Its Whatever Wednesday!

Hi Readers! I can say that now, because according to Google Analytics,  I had 111 hits last week! I know, a drop in the bucket for many of my favorite blogs, but to little ol' me, it feels HUGE!

I also have to point out where my hits are coming from.

I get Texas, seeing as I live here. I know a few people in Colorado, California, Oklahoma & New York and I have family in Missouri & Kentucky. But, I can honestly say I don't think I know anyone in Washington, Jersey or Virgina. So, that's kind of cool!

So, apparently, 56 of my hits last week were for various recipes I've posted, so to keep the trend alive, I have more!

Tonight, I made Broccoli Beef and it was SO good! I have a lot of friends (and maybe readers?) who don't eat red meat, and I'm sure you could substitute beef for chicken, beef broth for chicken broth, etc. But, I'm married to a red meat lover so, we eat beef.

Broccoli Beef
adapted from Simply Recipes and My Baking Addiction

Ingredients
3/4 - 1 pound flank or sirloin, sliced thinly across the grain
2 stalks broccoli (more or less to taste)
2 tablespoons olive oill
2 cloves garlic, very finely minced or smushed through garlic smusher
1 teaspoon cornstarch, dissolved in 1 tablespoon water
For the beef marinade
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon Chinese rice wine (or dry sherry)
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon of Sriracha (you can adjust this to taste as well)
For the sauce
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 teaspoon cooking rice wine
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/4 cup beef broth
Method
-Marinate the beef: Stir together the beef marinade ingredients in a medium bowl. Add the beef slices and stir until coated. Let stand for 10 minutes ( I let it marinate for 2 hours)
-Blanch the broccoli: Cook the broccoli in a small pot of boiling, salted water until tender and drain thoroughly.
-Prepare the sauce: Whisk together the sauce ingredients in a small bowl.
-Heat a large frying pan or wok over high heat. Add the olive oil and swirl to coat. Add the beef and immediately spread the beef out all over the surface of the wok or pan. Let the beef fry undisturbed for 1 minute. Flip the beef slices over, add the garlic to the pan and cook until no longer pink. (I drain about 1/2 of the juice that is created by the beef or my sauce gets too runny.) Pour in the sauce, add the blanched broccoli and bring to a boil. Pour in the dissolved cornstarch and cook, stirring, until the sauce boils and thickens, this shouldn't take long.
You can add toasted sesame seeds the last 30 seconds of cooking, if you'd like.

 Let me tell you, this dish is seriously delicious. If served with rice, this would easily serve 4.

So, moving along, Let's Talk Idol!

I've been rooting for him since day one. I think he is immensely talented. I've said how adorable and sweet I think he is about 100 times. Who am I voting for to be the next American Idol? Yup, Lee! He is this years most improved by leaps and bounds. Crystal is still so, so good and I still really like Casey, but they have been on a plateau for weeks. Lee just keeps climbing the proverbial mountain. And Simon definitely did him a huge favor by picking "Hallelujah" for him to sing last night. In the words of Kara, he "owned it".

Well, that's all I've got for today! If you stumble across my humble little blog here, leave me a comment and let me know where you are reading from!