Pressure Cooker Mongolian Beef

I love my pressure cooker. It makes everything so easy! OK, I don't do everything in the pressure cooker; there are still things that just need to be cooked on the stove or in the oven, but I certainly do use it a lot. This is one of our favorite recipes. The flavors are so good!

Pressure Cooker Mongolian Beef
adapted from Pressure Cooking Today

Ingredients:

• 1 pound steak, cut into 1/4″ strips
• 2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp minced fresh ginger
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 broccoli crown, cut small
• 1 carrot, cut into *matchsticks
• 1 red pepper, cut into strips or squares
• 2 T cornstarch
• 3 T water
• 3 green onions, sliced into 1-inch pieces

Directions:

1. Season beef with salt and pepper. 
2. Mix brown sugar, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, and water. in PC.  Add beef; marinate for 30 minutes or longer.
3. When ready to cook, place insert in PC and cook for 13 minutes. Allow pressure to release naturally.
4. Once pressure has released, remove lid and set PC to Sear. Add vegetables and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Mix water and cornstarch and add to PC; cook until thickened and bubbly.
5. Turn PC off and stir in green onions. Serve with rice.

Optional: add a pinch of red pepper flakes. You can also add some sliced onions if you're like me and can't cook without onions. I really think some snow peas would be good in this, though I haven't tried it that way yet. Tonight was the first time I used the red pepper, and it was really good - so I'm officially adding that to the recipe. Of course, if you don't have a red pepper, feel free to leave it out. Add a bit more broccoli; add an extra carrot. I think it can be pretty flexible.

Also, I never actually pay attention to how much steak I have, or even what kind it is. I just grab whatever I have in the freezer. The PC makes it all good and flavorful and tender.

And, since there are just the two of us, we have enough leftovers to have this again in a few days. I warm the leftovers up in the pressure cooker, too, and they taste just as good as the first time. Or maybe better.

*there are different ways of cutting carrots into matchsticks, but I use the method described on this page. I guess I didn't come up with that all on my own... It's really quite easy, and they just seem like the right carrots for this recipe.

Crockpot Lasagna

Crockpot Lasagna

Ingredients:

• 10-12 oz. lasagna noodles, broken and cooked
• 1 lb. hamburger
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 8 oz. shredded Mozzarella
• 1/4 cup parmesan
• 1-1/2 c. cottage cheese
• 1 28 oz. jar pasta sauce (Ragu Tomato, Garlic & Onion is good)
• 1 1/2 T parsley
• 1 t. basil
• salt & pepper

Directions:

1. Break lasagna noodles into pieces, cook according to package directions, and drain.
2. Brown hamburger, onion and garlic; drain excess fat.
3. Put hamburger, noodles, and remaining ingredients into crockpot and mix well.
4. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours.

I thought I had copied this recipe from the old blog I set up way back when we first got Earthlink, but realized tonight - when I went looking for it - that I never had. I haven't made it in ages, so no pictures, but basically, it just looks like messy lasagna. It definitely tastes just like lasagna - without nearly as much work. Can't complain about that!

Now to figure out how to use this - and combine it with my friend Kristi's recipe - to feed about 100 people at Camp...