Lovin' From the Oven

Crockpot Beef and Broccoli

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If you’ve been following me on my Instagram, then you probably know that I’ve been MIA on vacation for the past week. My DB and I went on a trip down to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. I can’t tell you how nice it is to travel and not worry about flying standby. We didn’t want to get stuck in the heavy summer traveling, so we bought full fare tickets instead.

We even got updated for no reason. Twice. It was glorious.

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I had no idea that Punta Cana was so close to Miami. It’s only a two hour flight! It was our first time traveling to the Dominican Republic and although we had a very relaxing time, two-three nights would have been enough time there. Punta Cana is more of a “resort” style vacation, where you stay at the hotel 24:7 and everything that you need is within walking distance so you don’t have to go anywhere off the grounds.

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We stayed at The Reserve at Paradisus in Punta Cana. I have to commend the staff for being so friendly and taking great care of us, but we were bored after three nights. My DB and I like venturing out into cities and exploring ma and pa shops or hidden gems.

The food was unimpressive as well. I feel like they don’t really care for dessert over there. There was plenty of food to eat at every hour in the day, but it wasn’t good food. Maybe we’re just spoiled living in the states, where ethnic foods are not only delicious, but easily accessible.

The first meal that I came back and ate in California was Bun Bo Hue, a Vietnamese noodle soup dish that I found myself craving for the last two days of vacation.

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Don’t get me wrong– Punta Cana was beautiful. The sand was soft, the water was warm, and there were no sharp rocks walking into ocean, but I can only lounge for so long. We also got lucky with the weather and had clear skies for 95% of our trip, despite it being hurricane season.

I’m glad we had the chance to go there, but I don’t have the need to revisit anytime soon. To each their own, I guess. 11 days in Hawaii wasn’t enough for us, but 5 days in Punta Cana was plenty.

This recipe for beef and broccoli comes from BS Recipes. It was good, but a bit salty for my taste. Next time, I’d try using low sodium soy sauce and low sodium beef consomme. Also, this didn’t quite taste like normal beef and broccoli from Panda Express or your local fast food Chinese take out restaurant. It’s definitely a different flavor. Because I was expecting that taste, I was disappointed.

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Crockpot Beef and Broccoli

Ingredients

  • 1 pound boneless beef chuck roast, sliced into thin strips
  • 1 cup beef consomme
  • 1/2 cup soy sauce
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon sesame oil
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 2 tablespoons sauce from the crock pot after being cooked
  • Fresh broccoli florets (as many as desired)
  • Hot cooked rice

Directions

  1. Place beef in a crock pot.
  2. In a small bowl, mix together the beef consomme, soy sauce, brown sugar, oil, and garlic. Pour over beef.
  3. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
  4. In a cup, stir cornstarch and sauce form the crock pot until smooth. Add back to the crock pot. Stir well to combine.
  5. Add broccoli and stir to combine.
  6. Cover and cook an additional 30 minutes on high (the sauce has to boil for it to thicken).
  7. Serve over hot cooked rice.
https://lovintheoven.com/crockpot-beef-and-broccoli/

Banana Pudding Poke Cake

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Great news!!! My DB was offered a job in downtown LA for next year, which means we will OFFICIALLY be moving back to sweet ol’ Southern California in less than a year!! I’m SO proud of him and how far he’s come. That boy never ceases to amaze me on his accomplishments (mostly because I could never do what he’s doing… and to think that I almost tried!).

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Things are, slowly but surely, falling into place in this so called life. Secure job gets a checkmark in it’s box, but there are a million of other “to-do” items that need to be checked off.

Get engaged, find a place to live– and where?, buy a home (condo?), figure out what I want to do, get married, have children…. the list is ongoing and new things get added every year. After one hurdle is another to jump over.

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I don’t mind it, though. It keeps me on my toes and always leaves something for my DB and I to talk about.

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I really am so ecstatic that we can move back close to our families next year. We’ll no longer be a plane ride away from our nieces and nephew. We’ll just be an hour in traffic, instead! Oh, 405, how are you the worst freeway on earth?

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I found this poke cake on Pinterest and am surprised how I never knew about it before. It’s the ultimate “Sandra Lee” cake.. meaning it’s the ultimate “semi-homemade” cake. Her motto is to “keep it simple, keep it smart, keep it semi-homemade,” and this cake is the epitome of that.

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You can change the flavor of the cake and the flavor of the pudding to make it a little different every time. How about white cake with pistachio pudding? Or chocolate cake with Oreo pudding topped with Oreo pieces? I think I’ve come up with my next baking project for tonight.

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Also, this cake reminded me of Cool Whip. I used to eat that stuff all the time when I was a kid, but I haven’t had it in ten years. Literally.

It’s so dang good.

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Recipe from The Country Cook.

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Banana Pudding Poke Cake

Ingredients

  • 1 (10 oz.) box yellow cake mix + ingredients needed to make cake (eggs, oil & water)
  • 2 (3.4 oz.) packages instant banana pudding
  • 4 cups milk
  • 1 (8 oz.) tub frozen whipped topping, thawed
  • 20 vanilla wafers, crushed

Directions

  1. Prepare cake mix according to package directions for a 9x13 cake. Once cake comes out of the oven, allow it to cool for just a couple of minutes.
  2. With a wooden spoon handle, begin poking holes in the cake, making sure to poke all the way to the bottom.
  3. In a bowl, make the pudding. Whisk together instant pudding with 4 cups milk. Stir until smooth and there are no more lumps. Let pudding sit for just about 2 minutes so it has just slightly begun to thicken but not fully set. It should still be easily pourable.
  4. Pour pudding over cake, taking care to get it into the holes as much as possible. Place in the fridge to set and cool.
  5. Once your cake has completely cooled, spread on the whipped topping.
  6. Sprinkle crushed wafers onto the top of the cake. You can do this part immediately before serving the cake if you'd like.
  7. Serve with freshly sliced bananas. Keep refrigerated.
https://lovintheoven.com/banana-pudding-poke-cake/

Turkey Taco Ramen

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Some days, you just don’t have the time to make a full on meal. You just want one pot to clean and for it to be done in less than 10 minutes. Introducing…the college kid’s meal: ramen.

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I’m pretty sure instant ramen or noodles is a staple for every college kid. I ate my fair share back when I was a student. Although, I don’t know when the last time I had a bowl of instant ramen was. Perhaps that’s a sign that I’m growing up?

I added two ingredients to bulk up a simple dish. Do you have any tricks or special ingredients that you add to your instant ramen? I’d love to know!

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Turkey Taco Ramen

Ingredients

  • 1 package instant ramen
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup ground taco turkey (I used leftover taco meat from the night before)

Directions

  1. Cook ramen according to the package directions.
  2. Scramble the egg and gently pour it into the pot of boiling water with ramen.
  3. Add in the ground turkey.
  4. Serve hot!
https://lovintheoven.com/turkey-taco-ramen/

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