A recipe - beef with broccoli

I just made something so amazing that I had to write about it immediately, before I'm even done eating it. Mainly, so I don't forget the recipe. I found the recipe online somewhere but I think I tweaked it enough to call it my own. 

We've been making a serious effort to cook more, to save money, but mostly to save calories. And I actually kind of like cooking, surprisingly, minus the cleanup. Tonight I was craving Chinese, but instead of ordering takeout, I decided to make beef with broccoli, one of the healthier typical americanized chinese foods. Its also low-carb, which is what I'm needing lately, since i hit the "bad number". The bad number is a particular number on the scale, and if you reach it, you need to pull out all the stops to lose that shit. 

So anyway, here's the recipe:

3/4 pound of flank steak or sirloin

3/4 pound of broccoli florets, chopped

2 tablespoons high-heat cooking oil (I used sesame)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon cornstarch, dissolved in 1 tablespoon of water

Marinade:

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar

1/2 teaspoon of corn starch

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Sauce:

2 tablespoons hoisen sauce

1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1/4 cup chicken broth

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon fresh ginger (I used ginger paste in a squeeze tube)

1. Thinly slice the flank steak against the grain. 

2. Mix up the marinade and cover the steak, I put mine in a gallon sized ziplock back. Set aside for 20 minutes or longer.

3. Mix up the all the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

4. Heat up two tablespoons of oil in a large skillet, on high heat.

5. When the oil is hot, dump in the beef slices and spread them out. Let them cook for about a minute without stirring.  Then flip over, add the garlic and let it all cook for another minute, until there is no pink left.

6. Add the broccoli to the pan. Then pour in all of the sauce and bring to a boil, about one minute.

7. Add the cornstarch/water mixture and stir it in, let it cook for another minute. The sauce will thicken. Cook until the broccoli is tender yet crisp, which should only take a minute or two. 

I served mine over brown rice (a measly half cup, boo). It's awesome!