P.F. Chang's Mongolian Beef

So the other night we were craving chinese food from our absolute favorite restaurant Fong's. It's a little chinese place down the street from our house and they know us well...a little too well seeing as we have been eating there so much the past month or so. Anyway, so we were really wanting to go but also really needing to not spend money so I decided to look up a recipe for a chinese dish and make it at home. Well Mr. Chang's recipe sure did hit the spot! We made it two nights in a row. Once for ourselves then made it for Sunday dinner at my parents. It. Was. A. Hit. Sooooo...without further adieu (don't worry, I had to look up the spelling after typing and retyping it because it didn't look right...I had it right the first time) the recipe:

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon ginger, minced
1 tablespoon garlic, chopped
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
vegetable oil, for frying (about 1 cup)
1 lb flank steak (we used pork the first night and it was delicious as well!)
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 large green onions

Directions:

Prep Time: 10 mins

Total Time: 30 mins

1 Make the sauce by heating 2 tsp of vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over med/low heat.
2 Don't get the oil too hot.
3 Add ginger and garlic to the pan and quickly add the soy sauce and water before the garlic scorches.
4 Dissolve the brown sugar in the sauce, then raise the heat to about medium and boil the sauce for 2-3 minutes or until the sauce thickens.
5 Remove it from the heat.
6 Slice the flank steak against the grain into 1/4" thick bite-size slices.
7 Tilt the blade of your knife at about a forty five degree angle to the top of the steak so that you get wider cuts.
8 Dip the steak pieces into the cornstarch to apply a very thin dusting to both sides of each piece of beef.
9 Let the beef sit for about 10 minutes so that the cornstarch sticks.
10 As the beef sits, heat up one cup of oil in a wok (you may also use a skillet for this step as long as the beef will be mostly covered with oil).
11 Heat the oil over medium heat until it's nice and hot, but not smoking.
12 Add the beef to the oil and sauté for just two minutes, or until the beef just begins to darken on the edges. 13 You don't need a thorough cooking here since the beef is going to go back on the heat later.
14 Stir the meat around a little so that it cooks evenly.
15 After a couple minutes, use a large slotted spoon to take the meat out and onto paper towels, then pour the oil out of the wok or skillet.
16 Put the pan back over the heat, dump the meat back into it and simmer for one minute.
17 Add the sauce, cook for one minute while stirring, then add all the green onions.
18 Cook for one more minute, then remove the beef and onions with tongs or a slotted spoon to a serving plate.
19 Leave the excess sauce behind in the pan.
 
ENJOY!

Strawberry Pretzel Jello Salad

Ingredients:

• 2 c. crushed pretzel sticks
• 3/4 c. melted butter
• 3 tbsp. sugar
• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 1 c. sugar
• 8 oz. Cool Whip
• 1 (6 oz.) pkg. strawberry banana Jello
• 2 c. boiling water
• 2 (10 oz.) pkgs. frozen strawberries, partially thawed

Directions:

Mix first three ingredients and press in bottom of a 9"x13" pan. Bake at 350 degrees (metal pan) or 325 degrees (glass pan) 8 minutes. Let cool completely. Beat 1 cup sugar and cream cheese. Fold in Cool Whip. Spread over pretzels. Mix Jello and water until dissolved. Add strawberries. Stir into Jello, then set aside for 10 minutes. Pour over cheese mixture. Chill.

*The BEST Calzones

Ingredients

8 Rhodes frozen rolls/scones

1 1/2 c. Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce

Your choice of pizza fix-ins i.e.

• Pepperoni
• Mushrooms
• Cheese!
• Tomatoes
• Pineapple
• Sausage

Directions

Let rolls rise for 3-4 hours then stretch out and put on lightly greased cookie sheet. Add alfredo sauce and fix-ins to one roll and top with another, pinch sides together. Bake at 350 for 8-10 min or until golden brown. We like to dip it in marinara so you get the white and red sauces together...yum!