Broccoli beef is an easy recipe to make on those nights that you don’t want to put a lot of time into dinner. Thinly sliced beef cooks very quickly. I use my Instant Pot to make rice as a side dish, so that part takes almost no effort at all. There’s still some work to do, but broccoli beef isn’t a difficult recipe at all.

Chopping takes most of the time with this recipe. The beef is best when sliced thin, which is easiest to do when it’s partially frozen. You don’t want it frozen solid, but a partial freeze is so helpful. I usually try to slice meat for more than one meal when I can. It saves a lot of time for the next meal.

If you want to get out of chopping the broccoli, buy the prechopped stuff or have one of the kids do it. I’m sure one of them can use the practice.

Once everything is chopped, mix up the sauce. Put the flour, broth, sugar, soy sauce and fish sauce in a small bowl. A dash of fish sauce helps this recipe so much. That’s a trick my mother learned from some Japanese exchange students, who were completely amazed by the lack of fish sauce in her refrigerator. Don’t add a lot. A dash is plenty. The flavor it adds is subtle, but really helps the dish overall. Stir the sauce until the sugar and flour dissolve. Put it aside for now.

Preheat your wok or skillet, then put the sliced beef in. Stir it up occasionally as it cooks, until all of the meat is browned.

Now add the rest of the ingredients, including the sauce you made at the start. Stir to coat, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Stir occasionally.

Always be careful with how long you cook broccoli. Cook it too long, and it becomes this awful mushy stuff with a horrible flavor. I think overcooking is the biggest reason why so many people hate broccoli. They’ve only ever had it cooked to awfulness. Cook broccoli so it is just a little soft, but still has some firmness, and the flavor is so much better.

I’ve done this recipe with a variety of vegetables. Zucchini works well, as does asparagus. In this case, I used green beans with the broccoli. Some vegetables need a little longer cook time, while others should barely be cooked at all. When I make this recipe with bell peppers rather than broccoli, for example, I aim for less than five minutes of cook time for them. Bell peppers get soggy fast, and I like a little crunch left in them.

Depending on your family’s preferences, the broccoli beef can be served over rice or just beside it. My kids prefer to have it beside the rice, so that’s how I do it.

Print

Broccoli Beef

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup flour
• 10.5 oz beef broth
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• dash fish sauce
• 1 lb round steak cut into strips
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1/8 tsp ground ginger
• 3 cups chopped broccoli
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

• Mix flour, broth, sugar, soy sauce and fish sauce in a small bowl until sugar and flour dissolve. Put aside.
• Cook steak strips in wok or large skillet over medium-high heat until browned.
• Add broth mixture and the rest of the ingredients. Stir to coat beef and broccoli with the sauce. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Cook until sauce thickens slightly, stirring occasionally.

Meatloaf is one of those meals people joke about a lot. There’s good reason for that – dry meatloaf is awful. Properly made, on the other hand, meatloaf is a wonderful meal. My family loves this recipe for brown sugar meatloaf.

I often make a double recipe when I do this – one to cook that night, the other for the freezer. It freezes well, and that means the next time we want meatloaf, it takes hardly any effort. Best of all, making a double batch is hardly any more work than making a single. It’s always nice to have a few meals ready in the freezer. They make busy days so much nicer.

I hardly ever get complaints from my kids about meatloaf. The only one who does complain can be soothed with the addition of ketchup to her meal.

The only bad part about meatloaf is the prep and cook time. It’s not something you can make if you’re in a rush. Cooking time usually runs about an hour.

Meatloaf is a great recipe to have the kids help make. They’ll either love the mess or be completely horrified at how raw meat feels. Either one works for me. They have to get comfortable with all that sometime.

I start out by sprinkling some brown sugar in the bottom of my pan and topping it with some ketchup. This isn’t absolutely necessary, but I think it helps. I don’t use a loaf pan. I prefer my 8×8 baking pan. I’m not going for pretty looks here. It gives me more flexibility on the size of the brown sugar meatloaf.

Then it’s time to get my hands dirty and mix up the ingredients. Everything except the brown sugar and ketchup go into a large mixing bowl. If you’re doing a double recipe so you can freeze one for later, it needs a pretty big bowl. Get your hands in there and mix those ingredients together.

When everything is sufficiently mixed, make the meat mixture into a loaf or two. If you made one for the freezer, put it in a freezer bag and get it put away. Otherwise, put the loaf into the pan on top of the brown sugar and ketchup.

Wash your hands really well. They’re a mess after handling all that meat.

Sprinkle the top of the meatloaf with brown sugar and spread ketchup over the top.

Put the whole thing in the oven and bake for about an hour or until the interior temperature of the meatloaf reaches 160 degrees F.

Print

Brown Sugar Meatloaf

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1-1/2 lb lean ground beef
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 small onion chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 3/4 cups oatmeal
• 1/2 cup dehydrated greens optional

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Spread half the brown sugar in your baking pan, topped by half the ketchup.
• In a bowl, thoroughly mix remaining ingredients, except ketchup and brown sugar. Shape into loaf and place in pan.
• Cover with remaining brown sugar and ketchup.
• Bake for 1 hour or until interior temperature reaches 160 degrees F

Notes

Double this recipe and put the extra meatloaf into the freezer for an easy meal another day.

Dehydrated greens are amazing in this recipe. We get the big bags of spring mix or other greens at Costco and put them in our dehydrator until they’re crispy. It was just an experiment the first time, but now we always use them because it’s so delicious.

My kids get so excited when we make this recipe. Making double bacon feta burgers comes close to eating out in terms of happy kids. Happy adults too. Bacon in the burger patty itself along with strips of bacon on top makes a great burger.

Being burgers, the burger part is best made on the grill, but that doesn’t always work out. My propane grill is out of order, so if there’s no time for heating the charcoal or if we have a no-burn day, we resort to making them in the oven. It still works.

That’s what happened the day I most recently decided to make these. My niece was visiting, and we wanted to have something fun to eat without spending as much as we would by taking her out to eat. Unfortunately, due to local air quality, we had a no-burn order, so grilling over charcoal was out.

If you have to make your burgers in the oven, make sure you have them up on racks to get them out of the grease. It helps. You can also make your burgers in a skillet, but I find the oven easier when making these for a crowd.

You can use your favorite burger recipe for the burger part. We mix bacon crumbles from Costco and feta into the burger mix. The feta gets mixed in last because one of my kids really doesn’t like it. I have to track the burger without feta carefully for her.

If you’re cooking outside, be warned: flies really, really love this mix. We have to get them on the grill fast if we’re making them during warm weather. I think it’s the strong smell of feta combined with the meat that does it. We get a lot of flies here sometimes because there’s a chicken farm about a mile away.

These, of course, were prepped for the oven. It’s really hard to keep up with the burgers if you want to make them in a skillet when you’re cooking for seven people. They won’t all fit in the skillet, and who wants a cold burger? The oven makes sense sometimes.

The regular bacon used to top the burgers I make in the oven. That’s easier when you’re making a bunch of bacon. Watch it carefully – it can burn quickly. I line up skewers to keep the bacon from lying flat on the baking sheet if my racks are being used for the burgers. If the bacon is flat on the baking sheet it can be difficult to remove.

The other toppings for double bacon feta burgers depend on what you like. I make sure to have sliced tomatoes, sliced pickles, lettuce, ketchup, mustard, and pickle relish ready. Sometimes I thinly slice bell peppers as well. I’m often lazy with the lettuce and just use the packaged stuff for salads. It’s more likely to get used up with other meals than a whole head of lettuce around here.

This is one of those self serve meals for the family. Once everything is ready, everyone gets called to come make their burgers. Things get a little chaotic for a few minutes, but it’s a happy chaos.

Print

Double Bacon Feta Burgers

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lb ground beef
• 1/2 cup crumbled bacon
• 1/4 cup feta
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 package sliced bacon
• 1 package hamburger buns
• lettuce tomatoes, etc.

Instructions

• In a large bowl, mix together ground beef, crumbled bacon, feta, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, and black pepper by hand. Form into patties.
• Place patties on grill and cook for about 5 minutes per side or until done. Burgers may also be cooked on a skillet or in the oven if grilling isn’t possible.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Set up burgers, bacon, buns, and toppings for everyone to assemble their burgers. Call in the hordes to come eat.
• Cover baking sheet with foil. Place baking rack or several skewers on baking sheet. Spread sliced bacon on the rack or skewers. Bake for 12-20 minutes. Check frequently starting around 12 minutes. Bacon goes from not done to burnt very quickly.
• Move the cooked bacon to a plate lined with paper towels.
• Set up burgers, bacon, buns, and toppings for everyone to assemble their burgers. Call in the hordes to come eat.

If there’s one food most families love, it has to be pizza. It’s easy to order, but it’s also not that hard to make. The main focus in this recipe is on the crust. Toppings and all that, I’m pretty sure you can figure out, although I will share some ideas. A good crust is key to a good homemade pizza.

A good pizza stone is a help when baking your pizza. You can use a pizza pan or baking sheet if that’s what you have, but a properly used pizza stone helps the crust bake better. How best to use a pizza stone varies by the company that made it, so check the instructions to see how best to use yours. Some need to preheat in the oven for as much as an hour. Others don’t need to be preheated.

You can have all kinds of fun making pizzas as a family. You could even break up the pizza crust dough into smaller batches to make personal pizzas for everyone, and let everyone choose their own toppings. It takes a lot more room in the oven, and it’s more work rolling out the individual pizza crusts, but it’s not too bad.

I have one kid who doesn’t like pepperoni, while the rest all adore it, so I usually make two pizzas. This also ensures leftovers. The kids love taking homemade pizza to school for lunch, so this is a good thing.

I use my bread machine to make the dough. It’s much easier than making it by hand. Give it some time to rise after the machine is done mixing it.

Believe it or not, I worked for more than a year in a pizza place, and I never learned to toss the dough. I worked the phones or front counter, taking orders and sometimes making salads. The guys who made the pizzas used to joke that women weren’t allowed, although they were perfectly willing to teach those who insisted. I didn’t especially want to back then, so I didn’t.

I roll out the dough instead. Coat the counter with flour and drop the dough for the pizza crust on it. Rub more flour on the rolling pin, keeping it above the dough so that flour falls on it as well. Sprinkle flour or cornmeal on your pizza pan, stone or baking sheet as well.

Roll out the crust to fit your pizza pan, stone or baking sheet. When the crust dough is the right size, place it on its pan. Stab several times with a fork to minimize bubbles.

I like to bake it for about five minutes before adding toppings; otherwise I’ve found it sometimes challenging to bake the crust completely without burning the cheese.

While the pizza crust bakes, prepare your toppings. I’m lazy enough to use grated mozzarella from Costco rather than grating it myself. If you want a better quality cheese, you’ll have to grate it. The Costco stuff does well enough for our purposes.

My family likes using bacon and pepperoni for toppings. We use the precooked bacon crumbles from Costco. They aren’t greasy, which I consider to be a huge plus. Feta cheese also goes well.

For my daughter who doesn’t like pepperoni, I just use the bacon and some vegetables. Usually, that’s olives and bell peppers. That all goes on half the pizza. The other half gets the same, but I add pepperoni and artichoke hearts to it as well. Everyone eyes the half I make for me, but they never want it made for everyone. All part of the fun of homemade pizza, I guess.

Finish baking the pizzas. The cheese should be completely melted and the crust lightly browned when done.

Wait 5-10 minutes before slicing. This lets the cheese solidify a little so the toppings don’t slide all over. Call in the ravening hordes (or just the kids) and let them eat.

1/2 cup low sodium beef broth
1-1/4 tbsp flour
2-3 cups mashed potatoes
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Brown ground beef in large skillet. Drain excess grease. Add 1 cup broth, pepper, bay leaves and thyme. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
2. Add carrots and onions. Cover and simmer until carrots are slightly tender. Add peas and corn and continue to simmer until all vegetables are cooked.
3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
4. Combine 1/2 cup broth and flour. Mix until smooth.
5. Add to beef and vegetables. Simmer until slightly thickened.
6. Place beef mixture in bottom of casserole dish. Top with mashed potatoes and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Bake 10 minutes.

This one takes a long time to make, but it’s wonderful! Pretty healthy too if you stick with the lean ground beef.

Directions

1. Brown meat in pan; drain well and return to pan.
2. Add all ingredients above and cook until peppers and onion have softened. Serve with rice.

Directions

1. Mix these ingredients and roll into meatballs.
2. Bake at 350 on a draining rack in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until done.

Sauce

2 Tbsp corn starch
1/2 C packed brown sugar
1 can 13 oz pineapple chunks–put liquid into corn starch mixture and reserve chunks
1/3 c vinegar
1Tbsp soy sauce
1/3 c chopped green pepper

Directions

1. Mix corn starch and brown sugar.
2. Add pineapple juice, vinegar and soy sauce. Stir on med-high until thick.
3. Add pineapple and green pepper.
4. Add a bit of water to the sauce if too strong.
5. Add meatballs to sauce and serve over rice or noodles.

1. For sauce, cook meat, onion, and garlic till meat is brown. Drain fat.
2. Stir in undrained tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, basil, oregano, and 1/4 tsp pepper bring to boiling, reduce heat, simmer 15 min, stirring occasionally.
3. Meanwhile, cook noodles for 10 to 12 min or till tender, drain and rinse with cold water.
4. For filling combine the egg, cottage cheese, parmesan cheese and the parsley.
5. Layer half the noodles, spread with half the cheese filling, half the mozzarella, half the meat sauce, repeat.
6. Bake at 375 for 30 to 35 min or till heated through. Let stand 10 min before serving.

Make ahead directions are as above except after assembling, cover and refrigerate for up to 24 hours. Bake covered at 375 for 40 min. Uncover, bake for 20 more min or till hot. Let stand 10 min.

Hints: For the parsley, a smaller amount of dried parsley works just as well. And I usually find it easier to make it before boiling the noodles so that assembly can begin right after the noodles are done. For the meat sauce, I like to simmer it covered for at least a couple hours if I’m feeling that ambitious.

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients except cream cheese and sour cream in crockpot; cover and cook on Low for 8 to 10 hours, until beef is very tender.
2. During last 20 minutes of cooking stir in cream cheese and sour cream. Stir until cheese is melted and well blended.

Directions

1. Combine garlic, basil and pepper; divide mixture in half. Press half of seasoning mixture evenly to both sides of cubed steaks; set aside.
2. Heat oil and remaining seasoning mixture in large nonstick frying pan over medium heat.
3. Add tomatoes and zucchini; cook 1 minute.
4. Remove vegetables to warm platter; sprinkle with cheese and keep warm.
5. Increase heat to medium-high; pan-broil steaks 3 to 4 minutes, turning once. Season steaks with salt. Serve with reserved vegetables.