it, me too... at times).

So, here we go :) for the main ingredients (aka veggies and cheese does NOT count as a veggie!) just go with the flow, I'm putting the gram measures just cause I was bored and have them. (take a look at this, and tell me you'd not try a little bit of this yummy salad!)

15g sliced almonds (if you have time and wanna get fancy, toast them in a pan with a little garlic juice)
10g finely shredded skim milk mozzarella (I use my newfangle round cheese grater thingy. it rocks - pictures to come!)
5g baby parmesan also finely shredded
about 8 leaves of romaine lettuce (this was about 150g for me), cut in bite size piece. IF you are eating it right away, you CAN use a metal knife, if you are making the salad for later, use a plastic salad knife.
5-6 cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
10g of finely sliced red onion, (ok, so 2-3 slices, to taste)
2 tbsp Renee's ceasar salad dressing LIGHT (or your favorite light salad dressing.)
115g blade steak, sliced thin and in bite size pieces.

other add-ins: shrooms (of course), chicken (warmed up oh man! its AWESOME!), croutons (I used the almonds as a healthier replacement), peppers (EWEEE!), anything that's in your fridge that is still edible, olives, pickles... :)

Chop salad, put in bowl.
Add onions, other veggies, mix well.
Add salad dressing, mix well so that all veggies are covered.
Add steak (or meat(s)) on top, mix gently.
Add cheeses and almonds, mix VERY VERY gently. Serve, and devour!

Its fast, simple, and easy. I've made HUGE mega bowls of this stuff this winter, and got crazy with all the stuff I'd put in, and it was SO darn good. The best part is, you can make it once, and eat many times ^_^

I'll have pics up shortly. Enjoy!

Simple veggies stir fry

Today's recipe is quite simple. I'd take a picture, but its in my stomach, and well, I don't think you want to GO there :) I bought a mandoline/julienne slicer (the one by Starfrit). I must say, I'm in love! It turned 15 minutes of prep time in 5 minutes, and it was so easy!

I used the Julienne attachment and sliced 1 zuchinni, about 10 baby carrots (watch the fingers - for the carrots, I used the flat blade part only), 10 mushrooms (mine were starting to wrinkle (and get kinda leathery) but I'm fairly certain if they were super fresh, they'd have gone through no problem. I julienned the stem of one head of broccoli, and sliced the rest of the florets in equal sizes. (I quartered the shrooms too), I grabbed a large handful (ok TWO handfuls) of sliced almonds.

I also had bought a large container of minced garlic. Now, the garlic in here is NOT as fresh or strong as fresh or pureed garlic (this is good to know for next time I need to buy garlic) so I had to use a LOT more than I normally would, however, this is a great recipe if you are fighting a cold (use the fresh stuff, the cold will scram, but be warned, you won't get kissed!) ^_^ This jar of garlic has liquid in it, not sure if its oil or water, but whatever it is, its AWESOME for flavoring!

You'll also need soy sauce (sodium reduced), Mirin rice seasoning, fish sauce, olive oil.

Basically, this recipe uses what you have. No need for special veggies, just go with the flow, and even better, take advantage of that reduced basket at the grocery store.

I also prepped a batch of steak (as I'm supposed to eat more protein, but that's another post for another day) :)

In a non-stick pan (I KNOW I KNOW, no wok? lol!) I heated up 1/2 tsp olive oil (ever notice how fragrant it is?) I added the almonds, and roasted them until golden brown. Mid-way through, I took about 1 tsp of the garlic juice, and sprinkled it on the almonds. mmmmm.... yummy! Put in a small bowl, and set aside.

As with ANY stir fry, you always start with the hardest/thickest veggies. So:

Add 1 tbsp olive oil, let it get fragrant, add broccoli, and 2-3 tbsp of garlic (the minced stuff) and a dash of soy sauce. Stir-fry until the broccoli is bright green (that's how you know its al-dente!) and then about 1 minute longer (I stir-fry on high). Remove from heat, and put in a large bowl.

Add 2 tbsp of olive oil, and fragranize it, then add the carrots and zuchinni. My slicer has a little container underneath, very useful :) Add another 1-2 tbsp of minced garlic, stir fry until carrots start getting soft. (about 5 minutes)

With carrots/zuchinnis still in pan, add a dash of soy sauce, 2 dashes of Mirin, and a dash of fish sauce and give it a whirl!
Remove from heat after about a minute or so, making sure every thing is coated.

Note: Because of the finer cut of the zuchinni, there will be a lot more liquid than the usual stir fry. Do not drain that goodness, dump it all in the broccoli bowl!

Add 1 tbsp fragranized olive oil, 1 tbsp garlic, brown garlic. Add shrooms. I used regular white shrooms, and one small portobello. MMMMM! Stir fry until nice and brown. Dump the shrooms in broccoli bowl.

Give it a spin with a large spoon, coating everything with the juices, and dump BACK into hot pan. Stir-fry, mixing thoroughly for another 3-4 minutes or so. Try a piece of broccoli, when its done to YOUR liking, remove from heat. Plate, and sprinkle plenty of roasted almonds on top.

The garlic is the main flavor giver in this one. I don't add salt, though next time, I will add pepper, and a dash of hot sauce :)

You could easily add celery, peppers, tomatoes (you'd definitely stir-fry those last), even julienned sweet potatoes, cauliflower, its ALL good!

I had 2 large portions, one of which I had for breakfast lol! On the first portion, I added the steak. This would be AWESOME with bbq'd steak. Oh man!

The reason for the lack of my usual sauce is, I wanted something plain today, something... simple. Just veggies and steak. Unfortunately, the steak was so good, I ended up snacking on it. (shakes head). Well, might as well post the recipe below.

I'm leery of posting the recipe as its still in testing mode. (for the steak only).

You know how, when you go to a Chinese restaurant, the meat is always super tender? Well, after doing some online research, I found out the secret ingredients! Cornstarch and sugar.

I tried this without sugar, and either the butcher was a fraud, or the sugar is DEFINITELY needed.  Thankfully, you need very little to make this work.

So, for one 1 lb blade steak (I've only experimented with blade steak so far - I use what is on sale - mind you, I bought steak from one store, and it was pure SHOE SOLE (even after extensive marinating - never again will I buy meat there. I was NOT a happy camper!)

1 lb blade steak
2-3 tbsp cornstarch (the more you use, the thicker the "breading" will be (when its cooked - its kind of a "wet" breading so don't use TOO much, but don't use too little) For this steak, I'd not put less than 2 tbsp. I tried it with 1 tbsp, and nope.
1 tsp of sugar
2.5 tbsp sodium reduced soy sauce
2 tbsp mirin rice seasoning (this stuff helps a great deal I find)
dash of pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp pureed ginger (less or more, that's up to you, and how you can handle it.)

Mix all ingredients except steak in a medium sized bowl.
Cut steak, about 1.5 inches long, and thin (like 1/8") THIS is part of the trick, thin! and make sure you are cutting across the grain. (and that the steak ITSELF is cut that way)
Mix steak into sauce, folding and mixing well until everything is coated. Place a plastic wrap on top of MEAT (not edge of bowl) so that there is no air in between meat and edge of bowl.

Set aside and marinate for about 20 minutes. I always prep my meat before I start the veggies, by the time I'm done, the meat's ready too! :)

In about 3 tbsp olive oil, fragranized, in a non-stick pan (you can get away with using 1.5-2 tbsp) fry meat until browned, and no longer pink, but do NOT overcook. If need be, use a slotted spoon, and remove the meat from heat. Place on veggies (see no noodles this time either, though this stuff would ROCK on noodles) and enjoy!

I'll post updates, as I try difference cuts of meat. this applies also to chicken, and pork (same recipe/principles)

Enjoy!
Cyncerely, Cyn

Steak and veggies mix (to use on noodles or pasta)

A basic meat and veggies mix that can easily be added to pasta, noodles, even pizza (flat bread rocks with this). Use what you have, get rid of those 2-3 tiny tomatoes, everything goes!


The trick with this recipe is two-fold.
Cook the foodstuff in batches, and use a non-stick pan for the veggies (and noodles if you're adding noodles).
(You cook the stuff in batches, especially the meat, so you don't cool your wok/pan too quickly.
If the end-result sauce is too thick, just add 1/2 cup water at a time until its to your liking. Here's what the extra thick sauced mix looks like on Kimchi noodles (I added water for the other portions ^_^)

I used the noodles ONLY - NO SEASONINGS!

Ingredients


Beef marinade:

1 tsp granulated sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp mirin (sweet cooking rice seasoning - Kikkoman)
1 tsp sodium reduced soy sauce
dash of pepper (optional)

Final Sauce:

1 dash (1/8 tsp) black pepper
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp Mirin (sweet cooking rice seasoning - Kikkoman)
2 tbsp sodium reduced soy sauce
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 cup of water

Thickener for final sauce:
1 tbsp cornstarch mix with 1/2 cup cold water

Ingredients:
4-5 tbsp Peanut oil, divided
2-4 tbsp Sesame oil, divided (I use 2 tbsp peanut, 1 sesame oil)
2 cloves minced garlic
1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger root
6 medium mushrooms, sliced evenly
2 1/2 cups of zuchinni, sliced same width as mushrooms (I used 3 small ones)
2 tbsp sesame seeds (optional)
2 lbs blade steak (or whichever cut is on sale)
4 grape tomatoes (or more if you wish) quartered

Directions

This is a many-steps recipes. The results are worth it. You will end up with a large batch of meat and veggies mix that can be added to almost anything.
As usual, prep all your ingredients ahead of time. I have ONE exception to this rule. I slice the steak, prep the marinade, mix in the steak, and as the steak sits and tenderizes, I prep the rest of the goodies.

In a large bowl, prepare the meat marinade as follows:

add 2 tbsp oyster sauce, 2 tbsp mirin, 2 tbsp cornstarch, 1 tsp sugar, pepper, 1 tsp soy sauce.

Mix well, making sure there are no lumps.

Add sliced steak, mix well. If you will cook right away, put it aside on the counter, and give it a stir every once in a while.

Prep final sauce (see ingredients list)
Prep veggies.

In non-stick pan, heat 1 tbsp oil and stir-fry zucchini until its starting to brown around the edges. I used 3 small zuchinnis, and cooked this part in 3 batches.

In hot wok, heat 2 tbsp oil, add garlic and ginger, and stir fry until lightly brown (do not overcook)

Add beef (again work in batches, I did 3 batches for this recipe), adding a bit more oil if needed. Stir fry each batch until browned, returning all beef to wok for on last round of frying. Remove and set aside.

In hot wok, heat 1 tsp of sesame oil, and stir fry mushrooms until soft, about 3 minutes.

Add Zuchinni and tomatoes, stir fry another 2 minutes.

Add beef stir well, and heat it through.

Add sauce mix, bring to a boil.

Add cornstarch thickener, and boil to thicken. Remove from heat.

Add sesame seeds, and stir well.

Serve on bed of noodles (its even better the next day!)

Number of Servings: 9-12

Steak, mushroom and cheese flatbread pizza - oh Y.U.M.!

Here's a recipe that is not only (COET (cook once eat twice), but fun to make, and even funner to eat (all mesy and goey and yummy!) One of the reason its a COET, is, if you can behave and not wolf down the whole thing in one sitting (if you're single and are not sharing with the dog that is...) then you might have some left for dinner. But even if you DO eat it all, its cool! I bought a large steak, and included in this recipe, you prep the steak for the pizza, but also for tonight's (or even tomorrow's) dinner! (I mean, everything is out, and "dirty" anyways right? so why not?

I've added the "step by step" pictures at the bottom (I've not figured out how to do this all fancy schmancy yet).

I'll be posting a link shortly on how to easily and tear-free-ly chop onions in 2 minutes flat.

There are 2 warnings for this baby.

First, if you put (like me) a LOT of mushrooms, your flat bread will be a little (but not too much) soggy (the juices get absorbed by the bread (excuse me while I drool!) you can actually see the juices in the pics above.

2nd, I put in the recipe that the garlic on the flat bread is optional, actually, its not. Seriously! It packs such a punch of flavor, that I say, try it, you'll like it.

Lastly, the mushrooms and tomato in this recipe can easily be switched up for your faves, but this IS a shroom and steak pie, so, lets get cooking with Cyn shall we? ^_^

flat bread steak and shroom and cheese pizza
(COET! Cook once eat twice)

I would say, this feeds 2-3 people at most. It really depends on the size of your flat bread, and also how many pieces you eat. I had (blush) 4 of the squares, no problem, but then I eat ah, larger portions ^_^.

 What you need...

• flat bread (found in bread/deli section) (Costco has AWESOME deals on these.) Due to shrooms (and steak) "sweating", I don't recommend raw dough. (I will try this with my own homemade dough, and bake it first (like a flat bread) and will post results. WHEN I get to it!1-2 cups mozza cheese
• 200 g mushrooms (8 med-large ones)
• (steak, I bought a 1-lb boneless blade steak - its what was on special)
• 150g steak, sliced thin and small
• 300g steak, sliced thin and in 2 inch pieces (this is for dinner)
• 1 small tomato, sliced and chopped
• 1 small onion coarsely chopped
• 2 tbsp olive oil (times 3, so 6 tbsps in all)
• 2 tbsp garlic minced (optional- not actually, its not. you HAVE to try this!)
• 1 tbsp soy sauce (sodium reduced)

marinades for steak mix

• 2 tbsp oil (not taken from above measures)
• 1.5 tbsp sodium reduced soy sauce
• 1.5 tbsp cornstarch
• pinch salt and pepper
• tiny squirt of hot pepper sauce (optional - try it. mmmmm.)

prep work. I do all my prep work, including marinades, before I get going. It makes life MUCH easier!

• slice 150g steak  thinly and in small pieces(freeze partially to make your life MUCH easier! the only problem with this is, you need to let it come back to room temperature before working with it. So, just be forewarned.)
• slice 300g steak in thin 1.5-2" pieces
• mince/chop onion
• slice mushrooms thin or thick so long as you are consistent.
• slice and dice tomato. (I have a "slap chop" no I don't use it.)

• in small bowl, put 1.5 tsp of steak marinade, add 150g of steak, mix well.
• in another small bowl, put the 300g steak, and rest of marinade.
• Important, do NOT stick the beef in the fridge! You'll be cooking it in about 10 minutes!)

• heat wok/pan.
• add 2tbsp of oil ONLY when its nice and hot.
• add garlic and soy sauce, stir fry til garlic is lightly brown (2-3 minutes)
• add shrooms, and stir fry well, for about 4-5 minutes. If you're using a wok,
• the shrooms will get a nice crispy edge. YUM!

remove from heat, put in a bowl.

(some people wash the wok at this point. I didn't bother, adds flavor, and I hate doing dishes so...) ^_^

• put wok back on, let it re-heat up, and add another 2 tbsp oil.
• add 150g steak, stir fry quickly, and lightly. The trick here is NO overcooking, (this is the pizza steak, so it'll finish cooking in oven). when its still a tiny bit pink, dump it in a bowl. 
• put wok back on, add rest of oil when its nice and hot, and the 200g steak, stir fry quickly, and to desired doneness (I like my meat med-rare). Again, the wok will impart a nice crispy texture to the meat. YUM! After you've put the pizza in the oven, take the leftover beef, and put in a container. You can use this with anything, (I will be making stir fried hong kong style noodles - and I'll post the recipe too!) Sub, sandwhich, even in a thick beef soup! its all good! Oh, and you can freeze it too! (like, for ... another pie? ^_^)
•  Preheat oven to 350.
• Take flatbread out of bag - mine smelled weird, until I realized I'd grabbed a cheese flat bread (for a minute there I was looking for my uncle's old socks! or worse, Dewey's paw prints (my dog has cheetos feet)
• sprinkle a little bit of olive oil on it, don't soak it (you may wish to put a paper towel underneath as these things as I learned, have little pinprick holes in them!)
• spread the 2 tbsp garlic evenly over pizza. (honestly, after eating some, I'd put more... not more than 3 though)
• put a fine layer of cheese on there
• slap the beef on top, taking care to drain it with a spoon, if its juicy
• (don't throw out that juice!) spread it out evenly.
• add the mushrooms/garlic mixture, again, draining, (mushrooms ARE watery after all ;) I did not use the whole lot of my shroom mix, so I dumped it, and the rest of the beef juice in with the 2nd batch of steak :)add rest of cheese.
• add the tomato, spreading it out evenly
• if you like, add parmesan cheese (LOTS of it.) 
• Open oven door. Please be careful NOT to burn yourself (like I did today!) and take pizza, minus paper towel, and put it directly on the grill (also make sure your grill is clean - its the same grill you use for toasts - uh, I use a large toaster oven) :) (this would work in a regular oven too) 
• bake for 20-25 minutes, until browned lightly, and bubbly. 
• take out with tongs, and slice, and serve... enjoy!

This was, so far, the BEST pizza I ever made. I even shared with Dewman! BUT if you do choose to share with your furkids, please remember, this has garlic in it, and some puppies react badly to it. (just like some dogs react badly to ham, or chocolate). Some say its poison for them (yet its in most dog food (shrugs). I threw him the crusts, and he caught them on the fly. :)

If you DO make this please leave a comment, and tell me how you liked it, or what you changed in it.

God Bless, Cynthia

Piccies... (pictures)


Steak Marinade, yeah looks yummy (not!)



Slice steak thin, and fairly small, this is a pizza, NOT a sub ;)

Stir fry onions, garlic until fairly soft (I'd say brown, but its kinda hard with soy sauce in there)

SHROOMS!

Stir  fry pizza beef (the 150g) until med-rare

Cook until nice and browned.

See? like this. you want steak, not shoe soles. :)

Zee flatbread de pizza!

Add a LITTLE bit of olive oil.

Then LOTS of garlic.

Add fine layer of cheese

drool... add the meat

Then the shrooms

Pile on the cheese BUT, keep away from the edges... (well, not too too close to the edge.)

This is what I had leftover of the shroom mix

Add tomates!

with Parmersan on top (fresh if you can afford it!)

Evidently, I can't right now. ugh. it truly is NOT the same

Stick it in the pre-heated oven (do not burn fingers!) I cook my flatbreads directly on the grill.

Wanna piece of this?

This is the 300g of beef, plus the leftover shrooms. Goin' in the fridge for tomorrow's noodle fest!

What the flat bread looks like, kinda (well the packaging) and the size

(giggle) look at those juices! It soaks up in the flat bread, and oh, its delish!

This is the only hot sauce I will use. :)



Final product? Sure smells good in here, we need scratch and sniff monitors or something!