Beef & Green Bean Stir-Fry

Suppergirl’s first culinary adventure was tragically tame, folks. I was planning on getting my first recipe from Buzzfeed’s Tasty site, so I asked my little brother to scroll through the articles and find something he’d like me to try for dinner. My brother and my mother are both quite selective about what they like to eat, so I was not surprised when he picked a recipe that wasn’t as daring as I’d hoped to go. Nonetheless, I went through with it because I am a fantastic sister, and headed out to the store to buy the ingredients to make (my slightly altered version of) Buzzfeed’s “Beef and Broccoli Stir-Fry."

(You can click the link above to get to the written recipe and/or watch the video below.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaxWGWoJjVM

There are two parts to this recipe: the stir-fry sauce (which Buzzfeed’s video shows can be used with a variety of meats and veggies) and the actual stir-fry.

Stir-Fry Sauce

Ingredients:

• ½ cup soy sauce (I used about ¼ cup instead because my family was worried about all the sodium.)

• ¼ cup honey (I used a little less than ¼ cup since I was also cutting back on the soy sauce and didn’t want the sweetness to overpower the saltiness.)

• 2 cloves garlic (I used 1 medium-big clove instead.)

• 1 teaspoon ginger (I eyeballed this, to be honest.)

• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds (I didn’t want to buy sesame seeds, so I debated picking some off a sesame bagel before deciding against adding them at all, and the recipe was fine without them.)

Preparation:

1. Mix together all ingredients in a small bowl.

2. Use sauce with your stir-fry of choice!

The minced garlic and ginger are in the small, circular cups and the soy sauce and honey are in the white bowl. It was a simple way to add huge flavor!

Beef and Broccoli Stir-Fry

Ingredients:

Servings: 2

• 1 pound flank steak, cubed (I have no experience with buying meat, so I ended up buying “Beef Loin Petite Sirloin Steak” after panicking in the grocery store for too long. It was 1.17 lbs and tasted fine, but more on that later.)

• 1 teaspoon salt (I eyeballed this.)

• 1 teaspoon pepper (I eyeballed this as well. Are you noticing a pattern here?)

• 2 cups broccoli, diced (My mom doesn’t eat broccoli, so I subbed it out for a medium-large bag of string/green beans that I cut in half to make more bite-sized.)

• Stir-fry sauce

Preparation:

1. Heat oil over a nonstick pan and add beef, stirring until brown.

1. Pour sauce in pan and stir to coat meat.

1. Once the sauce is bubbling, add the veggies to the pan and stir again to coat.

1. Cook until meat is cooked through and veggies are soft.

1. Serve over rice or alone. (I cooked 1.5 cups of rice to serve this over.)

1. Enjoy!

The final verdict: This was a very yummy and versatile recipe! It took about an hour to prep and cook, which starkly contrasts how Buzzfeed's video zips through the entire process in seconds. There were no leftovers (so I'd say that my version feeds 4 even though Buzzfeed's suggested 2 servings), which I was ecstatic about because of how notorious my family is for letting leftovers go to waste. My parents were psyched that they didn't have to cook, and no one in my family had any complaints about the food.

However, if (and when!) I make this again, I'd do a few things differently:

1. I would learn more about how to select and prepare meats. I think that the meat was a little tough, and I don't know if that was due to the part of the cow that I bought, how I sliced the meat (I don't think I cut with the grain of the meat?), or if I cooked it too long. Maybe a little of all of the above? I think next time I'd also cube the meat into smaller pieces to make it more bite-sized.

2. I would add in the green beans earlier, so they'd have longer to cook. I think I mixed in the beans when the beef was already fully cooked, so the meat may have been a little too well done and tougher to chew.

3. Next time, I think I'd switch up the veggies or meat used, too. I think this recipe has room to be made healthier (using low-sodium soy sauce, swapping the white rice for brown rice or quinoa, adding more veggies like peppers, carrots, pea pods, etc.), which is something that I'd like to test out on my family now that they know I've managed not to give them food poisoning! Also, it would be super easy to make this a vegan or vegetarian dish by swapping the meat out for tofu or a meat substitute and replacing the honey (if you're vegan) for agave syrup or maybe even maple syrup.

Let me know if you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or try out this recipe in the comments below!

Until next time,

SUPPERGIRL