Pantry Purging Meals: Beef & Pepper Stir Fry

They say the more time between grocery shopping trips, the less money spent on groceries. Sounds good to me! It's about that time again, so I thought it might be fun to start sharing with you the meals I create with leftover ingredients. To start, I peeked into my fridge and pantry and here's what I found:

• 4 peppers I had meant to eat earlier in the week for a snack. Better use 'em up before they turn to mush!
• a variety of possible sauce ingredients
• brown rice
• beef broth

Looks like stir fry is on the menu! I grabbed a couple of beef steaks to add to the mix, and got cracking. Here's how I threw together this easy meal.

I N G R E D I E N T S:

1 lb of beef (you could substitute broccoli and/or tofu)
2 red peppers
2 yellow or green pepeprs
2 C rice
4 C water 

Sauce:
1/2 C beef broth (or any broth)
2/3 C soy sauce
1/4 C water
2 T sesame oil
2 T red wine vinegar
3 T sugar
1 t crushed red pepper
4 cloves (minced) garlic
2 T flour

D I R E C T I O N S :

Prep: Begin cooking your rice (using 2 C rice and 4 C water). Combine all sauce ingredients (except for garlic and flour) into a bowl and set aside. Chop meat and vegetables into small pieces and mince garlic. Make a roux (or thickening agent) by combining 2 T flour and about 3 T water.

Create: Saute meat in an oiled wok (or large frying pan) on high heat. After meat has browned, reduce heat to low and add minced garlic, stirring for about 30 seconds. Now add the sauce and bring to a simmer while in another frying pan, fry the vegetables in oil on medium/high heat for about five minutes or until tender crisp. Now add the roux to the meat and sauce, stirring until thickened. Add the sauted peppers to the mix, and serve over a generous portion of rice.

Voila! A very yummy, unplanned meal to round out the week before another trip to the store. I'm a happy girl, and my belly is full.

Comments

[Catherine Denton]

That looks scrumptious. I'm thinking your pantry's cooler than mine. :) Thanks for the yummy recipe.
Catherine Denton

[Betsy]

I'm all about "inventing" meals with what I have on hand. Last year I cleaned out my pantry and ended up being able to cook for nearly 40 days with what I had on hand. I guess I was in denial about my pantry hoarding. I'm much better now, thanks ;) I made a similar meal the other day but stuffed everything inside the peppers

[J]

I thought you were vegetarian?

[Mandi]

J, I always make stuff with meat for my carnivorous husband. But I have also began supplementing my diet with some animal here and there since January. I'll explain more later as to why. :)

[Monique]

This looks delicious. Beef broth is jammed pack with so many nutrients. This is from someone who was a vegetarian for seven years. Protein from meat sure is great from time to time.

[Nicolette Lafonseca-Hargreaves]

Ha Love it! My favourite empty cupborad meal I still make now through choice. 1 onion fried, mixed in with cous cous and baked beans - trust me it is yummier than it sounds

Nic xo

[Cheryl]

I rarely cook beef at home, but this sounds delicious and easy. I'd probably switch out some peppers for onions + broccoli though. Thanks for the recipe!

[Jaclyn T]

Yum!

When I first read the title, I thought it said "PANTY Purging"....I was curious as to what the post would be about!

[Wren]

I thought that you were a veggie?