Dr. Tyler's Chicken Meatball & Tortellini Soup

I tried my first recipe from Tyler Florence's book Dinner at My Place over the weekend. Soup is one of my favorite things and as the cold weather is slipping away (fingers crossed) I decided I should make a big pot before the weather gets too warm.

The recipe was fun to put together. First was the meatballs. I made the bread crumbs in my miniature food processor which I have had for several months but have not yet had the opportunity to use.

Then in went ground chicken, milk, egg, parsley, and Parmigiano- Reggiano. The meat mixture is not very stiff and was hard to roll in my hands so I used a small ice cream scoop instead, made life a lot easier! The meatballs then go into a 375 degree oven for about 30 minutes until golden and cooked through.

The rest of the soup is the same as a traditional chicken soup. Carrots, celery, onion, thyme and parsley are added to boxed chicken stock and simmered while the meatballs are in the oven. The cooked meatballs and the cheese tortellini are added and cook for about 7 minutes.

Very good soup. My only complaint is that the meatballs started to crumble over the next two days. I think this one may be best enjoyed the first day.

Marietta Diner

I am an Food Network junkie, and one Saturday morning I caught a quick minute of Diners, Drive In's and Dives. I had never really watched the show but I heard them talking about a place in Marietta, GA that sounded a lot like the "Greek" restaurants I miss so much from my home in Wisconsin. Don't be fooled by the word Greek. Although most of these restaurants have fantastic Greek fare, it referees to the people that own the restaurant who are normally of Greek descent.

Peter and I made the trip over to Marietta Diner last Saturday and I loved it from the moment I saw the sign!

There was a short wait so we had time to take a quick self-portrait and when we were being shown to our table we spotted the Diners Drive in's and Dives poster! Pretty cool!

I could not wait to try the Spanikopita that I had heard about on the show. Upon being seated I asked our waitress for it right away. Her response, "If it's ready." Ok.....I wasn't sure what that meant, especially when about 5 minutes later a table near us got a plate of it. I was craving that Spanikopta so much, but sadly it never arrived. Disappointing.

However, I recovered and enjoyed my Gyro. YUMMMMM!!!!! This is one of my favorite sandwiches ever and it was great. The Tzatziki sauce that came with it was one of the best I have tasted and I used it on my Greek salad and french fries. I couldn't get enough!

Peter had an awesome Bacon Cheese Burger (sans bacon, thank you again stellar waitress) that I wanted to eat most of as well but resisted and had only one bite.

The desserts lure you in as you are shown to your table. Huge cakes and pies call your name!

Peter enjoyed a massive slice of carrot cake and I had the chocolate cream pie. Both were scrumptious but the portions were way too big and sadly we could not finish them.

I highly recommend checking out the Marietta Diner (hopefully you get a better waitress). They are open 24 hours a day and the menu was fantastic! It really was hard to decide what to eat. The breakfast plates that went by our table looked especially good, I think I will try that next time we go back.

Boiled Eggs

They should be easy, right? Not so. I find that I either over cook them or the shells are difficult to peel and I end up with a mutilated egg! At last I think I have found the solution thanks to my Martha Stewart Cooking School cook book, and by catching about 5 minutes of Paula's Home Cooking on the Food Network.

Here is my new method.

Place eggs in cold water with 2 teaspoons of salt (the salt is what I learned from Paula).
Cover and bring to a boil (the rest is what I learned from Martha).
Keep covered, turn off heat and let rest for 13 minutes.
Run under cold water to stop cooking.
Peel and eat.

Perfect every time.....or at least the 3 times I have tried this method!

Two blog posts for the price of one

This past weekend I made two blog worthy recipes. Both were delicious and very different types of fare.

The first I made for Saturday lunch, Teriyaki Chicken Lo Mein. Lo Mein is one of my favorite things to order when going out for Chinese food so I thought I would give this one a try. Very easy and quick recipe, it took about 30 minutes to come together. My only complaint was that it was a little too sweet even after cutting down on the sugar. Next time I will cut it down to maybe 2 tablespoons.

3/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar

1 1/2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger

1/3 cup sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

3 1/2 cups water

4 (3-oz.) packages ramen noodles, broken into large pieces, seasoning packets discarded

1 (16-oz) bag coleslaw mix

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into chunks

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Simmer soy sauce, vinegar, ginger, sugar, and cornstarch in large saucepan over medium-high heat, whisking often, until thickened, 2-3 minutes. Transfer half of soy sauce mixture to large bowl and reserve. Add water to sauce pan with remaining soy sauce mixture and return to boil. Add ramen and cook, stirring occasionally until tender, about 4 minutes. Off heat stir in cole slaw mix. Cover and keep warm.

Pat chicken dry with paper towels. heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add chicken and cook until no longer pink. Transfer chicken to bowl with reserved soy sauce mixture and toss to coat. Transfer noodles to platter, top with chicken and serve.

The second recipe was for Super Bowl Sunday. We went to the Gilbertson's to enjoy the big game. Everyone brought a dish to accompany the delicious ribs and pork shoulder that Jeremy cooked up. My contribution was a potato salad from Tyler Florence.

What I liked about this recipe was the dill. Lots of dill and dill pickles!! Dill is one of my favorite flavors and unfortunately I don't get to use it very often. The salad was good on Sunday evening, but it was GREAT for lunch this afternoon. The flavors really married together over night. I can't wait for summer cook outs to make this one again!