My family loves stir-frys. And I really appreciate how quickly they come together. However, some days I feel like using one pan for rice and another pan for the stir-fry is one pan too many when it comes time to clean up. It’s not because I am lazy… oh who am I kidding? It’s totally because I am lazy!  This recipe combines our favorite Asian flavors in one easy skillet dish.

I used white basmati rice, which cooks in about 20 minutes. If you use a different rice, use one with a similar cooking time. The recipe calls for chicken broth. I make chicken broth in a slow cooker to stretch my grocery budget a little further. If you do not have chicken broth, you can substitute vegetable broth or water.

I added sesame seeds to this recipe. I save money on sesame seeds by buying them from the bulk section of our grocery store. I can buy a pound of sesame seeds for less than the price of a bottle of seeds in the spice section.

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I love how fast stir-frys come together. Broccoli and Beef is one of my favorite dishes, but I avoided making it for years because I thought the recipe involved too many steps for an easy stir-fry dinner. The recipe I was given by a friend involved cooking the meat in oil, steaming the veggies, cooking both in a marinade and then adding a sauce…just not going to happen on a busy night. Then one evening it occurred to me: I am not a recipe follower! So I used the flavors and created a fast and easy Broccoli and Beef recipe that we can enjoy even on busy nights.

You don’t need a wok to make stir-frys. I just use a large frying pan and push ingredients to the side before I work on the sauce in the center.

You do need oyster sauce when you make Broccoli and Beef, it is the secret ingredient. (Don’t tell your children that the secret ingredient is oyster sauce – that is why it is called the secret ingredient!) In our area a nine ounce bottle of oyster flavored sauce sells for $1.99. I use 14 cents worth in this recipe. It is a fairly inexpensive way to jazz up your stir-frys.

After you have cut your broccoli florets, don’t toss the stems! You can julienne the stems and use them to make Broccoli Slaw.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 pound thin flank steak, cut in thin strips
1/2 small onion, cut in thin strips
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 cups broccoli florets
1 cup carrots, julienned

Sauce Ingredients:

3 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon ginger

Directions:

Add olive oil and soy sauce to a large frying pan or wok. Add steak, onions and garlic and cook over a medium-high flame until the meat is mostly browned.

Add broccoli and carrots. Cook over a medium-high flame for 4 –5 minutes or until broccoli is fork tender and meat is cooked through. Remove pan from flame.

In a small bowl, combine water and corn starch until they are thoroughly mixed. Add soy sauce, oyster sauce, rice vinegar, sugar and ginger. Stir until completely mixed.

Push the steak and broccoli to the sides of the pan, leaving the center empty.

Add the sauce and cook over a medium flame, stirring constantly, until the sauce begins to thicken, approximately one minute. (This sauce is not going to be extremely thick, like the restaurant variation, but it is flavorful).

Toss the beef and broccoli with the sauce until thoroughly coated.

I serve Broccoli and Beef over white rice or fried rice.

If you are not a recipe follower, feel free to completely disregard my directions and create your own variation! :)

I give you Denise…mom of 5 children, 6 and under…including quads…and blogger behind Shopper Strategy!  She shares a toddler favorite with us…

One of the most difficult things about feeding a family of seven is making sure there is something on the table that everyone will eat.  Even though my five kids are all under six (I have four year old BBGG quads and a six year old son) they have wildly varying tastes and it can be amazingly difficult at times to please everyone, especially if you want to have more than chicken nuggets and hamburgers on the menu.

These fast and fabulous egg rolls are one of my favorite ways to make everyone happy.  I like to make a big batch all at once with pre-approved ingredients that we can all agree on – for example, I love bean sprouts in mine but the kids are not fans so I leave those out, and I leave out the onions because I’m not a fan.  You can even go meatless or add shrimp, ground pork, hamburger or chicken.  We’ll fry up enough for dinner then pop the rest in the freezer for next time. It’s a great way to sneak some extra veggies into the kids!

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground pork or beef, or 1 can peeled baby shrimp
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 cloves minced garlic , or 2 tsp. garlic powder
• 2 cups shredded cabbage
• 1/2 cup shredded carrots
• 1 package 6 inch square egg roll wrappers (approx. 20)
• 1 quart vegetable oil for frying
• 1/4 pound bean sprouts (optional)
• 1/4 cup water

Sprinkle ground pork or beef with ginger and minced garlic or garlic powder while browning in a skillet or wok. Heat the mixture, stirring occasionally, until meat is cooked through and no longer pink. Drain.

Combine the cabbage, carrots and optional bean sprouts with the meat in the skillet and cook on medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes. The veggies should be wilted but not completely cooked.

Spoon the filling diagonally across the center of an egg roll wrapper, then fold the lower corner upward over the filling mixture.

Fold the left and right sides of the wrapper inward over the filling. Dip your fingers in a cup of water then moisten the edges of the flaps and gently press them in place.

Roll the top flap snugly over the mixture and moisten the edges with your fingers to seal the egg roll closed.

Heat the vegetable oil in another skillet on medium high heat then fry the egg rolls, turning occasionally, until they are golden brown. Drain them on paper towels or a rack and serve with soy sauce, duck sauce, or spicy mustard.

Denise is a frugal work-at-home mom of four year old quadruplets and a five year old son. Keep up with her at Shopper StrategyTwitter as well. where she blogs about strategies for saving, like freezer cooking, menu planning and coupon shopping, and how her family of seven lives on a tight budget. She can be found on