The Rowe Retreat

Here’s another “Dad Special” we had this past weekend – it was another hit!

Orange-Beef Stir Fry

• 12 ounces beef top round steak
• 1 teaspoon finely shredded orange peel
• 1/2 cup orange juice (about 2 big oranges)
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon instant beef bouillon granules
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• 4 green onions, bias-sliced into small pieces
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 5 cups coarsely shredded fresh spinach
• 4 ounces water chestnuts (I did not use these – yuck!)
• 3 cups hot cooked rice

Trim any fat from the beef and slice it across the grain into bite-sized strips. Set aside and it’s on to the sauce…

In a small bowl stir togeher orange peel, orange juice, cornstarch, soy sauce, sugar and bouillon granules. Set aside.

In a wok or large skillet heat 1 tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat. Add green onions and garlic; cook and stir in hot oil for 1 minute. Remove green onion mixture from wok using a slotted spoon. Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil to wok or skillet. Add beef to hot wok. Cook and stir 2 to 3 minutes or to desired doneness. Push beef from center of wok.

Stir sauce. Add sauce to center of wok. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Return green onion mixture to wok. Add spinach and water chestnuts (if you used them ). Stir all ingredients together to coat with the sauce. Cover and cook for 1 minute or until heated through. Serve immediately over a bed of rice.

As I said it was another hit – Lori had the comment that chicken would be really good done this way too…will let you know when we try that

Everyone knows that I love to try new recipes now and then – usually on the weekends when everyone’s home and we’re not rushed. So I thought that I would share the successful recipes that we try…kind of a regular “review” of sorts on our family blog. Feel free to leave comments and let us know if you try any of these and how you and your family enjoyed them!

Pepper-Lime Chicken

• 4 Boneless chicken breasts
• 1 teaspoon finely shredded lime peel
• 1/4 cup lime juice (1 lime squeezed)
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried basil, crushed
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

For the glaze, in a small bowl stir together lime peel, lime juice, oil, garlic, basil, pepper and salt.
Spray some oil on the grill and get the heat up to medium (350F) and place the chicken on the grill using indirect heat. Cook for about 4-5 minutes then flip. Brush chicken with glaze. BBQ for 15-20 minutes (still indirect heat) and flip. Repeat the glazing on this side and continue grilling another 10-15 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink, brushing often with glaze in last few minutes of cooking time.

What we ended up with was one of the best smelling meals in quite a while…hope we didn’t make the neighbours too hungry while it was on the BBQ (click the small image below to get a better look)

The comments from our table were:

• Kyle – Mmmmmmmmmmmm!
• Brandon – Reaaaaally Goooood!
• Lori – Very Tasty!!
• Kev – Ok the lime really stands out!

I hope everyone enjoys this portion of our blog…I can’t promise a weekly recipe but always look for Dad’s Tastebudder here