Beef Broccoli Cake Noodle, Lasagna Bento, How to Freeze Ground Beef

I didn't do any cooking this weekend...what a shock! But we were quite busy this weekend! Instead, I'll be posting an old recipe that I haven't added to this blog yet.
























Beef Broccoli Cake Noodle

Cake Noodle
Oil
Saimin Noodles

(I used S&S Saimin but any freshly boiled egg noodles, or non-dry vaccum sealed such as yakisoba like this would work too, but I also heard you can use dry ramen packets too, but I didn't try)


1) Heat skillet drizzle with oil evenly on the base of the skillet.
2) Spread noodles evenly on the skillet and let it fry, pressing down with spatula from time to time (like a pancake), about 3-5 minutes or until bottom is golden brown.
3) Flip the noodles over and continue to cook on the other side, pressing down with spatula again. At this time, you may add more oil if the previous oil had been absorbed by the noodles, about another 3-5 minutes, or until the bottom is golden brown.
4) Remove from skillet and let it cool on paper towel.
5) Cut them into squares and place them on a serving plate.



Beef Broccoli
(measurements are not exact, this is how my mom taught me, she made us memorize the ingredients but never gave us measurments. LOL!)


3/4 cup of sliced beef
1 tbsp shoyu
3 tsp oil
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
3 tsp cornstarch
1 cup of broccoli (cut into big chunks)
1 tbs cornstarch mix with 1 tbs water


1) In a bowl, add in sliced beef, shoyu, oil, salt, sugar, cornstarch and mix well (with chopsticks), let marinate for 20-30 mins.
2) Meanwhile, blanch broccoli until desire doneness.
3) In a large greased skillet, add in beef (and it's sauce) and stir until 3/4 cooked.
4) Toss in blanched broccoli and continue to stir fry.
5) Add in cornstach and water mixture and let it heat through until sauce thickens.
6) Pour entire beef broccoli content (with sauce) over the fried cake noodle.
7) Serve!


It's alot of oil in the cake noodle, but it's so delicious! You can also try it vegetarian style such as Hapa Bento's Cake Noodle with Fried Tofu.


Yesterday we did a costco run and we picked up a tray of frozen Meat Lasagna so that was our dinner last night. That is usually WAY to much lasagna for the 3 of us, so I got to take some for lunch. I fixed up this bento last night in my new bento box I purchased for US$7 from Don Quijote.


















Top tier contains romain lettuce with flower carrots and grapes, bottom tier contains lasagna with cheese autumn shapes and garlic bread. What a well rounded meal! AND I got to carry put it in this cute bento container!

















They said both the top and bottom container (minus the lids) are microwavable! How awesome is that!

Lastly I'd like to share a tip on how to freeze your ground beef. I like to buy ground beef in bulk because it's cheaper. But with the size of my family, I can't cook them all at once and I normally separate them and put them into the freezer for later use. I often buy ground beef that is closest to 6 pounds, like 6.1 lb or 5.9 lbs or similar, this is so that it is easier for me to divide them up into 1 pound each and place into storage plastic bags. Once I divide them and place each pound separately into the freezer storage bags, I flatten them out to fill up the entire bag. I did this for 2 reasons: 1) to save space in your freezer and 2) It will thaw quicker and more evenly than when it's in a ball or clump. Don't forget to mark the date on the bag before putting them in the freezer!!

Oh and I just realized I never did publish my fried rice and grill pork post. I was looking all over for this when I was trying to link my last post's fried rice...only now I realized I didn't publish it. Must be old age! Oh well, here it is!