Beef Cubes and Green Beans over Mashed Potatoes

This was a really, really good and really, really easy recipe.  I made it up at 4:30 because I needed something and kept adding as I went.  I started with the beef cubes I'd defrosted in the morning with no plan for what to do with them, and really, it was about as easy as it gets.  I'm actually blogging about it so I can remember it for next time.

Disclaimer:  Nothing is measured, this is a guess of how much I used.

beef cubes (~1 and 1/2 lb.)
thin sliced onion (1/2)
one to two quarts green beans (frozen is fine--I have frozen quart bags of summer green beans)
2-3 T brown mustard
2 T worchesterchire
1-2 T soy sauce
1/2 - 3/4 c white wine
2 T rice wine vinegar

Boil water with the potatoes in it.  The mashed potatoes took the longest of anything.   

Saute the beef cubes in a little olive oil on low heat.  When they're mostly cooked but not quite all the way, add the liquid ingredients above (I mixed them all together briskly before adding them).  Then I added the onion, and when it was simmering I added the frozen green beans.  The beef was ready before the mashed potatoes. 

Then I made the mashed potatoes and served.  It was easy.  I had baked apples for dessert which was nice.

Tell me how it turned out when you made it!  Did you tweak it at all?  What did you serve it with?

Last Night For Dinner

Last night for dinner we had a garlic and onion-free version of an old favorite.  Vegetarian Paella (well, except I threw in a few pieces of leftover frozen turkey meat):

I adapted the recipe (and it's slightly different each time) from one I found on the Whole Foods web site.  The fun part of real seafood paella is the shellfish you get to open while eating.  So I leave chunky vegetable "surprises" in the rice for this one, too.  In the summer you can put half ears of corn in the cob in there.  My winter version was as follows:

[onion]
[garlic]
[pepper]
If I could stand how they taste and smell right now (I've had to avoid them all of my pregnancies) I'd have first sauted these first two ingredients in olive oil.  And if I wasn't later adding chunks of roasted red pepper I'd have added that, too.  Since I wasn't doing any of these, I started by sauteing uncooked rice with some strands of saffron.  If you don't have saffron, you can substitute by using a little turmeric.  Saute rice for a few minutes on low heat.  Add a can of tomatoes (diced or whole) with juice (or frozen diced tomatoes if you stocked your freezer with seasonal veggies in the fall) and some broth (chicken or vegetarian).  Broth should just cover the rice.  I didn't measure either, just be sure to add more water or broth later if rice seems to be drying out while cooking.  At this point you have a lot of freedom in what to add.  Last night I added soy beans (the last time I used lima beans), green olives, roasted red peppers, shredded zucchini/summer squash (I had that frozen from fall in one cup measurements--I stuck in one cup), and some frozen hunks of leftover Christmas turkey meat (you could easily leave that out, unless you're married to a "every dish must have some meat" guy like I am).  Then I left it on the stove on low heat until the rice was softened but not soggy.  I stirred in frozen peas and orange slices as my last step and let it sit until they warmed.  When I put the paella on our plates (or you can serve all of it on a large shallow bowl and be more authentic) I added some slices of sweet potato (I had baked those in my crockpot during the day) and some slices of avocado.  It serves beautifully.  We had sauted broccoli rabe on the side, which was a great compliment.