Take Out Fake Out Beef & Broccoli

Sometimes, there is nothing better than ordering take-out to eat at home. No cooking, minimal clean up, and no stress. But unfortunately, that usually includes meals that are not so healthy for you, and it can be expensive. We like to eat our fair share of ethic food, but sometimes get in a rut of eating the same thing over and over. I especially love ordering Chinese take out, but hello MSG!

I found this little gem while perusing Pinterest a few weeks ago, from the blog Table for Two.

Take-Out, Fake-Out Beef & Broccoli. Doesn't it look delicious? 

The best thing about this recipe? It's in the crock-pot!! There is nothing more I love about cooking than the crock-pot. It's so easy to fix it and let it go for the day, doing it's little cooking thing while I'm working. Also, I don't really like cooking, so this little machine that cooks for me....pure magic. Here's the recipe

Take-Out, Fake-Out: Beef & Broccoli {Crockpot}
Yield: 4 servings | Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 6 hours and 30 minutes*

INGREDIENTS:
1 lb. boneless, beef chuck roast, sliced into thin strips
1 cup beef consumme or beef broth (low sodium)
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1 tbsp. sesame oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp. cornstarch
4 tbsp. sauce (from the crockpot after dish is cooked)
Frozen broccoli florets (as many as desired, I believe I used almost 2 cups)
White rice, cooked

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. In the insert of the crockpot, whisk together beef consume, soy sauce, dark brown sugar, sesame oil, and garlic. Gently place your slices of beef in the liquid and toss to coat. Turn crockpot on low and cook for 6 hours.
2. When done, in a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and cooking liquid to create a slurry, pour into crockpot, stir to mix well. Toss in your broccoli florets and cook on low for an additional 30 minutes to thicken up the sauce.

3. Serve hot over white rice.

*Note about cooking time: Your crockpot may differ in temperature than mine, I suggest cooking this for 4 hours on your first go-round of this dish. 6 hours in the crockpot seems to be giving a lot of people “shredded” beef instead of slices, so decrease cooking time by 2 hours and go from there. Mine turned out fine with 6 hours.

This was a huge hit in our house; even Emily ate her entire serving! Plus there's enough for a left-over lunch the next day. We will definitely make this again!