OOPA!

Brrrr!!!

It is so cold here today! I don't think I felt warm at all today, no matter how many layers I put on. I'm thinking as soon as I end this post my new electric heating blanket and I will spend some quality time together. I think that blanket was one of my best gifts from Adam this year!

When it gets this cold I like to cook dinners that will warm me up from the inside. I always have enjoyed a delicious soup, not that campbell's stuff in a can, but a nice home cooked, not full of sodium soup. When I was younger, and a poor college kid, I used to waitress. I made great fast cash and it fit with my class schedule quite nicely. One of the best places I worked was at a family owned and operated Greek restaurant. Being a foodie who loves to try new ethnic cuisine (remember I purposely picked my Disney wedding date to coincide with Epcot's food and wine festival) I developed a new love for all things Greek! My favorite quick snack before a shift on a cold night was a steamy hot bowl of Avgolemono soup. Avgolemono soup is a thick, lemon, chicken soup. It reminds me of American chicken noodle soup, just with more pizzaz! It is a favorite in my household and recently I brought some left overs into work and my coworker loved it.

Unfortunately I did not get the recipe from the restaurant that I worked at. But this recipe that I use from Closet Cooking is almost identical. If you're looking for a yummy, warm you from the inside out soup, this is definitely something I'd recommend trying out.  It's pretty simple and I'd love to hear what you think of it!

Ingredients:
8 cups chicken stock
1 cup chicken (cooked, shredded)
1 cup orzo
1 onion (chopped)
2 carrots (chopped)
2 stalks celery (chopped)
1/2 teaspoon oregano
salt and pepper to taste
2 eggs
2 lemons (juice)
1 handful dill (chopped)

Directions:
1. Place the chicken stock, chicken, orzo, onion, carrots, celery, oregano, salt and pepper into a pot.
2. Bring the soup to a boil and simmer until the vegetables are tender and the orzo is cooked, about 10-12 minutes.
3. Take the pot off the heat.
4. Whisk the eggs in a bowl until frothy.
5. Whisk in the lemon juice.
6. Slowly whisk in some of the liquid from the soup to temper the eggs.
7. Mix the avgolemono sauce into the soup.
8. Stir in the dill and serve.


I totally spaced out about taking a picture of the finished soup and at the moment its all gone...#bloggerfail!  I promise in the future I will remember to take pictures before we inhale whatever I've made. But if you want to see what the soup should look like all done click on the link to Closet Cooking :)


xoxo