Better than Take Out Beef & Broccoli

My fiance loves broccoli!  We have even joked about opening up a restaurant where every dish has broccoli in it haha.  I assume that would turn many people away.  Regardless, we enjoy beef and broccoli very much. However, we had not found a healthy option until now.  I am not a fan of Chinese take out and the frozen beef and broccoli from Trader Joe's has way too much sodium in it.  So, when I found this recipe from Rainy Day Gal, we were very excited to try it!  We used New York Strip because Trader Joe's does not sell flank steak or any other less expensive meat that we could find.  But, I am pretty sure any cut of meat will taste great.

Servings: 4
Total Time: 1 1/2 hours (meat marinates for an hour)

Ingredients:

Meat Marinade: 

• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp sugar (I used coconut sugar as a healthier alternative)
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tbsp water
• 2 tbsp EVOO (calls for vegetable oil but I always use EVOO)
• 1 1/2 lbs meat, cut into thin strips (I find using kitchen scissors is the easiest)

Sauce:

• 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
• 2 tbsp dark brown sugar
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp flour (I used spelt as it is healthier)
• 3 tbps EVOO
• 2 heads broccoli (I used 1 microwaveable bag from store)

Directions:

Whisk together meat marinade ingredients.  Toss in meat, cover and place in refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Prepare sauce by mixing together the soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic and flour.  

In a saute pan, heat 2 tbsp EVOO (or vegetable oil) over high heat.  Add broccoli and saute 3 minutes, stirring often.  If you have a gas range, I would turn the temperature down a little bit (I do have gas and found it was better a little lower).   Transfer broccoli to plate.  

Reduce heat to medium or medium high.  Add remaining tbsp of EVOO and then add the marinated meat and half the sauce.  Saute for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring frequently, until the meat is no long pink.  Stir in the broccoli and remaining sauce and let cook for 1 minutes.

Enjoy!!