Johnny's Italian Steakhouse

Welcome to Johnny's!  To start, you will have a delicious basket of bread, and a plate for olive oil & parmesean cheese, sprinkled w/ a little pepper, for a dip.  (Seen below is Leyton, demonstrating how to eat this delicacy.  Sorry it's blurry - it's also dark in there & most of my food pictures didn't turn out nearly as well as the pasta one!)

With your entree, you will be given a dinner salad, complete with Johnny's signature balsamic dressing.  I do not like iceberg, but there was some purple cabbage in there, tomatoes, croutons, and carrots, so I was able to sample the dressing.  Very tastey!  Not as bitter or sharp as the Olive Garden's signature dressing (which I also like), more on the sweet side, and very enjoyable! 

For my main dish, I tried the Portabello Tortellini with Shrimp.  The pasta is stuffed and topped with cheese, and I admit I added more cheese from the parm on the table.  Mmm!  Not only are there mushrooms & a mushroom cream sauce, but sweet red peppers and broccoli are added for a superb taste!  The shrimp were rather large and firm, seasoned to perfection & very complimentary to the sauce.  Give it a try, it's worth the price, I think! 

I really enjoy tri-colored pastas, and am always pleasantly surprised when restaurants use them.  More should take advantage of the nutritional value spinach & squash pastas offer! 

What have you been eating lately?  Anything worth sharing?  : ) 

Until next time, keep the rubber on the road! 

In the mood for a good smorgasboard the kids will love?  Try Ryan's in Moline.  Mom got steak from the grill.  GOOD steak.  Comparable to Texas Roadhouse steak.  Mmm!  I picked some delicious baked fish out of the lineup, as well as some delicious nachos w/ beef, nacho cheese, sour cream & tortilla chips.  Anthony chose a lot of different things - pizza, mac & cheese, lots of ice cream.  heh.  Leyton ate some good breaded fish, corn, tomatoes - I had a spinach salad & he wanted my tomatoes.  : )  He also went with me to get the ice cream, and got his own cone. 

The best part of Ryan's, tho, in my opinion, is their honey buttered rolls with honey butter.  Oh. My. HECK!  So delectable & melt in your mouth when warm, you have to eat at least two.  I had three, I admit it! 

I do love a good buffet, and Ryan's qualifies.  Head down there on your next outing, and let me know what you think.  : ) 

Until then, stay sweet! 

Biagi's with Cousins

Today I had the pleasure of meeting 3 of my cousins for lunch at Biagi's.  My cousin Mandi works at the one in a different town, and she wanted to share their delicious food with us.  We Started off with a shrimp appetizer that was delicious, but of course I forgot to take a picture of that.  *laugh*  I did remember the rest of the meal, tho. 

First off, we have Mandi's plate, which was a seafood pasta of some sort.  Of course I can't remember the name.  Mandi, if you read this, let me know what it was!  Doesn't it look yummy, tho?  There were 3 or 4 different types of seafood in there, I think. 

Next, we have my plate of butternut squash raviolli.  You know how much I adore pumpkin curry from Exotic Thai, so of course when I saw this on the menu, I heard it calling my name!  Raviolli filled with butternut squash, topped with squash & walnuts, and a sweet sauce.  Very tastey, but did need a little help of salt & pepper.  And possibly a little more cheese, but overall I enjoyed it & give it a 4 out of 5 stars. 

Dawn chose this dish, which photographed a little blurry.  All I remember of the name is it had Bologanise (?) in it.  IDK what that is, but it had meat in it and appeared very hearty! 

Kathy chose a chicken salad, which she liked, but wished the chicken had been warm.  Other than the fact that it's lettuce, it looks good.  *laugh* 

For dessert, we had a lemon cake that I did not try, and white bread pudding, which I did eat a piece of & it was delicious!  I like traditional bread pudding, and this was a little lighter than that, happily.  I also had a very good cup of coffee with cream & sugar.  : )

I would recommend each of the dishes I tried today, and Biagi's in general.  Kathy blessed us by treating, but the pricing looked to be reasonable for the amount and quality of food provided. 

Until next time, have a great time trying new foods!  : ) 

Garlic Shells w/ Meatballs

Sorry it's a little blurry & dark. I just remembered to take a picture before it was all gone! *laugh*

I made this yesterday, without broccoli, and then added that in for today's leftover lunch. Sooo good! Here's the recipe!

Knott's (formerly Lipton) Garlic Shells - follow the directions on the package, plus add 2 shakes of garlic salt, pepper to taste, and 2 shakes of Spinach & Herb dip mix. Cook according to package.

Farmer's Market frozen meatballs (or any frozen meatballs of your choice) - microwave for 1m 30sec in a bowl w/ a little water.

Broccoli - I used fresh, but frozen would work as well. Cook to your liking. I microwaved w/ a little butter for 30 seconds, then added it in to the shells.

Mix it all together, add more spice to taste & voila! *laugh* I know, I'm not the greatest recipe writer because so much of my cooking is to taste. I tweak everything I make, so it's hardly ever the same, but it's always delicious. ; ) IMO. *laugh* Wait, that's not true - I have made some things that REALLY didn't turn out. I may have written about one or two here, I'm not sure. But this one, this one is good. Try it, and let me know what you think!!