A Favorite Recipe

Japanese Beef Stew – from the Biggest Loser Family Cookbook
(takes about 2 hours from start to finish)

If your family likes Asian flavors, this stew is likely to be a huge hit.  To save prep time look for Ore-Ida Steam n’ Mash Sweet Potatoes in your grocer’s freezer section.  Though they are designed to be served as mashed potatoes, they come as big pieces of microwavable frozen s.p.  Just substitute 1 pound of the frozen s.p. (no need to microwave) in place of the fresh ones.

Please note: if you taste the meat right after it’s been seared, it will be tough.  Somewhere between 1 ½ - 2 hours into cooking it at a simmer, it will become extremely soft – the meat breaks down and becomes so tender it will literally fall apart when speared with a fork.  If it’s tough when you taste it, you need to cook the stew a little longer.

 1 T whole grain oat flour (or white or wheat)

1/8 t garlic powder

Pinch black pepper

1 lb trimmed top round steak or London broil, cut into 1 inch cubes

2 t toasted sesame oil (I use olive)

6 whole scallions, ends trimmed and chopped

1 T fresh garlic

1 T minced peeled fresh ginger2 ¾ c lower-sodium, fat free beef broth

2 T lower-sodium soy sauce

1 6 oz can whole peeled straw mushrooms

4 small carrots peeled and cut into bite-sized rounds

1 lb sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes

½ lb sugar snap peas

Salt, to taste

In medium bowl, combine flour, garlic powder, and pepper.  Add steak and toss to coat.  Refrigerate at least 15 minutes (I do this in the morning or the night before)

Place a large nonstick soup pot over medium-high heat.  When hot, add the oil, then the beef and cook to brown on all sides, about 1 minutes per side.  Reduce heat to medium, add scallions, garlic, and ginger.  Cook, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon and scraping any brown bits from the bottom of the pan, until the garlic is tender, about 5 minutes.  Stir in broth, soy sauce, mushrooms, and carrots.  Turn heat to high and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to low, cover the pot, and simmer for 45 minutes (with broth boiling slightly).

 Add sweet potatoes, cover and cook until the beef is tender, 45 minutes or longer.  Add the snap peas and cook 5-10 minutes longer until peas are tender.  Season with salt and additional pepper.  Serve immediately or refrigerate for up to 3 days.

*It's so yummy.  Your family will definitely thank you for you!  I would double the batch for lunches; it's a 4 person meal.

Campout!!!

We did a ward campout in the middle of August.  It was sooooo much FUN!  Sadly, I didn't capture more moments because I would like to remember more specifics!  We built a fire (with really wet wood).  We made pizza dough boys!  This is our new friend, Nate who made hot dogs.

Mitchell had a blast crawling all over the wet grass and tasting the yummy wood chips.  He was filthy!  And didn't sleep so hot either...sorry to everyone around us!  :) 

Who is the smarty that let this girl run around without shoes?!?  Emily hates shoes and socks; joy!  She's watching the fire. 

That night we did skits.  We paired up with another family.  The boys pulled up Bishop Hunter (the leader in our congregation) to be in their skit.  The girls did the emergency broadcast system skit - perfect for lots of little screamers!  It was a really fun activity.  The next morning the boys ran around from site to site, played football, Frisbee, and soccer.  We did a service project with spray paint and had Frito pie for lunch (in the bags!).  It was great fun!  Hope we get to do it again in the spring...

Celebrating Ben's Birthday

We decided a long time ago that every other year the kids could have a party.  On the off years, we do a family activity that is bigger than what we would normally do.  Ben wanted to go to The Hale Farm for the Civil War Re-enactment day.  Despite his face in this picture, he loved it!

I found Honest Abe walking around.  He gave the girls a penny.  The town is full of 'actors' that do re-enactments, volunteers that travel from town to town to dress up.  They live in tents, cook food outside, play with town that would be similar to that time period, and sweat a LOT.  We talked with one of these families for about 30 minutes while our kids played with their kids.  It would be a fun weekend away for a vacation, although NOT when it pours rain! 

This was so sad to me.  When the battle started, the spectators started cheering.  My eyes filled with tears.  This is brother against brother, father against son.  I hate that women filled picnic baskets to watch on the hillside.  I hate that our country was torn apart, although I understand the need for it.  This day, I finally just sat down and played with Mitchell; I couldn't watch anymore.  I didn't care about the strategy or the men hidden in the trees; I just wanted everyone to get along and be safe. 

We were able to pet one of the Union soldiers horses - just beautiful.  Ben decided he wanted to be a soldier for Halloween...a Union soldier - because that is the 'good' side.  As hard as that is for me to swallow, being a Texas-girl, I'm proud of Ben for choosing to be on the side that is against slavery.  We've had many discussions on this subject and concept.

*Side note - we were reading a Magic Tree House book last summer about the Civil War.  The kids came with me to one of my pre-natal checks.  My OB is black, but the kids had never met him before.  Here we were, reading about slavery and fighting against it, and Emily and Annie were asking more in depth questions about WHY people thought that was okay.  Again, another learning experience...

Also, Ben is NOT going to be a Union Officer.  I have looked and looked everywhere and all costumes his size seem to be out of stock.  He didn't want to be General Robert E. Lee from the Confederacy.  So, I found another costume that he is excited about: A Patriot - from the Revolutionary War.  I like this war better anyway, so we're all happy!