Most nights, this is the face we are graced with at the dinner table. It's not that she doesn't like to eat or even that she doesn't like the food. She just eats so damn slowly that we have to constantly say "keep eating Irelyn" or she'll literally take about one bite every 5 minutes. Makes for a long time at the dinner table. I am usually cleaning up the dinner dishes/pans/etc... while she is still sitting there eating. We don't force her to eat everything on her plate, we just ask that she eat. Something. Anything.

For dinner, R requested that I make Mongolian Beef. Sounded good and easy enough, which is what I needed since I have had zero motivation in the cooking department recently. It turned out really well and everyone enjoyed it, even Irelyn, except it took her 30 minutes to eat the little bit that was on her plate.

Here's the recipe:

A little over 1 lb. cube steaks (I used 4) or you can use flank steak - cut into thin strips against the grain

1/4 C  cornstarch

1/2 tsp. fresh grated ginger

1 Tbs. minced fresh garlic (about 2-3 cloves)

1/2 C soy sauce

1/2 C water

1/2 C brown sugar (I would cut this down to maybe a 1/3 C next time)

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

canola oil

rice (we use jasmine rice)

cut up your steak and toss it with the cornstarch. Shake off excess.

Begin cooking your rice

Heat up a little canola oil in a skillet/wok to medium-high heat. Add ginger and garlic. Immediately add in soy sauce, water, brown sugar and red pepper flakes. Cook and stir for about 2 minutes until sugar dissolves. Remove liquid to a bowl. Add a little more oil to the pan and add in the beef. This should cook fairly quickly since it is thinly sliced. When beef is almost cooked through, add the sauce back into the pan. At this point you can let the sauce thicken (about 4 minutes) or serve as is. I let the sauce thicken a bit and it was really good that way. We served it over rice and had broccoli on the side. Next time I think I will actually add the broccoli in with the beef/sauce. The recipe also called for scallions but R doesn't care for those so I left them out. Enjoy!

Recipe found here.