Szechwan Beef Stir-fry

Well today on the menu was a Stir-fry, which I am not super crazy about - but nonetheless, will make. It looked nice and did taste good. Now "good" is a word I use to pretty much demean the product, character, person or whatever is in reference. I love words with a little more sass to describe something, so by using good you will know it was "bland" in my opinion. Really it wasn't that bad, it tasted like any other normal Stir-Fry you might encounter. Nothing out of the ordinary or note worthy. Verdict: "Good". Make it if your taste buds yearn for such things...mine are going to eat chocolate right now.

( from Better Homes and Gardens "new" Cook Book)

Recipe:

• 12 oz sirloin steak
• 3 Tbs Orange Juice
• 3 Tbs Soy Sauce
• 2 Tbs Water
• 2 Tbs bottled Hoisin Sauce
• 1 Tbs grated fresh ginger or 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 2 tsp Cornstarch
• 1 tsp Sugar
• 2 Cloves Garlic, minced
• 1/4 red pepper (optional) (I sprinkled in some black pepper)
• 1 Tbs cooking oil
• 1 cup thinly sliced Carrots
• 1 14oz can whole baby corn, drained
• 1 red sweet pepper, cut small
• Thinly sliced green onion (optional)

I cut the meat into nice thin strips and placed in a large skillet, not cooking yet. Then cooked the veggies ( actually I cheated and bought frozen veggies - the store had horrible fresh veggies!) So I cooked them and let cool. I combined everything from the OJ to Garlic in a bowl and blended well (make sure you get that cornstarch all blended, it tends to chunk up). I heated up a little oil, cooked the meat - then added the sauce and stirred till all the meat was covered and the sauce was a little bubbly and thickened. I then combined the vegetables with the meat and sauce. All the while I had a pot of white rice cooking on the stove. The end result was this:

I served it with some Chow Mein noodles...mmmmm