Orange Beef and Broccoli

Greetings from Tulsa, OK!  I'm spending this week in the lovely state of Oklahoma so I can attend a class on pipeline design and construction.  Yesterday, one of my coworkers and I drove down from Kansas City and rested up for our first day of class this morning at 8:00.  I like to think that I learned a lot today, but I won't bore you with the details.  But I will say that the instructor is an Irish-Canadian, so that makes for a pretty fun accent.  Think Irish, with some "ehs?" and "aboots" mixed in.

Anyway, before I left for the week, I saved up a couple recipes to blog about while I'm gone.  The first one is Orange Beef & Broccoli.  I found this one in a blog (of course) and thought that it sounded tasty.  Also, Joe really likes Chinese food, and sometimes I get tired of stir fry, so this would satisfy both of us :).  It actuallly tasted like something from a Chinese restaurant, but I felt much less guilty about eating it since I knew exactly what went into it.  Click here for the original recipe at Pinch of Yum.

Here's what you'll need:

Juice of 1 orange
1 T. fresh orange zest
2 T. low sodium soy sauce
1/4 c. beef broth
1/3 c. orange marmalade
2 T. corn starch
1 t. oil
1 lb. flank steak; sliced very thin
salt and pepper to taste*
3 cloves garlic; minced
1 head broccoli; washed and cut into bite sized pieces

- Mix the first 6 ingredients together in a small bowl and whisk until the cornstarch is dissolved.

- Place the broccoli in a microwave-safe bowl with about 1 T. of water and cook on high for 1 1/2 min.  Set aside.

- Sprinkle the steak with salt and pepper.
- Heat the oil in a large skillet and add the steak and garlic.  I just grated the garlic right over the skillet using a Microplane.  It's much easier for me than chopping the garlic.

- Drain off the fat once the meat is cooked.  Add in the sauce mixture and cook for about 1 minute or until sauce starts to thicken a bit.  Stir in the broccoli and cook for another minute.  Serve over rice and enjoy!

* I actually didn't put the salt an pepper on the steak before cooking it, but I wish I had because it could have used a little more seasoning.

I hope you're all having a great week and getting ready for some serious St. Pat's fun this weekend.  I can't wait to see my girls Sarah & Amanda Schram this weekend in New Orleans!  St. Paaaaaaats!