Before I get into this AH-MAZING homemade Chinese takeout dish, let’s talk about the weekend. Anyone do anything fun? It’s so annoying as to how the weekends come and go so incredibly quickly. I swear, one minute it’s Friday, the next I’m in bed on Sunday night, getting ready for the dreaded start of the week. Whatever happens in between?!

Okay well enough with the rant. Here’s a recap of my fun-filled weekend via Instagram.

A huge box of cinnamon chips happily made its trek from Amazon so I immediately made these cinnamon-sugar scones, which has definitely become a favorite of mine (recipe to come).

I had an itch to bake late Friday night so I made pecan pralines. I wish there was more of pecan-to-caramel-ratio as it was just way too sweet for me to handle. That doesn’t mean I didn’t grab a few on the way to the gym Saturday morning!

I used my beautiful slow cooker to make chicken adobo for the very first time (recipe to come). I still can’t get over how easy is to make dinner using this nifty cooking equipment.

After having brunch with one of my dear old friends at Il Tramezzino, my favorite panini place, we went into TJ Maxx next door with no intention to buy anything. But then I ended up walking out of the store with $56 worth of merchandise! It’s okay though – I managed to find these gorgeous discounted le creuset casserole dishes for so cheap.

I was preparing to send another care package to Jason but since I couldn’t choose between making cookies and brownies, I decided to make a hybrid with these white chocolate macadamia nut brownie cookies (recipe to come). Pretty genius, right?

Well there’s my weekend in a nutshell. Now let’s move on to this orange beef and broccoli, shall we?

If you’ve been following me for a while, you know how much I love making Chinese food at home. It’s not only incredibly easy, quick, and cheap but the taste and quality is SO much better. Now I’ve made several traditional Chinese takeout dishes before but this one was new to me so I was particularly excited about it when Lindsay had made it.

I’m a big fan of orange flavor so I knew that I would love this dish, especially because you get three, yes THREE, doses of orange. You have orange zest, freshly squeezed orange juice, AND orange marmalade. And you can’t forget the orange zest garnish at the very end. So if you don’t like orange, you’ve been warned, although this dish might just change your mind. There’s a perfect meat-to-broccoli ratio and the orange sauce has a little bit of sweetness from the marmalade in combination with the freshness of orange in every bite. Best of all, this dish is incredibly easy to make, which means you’ll have dinner on the table in 30 minutes or less. Plus, leftovers are perfect to bring to work the next day.

Orange Beef and Broccoli (adapted from Pinch of Yum):

Yields 3-4 servings

  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup beef broth
  • Zest of 2 oranges, plus more for garnish
  • 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
  • 1/4 cup orange marmalade
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1 head broccoli, cut into florets
  • 1 teaspoon canola oil
  • 1 pound flank steak
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • Brown rice, for serving

In a large bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, beef broth, orange zest, orange juice, orange marmalade and cornstarch.

Bring 1-inch of water to a boil in a saucepan with a steamer. (If you don’t have a steamer, you can simply put the broccoli directly into an inch of boiling water.) Add the broccoli to the steamer and cover; let steam until bright green, about 2 minutes.

Thinly slice the flank steak, about 1/4-inch thick, across the grain. (It will be easier to slice the beef in thin strips if it has been partially frozen.)

Heat canola oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Add the steak and cook, turning occasionally, until cooked through, about 3-4 minutes.

Drain the excess fat.

Stir in the prepared sauce mixture until it begins to thicken, about 1 minute.

Remove from heat and stir in the cooked broccoli.

Serve immediately over brown rice garnished with orange zest, if desired.

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