chi chi's make over

Chi Chi's Mexican restaurants has a sordid past. It is an understatement to say that they are no longer the warm and inviting casual dining experience we have come to know this MoFo. In fact, they are no longer even an operational restaurant in the U.S.,  having been relegated to the grocery store aisles of salsa. The brand is now owned by Hormel, making a line of salsas, microwave meals and chips. That is a long way from operating 210 restaurants internationally.

Chi Chi's (whose name is equivalent to "Hooters," yes, it is named for breasts) was plagued by a string of bankruptcies, spanning from 1993 through 2003, when they filed for their final Chapter 11. As if that wasn't enough to put them under, a mere month after this, they were hit by the biggest, most devastating Hepatitis A outbreak in the U.S. One of the restaurants was found responsible for contaminating food, via green onions, and sickening over 600 people, including 4 deaths. After a few months, Chi Chi's settled with the victims and by 2004 had sold their remaining few stores to Outback and eventually closed all their US locations.

Yikes!

Let's get into the food.

Chi Chi's was popular (or was it?) for making Mexican food with an unusual twist. Take for instance the dish below. It is a Twice Grilled Barbecue Burrito. Twice grilled because the beef is grilled and then the burrito is grilled. Before being served, it is brushed with barbecue sauce. Believe it or not, this is really good! The barbecue sauce really adds a great flavor to the burrito. It is filled with grilled seitan, grilled peppers and onions and cheese. You can easily omit the seitan and make it all fajita vegetables, even adding the avocado into the burrito itself before grilling it. But if you bake it, I would add the avocado on top, as in the picture. 

There is no cost comparison for this meal, since there is none possible.

Cost Breakdown

tortilla, lime, oil: $1.25

cheese, avocado: $3

peppers, onions, garlic: $3

BBQ sauce: $.75

seitan: $2

Total to make 4 burritos:

$10.00

Twice Grilled BBQ Burrito Recipe

pat's cheese steak make over

To make the sandwich bigger,
click on the top bun.

Let's for a brief moment veer away from the casual dining restaurant and go to Philadelphia.  Pat's King of Steaks boasts of being the originator of the Philly Cheese Steak. The legend goes that Pat was selling hot dogs from his cart when, on a whim, he decided to cook up some steak meat instead. He was probably getting tired of hot dogs and wanted to eat something different for a change. 

A cabbie nearby was exposed to the succulent "aroma" and had the temerity to ask for Pat's lunch instead of a hot dog. Being the smart businessman that he was, Pat didn't have a hang up over this and, in fact, made some more for himself after the cabbie was gone. The cabbie enjoyed this steak sandwich so much that he spread the word to other cabbies who in turn spread the word and the rest is history. 

At this point Pat did not have cheese on his famous cheese steak; he added that later. 

Since I went to the trouble of making the SteaK Seitan, I decided that I needed more recipes for steak. Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives loves to show cheese steaks on the show and Tami and Celine have their own version of cheese steak in their new cookbook, Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day; I didn't want to be left behind.

Let's talk how to order this cheese steak as a local - not that you'll ever have the chance seeing as it isn't vegan, but perhaps you can get the family to play Pat's and "order" the sandwich from you.

Here is the lingo:

(1)

One sandwich with onions: "wit"

One sandwich without onions: "wit-out"

Two sandwiches with onions: "2 wit"

(you get it, right?)

(2)

specify the cheese: American, Cheese Whiz, Provolone

For the vegan version, you can have Follow (Your Heart), Teese, Daiya, or a great vegan cheese sauce. 

(3)

 Have your money ready 

(or chores for the at-home players)

So, review:

One sandwich without onions, with cheese whiz:

"wit-out whiz"

For those who want authentic, and nothing but, you will need the cheese sauce, which I have very conveniently invented for you (although, which at this point had to be removed from the site as it is appearing in my upcoming cookbook!). This is a fantastic cheese sauce, so please give it a go - it requires no Daiya, FYH, etc. I added peppers and onions to our sandwiches, along with the cheese sauce. 

Pat would be proud. 

*sniff*

Cost Breakdown

SteaK: $3

bread: $3

peppers, onions, mushrooms: $3

cheese sauce: $2

oil, garlic, misc: $1

Total to make 4 sandwiches:

$12.00

Their charge per sandwich: $9.00

Make Over cost per sandwich: $3.00

SteaK Seitan

Cheese SteaK Sandwich

california pizza kitchen make over

Not to be outdone by New York and Chicago, California introduced the west coast's version of pizza in the 1980's. It takes New York style thin crust and serves it up with California cuisine which integrates different cooking styles and local ingredients.

California Pizza Kitchen made this style of pizza popular by serving it in a casual dining environment. Pizzas such as Original BBQ Chicken and Jamaican Jerk Chicken, are being served around the country and internationally.

I couldn't leave well enough alone, even though I said I'd only make one dish, so here are two pizzas, but totally unconventional, with nary a tomato in sight. These crispy, sweet, loaded pizzas are a surprising culinary adventure.

The Original BBQ Pizza has chicken, onion, cheese, BBQ sauce and cilantro. So what is absolutely vegan and BBQ-y? Beans. I used navy beans because I didn't want the pizza overwhelmed with the texture of beans and the navy bean is dense, firm and small. I baked them in the sauce before adding them to the pizza. It works! The onions gets almost caramelized and the sauce of choice of the chain is a sweet and spicy one. Really delicious.

The second pizza I made was the Jerk Pizza. This one originally comes with chicken, onion, bacon, roasted peppers and green onions with a sweet Caribbean sauce. I used marinated tofu as my chicken sub and used my Tofu Bacon. The tofu needs to be pressed really well (6 hours in Tofu Xpress), but only needs to marinate about 30 minutes. The marinade is a very strong chicken-style broth. This was delightful as well.

The dough needs to proof overnight and the oven needs to preheat at 500 for an hour, so plan on making this in the winter.

If you've been hankering for CPK or just curious about all the fuss, get baking. 
It's worth the experience.

How did I do?
The chain charges $12.75 for each pizza.

Original BBQ:

crust: $2
beans: $2
onions, cilantro, sauce: $1.50
vegan cheese: $4
Total for 2 pizzas:
$9.50

Their charge per Pizza: $12.75

Make-Over cost per Pizza: $4.75

Jerk:

crust: $2

tofu, pepper, tofu bacon: $3

onions, green onion, sauce: $1

vegan cheese: $4

Total for 2 pizzas:

$10.00

Their charge per Pizza: $12.75

Make-Over cost per Pizza: $5.00

Original BBQ Pizza

Jerk Pizza

JERK PIZZA PRINTER-FRIENDLY RECIPE

Original BBQ Pizza

pesto lasagna

Since the family requests lasagna so often, I try to get creative with this layered pasta dish. I've made the traditional American Lasagna, Kate's favorite, the traditional Italian Lasagna Bolognese, Catt's favorite, and a Grilled Vegetable Lasagna, my favorite. It is now Mikel's turn. He adores Pesto and requested a Pesto Lasagna. Well, maybe not in so many words, but I interpreted that way.

I decided to make this lasagna with traditional pesto sauce (no spinach or tofu added, as I like to do), but instead using olive oil, basil, garlic and pine nuts. Very straightforward. He would have been happy with just the noodles, pesto and cheese, but I wanted to add something more. I made the tofu-spinach ricotta that I normally make for the American Lasagna and layered that in there as well. To add a touch of sweetness, I also layered in grilled onions and roasted pepper. This way the dish wouldn't be "pesto pasta with cheese," but an actual Lasagna dish. 

He was enchanted with how it turned out. I was worried the pesto would be too much and overwhelm the dish, but the other components of the recipe balanced the pesto nicely.

Cost Breakdown

Daiya: $4.50

noodles: $4

basil: $8

red pepper, onion, garlic, spinach: $4

lemon, pine nuts, olive oil: $2

tomato sauce: $2

Total to make 10 servings:

$24.50

Pesto Lasagna Recipe

cream of mushroom soup

Cream of Mushroom Soup, from the can, used to be my hubby's favorite...well, everything! He'd have it as a soup and, it seems the company did their PR well, he'd 'cook' Green Bean Casserole, pork chops and a sundry of other casseroles with it.

 He has been asking me for the longest time to try to replicate this and I'd always fall short. Or tall? Depending on how you look at it; it is difficult to compete with a canned, condensed version - mine was always too fresh.

Logistically, part of the problem had been to chop the 'shrooms finely enough to be 'worthy' of the can. I think I've finally managed to get close enough to the original, while not sacrificing flavor.

If you are looking to have it more like the canned version after being reconstituted, add enough milk to thin it out to the consistency you like, but be sure to re-season it with salt.

Cost Breakdown

mushrooms: $3

vegan butter, flour: $.75

VA Chicken-Style Broth Mix, vegan milk: $2

onion, celery: $1

Total to make 6 cups:

$6.75

march of the grenadiers

Catt's birthday week menu reaps a bounty of potato and pasta dishes it seems. Tonight's meal, March of the Grenadiers, was one, except it magically incorporates both potato and pasta. It also happens to be one of her favorite dishes. 

This is a classic Hungarian dish using Paprika Potatoes as the base. It is mashed with a light hand and mixed with cooked pasta, after which it is fried in a little oil to make crisp some of the potatoes and some of the pasta. It is creamy and crunchy all at the same time.

The Paprika Potatoes are an easy and quick dish to prepare and is delicious all on its own with the creamy potatoes in a rich sauce. You could stop right there. But, if you wanted to take it to the next level of decadence, this is where you would end up. 

The picture does not do the flavors justice. 

Cost Breakdown:

potatoes: $3

pasta: $2

onion, pepper, tomato: $1

spices, oil: $1

Total to make 6 servings:

$7.00

caramelized onion pasta

Caramelized Onion Pasta sounds pretty basic, but don't let the notion of its simplicity prevent you from trying it. This is another dish that is easy to put together, but the caramelized onions pack a flavorful wallop.

It is true that you need to babysit the onions a bit, especially toward the end of the cooking time, but mostly it is a hands-off dish, where the most time is spent waiting...waiting for the water to boil, the pasta to cook, the onions to sweat and the onions to caramelize. After that it is a simple matter of tossing the two together and chowing down. Give it an hour to cook properly, but your waiting can be spent being engaged in more important activities, such as blog-surfing.

You might be tempted to add something to the dish, but resist if you can. Some cracked pepper is okay, but don't muddle the flavor of it with too many other ingredients. 

Cost Breakdown

pasta: $3

onions: $2

Total to make 5 servings:

$5.00

Caramelized Onion Pasta Recipe

potato vegan-omelet

Vegan Omelets are a hit at our house. It is a simple dish to prepare and the variety is outlandish - Southern Omelets, Asian Omelets, Mushroom and Pepper Omelets, Cheesy Omelets, the list goes on. There are a few tricks to it, but once you've made them a few times, they are a breeze and are loved served one way or another, depending on the diner. 

I've made these into Fried Vegan Omelet Sandwiches and now here they are wrapped around roasted potatoes as Potato Vegan-Omelet. The potatoes need about 30-40 minutes to get nice and crispy in the oven, but after that blend your tofu into an omelet and set the table. Easy brunch.

Cost Breakdown

tofu: $2

almond milk, nutritional yeast: $1

cheese: $3

potatoes, onion, garlic, spices: $3

Total to make 4 omelets:

$9.00

Potato Vegan-Omelet Recipe

spicy tomato and asparagus with linguine

 Pasta dishes have a tendency to be quick, easy and tasty - as long as you have a good recipe. This recipe fits the bill on all counts. I have been noticing that I have this intense need for quick meals that at least three-fifth of the household at least likes. See.. I don't have unrealistic expectations. 

This meal, Spicy Tomato and Asparagus with Linguine, takes around 30 minutes to make .. for real. The sauce is made using some olive oil, onion, garlic, grape or cherry tomatoes, red pepper and a bit of sherry or broth. Some chili flakes add a spicy touch and the additional vegetable creates variety. I used asparagus as the addition, but other vegetables, such as broccoli, cauliflower, green beans or zucchini, would all be ideal choices. 

I love using linguine in this, but again, the shape is up to the cook. Spaghetti would be great or any pasta with little nooks and crannies, where the sauce can cling to, work well. 

Basil or fresh parsley finishes the dish. 

Delicious and very versatile. Four of us loved it and found ourselves getting another and another bowl of the pasta. Luckily, we use small bowls.

Cost Breakdown

pasta: $2
tomatoes: $4
parsley: $.50
asparagus: $4
pepper: $1
onion, garlic, olive oil, spices: $1
Total to make 6 servings:
$12.50

Spicy Tomato and Asparagus with Linguine Recipe

  

cracker barrel (MoFo 28)

The ol' country store. While driving on any highway, you cannot drive more than 30 miles without one of these crossing your billboard radar - they are everywhere! Cracker Barrel has only (and I mean that in comparison to the other mega-stores like McDonald's) 600 some-odd stores to its name, but they are ubiquitous on the road.

The original concept was created to pull people off the road to buy, not food or country junk, but gasoline. Dan Evans thought folks would pull over to eat and shop and, before heading back on the trails, fill up. Good call; that's just what they did. Nowadays there are no more gas stations in front of Cracker Barrel, but there are plenty of rocking chairs!

The Southern-comfort food of the Barrel is pretty off-putting to their vegetarian (do they have any?) clients since most everything has some part of an animal cooked in it. When I worked there about 16 years ago, the apples were the only thing (I think) that was clear to eat, but then perhaps even that had lard. Hard to tell. You know how the mind blocks out unhappy memories.

Hashbrown Casserole was a super popular menu item and their Chicken Casserole was also way up there. The Hashbrown Casserole is country hashbrowns with loads of cheese. The Chicken Casserole has cream of chicken soup with chicken and is topped with crumbled cornbread. I made a baked chicken-style tofu for this dish.

There is something highly annoying about a restaurant where even their vegetables have meat in it. The Barrel's Country Green Beans are cooked with bacon. Great. Grrr. 

Veganize!

I distinctly remember the Barrel making their green beans in the southern-style.. cooked until almost grey in color. To get this dish to be as close to the original as possible, I used frozen green beans (you can be more authentic and use canned green beans or more healthful and use fresh green beans. Oh! the choices.). Surprisingly good. Don't ask me why or how. Cook up a batch and try them. They make a great accompaniment to the Chicken Casserole.

Country Green Beans and Hashbrown Casserole

Chicken-y Setian Casserole

HASHBROWN CASSEROLE PRINTER-FRIENDLY RECIPE

seitan roast with sausage and pear stuffing and onion-cider gravy

The holidays are fast approaching - it seems faster and faster each year and I seem to get slower and slower with preparing for it! As I was making the Food Network Friday dish last week, I started thinking of different ways to stuff seitan, different methods to cook said stuffed seitan and the different occasions that would be great to have it at.

Last year I did the Holiday Roast, which most resembles a turkey in texture and stature. This year, I wanted to have another option, equally elegant and yet different enough from the Holiday Roast to be appropriate for the holiday table. In addition, I wanted to get it out on the blog to give folks enough time to plan for it. Hence our family's Holiday Dinner in September. Even the kids asked what we were celebrating.

The gluten contains only 8 ingredients, which I am loving a bunch. It is working out really well and is excellent without any weird seitan-y aftertaste.

The gluten is a modified version of last week's FNF, being pliable enough to stretch well and yet strong enough to not rip. I made a sausage (Tofurkey, but homemade, Field Roast or any other sausage would work equally well) and dried pear stuffing - dried apples, raisins, figs, cranberries would be great as well. The roast is braised in the oven for 3 hours and allowed to cool. On the day of the event, sear it in a pan and reheat it in the oven for about an hour. If you stuff the gluten so that it is thinner on the top than the bottom, it will bake into a thin, crispy sheet on the top, which you can see on the second pic.

I served this with an Onion-Cider Gravy, easy to make and complemented the dried fruit in the stuffing, and a Cauliflower Puree. After watching Hell's Kitchen for the umpteenth time,  Cauliflower Puree is a must have for any sophisticated 5-star meal. That and it tastes really good! Steam the cauliflower, drain well, puree in a food processor until it is very creamy, adding a few tablespoons of vegan butter. This will take a few minutes so don't stop short. After pureeing, season with salt, pepper and chives and a little bit of sugar if it is too bitter and let it cool until dinner. Reheat in a pot, stirring often for a few minutes, until hot. After making this, you too will feel a kinship with Ramsey. He can't be that bad - he went on Ellen to cut his finger. The irony.

Seitan Roast Stuffed with Sausage and Pear with Onion-Cider Gravy Recipe

gypsy goulash

European Night

Gypsy Goulash, or Szeged Gulyas, originates in Hungary in, you guessed it, the city of Szeged.  While the name literally means, 'gypsy,' it actually has not much to do with gypsies, except that maybe nomadic peoples might have been more apt to cook it over a roaring fire, ...or might have been the founders of the city for which the dish is named after. 

The dish contains pork, sauerkraut, onions, paprika and sour cream. Except for a little salt and pepper, that is all that the authentic version contains. In order to veganize it, and therefore improve on it, I used pressed, marinated and then baked tofu. 

Starting with an onion and vegan butter, sauteing it will signal to everyone in the house that dinner is on its way. When the onions have caramelized somewhat, adding garlic, paprika and the saurkraut to the pot will continue the assault on the senses of those same unfortunate hungry. Since the tofu renders no 'natural juices' during the braising process, it is easy to add a few cups of excellent vegetable stock (broth will be fine as well) and then letting the dish simmer uncovered for an hour. By this time you should have plenty of nosy visitors begging to know when dinner will be ready.

To finish off the Goulash, add a cup of vegan sour cream and fold it into the tofu and sauerkraut gently. Serve this with something simple, like boiled potatoes or cooked pasta. These will reward you by soaking up the creamy gravy. IF there is any leftovers, be sure to save them because while most meals are best left to the original meal, this one improves while it sits in the fridge overnight.  Be sure to hide it behind the kale so it doesn't get pilfered.

Cost Breakdown

tofu: $4

sauerkraut: $4

onion, garlic, tomato: $2

spices: $1

vegetable stock: $2

potatoes: $3

Total to feed 6 people:

$16.00

GYPSY GOULASH PRINTER-FRIENDLY RECIPE

caramelized onion quiche

Brunch

Brunch can be a tough meal to plan because half the family wants something sweet and the other half, savory. Unless you wind up making both, the tendency is to disappoint someone. Unless you make Caramelized Onion Quiche. The sweetness from the long caramelization of the onions can satisfy some sweet tooth.

This recipe is out of Vegan Brunch by Isa Moskowitz.

The long (longer than the author sites) cooking time for the onions is the most time consuming affair for this recipe, but one that shouldn't be shirked. It is what gives this dish the body.

We really liked this meal, but as with all vegan quiches, something was missing. The egg-y flavor. Without it, the dish falls a little out of tune and, let's face it, you are eating a tofu pie.

That used to be the case, but once you actually realize that the original dish is egg based, it becomes crystal clear that some black salt at the table can add the missing piece in a snap. Cooking with black salt tends to diminish the flavor considerably, but adding it at the table as you would regular table salt will fulfill the flavor profile. ANY Indian market carries black salt since it is used throughout the cuisine. And it is around $1 a bag.

Also, don't be afraid to add some vegan milk to the blender to help the tofu turn over easier - it'll evaporate in the oven and help to make your batter as smooth as possible.

Cost Breakdown:

tofu: $2

onions: $4

cashews: $1

dough: $1

Total to make 6 servings:

$8.00

FNF - bubble and squeak with sausages and onion gravy

Not to scare anyone that time has suddenly sped up and it is again a Food Network Friday, hosted by the lovely author of American Vegan Kitchen, Ms. Tami Noyes, this is due for April 1st. (So it is not too late to join in the fun! Redo Jamie's recipe vegan and send your creation to Tami.)

When I chose this one, I had St. Pat's Day in mind, so I made it on that day. Bubble and Squeak is a traditional English dish made of leftover vegetables and potatoes mashed and fried together until crisp. What is the connection to Ireland? The Irish claim it as well. Good enough for me!

We have traditionally enjoyed Corned Seitan and Cabbage on this holiday, but, truthfully, I wanted something else - not to mention that David requests Corned Cabbage throughout the year and does not feel restricted to the wearing of the green.

As written, this Jamie Oliver dish is not - not! - low fat in any way. This is obviously not a Food Revolution meal. A bit of recipe translation: A knob is a tablespoon and a glug is a couple of tablespoons. He asks you to use a glug of olive oil to fry your potatoes. No need, folks. The potatoes absorb the oil anyway and then you need to add more. Skip most of the oil, use a well seasoned cast iron pan or nonstick and your potatoes and root vegetables will brown just fine.

Since the sausage was the bit of creative element for this FNF, I made my Corned Seitan but rolled it into links. This maintained my tradition of having Corned Seitan on St. Patty's and tasted really good to boot.

The onion gravy calls for 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar. This would not be a big deal, except Jamie does not reduce it any. This had me raise a Vulcan eyebrow.

Ultimately, the gravy was a little too thick, so I added another half cup of broth. The acidity would have been a bit much alone, but with the rest of the dish, it worked beautifully. This must be why he has a TV show and I have a blog.

I used baby arugula, dressed with a bit of lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper for the greens.

Delicious meal.

Cost Breakdown

corned sausage: $4

potatoes, leek, turnip, carrot: $4

onion, arugula: $3

chestnuts: $4 (and on sale!)

flour, herbs, vinegar, stock: $2

Total to make 6 servings:

$17.00

chinatown scramble and coffee cake

Brunch

For today's brunch I continued to cook from American Vegan Kitchen for the Post Punk Kitchen Cookbook challenge and made Chinatown Scramble and Hubby's Home Fries. Mikel and Kate chose the scramble and I chose the home fries - you can't go wrong with anything endorsed by Jim.

The scramble calls for mushrooms, peppers, scallions, five-spice, bean sprouts and snap peas. I had a few adjustments to make, and as it was it was kick-butt-good; I'm sure if I had had the snap peas, bean sprouts and shiitaki, it would have been even better. David totally loved this and kept going back to the pan for more.

As predicted, Jim's Home Fries were fantastic. It is as simple as you can get with potatoes, but that is part of what makes them perfect. Even Cat, my picky potato person, loved it.

For a little bit of sweet I made Around-the-Clock Coffee Cake. I love coffee cake and this one lived up to my expectations. I added a half package of chocolate chips I had lying around.

A big typo here, though!

The pan the cookbook calls for is a 9 inch square pan. This is way too small and the batter needed to be baked in 2 such pans or equivalent. I wound up with half the cake on the bottom of my oven, so make sure to use a big enough pan. In any case, the outcome was worth a little mess - although the kids were disappointed to have lost half their sweet.

My pan was not deep enough, which is where my error, not AMK's error, was. I did wind up with half of the cake on the bottom of my oven, but that was because of my own fault, not American Vegan Kitchen's. My deepest regret to calling fire in the middle of a packed theatre and sounding a false alarm. Lesson learned the most difficult way: with cake on my face, as well as the oven.
My apologies, Tami!

Cost Breakdown

tofu: $2

spices, herbs: $1

onion, garlic, pepper: $2

mushroom, lime: $1

peas, ginger: $1

potato: $3

Total to make 5 serving of both:

$10.00

chili relleno burger

I am so behind on my blog posts that this post is going to throw everything topsy-turvy. It must be done, though, because it is that special time of month again when Tami Noyes at Vegan Appetite hosts her Food Network Friday makeover and she has a deadline to meet.

This month's reinvention is a Chili Relleno Burger, a creation by the Great Food Network Kitchen - in other words, the chef remains anonymous.

We, however, do not care because we are tackling a burger. I could not copy Tami's Incrediburger; that would have been taboo, so I was, for the first time ever, forced to create a vegan burger. 

I wanted to make one that would have a pink tint - mimic the look of a burger cooked to 'medium' - and used my beet trick again. This time I roasted the beets first and incorporated that into the recipe. I used pressed tofu (finding as many uses for my new Tofu Xpress that I possibly can), vegetables (including the beets and some of the poblano and roasted tomato that is for the topping) and vital gluten.

I kneaded the burger for 1 cycle in my bread machine (no need for the second knead), formed them and baked them on low in about a half cup of water. The liquid helps the burgers to get bigger and stay juicy. Having watched a few shows about the 'best' burger recipes, I am aware that burgers must stay juicy and moist. There is no seitan-after taste, the color is pale pink and the burger is juicy. 

Getting back to the actual FNF recipe, this burger has cheese (I used both kinds of Daiya, was going to make Muenster but ran out of time. Story of my life these days, it seems.) roasted tomatoes and onions (I pan sauteed both) and roasted poblano peppers (I charred them on my gas burner). Nothing really changed there except the execution (mine are easier). The challenge in this FNF was the burger itself.

Thanks for pushing my limits, Tami (and whoever chose this recipe!).

Cost Breakdown

buns: $3

gluten, tofu: (for 12 burgers): $3

beets, peppers, onion, garlic, tomato: $5

spices: $.25

Daiya: $2

Total to make 8 burgers:

$12.25

baked french onion soup

It is Catriona's Birthday Week - her birthday is on Sunday; she will be 14.

 Time goes by way too fast!

Since it is her birthday week, she gets to choose the menu for this week. That means that I came home with three bags of potatoes from Whole Foods. Mikel might have been Italian in his past life, but Cat was certainly Irish. So, we will be revisiting some food I've blog about already, but that is a good thing. In case you missed it before, you'll have a chance to see it again. That also means that I can tweak the recipes.

For lunch she requested Baked French Onion Soup. I had the hardest time melting the vegan cheese before and I think I've figured out why: my broiler was not on high enough, my food was too far from the flame and I didn't give it enough time to melt. It's like a pot of water - it'll never boil if you watch it. If you've been having the same problem, just step away from the oven!

I used Follow Your Heart for this because that is her favorite vegan cheese (above Daiya!). I cut slices off the block to get it to fit on the bowl and then sliced it into thin pieces. Not so thin you can see through them, but not huge chunks, either. I used three croutons in each bowl to help the cheese stay afloat. It worked beautifully!

I also updated the recipe - add salt when you are cooking the onions (but you can wait until the end - no biggie) and in case you don't want to make your own stock, use 10-11 cups of a good vegetable stock.

Cost Breakdown

onions: $2

bread: $1

cheese: $4

stock (homemade): $1

tamari, wine: $1.50

Total to make 8 bowls:

$9.50

BAKED FRENCH ONION SOUP PRINTER-FRIENDLY RECIPE

french onion soup

How is this for perplexing: My eldest daughter cannot stand onions in anything. In fact, she picks them out if she can. BUT her favorite soup is French Onion. Go figure.

This soup is easy to make, but there is a lot of stand-by cooking, kind of like for an airplane, but not as tedious. Not necessarily food-sitting, but standing near-by to stir the onions while they cook for an hour. You can wash the dishes from last night, read a book, mop the floor - whatever, as long as you are standing by. Once the onions are cooked way down (from 8 cups to maybe 2 cups) the soup is almost done. This soup is deep, dark and rich. You can serve it with Daiya or Follow Your Heart or just a crouton.

It is no wonder Cat likes it so much.

Cost Breakdown:

onions: $2

homemade stock: $1

bread: $2

 wine: $1

tamari: $ .50

Total to feed a family of 5:

$6.50

BAKED FRENCH ONION SOUP PRINTER-FRIENDLY RECIPE