Cooking Class

Well, I went to the cooking class at Thanksgiving Point and got a few receipes. The food was good, and the preparation was pretty simple. The best part was though, was the ability to put them in the freezer then cook them to eat later.

The class cost $35.00. The girl who taught the class teacher Freezer Dinner's every month. I was excited to learn that because I could always use more receipes to prepare ahead of time and freeze. But then I was even more excited to learn she had put together a cookbook and was selling it for $15.00. So, instead of signing up for next month's Freezer Dinner class... I bought her cookbook. She said that what she teaches at the classes are all in her cookbook. Nice huh. Saved lots of money buying her book.

I've scanned through her book and she does have some great receipes. If you ever want to look through her book to get some of her recipes yourself instead of taking the class, let me know, you can look through it and get whatever recipes you want.

I am going to share a receipe for one of the things we learned that night, so get a pen and paper and write this down.

Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry
Yeild: Serves 8 (don't worry, you can freeze it all and take what you want out to cook and eat)

2-3 lbs. Beef roast
2-3 lbs Broccoli or Asparagus

Marinate for meat:
1 T. soy sauce
3 t. rice wine vinegar
1 t. baking soda
3 t. cornstarch

To Freeze:
Slice beef in thing strips against the grain. Marinate for at least 15 minutes or over night.
Cut broccoli into bite sized pieces.
Put meat into freezer quart sized bags.
Bag 2 Cups broccoli in each freezer bag.
Place together in gallon freezer bags.
(Lay flat to freeze so it will stack well)

Sauce: (best to make sauce fresh)
1 T. soy sauce
1 t. vinegar (white or balsamic)
1 t. brown sugar
1 clove minced garlic (or 1 t. bottled minced garlic)
1-2 drops of sesame oil (optional, give it more of a athentic taste)

To Serve:
1. Defrost meat in fridge overnight or microwave
1. Heat 1 Cup veggie oil in skillet or wok
3. Deep fry beef for 3-4 minutes (or as I'd do, just cook in skillet w/o deep frying it)
4. Remove from skillet and drain oil
5. Set beef aside (cover with an aluminum foil tent to allow juices to flow back into meat)
6. Heat 1 T. oil on med-high heat. (used to coat the pan so the broccoli won't stick - I use pam)
7. Add broccoli, quick stir, and add 1 T. water
8. Cover and let cook until water is gone
9. Add cooked beef and sauce
10. Turn off heat, mix well, and serve on rice.

She did mention that if you are going to freeze meat, to always use a marinate. Just putting the meat in the freezer takes away the juices which makes your meat dry. You probably knew that, but I didn't.

Enjoy!