The other day I opened my car door to get in, and found my car keys sitting on the seat. This means that I lost my keys and found them before I even realized it. WIN. Also, it happened on my birthday, as Truman and I were headed out to get some doughnuts. Yeah, it was a pretty good day. Speaking of pretty good days, I just got back from a blogging retreat in San Francisco, which was so fun! When bloggers say, “blogging retreat” what they really mean is a glorified girls trip where we may or may not talk about blogging strategies. (Think more “may not” and less “may.”) Mostly it’s an excuse to get together and eat. And what better place to eat than in San Francisco? Here we are: Lisa from Wine and Glue, yours truly (where are my sunglasses?? I’m so unhip), Lindsay from Life Love and Sugar, Trish in the back from Mom on Timeout, Julianne from Beyond Frosting, Holly from Spend with Pennies, Andi from The Weary Chef, Cathy from Lemon Tree Dwelling, Glory from Glorious Treats, and Dorothy from Crazy for Crust, our fearless organizer. Thanks Dorothy! Also not pictured: Averie from Averie Cooks, Tanya from Lemons for Lulu and Hayley from The Domestic Rebel. One of the best things about blogging is all the people you meet, even if you’ve never actually met in real life. One of my favorite bloggers is Mary Younkin from Barefeet in the Kitchen. She has such simple down to earth recipes that are “real life.” She just came out with her first book, The Weeknight Dinner Cookbook. It’s exactly what you would think: easy, FAST, no fuss dinner recipes that are super tasty and can feed some ravenous teenagers in a snap. The book is divided into sections: 15-25 Minute Meals, 30-45 Minute Meals, and 5-10 Minute Prep Meals. It is absolutely perfect and I’ve already cooked from it multiple times (more on that soon!) (UPDATE! Here is the other recipe from Mary’s book that I adapted a little.)
Why we love this Beef and Broccoli Chinese Recipe
I decided to make Mary’s Beef and Broccoli soup. It is SO good. Beef and broccoli is always one of my favorite dishes when we go out for Chinese. It’s just a classic. This is the soup-ified version. Don’t be scared off by the oyster sauce and chili sauce. If you have an Asian section to your grocery store, I bet you can find these ingredients. This soup is a little spicy, but you can easily control that by adding more or less chili sauce. Mary says that depending on the ingredients that she has, she sometimes uses less beef and more broccoli. She also makes this using ground beef, which would be much cheaper. See note on the recipe if you want to try it.
Other soups you will love!
Beef Barley Soup « this is one of the top recipes on my site. With good reason!! You can also just use less steak (say, ¾ pound to 1 pound) and add a little more broccoli. If you’d like to serve this over rice, you can use less beef broth–enough that the broccoli can cook in the broth, say around 4 cups.
How to reheat Beef and Broccoli Soup
I definitely just microwave a bowl at a time, whenever I want leftovers. If you’ve got more than just yourself heating up this soup, you can do it on the stovetop. You want to avoid it boiling; just heat it until it’s the right temperature to eat. 10 Minute Wonton Soup « 10 minutes, I swear. Ham Mac and Cheese Soup « I just made this one again the other day, and couldn’t believe how many times Charlotte asked for seconds. It’s soooo good. One Skillet Beef Meatballs with Rice and Peas « Here’s the other recipe from Mary’s book I tried (hers has kielbasa instead of meatballs). Easy Vegetable Beef Soup from Diary of a Recipe Collector Orange Beef Teriyaki Soup from Melanie Makes Slow Cooker Winter Squash Beef Stew from Will Cook for Smiles Facebook | Pinterest | Instagram
