Chicken Noodle Soup (with an OJ on the Side)

Living in New York has its perks. One big one being the stack of delivery menus that sits in my kitchen. When I woke up Friday morning with a sore throat and stuffy nose, I woke up and ordered $20 of soup and orange juice. With it delivered to my door within 10 minutes, I spent the rest of my weekend sipping on soup and juice with all hopes to feel better soon. After 48 hours in bed, I ventured out for brunch this morning (4 doors down) to a diner called the Comfort Diner that I pass everyday, yet had never been too. There was a 20 minute wait, but I heard it was worth it. We glanced at a menu while waiting and with banana hazelnut french toast and lemon blueberry pancakes up for brunch, we def stayed and waited. I stuck with original buttermilk pancakes and my friend enjoyed their BBC omelet (not the British news channel, a broccoli bacon cheddar eggy plate of happiness!)

We both left satisfied and full, and only spent $10 each! Great food! Great prices! And these are mutual feelings from my friend and I, not just me being excited to get out of the house (which I was!). The one downfall the Comfort Diner has is that their hours are not your "Let's get drunk and go to the diner" kind of hours. They are only open from 9-9 (more of your hangover brunch crowd), but their food makes up for their bad hours.

In other weekend cooking endeavors, I had intentions on having a dinner party on Saturday night, but my ill state left my friends less than enthralled to eat my food (thing typhoid mary, but with a congested twist). I ended up cooking, and washing my hands every 3-4 minutes and made fettuccine with vodka sauce and banana pudding. I fed them to a few brave souls who still came over and everyone was satisfied. I'm taking their word for it all because I couldn't taste any of it. So, to start of a Sunday tradition, I'll give you the recipe I used for the banana pudding as the first Recipe of the Week! (insert applause and cheering!)

Recipe of the Week #1:
Original Nilla Banana Pudding

1/2 Cup of Sugar
1/3 Cup Flour
Dash of Salt
2 cups Milk
3 Eggs-Separated into whites and yolks
1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
45 Nilla Wafers
5 Bananas
1/4 cup of sugar

(Improvised from www.backofthebox.com)

Mix the first four ingredients and the egg yolks carefully over medium heat for 10-12 minutes. It will be thick and custard-like. Take off the heat and add the vanilla. Take about 3/4 cup of the custard mix and spread it on the bottom of a loaf pan or casserole dish. Layer the custard with banana slices and wafers and repeat until the custard runs out. (I had 3 layers of custard-make sure you end with a layer of custard). Beat the remaining egg whites and sugar until soft peaks form. Make sure not to beat too much because the egg white mixture will get too dry. Spoon the mixture on top of the pudding and spread it evenly over the custard surface. Bake at 350 F for 15-20 minutes, making sure top meringue layer only turns brown and doesn't burn.

I served it warm and it went over well, but it also went over very well cold for breakfast the next morning.

Mine turned out well, however I did notice the meringue layer began getting dark brown at 15 minutes, so time carefully!