Fifty Dollar Food Week - Dinner #1

So yesterday was supposed to be the first Eating Through the Pantry day. And it was. But I have nothing to say about it. We literally ate mac and cheese and whatever else we could grab all day. Today, however, I did my weekly shopping and cooked and it's all working really well so far.

First, the shopping. The girls and I went to Fred Meyer with list in hand, and I came in under budget! I spent $47.90 on food for the week. Wo-hoo!

Today, I had an actual dinner planned. Stir-fry is always easy, and I can almost always find stuff to put in it. Yesterday, I took out about 2 pounds of the little beef we have left from the cow we bought this year and put it in a marinade in a Ziploc bag. I usually use homemade marinades, but this time I had a bottle of Soyaki marinade from Trader Joe's sitting in the pantry that I wanted to try, so I used that. Tonight, I pulled out what I wanted to put in the stir-fry: mini green peppers, sweet peppers, onion, and carrots.
Slice it all up and put it in a bowl, and then pour some of the marinade on it to allow there to be enough sauce when it cooks.

Drain your meat. Don't rinse it, but you don't want to cook it in the marinade it has been sitting in overnight (that's why you put more on the veggies).

Put the meat in a bowl with the veggies.

Get water boiling for rice, or whatever you will serve the stir-fry with. This time I used orzo since I didn't have enough rice left for all of us, and I didn't realize it until after I got home from the store. (Click here to find out more about orzo...I love it.)

Heat some olive oil in your skillet, and once it's hot, pour in the veggies and meat. Cook just until the meat is seared and the veggies start to release their juices (about 6 minutes, give or take depending on how much you are cooking and how big your skillet is).

Serve over rice, orzo, classic noodles, etc. YUM.

After I ate dinner tonight, I realized the Soyaki marinade is very very similar to a pepper steak marinade I make, so if you don't live by a Trader Joe's and want the recipe, let me know!

And just a sneak peak...we're making some fun treats tomorrow that involve these:

I'll be sure to show you when they're done!