The Rachael Ray dinner was delicious.  I just finished eating it for the second time tonight!  We cooked up 6 chicken breasts, at once, since that would make 2 supper’s worth of sandwiches for the 3 of us.  We only made half a recipe (8-oz of pre-shredded cabbage), of the cole slaw and that was easily enough for 2 night’s worth, for the three of us.

It was also nice, that I’d done most of the hard work, on Monday night, since on Tuesday, I had to work at 5pm.  My hubby and daughter only had to assemble the sandwiches, and serve the coleslaw for last night’s supper.

Emily and I also know now, that in the absence of lemon juice to keep the avocado fresh, we can keep the second half in the peel, face-down on a plate, covered tightly with plastic wrap, to be able to use it the next night.  We meant to buy a lemon, but we forgot.  We also forgot to buy the green onions for the cole slaw.  Maybe next time!

It was definitely worth all the hard work of juicing 3 limes!  They are harder to juice, than lemons.

We had a sunny day today, which was nice, after all of yesterday’s rain.  It’s also supposed to rain tomorrow night.  That’s better than Duluth, MN, who is under a blizzard warning for tomorrow night!  Ugh.  Temp was in the low 50’s today.

I recently finished a new Monthly Dishcloth KAL.  This one was a spring scene with flowers in a field, called The Meadow.  It was designed by Lindy,  She’s only 16.  Doesn’t she do a great job?

I upgraded tonight, but see that I lost my pretty decorations! It all works, but I don’t have time to fuss with the design! Maybe in the morning. I really have to go to bed. Also, the chicken that I cooked for tomorrow night’s supper, needs to be put into the fridge, now that it’s cooled a bit.

We are making a Rachael Ray 30-minute meal, although, what I did tonight, took longer than 30 minutes! LOL!

Honey-Lime Grilled Chicken Sandwiches and Five Vegetable Slaw

I marinated and cooked the chicken tonight, along with making the cole slaw!  Haven’t tried the chicken, but the cole slaw is delicious!

This morning, Sheboygan wasn’t in the snow advisory.  Then around 3pm, it started snowing and quickly became heavy.  Then they announced we WERE in the snow advisory area!  LOL!  We had already figured that out.  Now it’s about 8pm and we have several inches on the ground and it’s still coming down!  I have to go pick up my kids from pep band very soon and I’m not looking forward to it, since the roads are a little slippery!  Ugh.  Oh well, the new snow looks so pretty now.  The old snow was getting dirty and icky looking.

The kids and I had breaded porkchops for supper, with steamed broccoli and cauliflower, and baked potatoes with sour cream and cheese.  Yummy!  I’ll post the recipe for the pork chops, when I get back from picking up the kids!  Off I go, into the snow!

Breaded Pork Chops:

Prepare Pork Coating Mix (below). Dip 4 pork rib or loin chops, (1/2 to 3/4 inch thick), into 3/4 cup milk.  Shake each in Pork Coating Mix, coating both sides.  Cook on rack in shallow pan in 425 degree oven until done and brown, 30-35 minutes.
4 servings

Pork Coating Mix

2 tablespoons yellow cornmeal
2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground sage
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon paprika

Shake ingredients in medium plastic or paper bag.

Yummy.  It smelled so good in my kitchen with potatoes baking in the microwave and the pork chops roasting in the oven!  I should cook at home more often.

Thanks to all of you who suggested questions. If I haven’t been to your site yet to grab them, I will be there soon! This week’s questions come from karen. Great questions, Karen! =)

1. What is your favorite main course to prepare?
Chili.  I don’t need a recipe.  It’s all in my head.
2. What is your favorite side dish to prepare?
Muffins to go with the chili.
3. Do you like to bake? If so, what is your favorite?
Bonnie Butter Cake - It’s my favorite cake!

Bonnie Butter Cake with Easy Penuche Frosting 

Cake:
1 3/4 c. sugar 
2/3 c. butter 
2 eggs 
1 1/2 tsp. Vanilla 
2 3/4 c. all-purpose flour or 3 c. cake flour 
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder 
1 tsp. Salt
1 1/4 c. milk  

Heat oven to 350^.  Grease and flour 9 x 13-inch pan or 2 9-inch round layer pans, or 3 8-inch round layer pans. Mix sugar, margarine, eggs, and vanilla until fluffy.  Beat on high speed, scraping bowl occasionally, 5 minutes.  Beat in flour, baking powder and salt, alternately with milk on low speed. Pour into pan(s).  Bake until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, oblong 45 to 50 minutes, layers 30 to 35 minutes; cool.

Frosting 
1/2 c. butter or margarine
1 c. packed brown sugar 
1/4 c. milk 
2 c. powdered sugar      

Heat margarine in saucepan until melted.  Stir in brown sugar.  Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir over low heat 2 minutes. Stir in milk; heat to boiling.  Remove from heat and cool to lukewarm. Stir in powdered sugar gradually.  Place in bowl of ice and water; beat until frosting is smooth and of spreading consistency.  If frosting becomes too stiff, heat
4. What one dish would you like to learn to cook?
Risotto.  It looks so good, but it’s kind of putzy!
5. What is your worst cooking disaster?
When I forgot to put cornmeal under the pizza, when my pizza stone was new.  It stuck to the stone soooo bad.  We had to eat something else for supper.

My work Christmas party is tonight!  We always do it way after Christmas!  The host is making beef tenderloins and cheesy potatoes.  The rest of us are bringing a dish to pass.  I decided to bring a dessert, since many people were bringing something besides dessert.

I decided to bring Cinnamon Apple Cake from Cooking Light.  The cream cheese in the batter give this cake lots of moisture. Because it’s so tender, use a serrated knife for cutting.

1 3/4 cups sugar, divided
3/4 cup (6 ounces) block-style fat-free cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter or stick margarine, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 cups chopped peeled Rome apple (about 2 large)
 Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°. Beat 1 1/2 cups sugar, cream cheese, butter, and vanilla at medium speed of a mixer until well-blended (about 4 minutes). Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition; set aside.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add flour mixture to creamed mixture, and beat at low speed until blended. Combine 1/4 cup sugar and cinnamon. Combine 2 tablespoons of the cinnamon mixture and apple in a bowl; stir apple mixture into batter. Pour batter into an 8-inch springform pan coated with cooking spray, and sprinkle with remaining cinnamon mixture.

Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until cake pulls away from the sides of pan. Cool cake completely on a wire rack, and cut using a serrated knife.

Note: You can also make this cake in a 9-inch square cake pan or a 9-inch springform pan; just reduce the baking time by 5 minutes.

Yield: 12 servings

NUTRITION PER SERVING
CALORIES 281(28% from fat); FAT 8.7g (sat 1.8g,mono 3.7g,poly 2.6g); PROTEIN 4.8g; CHOLESTEROL 39mg; CALCIUM 89mg; SODIUM 234mg; FIBER 1.2g; IRON 1.1mg; CARBOHYDRATE 46.3g

Cooking Light, JANUARY 2000

It’s smelling so good in my house right now.  I can’t wait to try some.  13 people gave this recipe 5 stars!  I didn’t realize that, until it was in the oven.  I found the recipe in one of my Cooking Light magazines, not online.

My kitchen is sooo cozy, which is nice, since it’s only in the single digits outside.  Brrrr.