Easy Beef Stir-Fry

We have had a reasonable summer thus far.  Until this week.  Hello, hot and humid.  I haven't missed you.  That means that my oven is officially out of commission.  I just can't make myself turn it on when my poor air conditioner is working its tail off just to keep it under 80 degrees in this old house.  So stove-top recipes are my friend right now.  

One of my favorite oven-free dinners is stir-fry.  It is fast, easy, and packed with yummy flavors.  I also love that you just need to add some brown rice and a side of fruit, and you have a great, healthy, well balanced meal in no time.  If you use instant brown rice, you can have this meal ready in about 15 minutes.  Yeah, I like that.

I have tried a few different stir-fry recipes that were all good.  But when I tried this recipe, which I originally got from kraftfoods.com, I knew that I had found "the one."  This recipe allows me to make my own stir-fry sauce that I can adjust to my own taste, but still whip up in no time.  It has a nice shot of ginger, and I like to add some ground red pepper for just a bit of heat.  

I have also played around with different vegetable combinations.  Sometimes I use frozen stir-fry veggies, which come in different varieties.  I have also added some of my own veggies.  In the pictures included with this post, I added some chopped carrots and red peppers.  The flexibility of this recipe is one of the great things it has going for it.  Do what feels right!

Whatever veggies you use in your stir-fry, the sauce is the boss.  And this sauce is awesome.  So fry up some beef, throw in your favorite veggies and this great sauce.  With a total cook time of about 6 minutes, you will be enjoying a family-friendly, budget-friendly, waistline-friendly, and taste bud-friendly meal.  Sounds good to me!

Beef Stir-Fry
Ingredients:
1/4 cup lite soy sauce
2 Tbsp lite Italian dressing
1 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground red pepper
1 lb minute or flank steak, cut into thin strips
2 tsp cornstarch
1 pkg (16 oz) frozen stir-fry vegetables, thawed, drained
1/4 cup roasted peanuts
Brown rice, for serving
Directions:
Mix soy sauce, dressing, ginger, and red pepper until well blended.  Set aside.
Toss meat with cornstarch.
Spray large nonstick skillet with cooking spray; heat on medium-high heat.  Add meat mixture and cook, while stirring, for 3 minutes or until meat is cooked through.  Add vegetables and soy sauce.  Cook and stir 3 more minutes or until sauce is thickened and vegetables are heated through.
Serve over rice.  Top with peanuts if desired.

Recipe adapted from kraftfoods.com