Cooking with Kathy: Everything But the Kitchen Sink Beef with Veggies

I'm feeling better since yesterday so I decided it was time to cook a veggie-rich dish.  Ready for another episode of Cooking with Kathy?  I feel like I need to get my Julia Child voice out right now.  (Wasn't she fabulous?)

Everything But the Kitchen Sink Beef with Veggies

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 8 oz beef tenderloin (can be substituted for a different cut to save on calories)
• 2 c mushrooms (I went a little cray on these, but I love shrooms!)
• 1 large red bell pepper
• 1 whole zucchini
• 2 tbsp Yoshidas Original Gourmet Sweet & Savory Sauce (you can omit this and just spices for flavoring to save on the sodium, but I wanted to add a little extra yumminess)

I came up with the name for this dish because it's how I often cook when dealing with veggies - I open the fridge to see what I have on hand and how much of a shelf-life is left.  My father would probably blow a gasket knowing I used the beef tenderloin he bought while he was here visiting on the stove instead of on the grill.  He bought a package of 4 steaks for something like $35 at Costco.  They are so delicious but way more steak than I would normally eat.  So I just divided the left over pieces and threw them in the freezer for future use.

The first step is take out your pan and saute your EVOO and garlic over a medium heat.  If you're trying to watch your oil (although this one is a healthy fat), you can use cooking spray instead.  While that's getting going, slice your beef into bite-size pieces and then add that to the pan.

While all of that is browning, dice all of your veggies up.  I give a rough chop to the mushrooms and zucchini while keeping the bell pepper in long pieces.  

When the beef has just a little bit of pink left, add in the sauce/spices before the veggies.  I like to do that to ensure the flavor is not just on the veggies but the entire dish.  And, yes, I measure to make sure I'm not putting too much in.

Time to add in all your veggies at once.  At this point, I also turn up the heat a little bit to get those veggies cooked.   I would prefer them to be a little crunchy and not soggy.

The veggies do a great job of cooking down, so it's not nearly as much as it looks to be.  I chose to have this dish without any carbs, but you can pair it with a serving of brown rice or quinoa.  Here's the delicious finished product.  

Nutritional info, 2 servings with the following in each serving:  

340 calories, 23g carbs, 14g fat, 30g protein, 521mg sodium

Water Challenge Day 61:  Drank 180 out of 180 ounces