Tortilla Soup

Went to Qdoba a month or so ago.. and ordered some of the Tortilla Soup.

Definitely enjoyed this - should mention that you better like spice if you plan on ordering this.. cus it was surprisingly hot.

and "inspired by" I came across on the web.

* Non-stick olive oil spray or a tsp of olive oil
* 1 small sweet onion (I use a think slice of a big one) diced
* 1-2 bell peppers (I used about ½ each of a green, orange and red) diced
* 3 cloves of garlic chopped
* Chili powder
* Cumin
* Cilantro
* Lime Juice
* Tabasco (I would imagine you could use any hot sauce)
* Can of chicken broth (what a nice generic size - can.. up to you I guess)
* Can of diced tomatoes with green chilies
* Tortilla strips

Spray a medium saucepan with olive oil and sauté the onion, peppers and garlic until tender, about 10 minutes. Towards the end, add the chili powder, cumin cilantro, splash of lime juice and Tabasco to taste.Stir and let the flavors mix for a minute or two. Add the chicken broth and can of tomatoes with chilies.

What you get it a nice chunky soup. Now to thicken, and this is optional, I take a scoop at a time and puree in the blender then add it back to the soup. I usually do not puree it all just about 2-3 scoops to thicken the broth.

Other ideas: Add leftover chicken, top with cheese, pour over rice, you can really do anything with it. It’s pretty versatile

Serve, garnished with tortilla strips


--Sadly, doesn't mention how many it serves.. oh well

Not wikipedia, but it's something

Round Steak Caserole

I haven't update for a bit. So I'm going to start counting things with soup in them! Horaay!
Anyway.. round steak casserole..
I wasn't terribly familiar with it before I made it.. I had a ton of london broil and no more dehydrator.. so i was a bit desperate to do whatever i could to use it while I still could, as i'd frozen it much earlier in the year (I pulled the rest and made a carolina style bbq sauce for it, if you were wondering.)

ingredients

London broil, or any Round cut.
flour
oil
can of Campbell's tomato soup
Italian triad - onions, carrots, celery
mashed potatoes

cube the steak, flour it and brown it in the oil, put in casserole dish

diced the onions, fine diced the celery, rough chopped the carrot
sweat the triad in some oil, time dependent on the different vegetables
mix into meat

pour in Campbell's tomato, thin it out a bit - not too much though.. since it's not going to get thicker..

mix it all up and cover with mashed potatoes like a hamburger pie, etc.
bake it.. I think i did 375? not 100% on how long though..

obviously didn't hold together the best it could.. but i was pretty happy with it..

it went over rather well.. I'm actually going to keep this in the back of my mind for the future..

wikipedia
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Beef Stew

For real this time!

Lean, boneless stew beef, cut in small pieces
Potatoes, sliced
Carrots, sliced
Green beans, cut n trimmed
Onion, chopped
MBT, or whatever bullion/stock/broth you want - not in the mood for the cream of mushroom/cream of celery/tomato soup blend. Also not in the mood for the seasoning game..

Toss it all in the crock pot and go do something else..
(I also can't wait to get MY crockpot back out..)
Come back later and find:

Starch from the potato really thickens it enough that you don't need a flour slurry or anything..

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Panera Fronion

So a few weeks ago I hit up Panera with Darrin - no surprise there. As usual I got the you-pick-two.. went with the Fuji Apple Chicken Salad and the French Onion Soup.

This..

Is the picture I managed to take with his phone - as mine was dead..
I rrrrrrrrrrreally need to move, and unpack the camera already...

as per usual.. The feasting had already commenced when I had the clarity of mind to realize I needed a photo for this..

Luckily, someone else had the foresight. 

Aaaand someone's interpretation.

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Miso

So I recently went out for some sushi with Stacy, and part of the lunch special included a bowl of miso soup. For some reason I always forget to snap a photo before I start devouring... and miso was no exception.

It had a very good flavor - a white (shiromiso) broth, pieces of tofu, scallions, and seaweed/wakame.

For anyone concerned, the name of the restaurant is Kaze in Roseland, NJ.. a nice, typical sushi cafe - I would recommend going.

I've decided to put the corresponding Wikipedia article in my posts, to make up for my lack of facts/info in these posts..

Should be in the house soon - then my projects can resume!

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Chinese Take Out

Another soup driven on by lack of want to make a dinner. Ordered up some Chinese food tonight - grabbed a soup I Hadn't had before instead one of the usuals - Hot n Sour, Won-ton, or Egg Drop.

This is Shredded Pork and Pickled Szechuan Cabbage Soup.

Very Spicy - Naturally, but still a good flavor to it. Pretty typical Chinese soup chicken broth underneath the heat.. I was kind of expecting a carrot or some other vegetables besides just the cabbage from prior pickled cabbage experience.. but the lack there of really didn't spoil the soup. The pork was a bit suspect, but then again that's no real surprise.

here's a terribly easy pickled cabbage recipe.

Even better! I've found a recipe!

From there it's just making chicken broth with some soy sauce and shredded pork.

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Medieval Times

Went to Medieval Times the other day as part of a friends birthday celebration.. part of the meal (and I will say they give you a decent meal) Was a Tomato Bisque. . I know what you're thinking, "Bisque has seafood!" Well.. I didn't name the soup.. I just enjoyed it.

Here's what I imagine to be the most accurate recipe for Tomato Bisque --

INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons tomato paste
4 cups chicken broth
2 (14.5 ounce) cans fire roasted diced tomatoes, drained
3 tablespoons white sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 cup heavy cream
salt and black pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS
Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion, celery, carrot, and garlic. Cook and stir until the vegetables are tender and beginning to brown, about 8 minutes. Stir in the flour and cook 1 minute longer, stirring constantly.

Stir in the tomato paste, chicken broth, tomatoes, sugar, and nutmeg. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer 15 minutes until the vegetables are very tender.

Pour half to three-quarters of the soup into a blender-depending on how chunky you want it-filling the pitcher no more than halfway full.

Hold down the lid of the blender with a folded kitchen towel, and carefully start the blender, using a few quick pulses to get the soup moving before leaving it on to puree. Alternately, you can use a stick blender and puree the soup in the saucepan.

Return the pureed soup to the saucepan and stir in the cream. Cook over medium heat until the soup is hot. Season with salt and pepper to taste before serving.

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