Crock Pot Orange Chinese Beef

I am a little addicted to my crock pot. I think I need a support group. In my travels today I found an Aldi food store, and I'll admit I was a little overly excited! I've been wanting Chinese food so bad today, even though at this point with my weight loss I can eat it, it's so greasy I really don't want to. I picked up some thin sliced sirloin so I decided to make some Chinese at home. You can also totally make this as a stir fry in a pan.

• 1 lb thin slices sirloin cut into strips
• 1 Tbsp sesame oil (you can use whatever you have, I used sesame for the Chinese theme)
• 1 teaspoon ginger powder
• 2 green bell peppers, chopped
  
• 2 small white onions, chopped
• 1/2 cup teriyaki sauce
• 1/2 cup orange juice
  
• 2 Tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 Tablespoons chopped garlic
  

Heat oil up in a pan. Salt and pepper your steak and brown it up in the pan. Add your chopped onions, peppers, and garlic in the crock pot on low. Add steak in. Add in ginger powder, teriyaki sauce, OJ, and soy sauce. Cook on low for 4-5 hours. This was soooo delicious!

Chinese "Lo Mein" with Chicken Meat Balls

If you're like me, you used to eat Chinese food a lot. But it's expensive, greasy and NOT good for us. This recipe was adapted from a recipe I saw on Rachel Ray's 30 minute meals, but it looked like it could be made into a bariatric meal, no problem. Do not be intimidated by the ingredient list. This whole thing only cost me 10 dollars for all the ingredients. I had about half of them at home. This is easy to make, and very good.

• 1lb whole wheat spaghetti (This time I used America's Choice Plus spaghetti. It had more protein, fiber and less calories than the wheat. This is a knock off version of the barilla plus, but I'm cheap.)



• 1 lb ground chicken, turkey or pork (I used chicken)



• 1 egg



• 2 cups panko bread crumbs (I found these in the Chinese food aisle, 1.19 a box)



• 1 teaspoon Chinese 5-spice, plus a pinch to put in the spaghetti (also found in the Chinese food aisle, it was 2.19 for a jar, pretty cheap)



• 8 green onions, 2 finely chopped for the meat balls, the rest chopped regular for stir fry. (these are in season right now, I got a bunch for 50 cents)



• 2 tablespoons soy sauce for meat balls, plus 1/2 a cup for stir fry



• 1 box frozen sugar snap peas



• 1 red bell pepper, seeds and membrane removed, cut in thin strips



• 1 teaspoon ginger powder



• 1-2 tablespoons chopped garlic



• 1 large bag spinach, remove the big stems, and rip apart coarsely


• 2 Tablespoons teriyaki sauce



• 1 Tablespoon sesame oil



• 3 Tablespoons sesame seeds



• salt and pepper



• cooking spray

Preheat oven to 375. Boil a pot of water and add spaghetti and a little salt to the water. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta water. Place chicken, turkey or pork in a mixing bowl. Add the egg to the bowl. Add panko bread crumbs, a pinch of salt and pepper, five-spice powder, 2 chopped scallions and 2 tablespoons soy sauce. Mix the meat balls thoroughly. Form 1 1/2-inch balls and spray balls with cooking spray, scatter onto a baking sheet and roast 15-20 minutes.

When the meatballs are close to done and the pasta is in, heat a large skillet over high heat with enough cooking spray to coat the bottom of the skillet. Add the sugar snap peas, red pepper, remaining cut scallions, ginger powder, a pinch more 5 spice and garlic, stir-fry 2 minutes add spinach and wilt, 1 minute. Add the remaining soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, and the sesame oil. Drain pasta, add in pasta cooking water, and pasta and toss to combine so pasta can soak up sauce, about 1 minute. Garnish with sesame seeds and top with lots of meatballs.

This is really good, and it's actually simple, even though it sounds like a lot of steps! Try it out! Warning this makes a TON!