Kansas City Steak Strips

My sister passed this recipe along to me years ago when I told her that my husband loves green beans.  He also loves beef, so this was sure to be a hit with him.  It was and it continues to be one of his favorite dishes.  What I love about this dish, other than how good it tastes, is that it can be prepared and on the table in about half an hour!

This dish is easy to prepare and is quite flavorful, plus it doesn't heat up the kitchen in the hot summer months.  My guys give it 8's and 9's on the Melnarik rating scale.

I always serve this over rice, and since it takes about 20 minutes to cook, I get that going in the rice cooker first.  If you don't have a rice cooker, the rice can be prepared in a medium saucepan on the stove.  Rice, when cooked, doubles in size so keep that in mind when determining how much to make.  I usually use about 2 1/2 to 3 cups of raw rice so that I have enough to go with any leftover meat.

I like to use my wok for this dish because it gives me plenty of stirring space, but a large skillet may also be used.  To begin, I melt half of the butter in the wok.

I add the steak, which I've cut into strips, cooking over medium-high heat until no longer pink and slightly browned on the edges.

I remove the cooked beef to a board.  It does not need to be kept warm as it will be returned to the pan to reheat with the rest of the ingredients.

The remaining butter goes into the wok, where I let it melt.

Then I add the green onions to the wok, stirring and cooking over medium-high heat until they are wilted, but before they begin to brown.  They get removed from the pan to the steak, which was previously removed.

The beef broth gets added to the wok and as it heats, I scrape the pan to get any of the tasty bits that the meat or onions left behind.  

Then I add the chili sauce and stir to combine.

To that, I add the frozen green beans.  That's right, you don't even have to thaw them!  They defrost quickly and they cook in about 3 minutes as I stir occasionally.  The original recipe indicated that the green beans could be substituted with frozen mixed vegetables, but I've never tried it that way as we like it so much this way.

Once the beans are cooked, I add back in the steak and green onions, stirring to combine the ingredients and making sure the meat and beans are covered in the sauce.  I stir making sure everything is heated through.  Salt and pepper is added at this point according to our taste.

The last step is to serve it over the hot, fluffy rice.  Simple and tasty, it doesn't get much better than that!  Enjoy!

Kansas City Steak Strips

2 sirloin strip steaks (12 oz. ea.) or 1 lb. of sirloin beef tips

3 tablespoons butter

1 cup thinly sliced green onions

1/2 cup beef broth

1/2 cup chili sauce

1 (9 oz.) package frozen green beans

salt and pepper to taste

cooked long grain rice

Cut meat into even strips or bite-size pieces.  Heat half of butter (1.5 tablespoons) in large skillet.  Add meat and saute over medium-high heat until meat is brown.  Do not overcook.  Remove meat.  Add remaining butter to pan and add green onions; saute over medium-high heat 4 - 5 minutes until onions are soft, but not brown. Remove to beef.  Add broth to pan; heat and scrape pan brownings.  Add chili sauce, stirring to combine.  Add green beans to pan and cook for 3 minutes.  Add meat and onions back into pan; stir to combine.  Cook over high heat for a few minutes until hot.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Serve immediately over hot, fluffy rice.

Baked Steak Burritos

These are one of my youngest son's favorite things I make.  They are easy to put together and are quite tasty.  He especially likes that there are always half a dozen or so left over that I keep in the refrigerator so he can heat one quickly in the microwave when he's hungry.  This recipe gets all 9's from my guys on the Melnarik rating scale!

To begin, I melt a stick of butter in a large skillet.  No, this is not a Paula Deen recipe!  I found it in the Pillsbury 40th BAKE-OFF Contest Cookbook.  The original recipe called for drenching the burritos in enchilada sauce and covering that with more cheese, but my husband doesn't care for enchilada sauce, so I skipped that part and it's still a favorite in this house.  Back to cooking:  I add one package of taco seasoning and mix the two together.

In goes the strips of beef.  As they cook, I keep turning them over in the seasoning and butter, making sure each strip is fully coated.

In the meantime, I put the refried beans in a medium bowl and microwave to heat them.  I stir them to make sure they are soft and easy to spread.

I also heat the tortillas in the microwave so they don't break when folding them.  Then I apply a bit of beans just off-center on the tortilla.

Next, I put on the cheese.  I've learned that if I put the cheese on before the meat, once the tortilla is folded and placed seam side down on the baking pan, the cheese will be on top and will melt down into the meat in the oven.  I don't know why I think this means it gets more evenly distributed, but I just prefer it this way.

A few green onions for flavor are added next.

Last on is the meat.  I usually put enough to cover the beans and cheese, but not too much as it makes it hard to fold it into a burrito.  The next step is to fold it into a burrito.  I am by no means an expert at this.  While looking at the photo above, imagine folding the right side of the tortilla over the meat, then fold the top and bottom toward the center over the side you just folded in.  Then, roll the whole thing towards the left over the left side of the tortilla.  Simple, right?

I flipped one around to show you what it should look like when completed.

I place them all on a baking tray (you can see from this photo that mine aren't very pretty or neat) and into the oven they go.  While the first batch is in the oven, I assemble the rest so I can put them in the oven while we eat dinner.  This gives them plenty of time to cool while cleaning up after dinner before putting them in the refrigerator.

I use the soft taco size tortillas, so the burritos aren't very large.  If my guys are very hungry, they'll eat two.  Paired with a southwestern-type salad, one is plenty for me!  Enjoy!

Baked Steak Burritos

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

1 pkg. taco seasoning

1 1/2 lbs. boneless beef sirloin tip steak, cut into thin strips

1 (16 oz.) can refried beans

12 soft taco size flour tortillas

3 cups shredded cheddar cheese

3 green onions, thinly sliced

Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Melt butter in large skillet over medium heat.  Stir in taco seasoning mix.  Add beef strips; cook and stir 5 to 6 minutes or until of desired doneness.  Drain.  Meanwhile, place refried beans in microwave-safe dish.  Microwave on HIGH for 2 minutes, stirring once.  Place tortillas between paper towels and microwave on HIGH for 1 minute.  Assembling one at a time, spread beans on tortilla just off center.  Top with cheese, onions and beef.  Roll up, folding in sides.  Place seam side down on an ungreased baking sheet.  Repeat with all tortillas.  Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.