Homemade vs. Qudoba vs. Chipotle

For my parent's anniversary I tried to make a Chipotle-esque meal.  Our family is a big fan of Chipotle's veggie bowls.  And their chips.

However, a Qudoba opened in town a few weeks before my parent's anniversary and I was curious to see what they had to offer.  Turns out they didn't have much.  I really, really wanted to like Qudoba, because the 'local' Chipotle is an 2 hour drive round trip.  The Qudoba is only 10 mins. away.

Unfortunately, I was disappointed by Qudoba.  Not only are the portion sizes half the size of Chipotle's - Qudoba is more expensive and the food is very flavorless.

I tried Qudoba twice, because I wanted to believe that the first time was just a bad mistake.  The 2nd time I took some 'authentic Mexicans', as in friends visiting from Mexico.  They also thought the food was flavorless and we all walked away disappointed and still hungry.

I wish I had weighed the 2 meals!  The Chipotle one was MUCH heavier.  The round bowls are deceiving.

Qudoba: Veggie/Naked bowls $6.29 each + .69 for veggies (stupid) = $6.98

Chips - $1.99

Chipotle: Veggie bowl $6.25

Chips $1.25

After eating the Qudoba meal I was still hungry.  I could only eat 1/2 of the Chipotle meal.  

I did the testing on 2 different days - to be fair ;)

So could I make Chipotle at home???

Well, I tried.  I made a Cuban black bean recipe that had green olives and chocolate in it.

I had corn, olives and queso fresco - which is tasty with lime squeezed over it.

And I made fruit salad.  Bonus fruit salad ingredient picture!

I sauteed onions in achiote oil - achiote paste and olive oil.  It makes a tasty red oil.

I pan seared peppers and onions.  Plus added a little bottled smoke flavor to give them that grilled smokiness.

And we had a delicious meal.  BUT I would still drive 2 hours to eat Chipotle.  It just can't be replicated!  Or replaced!

Bouillon d’oignon with Potato Cutouts

Bouillon d'oignon or onion broth. This was so delicious!

There really isn't a recipe for this.

I think it will turn out differently every time I make it, but here is how I made it this time.

First I took onions (from my garden).

Sliced the tops off of them and sliced them into flowers.
I didn't cut all the way through the root ends.
Then I placed the onions on a well greased cookie sheet and broiled the onions until they were charred on top.




Then I roasted the onions at 450F degrees, until the onions were soft and caramelized.



Then I popped the whole shebang into the food processor and whizzed the onions up.
Then I put the onions, 3 1/2 quarts water, 1 large whole carrot, 1 stick of celery, 2 bay leaves, some smoke flavor, some vegetarian "beef" bullion, a pkg of Knorr's veg. soup mix, thyme and some garlic puree.
I boiled it all gently for an hour.
Then I used a cheese cloth to strain all of the onion, ect. out of the broth.






The broth was dark and rich.

To make the potato cutouts: Take raw potato and slice it 1/2 inch thick.

With a small cookie cutter cut out shapes.

Toss with olive oil, salt, paprika and pepper.

Bake at 450F degrees for 10 mins until puffy.

Place on top of hot soup and serve.

DC's Challenge - Thai Tofu Satay

The January 2010 DC challenge was hosted by Cuppy of Cuppylicious and she chose a delicious Thai-inspired recipe for Pork Satay from the book 1000 Recipes by Martha Day.

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Obviously, I wasn't going to make this with piggy.

So, I used tofu.

(On a side note - this Jan. 2010 marks the 10th anniversary of my vegetarianism)

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I love Thai food - love, love and I've eaten a lot of it. On the west coast, on the east coast....in my house in the middle of nowhere.

I did not enjoy this recipe and the Ladies ate it.

(Anyone seeing a pattern with my Daring Baking/Cooking stuff being eaten by the Ladies???)

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I like tofu, but I have specific ways of preparing it.

Not coating it in onion and garlic. Uncooked onion and garlic!

I drank pots of mint tea to get the taste out of my mouth!

I pressed the tofu.

Then added the "flavoring" mixture.


And let in marinate overnight.

Then I baked it in the oven.

The tofu was still white inside! Yuck.

And it didn't have any flavor, besides onion/garlic.

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In my opinion: The mix needed much more liquid. Tofu is like a sponge and it will soak up whatever flavor you put it in. Much, much less onion and garlic. And cook the onion - caramelize it, before putting it with the tofu. Add more soy sauce, some rice vinegar, rice wine, a little chile pepper, ginger, ground pepper, maybe some smoked salt.

And cook it in a dish with the sauce, don't bother with the skewers.

Mushroom Stroganoff

This is a nice quick winter dinner.

It's warm, creamy and mushroom meaty.

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3 Tbs butter

1 med onion - chopped

3 cup sliced mushrooms (I used a mix of fresh and canned)

1 1/2 cups vegetable broth

1 1/2 cups sour cream (you can use less if you want to)

3 Tbs. flour

cooked egg noodles

salt/pepper

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Saute onion in butter until onion is transparent. Add mushrooms, sprinkle with salt. Cook mushrooms until all liquid is reduced. Mix in flour. Add vegetable broth and sour cream. Mix in cooked egg noodles. Flavor with salt and pepper.

Sprinkle with parsley and serve.

Baked Potato Soup

Before this I'd never tried baked potato soup, because it was always made with bacon and chicken broth.

When the cafeteria serves this soup at work everyone talks about it all day long!

Finally I got to try it!

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Baked Potato Soup

4 med baked potatoes

1 med onion - chopped

2 Tbs olive oil

2 Tbs flour

2 cups vegetable broth

1 cup milk

1 cup shredded cheese

1/2 cup sour cream

salt/pepper

Saute onions in olive oil until transparent. Add flour and stir until oil is absorbed. Add vegetable broth and milk. Stir to combine with flour. Continue stirring over med heat until mixture thickens slightly (about 3 mins.). Add cheese, potatoes and sour cream. Stir to combine and add salt and pepper to taste. If soup is to thick add a little more milk.

Serve!

Garnish with chopped chives, baco bits or salsa.

Minestrone Soup

Minestrone Soup

For a period of time, when I was a toddler, I would only eat Progresso Minestrone soup.

My mom would feed it to me and tell me the name of each bean and vegetable on the spoon.

It's still a family joke every time we eat minestrone soup.

Unfortunately, a few years ago, Progresso Soup changed their soup recipe.

The broth is way too thick and garlicky.

It's NOT the same soup, so now my souping mission is to find the perfect minestrone soup.

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This is my latest effort.

First I started with several pounds of red tomatoes from my garden.

I cored them and then blended them up in the food processor, skin, seeds and all.

Then I cooked them down for about 10 hours until they were thick and saucy.

I used 6 cups of this tomato broth.

The rest of the tomato broth was used in Chocolate Black Beans.


Then saute 2 cups chopped onions (about 2 med)
in 2 Tbs of olive oil, until the onion is soft and slightly golden.
Turn off heat, to prevent the garlic from becoming bitter, and add 3 finely minced garlic cloves.



Roughly chopped 2 cups greens beans
and 3 cups roughly chopped carrots.

Add 2 cups chopped swiss chard or other green (kale, beet greens or cabbage) to the onions and garlic in the pan.

Plus 1 cup chopped celery.

1 can of butter beans.

Add 2 cups roughly chopped summer squash.

To the vegetables add 6 cups tomato broth.

You will need to add more broth to make it soupy.

This is what I do, but feel free to use canned broth -

I take 8 cups of water, boil it and add 1 or 2 bouillon cubes or 1 Tbs. Better Than Bouillon

Then I add the broth to the soup.

Now to season and can:

To season add (to taste) salt, pepper, fresh or dry basil, oregano, thyme, savory and a bay leaf.

Simmer for 10 to 15 mins.

Add more broth if needed.

Ladle hot soup into hot jars, leaving 1 inch headspace.

Remove air bubbles.

Adjust 2 piece caps.

Process pints 55 mins and

quarts 1 hour and 25 mins, at 10 pounds pressure in a steam-pressure canner.