Grateful for more than a Good Harvest.

Essentially, what is the holiday of Thanksgiving all about?  This made me recently wonder due to Thanksgiving being notated on my wall calendar, but for different countries.  I knew about the holiday happening in the USA and Canada, but more countries than those two?  Our basic definition is an autumn holiday designated as a day to give thanks for the blessings of the harvest, and all the “good” that occurred during the year.  In other countries, it is still an autumn holiday, but has a much deeper meaning than a bountiful harvest.

In Grenada, Thanksgiving Day, celebrated on October 25, marks the anniversary of the 1983 day when US-led military forces arrived to stop a coup after the country’s president had been executed.

In Japan, it is called "Labor Thanksgiving Day", celebrated on November 23, and designated as a day to commemorate labor and production while also giving thanks to one another. The celebration includes an ancient Shinto ceremony.

Other countries that have a version of a “giving of thanks day” are: Philippines, Saint Lucia, Rwanda, Netherlands, Liberia, Brazil, Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom, to name a few.  Being thankful for a bountiful harvest takes place around the world, each country giving the day its own name, and date of celebration.  Imagine if you were able to travel to each country, on that specific date, and taste the various food dishes served?  It would give a whole new meaning to “jet lag”, considering the excess weight you would put on after each meal.

Now, I could give you recipe after recipe related to Thanksgiving, not just in the USA, but other countries, but I already seemed to have done that.  Looking back at the lists of foods served, I was gobsmacked by the number I had already written about in the San Juan Record.  Here I was, thinking just to introduce all you folks to foods of other countries, not knowing they were holiday related in some way. Then it occurred to me, another meaning related to the holiday, and that is being grateful for the family and friends in your own life.

Once in a great while, I am talking once in a blue moon while, my hubby, Roy, will actually, not just help out in the kitchen, but cook a meal.  Oh yes, I still have to supervise, but at least he makes the effort and actually wants to try something new.

Thanksgiving is busy for me as I make two complete meals, one for us, and one for his family in Moab.  Why not eat together?  The work schedules for both Roy, and his brother, do not mesh well, so this is just easier, for everyone, all around.  However, after all the stress and demands of getting Thanksgiving dinner prepped, cooked and cleaned up after one year, I finally had a meltdown.  By Saturday afternoon the headache and muscle cramping hit big time and decided to stick around until Sunday night. My hunny made me tea and fluffed my pillows, he cooked up scrambled eggs and biscuits as it made me feel calm all over.  Oh, I can hear you all going, “Aww”., and yes, it was very sweet of him.

I had promised him Pepper Steak with Onions for dinner for Sunday, but I just could not find the energy. Who came to the rescue?  Roy, and he once again did a great job with the prep work and the cooking of the dish itself. He did moan and groan though and several times gripe, "but it looks so much easier when you do it". Me? I snickered in smug satisfaction.  But, kudos to my hubby and his amazing kitchen skills...when he is desperately hungry that is.

 

Oh, before I give the recipe, and end story time, I would like to wish Donna Blauer, residing in California, a huge “Happy Thanksgiving!”.  Donna was a born and raised resident of Monticello for many years before moving to California.  I have fans of my food column, but folks at the San Juan Record call her my “biggest fan”.  She is planning on making the Pumpkin Cinnamon Chip Cake Mix Muffins, I wrote about in the November 6, 2024 issue, for Thanksgiving.  I know Donna reads this column, so Donna, I am happy to have gotten to know you, and hope those muffins are a huge hit.

Pepper Steak with Onions

Ingredients:

2 lbs. London broil, cut into - inch thick strips

2 medium green bell peppers, seeded and cut into ¼-inch thick strips

2 medium onions, cut into ¼-inch thick strips

2 Tbsp. canola oil

½ cup soy sauce

½ tsp. white pepper

1 tsp. ground ginger

Preparation:

In a large skillet or Wok, on medium-high heat, brown the meat; remove to bowl and set aside. In same skillet or Wok, sauté the peppers and onions with the oil until softened. Add back the meat; add the soy sauce, white pepper and ginger; mix thoroughly. Let cook an additional 10 minutes before serving over white, fried or brown rice.

Makes 8 servings.

Mary Cokenour

 

 

Slowed Cooked and Smoky Pepper Steak

Usually when I make Pepper Steak, I use a skillet or a Wok; the dish cooks quickly on the stovetop. One problem, sometimes the strips of meat are not tender enough; the quick cooking sealed in juice and flavor, but the meat did not tenderize. I do not marinade the meat overnight, so if the cut is not tender in the first place, well there you go.

Recently I purchased a three pound package of sliced round steak and intended on making Pepper Steak.  While browsing through the newsfeed on my Facebook page though, I came across a recipe for "Hoisin Beef Stew"; regular stew ingredients: beef cubes, potatoes, celery, carrots, mushrooms; but instead of a broth as the cooking medium, the recipe called for Hoisin Sauce.  Interesting concept I thought, maybe next time I make stew I'll try the recipe out.  Then it hit me, I've never done up Pepper Steak in the slow cooker, so here was a chance to try out this method and play with the Hoisin Sauce as a cooking medium.  I love Hoisin Sauce by the way; the flavor is just so above using plain soy or teriyaki sauces, and you barely need to add any other seasoning to it.  Besides adding it to recipes, it works as an excellent glaze or barbecue sauce all on its own; so yummy on ribs or brisket.  Besides beef, chicken or pork, Hoisin can be used on wild game such as Elk and Deer; it cuts the gaminess of the deer meat, and only enhances the elk meat to a whole new level.

The meal I made took eight hours to cook in the crock pot before the meat was fall apart in the mouth tender; the peppers, onions and mushrooms were perfectly cooked.  Yes, I added mushrooms to this dish, mainly because I had a pound of fresh sliced mushrooms on hand and didn't want them to go to waste.  I am so glad I made that choice!  The flour I added in at the start helped the Hoisin sauce and any juices from the other ingredients to create a medium thick sauce that went well on a brown and wild rice mixture I made for a side dish.  If you've jumped onto the gluten free fad bandwagon, you can use rice flour instead of regular white flour.  Overall, this recipe came out pretty well, and I would make it again; maybe add in garlic, or some julienned carrot.

Now remember, if you try this recipe out and you think the Hoisin sauce is not enough in the seasoning genre; add sparingly and keep tasting, you don't want to lose the overall flavor of the Hoisin and you can always add, but not take out.  If you add any hot seasoning such as dried chile peppers, remember, the longer it cooks, the hotter it gets.

Hoisin Pepper Steak

Ingredients:

3 lbs. round steak, cut into 1/4 inch thick strips

1/4 cup flour
1 each large green, yellow and red bell peppers, seeded and cut into 1/4 inch strips
1 large onion, cut into 1/4 inch strips
2 cups fresh sliced mushrooms
2 cups Hoisin sauce

Preparation:

Spray interior of a 6 quart slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray; set on low.  Place meat inside and sprinkle flour over top.  Layer bell peppers, onion and mushrooms; pour Hoisin sauce evenly over all.  Cover and let cook 6-8 hours; until meat is tender.  Serve over rice, noodles or potatoes.

Makes 8 to 10 servings.

Mary Cokenour

PF Chang's Mandarin Style Goes Frozen.

PF Chang's

Website: http://www.pfchangs.com/index.aspx

The first PF Chang's China Bistro opened in 1992 in Scottsdale, Arizona and now has over 200 locations worldwide. In one episode of  "Gene Simmons Family Jewels", his daughter goes on a date to one of the restaurants; which makes me ask, "What makes this restaurant so special, it created meals to sell in the frozen food aisle?" Something tells me it's because it is so popular with celebrities. I've never eaten in one of their locations, but understand that it is Mandarin cuisine which is the Chinese staple for the West coast.

If you've read my blog before, and why shouldn't you have, you know I'm from the East coast, so Cantonese is what I enjoy. Also, that one of my very favorite dishes is Chow Fun (Ho Fun). So when I saw a commercial for PF Chang's new Meals for Two containing noodles, and Chow Fun was one of the noodle dishes; I had to try it. Remember, when I go to Chinese restaurants here in the Southwest and ask for Chow Fun, I usually get a strange look from the waiter, or they serve me lo mein.

Cooking instructions are pretty simple; put all ingredients into a skillet, turn heat to medium-high, cover, stir occasionally, and within eleven minutes your meal will be done. After eleven minutes though, my little nests of noodles were still in a semi-frozen state and no amount of mixing separated them. So the cover was back on again and I gave it another four minutes; the noodles separated and became coated in the sauce.

This meal was called "Pepper Steak with Chow Fun Noodles"; the steak pieces were tender and it was loaded with chopped yellow and red bell peppers and onions. The sauce was dark, rich and a surprising medium spice heat which you don't expect in pepper steak. The noodles were a little disappointing; they took longer to cook than the directions called for and they were chewy. However, it was the closest to Chow Fun that I have had out here.

PF Chang's frozen meals run from $6.99 to $9.99 depending on the store you buy it from. Would I buy this meal again? The answer is yes, this is one product I'm willing to give a second chance to. Since I know what to expect when cooking it, I'll adjust the cooking time further to make sure the noodles come out better.

Mary Cokenour

So Easy, a Caveman can do it.

Or so as my husband has entitled this blog post. I would have named it, "Not Another What to do with Leftover Turkey Blog Post", but since he cooked, he got the title rights. That's correct, my husband actually took the time to cook dinner once again for me and I bet women all over are jealous. After all the stress and demands of getting Thanksgiving dinner prepped, cooked and cleaned up after, I finally had a melt down. Saturday afternoon the headache and muscle cramping hit big time and decided to stick around until Sunday night. My hunny made me tea and fluffed my pillows, he cooked up scrambled eggs and biscuits as it made me feel calm all over.

However, I had promised him Pepper Steak with Onions for dinner, but I just couldn't find the energy. Who came to the rescue? My hubby and he once again did a great job with the prep work and the cooking of the dish itself. He did moan and groan though and several times gripe, "but it looks so much easier when you do it". Me? I snickered in smug satisfaction.

So kudos to my husband, Roy, and his amazing kitchen skills...when he is desperately hungry that is.

Pepper Steak with Onions

Ingredients:

2 lbs London broil, cut into ¼ inch thick strips
2 medium green bell peppers, seeded and cut into ¼ inch thick strips
2 medium onions, cut into ¼ inch thick strips
2 Tbsp canola oil
½ cup soy sauce
½ tsp white pepper
1 tsp ground ginger

Preparation:

In a large skillet or Wok, on medium-high heat, brown the meat; remove to bowl and set aside. In same skillet or Wok, sauté the peppers and onions with the oil until softened. Add back the meat; add the soy sauce, white pepper and ginger; mix thoroughly. Let cook an additional 10 minutes before serving over white, fried or brown rice.

Makes 8 servings.

Mary Cokenour