Freezer Food Friday

The recipe has the ingredients for one recipe worth on the left and the ingredient amounts times three on the right if you want to have a couple pre-made meals for the freezer.

If you would like, here is a printable recipe card for multiple batches of Orange Beef Wrap Filling for the freezer instead of using the recipe below.

Labels for Orange Beef Lettuce Wrap Filling

Orange Beef Lettuce Wraps

One for tonight and two to freeze!  Can be used as a filling for lettuce wraps or served over rice.

One recipe:             times 3:

1 cup                         3 cups        matchstick cut carrots (to see how to do this, go here.)

1 ½ lbs.                   4 ½ lbs.      boneless steak (I got bottom round on sale)

1 T                             3 T             cornstarch

2 T                             1/3 cup      oil (I use olive)

1/4 t                          3/4 t           crushed red pepper flakes

½ cup                      1 ½ cups      green onions, thinly sliced, including green tops

1 (8 oz.) can           3 cans         water chestnuts, cut into matchsticks

Sauce:

3 T                            ½ cup            frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed

3 T                            ½ cup            hoisin sauce (be sure GFCF)

3 T.                           ½ cup            rice wine vinegar

3 T                            ½ cup            low sodium soy sauce (be sure GFCF)

2 T                            1/3 cup         packed brown sugar

1 T                             3 T                cornstarch

½ t                            ½ t                 fresh grated ginger (or paste)

¼ t                            ¾ t                 pepper

Serving day:

2 heads Boston lettuce leaves, separated, rinsed and dried

mung bean sprouts

chopped peanuts or cashews

diced cucumbers, shredded bok choy, etc.

cooked rice

Cut steak into pieces 3”  long and 1/8 inch thick.  In bowl, combine sliced steak and cornstarch.  Toss to coat and set aside.  In another bowl combine sauce ingredients and set aside.

In a wok or large skillet, heat half of oil  over medium-high heat.  Add the carrots and stir-fry until just crisp-tender.  Stir in water chestnuts, remove mixture from pan and set aside to cool.

Add rest of oil to pan and heat.  Working in batches, stir-fry meat and crushed chili pepper flakes, until browned on all sides, being careful not to overcook.  As a batch of meat is cooked, remove from pan and set aside to cool while another batch of meat is being stir-fried.  A 9×13 pan works well for this.

After the last batch of meat is cooked and removed from pan, lower heat to medium and pour orange sauce mixture into pan.  Whisk sauce, scraping any brown bits in pan and cook until thick and bubbly.  Remove from heat and cool sauce.

Assemble bags:  I set up two freezer bags with “orange beef mix,” the date, and reheating instructions written on it.  You will also need a pan to warm tonight’s dinner.  I divide the cooled carrots mix, cooked beef, green onions, and sauce by three, one part in each bag and one part in the pan.  Squeeze out all the air from the bags, flatten and freeze.

To eat:  Thaw and heat over medium low heat until heated through.  Put a small amount of meat mixture onto a lettuce leaf and top with desired toppings.  Fold over leaf and eat.  Serve with rice if desired.