Northern Lights, Fire Risk, Diabetes

I completely forgot, yesterday, to mention the coronal mass ejection (basically sunspots) which were occurring which will cause more Northern Lights to be apparent in the night skies. Aurora Borealis to be accurate. Last night is supposed to be the last one and unfortunately for us it was cloudy so we couldn’t see anything. We did see them once when we were travelling in Northern Ontario, pretty fantastic to see. I checked when we got home, thinking we must have been very far north, but in fact we were not that far north at all. Deceptive.

A rather scary story this morning http://tinyurl.com/23s5g9b about spontaneous combustion of linseed oil. If you use this at all, you really should read the article. Who knew it could be so dangerous.

This morning I am attending an individual seminar on Diabetes care which is run by Bayer. I’m not very clear about it all, but my pharmacist was anxious I should attend as she had very good reports of the previous sessions held in the drug store. Which reminds me, I don’t think I mentioned, I finally got the cable which connects my glucometer (for reading blood sugars) to the computer. However, the software, etc. was not very well explained and I had to get lots of help from Bayer themselves. I had to go into Device Manager and install various drivers before anything would work. However, once everything was working, the programme recorded 21 days worth of results. My only complaint now is that it does not show whether the figures were from before or after a meal. The reason being that my meter doesn’t do so either.

Yesterday, Joe Barkson published a recipe in his WW Recipes newsletter (ezine) which I liked the look of, so we decided to try it out last night for supper. We found the chicken didn’t pick up a lot of flavour, but as long as you had a piece of chicken with some vegetables in one mouthful, it was delicious and I can highly recommend it. We will certainly do it again. Just for interest, I include a picture of the preparation stage of the dish. It is, of course, a one dish meal which makes it great for serving.

Chicken and Vegetables with Balsamic Vinegar

http://www.wwrecipes.com/

1 Tbs (15 ml) olive oil 4-6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves 1 onion, chopped 2-4 cloves garlic, finely chopped 1 lb (450 g) baby red potatoes, halved 1/2 cup (125 ml) chicken stock 2 leeks, white and tender green parts, chopped 4-6 carrots, chopped 1 red bell pepper (capsicum) cored, seeded, and chopped Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste 1/4 cup (60 ml) balsamic vinegar

1. Heat the oil in a large heavy skillet over high heat and sauté the chicken breasts until browned on all sides and cooked through, about 10 minutes. Remove to a plate. Add the onion, garlic, and potatoes to the same skillet and cook, stirring frequently, until the onion is tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chicken stock, scraping the bottom of the skillet to dissolve the "brown bits."

3. Add the leeks, carrots, bell pepper, salt, and pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer covered until the vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in the balsamic vinegar and return the chicken to the pan, spooning the sauce over the pieces. Cover and simmer until heated through, about 5 minutes. Serves 4 to 6.

Servings: 4-6

Source: WW Recipes

Have a great day