Food, food, and food!

After Work Beef Stew with Orzo

I worked late today and needed a quick dinner.  Yesterday, I made Pepper Steak and General Tso's Chicken and had no leftovers, so that was out.  When I was prepping for the Pepper Steak yesterday, I realized I took out too much stir fry beef from the freezer.  Since the extra beef was already defrosted, I could not put it back into the freezer, so I put it into a container and added some Italian dressing to marinate it.  I sealed the container and put it into my refrigerator and would decide what to do with it.  As I was rooting around in the refrigerator tonight for something to eat, I saw the container with the beef.  I knew I had to cook it today, so I decided to at least cook the beef and figure out what to do with it tomorrow.  I placed the beef with its marinade into a pot and proceeded to cook it.  As it cooked, I added some water to help with the cooking process.  As it boiled, I got some inspiration.  After about 15 minutes of boiling, I added a few tablespoons of coffee creamer to the pot.  Next I added a few tablespoons of pasta sauce to the pot.  Finally, I added 1/4 cup of uncooked orzo to the pot.  I reduced the heat and let it cook until the orzo was done.  After the sauce thickened,  I turned off the heat and let the pot sit for about 5 minutes.  I plated, added some parmesan cheese, olive oil, and freshly ground black pepper, and voila! This was a very quick, easy, and tasty dinner.  Give it a try after a long day at work. 

Ingredients

1lb Stir Fry Beef, marinated overnight

1/4 cup coffee creamer

1/4 cup prepared pasta sauce

1/4 cup uncooked orzo pasta

1 1/2 cup water

Parmesan  cheese

Black Pepper

Olive Oil

Method

1. Marinate the beef in your favorite marinade or use some Italian dressing as a marinade.

2. In a medium pot with a lid, add the beef with its marinade and cook over medium heat.

3. After the meat has browned, add the water and cook for 15 minutes.

4. Add the coffee creamer and pasta sauce and return to a boil.

5. Once boiling, add the orzo, reduce the heat, cover and cook another 10-15 minutes or until the orzo is tender.

6. Turn off the heat and let stand covered for 5 minutes.

7. Serve with parmesan cheese, olive oil, and black pepper.