The Healthy Kitchen: Quinoa Beef and Broccoli

 For anyone that knows me, I have hated broccoli my whole life, until recently. My first time having it where I didn't hate it was at a hibachi restaurant. I discovered that if it is covered in some sauce and cut up small that I can tolerate it, even dare I say like it. As a result, I have found myself buying it more and cooking with it. I decided to try a twist on an Asian classic beef and broccoli. 

First, I thawed out a steak, this one was a top sirloin. I trimmed off the bone and fat, then cut it into strips. 

Then I placed it in a ziploc bag to marinate in an Asian steak marinade. 

Asian Steak Marinade
1/3 C basalmic vinegar
1/3 C soy sauce

1/3 vegetable oil

1 TBSP worcestershire sauce

2 TBSP maple syrup

1/4 C coconut sugar

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

Whisk all together and once combined add to ziploc bag with the steak. I marinated it for a few hours. 

Once marinated, I added the whole bag including all the marinade into a covered skillet. I cooked on medium high until the beef was cooked. Then I added the broccoli I had already chopped up. I cut up a head of broccoli and only used the florets in small pieces. I cooked for a few minutes until softened then added a cornstarch flurry (1:3 ratio cornstarch to water) to thicken the sauce. 

The quinoa was cooked in the rice cooker with beef bone broth. This took the longest of the whole meal! Then once the quinoa was done, I dished up some quinoa with the beef and broccoli and sauce and topped with some sriracha sauce. I was able to get 4 servings out of this meal. 

To make this meal healthier, I replaced the brown sugar with the coconut sugar which does not spike my blood sugar. Also, I used 1 steak for the beef strips. It was a larger steak but not thick, but I split that one steak into 4 meals. I also replaced what most people would use as a base, rice, with quinoa. 

This was not made with a traditional beef and broccoli sauce just with the marinade listed above.