Sometimes after a busy day when we just want to relax, our family likes to watch a movie together and eat Chinese food. It’s the one time we let the kids eat in the living room instead of at the dining room table. We have a big round coffee table in the middle of our living room where I set out all the food and plates, and we all sit on the floor around the table and dig in. I love casual nights like these. It’s funny that I never have a problem keeping the kids at the table when it’s a coffee table dinner night. It makes me wonder if I should move it into our dining room and we can just sit on the floor around it every night. Maybe Ayla would actually stay put for a little longer. Probably not.

A lot of times we order in Chinese food, but if I manage to have the forethought to put something in the slow cooker earlier in the day, this Mongolian Beef is a much healthier, fresher substitute for greasy delivery Chinese food. It’s also really nice after a busy day to come home to a meal in my Crockpot. Best of all, I can get food on the table much faster than ordering it from a restaurant.

I love the thick, rich sauce, brightened with sweet and tangy orange juice. It’s a bit sweet, sour, and salty all at once. I served it over rice noodles and garnished it with sliced green onions and sesame seeds. My version was inspired by The Recipe Rebel’s Slow Cooker Mongolian Beef. Ashley has a gift for making food look so delicious that I want to lick my computer screen. Pretty much every time I visit her site, I find myself saying, “Oh, I have to make that. And that. And that!!”  I actually got to meet her at the Food Blogger of Canada Conference last month, and she is just as lovely in person as I imagined she’d be. Anyway, I loved this idea for Mongolian Beef in the slow cooker, so I tried it with some of my own adaptations, and this is what I came up with.

Here are my goofy Whine Critics! As you can see, Cole’s plate was already empty when I snapped this shot. He liked it a lot and ate it all up really quickly. Ayla picked at it, then asked for ice cream. Don’t worry, she didn’t get any. Bennett (who is hiding in the back) pretended to like it, but handed me his half-eaten plate and said, “Can I tell you a secret? I didn’t like it.”

We are at the usual dining room table this particular night, but I think this would be a great one for our next movie and Chinese food night. Bennett might not agree, but at least he’d enjoy the movie part.

Crockpot Mongolian Beef

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 – 2 lbs steak, thinly sliced
• 1 orange pepper, sliced
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup sweet & sour sauce
• 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 cup orange juice
• 2 tbsp. corn starch
• 1/4 cup sliced green onions
• sesame seeds
• rice noodles

Instructions

1. Place steak, orange pepper and onion in the crockpot.
2. In a bowl, mix together soy sauce, sweet & sour sauce, hoisin sauce, and garlic.
3. Pour sauce over the meat and vegetables in the crockpot.
4. Cover and cook on low heat for 4-6 hours.
5. 30 minutes before meal time, whisk together orange juice and corn starch in a small bowl.
6. Pour it into to the sauce in the crockpot and stir well.
7. Turn heat on high and cook for about 30 minutes, until the sauce has thickened.
8. Serve over cooked rice noodles, and garnish with sliced green onions and sesame seeds.