“I am a great eater of beef, and I believe that does harm to my wit.” ~ William Shakespeare

When I first started cooking on my own, I thought Chinese food just had too many weird ingredients and was too time consuming to make. It definitely was not my mom's pot roast and mashed potatoes.

Luckily, the more dishes I tried, the easier that style of cooking became. What I came to appreciate it that the ingredients are simple and almost always fresh. For instance, Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry only takes three main ingredients and you probably have everything else in your pantry. How easy is that?

This recipe is quick, easy to prepare, fairly light and delicious.

Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry
by Terri Powers for Terri's Table

2 tablespoons cornstarch, divided
1 egg white
1 to 1-1/4 pounds boneless round steak, cut into thin strips approximately 3 inches in length (putting the steak in the freezer for about 30 minutes before cutting makes it much easier to slice thin
4 cups broccoli florets
6 green onions, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground ginger



Put the sliced beef in a bowl, add the egg white and stir with your hands to coat. Sprinkle the meat with 1 tablespoon of cornstarch. Set aside.

In a small bowl, mix together the water, soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger and remaining 1 tablespoon of cornstarch. Set aside.

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large skillet or wok over medium high heat, add the beef and stir fry until beef is cooked to desired doneness. Remove to a bowl and keep warm.

Add remaining 1 tablespoon of oil to the pan and add the garlic, cook, stirring constantly, until hot. Do not burn. Add broccoli and stir fry for 4 to 5 minutes. Add green onions and stir fry another minute. Add the beef back to the pan with the broccoli mixture.



Stir the soy sauce and water mixture until smooth, then add to the pan. Stir fry for another minute to heat all ingredients through.

Serve over steamed rice, fried rice or Chinese noodles. I served this over Chinese noodles that were cooked by boiling the water with 1/4 cup of soy sauce.

Were We Discussing Brownies ??

My husband, Tom, is fruity drink drinker. A pina colada, tequila sunrise, strawberry margarita, if it's fruity, he'll love it. Add a couple maraschino cherries... all the better. He's been known to mix himself up a vodka and ginger ale, add about 6 maraschino cherries to the glass and pour about 1/4 cup of maraschino syrup into the drink for good measure. I will continue when I stop shuddering...

So, on to the brownies part of this post. For Father's Day, I wanted to make Tom something that I knew he would really like. I started rummaging through the cupboards and pantry for ingredients I had on hand, sort of as a catalyst for a creative idea, and I came across a pound of candied cherries. You know, the kind you use for fruit cake and Tom is the only person I know that LOVES fruitcake. I also had one box of brownie mix that I didn't use for our Memorial Day cookout. I thought, Cherries...Chocolate. Why not?

They turned out great and Tom loved them!

Chocolate Cherry Brownies
by Terri Powers for Terri's Table

1 box Duncan Hines Family Style Brownies, Chewy Fudge
2 eggs
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons cherry extract
1 - 1 pound container candied cherries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 13-inch X 9-inch baking pan by lightly coating with vegetable oil or spraying with cooking spray.

Cut half of the cherries in half and coarsely chop the other half. Put all of the cut up cherries in a small bowl and set aside.

Make brownies according to package directions to make "fudgy brownies," adding the cherry extract to the mixture.

Add the cherries to the prepared brownie batter and mix well. Pour into the prepared baking pan.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until done. Cool completely before cutting. Hint: Refrigerating the brownies until cold before cutting keeps them from crumbling.

"Among life's mysteries is how a two pound box of chocolate can make a woman gain five pounds." ~ Anonymous

I don't love chocolate as much as most people I know, but I don't cook for just myself. I love to cook for others.

The Sunday of the Memorial Day weekend, Tom and I invited my in-laws (his parents and his sister and her family) over for a cook-out. We fixed my son, Christopher's, recipe for ribs, which I will share after the 4th of July weekend because he is making them for a family reunion dinner). Along with that, I served a big fruit salad, a tomato-cucumber-onion salad, and a pasta salad made with orzo. My mother-in-law could not get passed the fact that the "pasta" salad looked like rice, but wasn't rice. All afternoon, she kept asking anyone who would listen, "Did you try the salad? It's pasta. It's not rice."

When she was getting ready to go home, she asked for a small container of the pasta salad to take with her. She wanted to take it to Richard. Richard is the head cook at the retirement community where my in-laws live. I told her, "Mom, I think Richard probably knows how to make pasta salad." But she was determined, "I want to take it to him and tell him that it's not rice." I don't know why, but her fascination with the orzo still makes me laugh.

But this isn't about the pasta salad. It's about the brownies I made for dessert.

I searched my cookbooks and the internet for an easy but special dessert that I hadn't tried before when I came across Ina Garten's Oreo Crunch Brownies recipe. I had every intention of making them. They sounded and looked delicious. But after I had time to think about it, I just couldn't do it to my aging in-laws. A full pound of butter, over half a dozen eggs and a pound and a half of chocolate !! I'd be rushing them to the hospital with instantaneous coronary blockage !! I opted to recreate the brownies with a brownie mix and oreo cookies. They turned out delicious and were a hit. We gave our guests the option of a plain brownie or ala mode. They all chose theirs to be served with ice cream, but everyone had a second brownie without ice cream, too.

Try them and I think you will agree.

Oreo Crunch Brownies
by Terri Powers for Terri's Table


1 box Duncan Hines Family Style Brownies, Chewy Fudge
2 eggs
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
40 Oreo cookies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Put the whole cookies into a large zip lock bag. With a mallet or rolling pin, crush the cookies into medium sized pieces (not too fine. You'll want some larger chunks.) Set aside.

Grease a 12 X 9 inch baking pan with vegetable oil or spray with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, mix the Brownie mix, eggs, water and vegetable oil as directed on package for "fudgy brownies." Add the crushed cookies and mushed up cookie filling to the brownie batter. Mix until the cookie crumbs are coated with batter.

Gently spread the batter evenly into the baking pan. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until done. Cool completely. Frost, if desired, and cut to serve. I did not frost my brownies and I cooled them in the refrigerator before I cut them (the cold brownies don't fall apart when you cut them.)

“If a mans gonna eat fried chicken, he's gotta get greasy.” ~ Author Unknown

I love chicken. I love it cooked just about any way imaginable, I could eat it every day and I'm always looking for new ways to prepare it.

Some of my favorite recipes for chicken are: Ina Garten's Indonesian Ginger Chicken; Macaroni Grill's Chicken Scallopini; my son, Mike's, Buffalo Chicken Wings; Old Fashioned Chicken and Dumplings; Chicken Picatta; Giada DeLaurentis' Chicken Vesuvio; my mom's recipe for Morroccan-style Chicken with Lemon and Saffron; Roast Lemon Chicken, the recipe for this is here; Reggie Southerland's Roasted Balsamic-Glazed Chicken; Chinese Chicken Salad; and Chicken Chili. I could go on and on.

A few nights ago, I prepared a new, very simple, very tasty chicken dish that I found on Lani's Pleasure Cooker site. It was a hit with both of us.

Raspberry Chicken with Herbed Goat Cheese
adapted by Terri Powers for Terri's Table
from 'Pleasure Cooker'



4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, pounded thin
chopped fresh thyme, or dried thyme
2 shallots, minced
1/4 cup white wine
1/2 cup seedless raspberry preserves
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
salt and fresh ground pepper
4 ounce log of herbed goat cheese, cut into 8 slices
3 tablespoons olive oil

Season the chicken with thyme, salt and pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a skillet and cook the chicken until done. Remove it from the pan and keep warm. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the pan. Add the shallots and cook 2 minutes or until the shallots are translucent and soft. Add the wine, preserves, balsamic vinegar and a few grinds of fresh pepper. Stir until the preserves melt and mixture is smooth. Let simmer until sauce is thickened. To serve, put the chicken on a plate, spoon sauce over the chicken and top with 2 slices of herbed goat cheese. Serve immediately.