Yesterday we talked about how cooking at home is such a budget stretcher compared to dining out, even when using some convenience foods or premium ingredients.
Most of the time, our meals are just ordinary. Tonight we had tuna-noodle casserole with fresh blackberries and figs from our property. Nothing fancy, and certainly nothing that you would likely find on a restaurant menu. However, sometimes one of us gets the notion to recreate a restaurant favorite.
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| the homemade tostado bowl |
Since I'm asking what your favorite restaurant re-creation has been, I'll tell you my recent favorite. This was in early summer. I already blogged about it. My daughters found a tortilla bowl maker at a garage sale in spring and later treated us to tostado salad bowls in homemade flour tortilla bowls, like a Taco Time taco salad bowl.
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| the Taco Time Tostado bowl |
Taco Time is a "better" taco place near us. Their prices reflect that. They sell beef tostado bowls for $8.19 each.
Our version was really very good.
How about you? What's been your favorite restaurant re-creation?
I enjoy a good pizza but many pizza places give me some really bad indigestion later during the evening so I've learned to stay away. Instead, we try to make pizza at home. I can't get the crust right though. Toppings are another thing that I think I go too heavy and the pizza gets soggy. I've tried all methods but nothing works well so I now make deep dish pizza and we eat it with a fork. Give the flavor of pizza and the toppings can be mile high!
ReplyDeleteAlice
I've used Lili's pizza dough recipe with good results (I use half bread flour and half whole wheat flour). I have a pizza stone but I find it heavy and cumbersome to work with and don't really like it. However, I discovered this recipe this past year: https://www.seasonsandsuppers.ca/perfect-pan-pizza/ and I'm in love. The crust is a no-knead crust (I let it rise overnight), it's cooked in a cast iron skillet (I bake it longer than the recipe states for a crispier crust) and it's soooooooooo easy. It's a good amount for 3 people (I have to make 2 pizzas when my son is home) and I find myself making this when I want a pizza fix. It will be great when we are empty nesters--I think we can get 2-3 meals out of it for the 2 of us. I usually add pepperoni and sliced mushrooms.
DeleteHi Alice,
DeleteI think you found a good solution for your situation. I agree, with a home oven, it's hard to come away with anything but a soggy crust if you like a lot of toppings. Deep dish pizza sounds delicious. I'll give that a try and see what my family thinks this fall.
Hi Kris,
DeleteThat sounds interesting -- making a pizza in a cast iron skillet. I'll check out that link. Thank you!
I read recipes all the time about restaurant makeovers because they pop up in my email (not sure why), but haven't made any yet. I remember when you showed us the tostado bowl and it looks delicious. When I go to a Mexican restaurant, I usually get a taco salad in a bowl like that.
ReplyDeleteHi Live and Learn,
DeleteBefore my daughters found this tortilla bowl form, I would always order a tostado salad bowl, too. The bowl part was too much work to replicate without this form, which made it a good choice for me at Mexican restaurants.
Your tostado bowl looks better than the restaurant's bowl! Yum.
ReplyDeleteHmm, I don't really make copycat meals from restaurants, per se. This is a meal that I added to our repertoire in the past year and I think it's restaurant-worthy: https://www.seasonsandsuppers.ca/chicken-with-artichokes-and-sun-dried-tomatoes/. If you opt to make it with chicken breast, I would use the chicken brinerade recipe from thefrugalgirl.com first to keep it from getting too dry. I have found that adding slightly more expensive ingredients (like the sun-dried tomatoes in oil, or canned artichokes) isn't much of a cost increase in my grocery bill, but it really "ups" the flavor of my meals. I think this makes us feel more like we've had a special meal in a restaurant. No, I don't do this all the time--maybe once or twice a month--sometimes it's nice to have a slightly fancier meal.
The other ingredient I've started adding to our Asian-inspired dinners is freshly grated gingerroot. I hadn't really used it until the past year--Aldi has a ginger paste that I often used (lazy girl method, haha) but wow, fresh gingerroot really improves the flavor. I buy a root, cut it into chunks, and freeze it to pull out whenever I need it.
You are an inspiration to me, Lili. I don't comment often but read your posts regularly. Lovely how a few flowers can cheer us. I saw your previous posts. Mine are blooming right now.
ReplyDeleteI have been very unimpressed with restaurant meals we've had this year. I am happy to eat at home. So no copycats for me. This has been a wicked year for grocery price increases. Very discouraging.
Ellie
Central Az
Hi Ellie,
DeleteI agree. Grocery shopping has become somewhat stressful for so many of us this year. For me, because I shop with cash, there's that worry that I won't have enough money with me. WinCo in my area is cash, check, or debit only. I never carry checks with me, and I don't even have a debit card. So I have to make sure I bring enough cash each time. I have had to put am item or two back when at the checkout because I didn't have enough $ in the moment. having to put things back always makes me feel "poor". But we're doing what we can, aren't we?
I'm happy to hear your flowers are in bloom. They're so cheery!
I like making Asian noodle bowls (copied from a favorite restaurant from years ago). First, I doctor up chicken or beef broth with garlic, ginger, a few hot pepper flakes, and soy sauce. Sometimes I add five spice powder. I let this boil and add cooked noodles (like spaghetti or rice noodles), vegetables (whatever I have on hand) and protein of choice. When serving, I top the bowls with chopped green onion, cilantro or basil, a bit of rice vinegar, a swirl of sesame oil, and hot sauce (like sriracha) to taste. You can also add sesame seeds and a boiled egg.
ReplyDeleteIt's delicious and very satisfying.
Hi Tina,
DeleteAsian noodle bowls sound fantastic and fairly easy to make and could use up a wide variety of ingredients.
Thank you for sharing!
One of our favorite "restaurant meals at home" creations started out using a copycat recipe for Panda Express Mushroom Chicken. We liked it better, but it was also way cheaper and we could control the quality of ingredients. Over the years, I've tweaked that to make it even more to our taste (marinating the chicken beforehand, for one thing). In our city, there is no safe place for me to purchase an Asian-style meal other than maybe Pho or curry. (Closest Pei Wei is about 75 miles away.) So in addition to saving money, I can have a gluten-free, peanut-free, soy-free meal that still satisfies that craving (we use coconut aminos instead of soy sauce).
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