Avgolemono Soup (Greek Lemon Rice Soup)

We tried a Greek restaurant in our town recently. The waitress gave us a choice of soup or salad, and when we heard that the soup was Lemon Rice, we both immediately chose salad. But the waitress insisted that we try the soup for free, and brought us both a small bowl. I think we both had it finished off before she even came back to ask how it tasted. It was delicious! Just the right amount of lemon juice, and very savory chicken broth. This recipe is pretty tangy, so if you're not too sure, add half the lemon juice, then taste it before adding the rest.

1 (16 ounce) can chicken broth
1/2 cup long grain rice (not instant or converted)
Juice of lemon (about 1/4 cup)
3 egg yolks

Boil broth; add rice and cook for 25 minutes. Meanwhile in a separate bowl, beat egg yolks and lemon juice with fork. Slowly pour a cup or two of hot broth into the egg mixture to temper it so the eggs don't curdle. Whisk until it is all blended.
Pour it back into the pot slowly while stirring. Add salt and pepper to taste. (At this point, we let our soup warm on the stove for a few minutes more, so it will thicken up a little, but it also tastes great immediately.) Serve hot or chilled with thin lemon slices and/or parsley.

I have seen several recipes that add shredded chicken into the soup to make it more of a meal, and we have also added seasoned hamburger meat to ours.

NOTE: We love this soup so much, we always triple the recipe, and between the 2 of us, we will have it all eaten in two sittings.

Ice Cream Cake

Ice Cream Cake has become a staple at every birthday party we have around here. My Tiny Man had his 5th birthday party on Saturday, so I figured I'd snap a few photos of the ice cream cake process and post them here. It's super easy and we rarely have leftovers!

Ingredients:
1 package Oreo cookies (or, you know, the off-brand... no one will know the difference)
Chocolate syrup
1 box cookies and cream flavored ice cream
1 small container Cool Whip, thawed (I put mine in the refrigerator two days before hand)
chocolate sprinkles


Directions:

Put Cool Whip in the refrigerator to thaw!

Place about 3/4 of the Oreos in a Ziploc bag (you won't need them all unless you want a deeper "crust" layer. Beat them to death with a meat mallet until they're all crunched up. Then place them in an even layer on the bottom of a 9x13 dish. Like so...

Drizzle the chocolate syrup over the cookies. You don't need a whole lot - just enough to make a nice layer, like so...

At this point, I covered with foil and put the whole thing in the freezer. Later that day, I set the ice cream out to soften. After about 5 minutes, you can slice the ice cream and place it over the top of the cookies. Spread it around until you have an even layer, then cover with foil again and place in the freezer to harden again. You can also drizzle chocolate syrup over the ice cream, if you want.

The next morning, I spread the thawed Cool Whip over the ice cream layer, then sprinkled with chocolate sprinkles. You can also save a few crushed cookies to sprinkle over the top instead, or drizzle some chocolate syrup over it. I went with sprinkles.

When it's time to serve, let it sit out on the counter for about five to ten minutes so it's soft enough to cut through all the layers. Enjoy! (Also excellent for breakfast before all the kids wake up.)

Stacey's Lasagna

I've been taking the lazy way out and buying frozen lasagnas for a while now. SuperDad finally complained and said that homemade lasagna was much better, so I decided to go for it. I couldn't find my old lasagna recipe, so I made up this one. The whole family loved it! I'm definitely keeping this one in a handy place! :)

Stacey's Lasagna

Ingredients:

1 24 oz. (1 1/2 lb.) container cottage cheese or ricotta cheese
5 oz. container shredded parmesan cheese (not the grated powdery stuff)
12 lasagna noodles, cooked
1 lb. ground turkey
1/4 to 1/2 lb. turkey breakfast sausage, crumbled
1/2 large or 1 small onion, finely diced
1/2 red bell pepper, finely diced
Salt, pepper
1/4 cup cooked and crumbled bacon (can use real bacon bits, but not the imitation kind)
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp. prepared basil pesto (sun-dried tomato flavored pesto works well, too)
2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 jar spaghetti sauce, any flavor
1 15 oz. can tomato sauce
1 10 oz. bag baby spinach, rinsed and roughly chopped (can cut stems off, but not necessary)
1 1/2 lbs. shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. Combine cottage cheese with parmesan cheese and let sit, covered.

2. Cook lasagna noodles until just done, turn off heat, and let sit in water until ready to use. (Edited to add: MAKE SURE you dry these on some paper towels before you layer them in the lasagna or you will end up with a nice watery mess and your people will complain.)

3. In large skillet or pot, brown ground turkey and sausage (chopping with spatula to break up chunks) with onion and bell pepper until meat is cooked through and vegetables are tender. Season with salt and pepper. Add bacon pieces, minced garlic, balsamic vinegar and pesto, stirring well to combine. Cook on medium-high heat about 1 minute, then stir in tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce and spinach. Stir well to combine and cook until it starts to bubble, then remove from heat.

4. In a deep 9x13 lasagna pan (I used the foil disposable kind - easy clean-up!), layer the following in order:
* Meat sauce - just enough to lightly cover bottom of pan
* 3 cooked noodles
* 1/4 of the cottage cheese mixture
* 1/4 of the sauce left in the pot
* 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
* Repeat layers three more times, ending with shredded mozzarella on top.

5. Bake at 350 for about 30 to 45 minutes or until bubbly and cheese is melted.