Asian Beef with Mandarin Oranges

Ingredients

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 pounds boneless beef chuck, cut into 1⁄2-inch strips
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1⁄3 cup soy sauce
1⁄4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
1 small green bell pepper, sliced
1 package (about 3 ounces) shiitake mushrooms, sliced
1 head bok choy, cleaned and chopped
1 can (5 ounces) sliced water chestnuts, drained
2 tablespoons corn starch
1 can (11 ounces) mandarin oranges, drained and syrup reserved
2 cups beef broth
6 cups steamed rice

Directions

1. Heat vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Add beef, in batches if necessary, and cook, turning to brown all sides, season with salt and pepper. Transfer beef to 4 1⁄2-quart CROCK-POT® slow cooker as it is browned.
2. Add onion to same skillet. Stir over medium heat until softened. Add next soy sauce, salt, ginger, green pepper, mushrooms, bok choy and water chestnuts and cook until bok choy is wilted, about 5 minutes. Spoon mixture over beef.
3. Whisk together corn starch and reserved mandarin orange syrup in medium bowl. Stir in beef broth and pour over ingredients in CROCK-POT® slow cooker. Cover and cook on LOW 10 hours or on HIGH 5 to 6 hours or until beef is tender.
4. Stir in mandarin oranges. Spoon steamed rice into shallow serving bowl and spoon beef over rice.

I've never been able to make asian food very well, despite the fact that I love it. This one however came out wonderful!!! So there you go....recipe for the day

And so it begins

I thought I would start this off with just showing you a few of the baked goods I have done in the past. (and there will be more to follow) Its funny, I really like cake all that much but I have become addicted to it as an art medium. :)

These are only a small sampling of what I have been doing. If you would like to see more let me know. As for my baking recipe for the day, here is my Marshmallow Fondant recipe:

Ingredients:

16 ounces white mini-marshmallows (i actually find that an off brand works better)
2 to 5 tablespoons water
2 pounds icing sugar
1/2 cup Crisco shortening (you will be digging into it so place in a very easily accessed bowl)

Melt marshmallows and 2 tablespoons of water in a microwave or double boiler. To microwave, place the bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds, open microwave and stir, back in microwave for 30 seconds more, open microwave and stir again, and continue doing this until melted. It usually takes about 2 1/2 minutes total.

Place 3/4 of the powdered sugar on the top of the melted marshmallow mix.

Now grease your hands GENEROUSLY (palms, backs, and in between fingers), then heavily grease the counter you will be using and dump the bowl of marshmallow/sugar mixture in the middle. (By the way, this recipe is also good for your hands. When I’m done, they are baby soft.)

Start kneading like you would bread dough. You will immediately see why you have greased your hands.

Keep kneading, this stuff is sticky at this stage! Add the rest of the powdered sugar and knead some more. Re-grease your hands and counter when the fondant starts sticking. Once you have kneaded all the lumps out place the ball in a greased gallon size bag, close it and let it rest over night on the counter. If you are wanting to color your fondant DO NOT use regular drop food coloring, go buy the wilton gel and you will probably want to wear gloves when tinting as your hand will end up dyed.

It is a little time consuming to do this and a lot of work, however it stretches farther than the store bought and tastes a thousand times better.