Cooking For One Or Two - Broccoli Beef

 

One petite cut sirloin steak can easily be transformed into a better than restaurant quality meal for two or one with leftovers to enjoy again on another night.  Quick and easy to prepare as well as a one pot meal.  Who doesn’t love that?

 

Broccoli Beef 

1 4-6 oz. sirloin steak, thinly sliced

1/4 medium onion, thinly sliced

1 small carrot, peeled and thinly sliced

2 cups broccoli florets, fresh or frozen

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 cup beef broth

2 - 3 Tbs. soy sauce

2 Tbs. olive or avocado oil

2 tsp. cornstarch or arrowroot powder

1/4 cup water

1 cup cooked rice or cauliflower rice 

In a large skillet, heat oil.  Saute sliced steak until medium rare.  Add onions and carrot and continue cooking until onions are tender.  Add garlic and stir.  Add beef broth, soy sauce and broccoli florets.  Cover skillet and allow broccoli to steam until tender.  Meanwhile stir cornstarch into water.  Pour over meat and vegetable mixture, stir to combine and cook until gravy thickens.  Adjust flavors to taste adding more soy sauce as desired.  Serve over steamed rice or cauliflower rice.

 

Slice your steak as shown here.  Very economical meal!

I think this recipe is delicious and it definitely satisfies that urge to go out or order takeout from the neighborhood Chinese restaurant.  I think it is a healthier version as well and fairly low in carbohydrates, especially if you use the riced cauliflower.  A little drizzle of sesame oil is nice as well.

 

My Tireless Retirement – Week 172

 

How is everyone doing?  Are you able to handle the heat of summer okay?  I am grateful for A/C units and ice cubes in my water, let me tell you.  We’ve had some really hot days here.

 

Before

After

These guys have room to spread out now

Last week I was able to get outside ahead of the heat one morning and get the flowerbed cleaned out where the maple tree had been.  I realized that the reason I couldn’t get motivated to re-landscape that area was because the vinca was overgrown and to me it felt like chaos.  I originally had planned to keep the vinca and just cut it back, but the more I thought about it I decided to go ahead and remove it.  Once I was done it just felt so much better to me that I knew I’d made the right decision.  Now I’m planning what to do there next.

 

So long old friend

The old A/C unit in my bedroom finally gave it up.  A bearing went out and it sounded absolutely horrible.  It was howling in pain.  Even though it was still cranking out cold air, and if you could stand the noise, you just can’t keep running it that way because eventually the motor will burn up and you could risk a fire.  Fortunately, about four or five years ago, maybe longer, I had picked up a brand new unit on clearance for $50.  At the time I figured as old as mine was its days were likely numbered.  I never thought the new unit would sit on a shelf in the garage for as long as it has, but I am sure glad it was there.

 

The new unit

Now I have even more open space in the garage

That old unit was used when I got it from a friend.  She was told it was twenty years old when she got it and she used it for about ten years.  I got it in 2004 and used it every summer since, so you do the math.  That sucker was old!  I can tell you they don’t make them like that anymore, that is for darn sure!  It was a very basic unit with a switch to flip it on and off, that was it, no settings or temperature selection, but it cooled really well and surprisingly it didn’t cost much to run either.  It definitely earned its keep.

 

The little ones are growing up!

On my list this past week was to get the young ladies integrated into the coop with the old ladies and it went fairly well with very little squawking and hen pecking.  I feel better having the little ones out of the brooder and into the coop as they are more secure and have a lot more room to move around.  With that done I figured it was the perfect time to remove the ramp and put on some new treads (on my winter ready list) and give the exterior a bit of a cleanup and refresh.

 

New treads for the ramp up to the coop

I love this little coop ⭐

With the upgraded ramp back in place I grabbed the hose and gave the exterior a bath removing a lot of the dirt from our recent storms and a ton of spider webs.  Then I got ready to take down the brooder, clean it up and put it away.  When I moved the brooder apparently about a dozen field mice had taken up residence underneath it and I sent them all scattering across the yard before they decided to head under my fence and back to the field.  Good Lord!  What a sight that was.

 

Oh my gosh you guys, I cannot tell you how nice it is to do my little projects now that the garage is all decluttered and reorganized.  I can easily go right to what I need, gather it all up and complete a project so much easier and more efficiently.  Even cleaning up afterward and putting my tools and supplies away is so much easier.  What a time and aggravation saver!  I love it!

 

I worked all day Friday then Monday for four hours and Tuesday evening I drove a group of seniors up into the mountains to Garden Valley, Idaho for the Starlight Mountain Theater’s production of Singing In The Rain.  We had a box dinner prior to the performance at their picnic area.  The show was so good and we had a really nice time.  I would happily do it again.

 

One of the projects on my list was to re-pot a couple of my houseplants.  At Fred Meyer I chose a new pot for my pothos and a bag of potting soil.  I like this brand because it isn’t full of wood bits and I don’t end up growing mushrooms.  After potting up the pothos I was able to use that pot to repot my new peach lily.  Then I used the pot the peace lily was in to replant some of the basil I inherited.

 

One of the volunteers at the senior center thought I would be the person
to revive these poor basil plants.  She obviously doesn't know me very well.

Two days later - maybe I can?

I did something else that is pretty dang exciting, but I’m going to wait to share more about that with you all until next week because this post is already getting really long.  It will be worth waiting for and heck, it may not even excite you, but I am super happy about it.  With that I’m going to wish you all a wonderful weekend and I hope you have a great day today.

 

I Have Stopped Doing My Quarterly Checklist

 

I quit!  I’m not doing it anymore!  Okay, that may be an overstatement.  Let’s just say I’m not going to be doing it as often.  Instead of doing my quarterly housekeeping checklist I am now doing a semiannual checklist meaning that I only do it twice a year.  It's the same list, I just don't have to do it as often.  I’d say that is progress!

 

Since I’ve simplified my home and decluttered a lot of things I was finding that most of the things I used to clean on a quarterly basis really weren’t that dirty.  I was either cleaning clean things or skipping those items until next time.  When that became a regular habit I decided to change my approach and stop running through my checklist every three months and have instead opted to do it every six months.  Because of my regular daily cleaning habits and frequent decluttering sessions I find this is working out very well for me.

 

Surprisingly, things aren’t really any dirtier either.  With this new routine I have more time to devote to getting each of these tasks done and I don’t feel rushed.  Everything is clean, organized and tidy which makes it so enjoyable to live in my home every day.  I don’t have that constant nagging in the back of my mind that something needs to be done because I am easily able to stay on top of things.

 

By switching to a semiannual housekeeping schedule I have more time to spend on outdoor projects, maintenance, etc.  I also have a lot more time for fun stuff like crafts, hobbies, the great outdoors and spending time with my loved ones.  It has been a nice change and I’m very glad I decided to do it.

Aging In Place?

 

A couple of months ago I took a tumble from my stairway and landed hard on my right knee onto the tile entry floor.  I hit so hard that initially I thought I’d broken my patella (knee cap) and the pain was so excruciating that I nearly threw up and passed out at the same time.  I’ve never felt pain like that before and it really scared me.  I was lucky this time.  Nothing was broken and within a few days I was fine, but it was definitely a wakeup call.  In my mind I think I’m thirty, but my body isn’t and I tend to forget that.  In the past year I’ve done some pretty stupid things and I keep hurting myself.  I need to slow down and pay better attention to what I am doing before I seriously injure myself.

 

With that in mind I’ve had to sit down and really do some soul searching and face the fact that I’m not going to get any younger.  I have to focus on taking care of myself, inside and out, and I need to think about living in a place where I can do that to the best of my ability long term.  As much as I love my current home it is not conducive to aging in place and I know it.  My current residence is a two story townhouse with three bedrooms, two bathrooms and an eighth of an acre yard with no homeowners association meaning I am responsible for the care and maintenance outside as well as the inside of my home.  I bought it in 1995 as my “starter” home with no plans to live in it for the rest of my life.  I have been here thirty years.  This house has seen a lot of changes as I raised my family here and it has served me well, but it won’t be able to indefinitely.

 

Even though I am still young (I am 60 years old right now) I have some health issues that do affect my daily life.  At the age of twenty I had a stroke and when you are young like that you can do all the things to make your recovery have the best outcome as possible, however my weaker left side is giving me some grief as I am getting older.  Since my stroke the two things I’ve had the most trouble with are riding a bike and going up a flight of stairs.  Along with the arthritis in my joints (knees, hips, ankles, wrists, hands, elbows, etc.) I am having more difficulty with the stairs.

 

As a retired patient coordinator I had to sit down and really assess my current situation and take a good hard look at where I am at with my health, my heart and artery issues, my auto immune disorder as well as my current physical state and make some realistic assessments including a risk assessment.  I had to have the hard conversation with myself and accept that in no way is this house set up to accommodate anyone with mobility issues.  It is also a lot of work for me to keep up and maintain this house every year.  Hard fact - I won’t be able to successfully stay in my current home and age in place.

 

The time has come to start making some plans and looking at other options.  It will be much easier for me to do it now while I am younger than for me to wait until I am much older and struggling.  I’ve been doing a lot of research and brainstorming and I’m ready for a new adventure.  While it saddens me to leave this house and all of the wonderful memories it holds for me it is also exciting to think about opening a new chapter in my life.  It is going to be a big change.  HUGE!

 

I have a lot to do to prepare and get ready for what lies ahead, but I am not in a hurry.  By starting this process early I have time to get things done and make decisions and I have some pretty big decisions to make.  Because of the housing market here, this change will also include me having to move to a different state.  To do what I want to do, I will have to leave Idaho.  How about that?

 

Amazing Meals From The Pantry #7

 

This month I embarked on a two month pantry challenge.  Pantry challenges are a great way to save money, but even more importantly they help me use things up and curb food waste.  I typically will start my pantry challenge with the freezer on top of my refrigerator to do just that.

 

One of the things I did was to use up some frozen cream I had in the freezer.  A couple months ago I had a carton of cream nearing its best buy date so I had poured it into ice trays and frozen it in cubes to use later on.  I was able to stretch the quart of cream I bought at the beginning of the month by using a couple of those cubes each time I made my daily cup of Keto coffee.

 

It was time to do some meal prepping!  The goal being to use up some open packages and jars of stuff and refill my kitchen freezer with lots of nutritious meals to just grab, thaw and reheat.  I donned my new apron and got to work!

 

I had an older package of shrimp from 2023 that was vacuum sealed and was in the top freezer as well as a package of asparagus from last year, a partial package of bacon, a steak and a small package of frozen sliced onions and peppers.  I started out by cooking up all of that bacon and the rendered fat was used for the other recipes I was going to make.  I like to have already prepared bacon on hand to add to salads and other recipes.  Cooked bacon freezes well too.

 

I had extra eggs that needed to be used so I hard boiled some and the rest went into a small quiche that I baked in my oven along with a lovely coffee cake and an applesauce cake.  After it had cooled I cut this quiche into fourths and put each piece into a meal prep container and back into the freezer.

 

Next up I used all of the frozen cabbage, some onion, a grated carrot and two jars of pork sausage to make a delicious batch of eggroll in a bowl.  The day before I had prepared a cup of rice so it would be ready for my meal prepping day.  Using a cup of the cooked rice, some of the bacon and some of my eggs I made fried rice.  I added the end of a bag of peas & carrots and the rest of a bag of riced cauliflower too. I paired these in meal containers for another easy to grab and reheat dinner for the freezer.

 

I used another cup of the cooked rice, a half pound package of lean ground beef and a jar of my home canned black beans to make Fiesta Rice (recipe to come).  I was able to make this and use up an open jar of salsa I had in the refrigerator, a half pint of salsa from the pantry as well as the remains of an open bag of frozen corn.  I divided this into four dishes and plan to top each one with a bit of cheddar cheese when I reheat them.

 

All of this left my kitchen!

Next I sliced up the sirloin steak and stir fried it with the frozen onions and peppers along with some taco spice from the cupboard to make a small batch of fajitas.  I decided to just freeze this in one container with the idea that I can use it later for a quick meal with a couple flour tortillas, some grated cheese and then top with a dab of sour cream.  This should be enough for two meals for me.

 

Washing up as I go

Lastly, but certainly not least, I cleaned up the shrimp and sautéed it with the asparagus, a dab if butter and used up an open jar of pesto I had in the refrigerator.  I had enough for three dishes to serve as a side with a nice grilled steak, chicken fillet or a nice piece of salmon.

 

After cleaning up my kitchen the coffee cake and applesauce cake were cool enough for icing.  I drizzled a simple vanilla glaze over the coffee cake.  I had a half block of cream cheese in the refrigerator that I used to make a nice frosting using up the remainder of a bag of powdered sugar I had in the pantry since the holidays.  It made enough for two cakes so I froze half and frosted the cake with the other half.

 

The freezer on top of my refrigerator is now restocked with loads of delicious and easy meals to keep me going this summer and will help me and my kitchen stay cool.  I also have several servings of coffee cake and applesauce cake on hand to serve whenever someone pops by for a visit.  In the process I was able to eliminate potential food waste by using up a ton of items I already had on hand.  Big wins here!

 

 

My Tireless Retirement – Week 171

 

Hello friends!  This past week began with our Independence Day holiday, a lot of good food and a very late night as our neighbors were popping off until well after midnight.  I stayed inside and kept my nervous kitties company until it was over.  Jack took refuge in the downstairs hall closet while Stella stayed upstairs under my bed.  Toward the end they came out realizing nothing bad was going to happen to them and hung out with me for another hour until all was quiet and we could go to bed.  It is safe to say I have a love/hate relationship with this holiday.  I love what it stands for, but I can do without the adverse affects it has on animals and some people, especially our veterans.

 

NY strip steaks & macaroni salad for the 4th!

The deck refurbishing project was put on hold as our weather was all over the map.  We had a two day heat wave followed by a windstorm and a duststorm and then a thunderstorm with rain.  I was happy about the rain, but it means I am going to have to do some re-sanding.  Before I could do that however we got another heat wave so I decided that Mother Nature was trying to tell me something so I acquiesced and enjoyed some downtime.  After such a busy month of June I figure I had earned it.

Clean & sanitized

Sunday was my day to wash up all of my bedding and remake the bed.  I vacuumed my mattress, gave it a Lysol spray and then turned it.  After washing the mattress cover in bleach and hot water and running it through a hot dryer until it was thoroughly dried I put it back on the bed.  Then I remade the bed with all of the freshly washed and dried bedding.  Every time I clean the mattress I’m always amazed and rather disgusted at what the vacuum cleaner pulls up even though I always have it completely covered and I regularly wash and bleach that cover.  So gross!

 

I invested in some replacement lids for my Pyrex food storage containers.  I was able to get four lids from Amazon for $12.99 which may sound expensive unless you price the containers themselves at the store.  The lids have gone up a lot in price recently, but so have the containers.  I do feel it is better and less wasteful to buy these lids rather than buy new containers, especially as I use them practically every day for meal prepping and storing leftovers.

 

Before I went into work on Monday I had the pleasure of replacing the worn out gasket on the kitchen sink drain basket.  Finding water in the bottom of my trash can a couple of times had clued me in that this task had come due.  While plumbing rates as one of the lowest on my list of fun things to do I am blessed with the ability and knowledge of knowing how to do a few things.  Long ago my dad taught me the basics – “All you need to know is $h!t runs downhill and payday is on Friday”.  I took it from there.

 

Done!

Cleaning up and reorganizing the garage last month let me also know that I already had everything I needed to complete this job in the garage.  A new gasket and some plumbers putty as well as a few tools from the toolbox and in less than a half hour I had it done, my tools put away, the sink scrubbed clean, my hands scrubbed clean and the rest of my mess cleaned up.  I was very happy to have that job completed and no more drips or water in the trash can.

 

Monday and Tuesday were my only work days last week with Tuesday being the most exciting when I took a large group of nineteen seniors whitewater rafting.  Yes, you heard that right we went down the Payette River on a big rubber raft and we had a blast.  Afterward we stopped off in a little town on our way back to the Senior Center and had dinner and it was really good.  I have the best job ever!  And they pay me to do this!

 

The storage area in the back of the closet is practically empty 😊

Even though I took in a HUGE load of donations to the thrift store a couple weeks ago I am still finding stuff!  I went through the downstairs hall closet and removed two jackets I never wear anymore and the last of my beer brewing supplies.  I went through the junk drawer and found a few items to donate and toss, went through the OTC medicine bin and found a couple more things in there to get rid of and I even let go of a few more sentimental items I realized aren’t really all that sentimental to me anymore and haven’t been for quite a while.

 

My junk drawer

In the pantry I got rid of some excess packaging and added that along with this week’s junk mail to the recycle bin.  The blue wheelie bin is full of recycling and ready to go to the curb for pickup again.  I also shredded some more papers with sensitive information on them.  Paper clutter is never ending, I tell you.

 

This guy has been getting a workout in the last month

More recycling heading out of here

I decluttered 80% of the cat toys from their basket in the living room and kept only the ones I know they play with.  I took about a half dozen toy mice and placed them inside the catnip bag I keep on the top shelf of the pantry where the kitties can’t get to it.  I’ve been giving them one each day to play with and they are enjoying that very much.  It’s been fun to watch, ha, ha, ha.

 

While dodging the heat I was able to use up some more craft and office supplies I had on hand to update my dayplanner so it now includes calendar and planning pages for 2026.  I’ve also been working on a lot of future planning as well as some 2026 vacation plans that may come to fruition.  Even though we are only halfway through this year I’m also thinking about and mapping out next year’s household budgets so I can have a good solid plan well ahead of the upcoming new year.  I feel like the better prepared I am the more successful I will be.

 

Another bag full of donations & I'm hoping to fill up this box too

And that was that!  How was your week?