Advent Calendar, Nose Biting, Rock Art, Frozen Desserts.

Jacquie Lawson have now issued their Advent Calendar for 2011 which is based on London scenes. I really enjoyed the one last year so have downloaded this year’s too. You can also send copies to your friends so they too can enjoy opening the windows for the whole of December and no, you cannot peek and no, I am not affiliated with them. The calendar starts on Dec. 1, so get one now.

A very odd story, Greg Flanagan has accused a poll worker, in Ohio, of trying to bit his nose off. What a funny thing to do when you are attacking someone. Tyson once tried to bite off someone’s ear which was odd enough, but someone’s nose, weird. It started with a head butt, but I still think its very peculiar.

As you may remember, I recently read the last book in Jean Auel’s Earth’s Children series, it was called The Land of the Painted Caves and covered a lot of information on the caves in France which are full of rock paintings done some 30,000 years ago. I just rented a documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams which showed pictures of one particular cave which, due to a massive rock fall, had been hidden for over 25,000 years and where the paintings were in pristine condition. The picture shows a map of the extent of the area. The cave in the documentary was the Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc and the documentary brought to life all the things I had read in the book. Absolutely fascinating drawings of the animals of the time plus on the ground were skulls of cave bears which had once occupied the caves and made scratches on the walls. I downloaded the movie from iTunes and if you are at all interested, recommend you watch it. Amazon.com also have it for sale.

The local radio do the remembrance ceremony very well, first we got half an hour of poems (John Geilgud reciting) and songs themed for remembrance. Next we got the Last Post for one minute then total silence for the second minute. After that they recited In Flanders Fields followed by Vera Lynn singing war songs. To most British she epitomizes the war years. A friend took her young son to Ottawa that day to see the ceremony live. Sadly not enough people take notice of the occasion any more.

We regularly have Chapman’s frozen yogurt as a dessert; it is a Canadian company and they make a good product. The other night, for the first time we tried their Nanaimo Bar. It was a pretty good approximation of a Nanaimo Bar flavour and we both enjoyed it. We also bought what I call Chocolate Profiteroles from M & M Meats although they call them Chocolate Hazelnut Cream Puffs. Haven’t tried them yet, but they look delicious. What the hell, it saves cooking. Of course I shouldn’t be eating dessert anyway.

How’s this for a deal today, three recipes in one. They are also low calorie and will make up for all the stuffing I have done in the previous paragraph,  but its chocolate!!!!!!!

Stuffed Chicken Breast

WebMD Recipe from EatingWell.com

Cream cheese and pesto make a delectable filling for lean chicken breasts. Use this technique to experiment with other fillings as well, such as ham and cheese or goat cheese and chopped olives.

Yield: 4 servings

Recipe Ingredients:

Cream Cheese-&-Pesto-Stuffed Chicken Breasts

1. Filling of your choice, (see below)
2. 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, (1-1 1/4 pounds total)
3. 1 egg white
4. 1/2 cup plain dry breadcrumbs
5. 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

Cream Cheese-Pesto Filling  :

1. 2 tablespoons reduced-fat cream cheese, (Neufchatel)
2. 1 tablespoon basil pesto, (store-bought or homemade)
3. Freshly ground pepper, to taste

Goat Cheese-Olive Filling:

1. 2 tablespoons creamy goat cheese
2. 1 tablespoon chopped black olives
3. Freshly ground pepper, to taste

Ham and Cheese Filling:

1. 1/4 cup grated Swiss, Monterey Jack or part-skim mozzarella cheese
2. 2 tablespoons chopped ham
3. 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
4. Freshly ground pepper, to taste

Recipe Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Coat a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray.
2. Combine cream cheese, pesto and pepper in a small bowl with a fork.
3. Cut a horizontal slit along the thin, long edge of a chicken breast half, nearly through to the opposite side. Open up each breast and place one-fourth of the filling in the center. Close the breast over the filling, pressing the edges firmly together to seal. Repeat with the remaining chicken breasts and filling.
4. Lightly beat egg white with a fork in a medium bowl. Place breadcrumbs in a shallow glass dish. Hold each chicken breast half together and dip in the egg white, then dredge in the breadcrumbs. (Discard leftovers.)
5. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken breasts; cook until browned on one side, about 2 minutes. Place the chicken, browned-side up, on the prepared baking sheet. Bake until the chicken is no longer pink in the center or until an instant-read thermometer registers 170°F, about 20 minutes.

Recipe Nutrition:

Cream cheese-pesto stuffed chicken per serving: 233 calories; 9 g fat ( 4 g sat , 3 g mono ); 81 mg cholesterol; 7 g carbohydrates; 33 g protein; 1 g fiber; 379 mg sodium; 351 mg potassium.

Carbohydrate Servings: 1

Exchanges: 1 Carbohydrate Serving, Exchanges: 1/2 starch, 3 1/2 lean meat, 1 fat

Nutrition Note: Goat cheese-olive stuffed chicken per serving: 235 calories; 7 g fat (2 g sat, 3 g mono); 72 mg cholesterol; 10 g carbohydrate; 31 g protein; 1 g fiber; 248 mg sodium.

Ham and cheese stuffed chicken per serving: 236 calories; 7 g fat (2 g sat, 3 g mono)

Have a great weekend

Howl at the Moon, St. Jacobs, Tigers

Last night we decided to go out for supper so went down the road to Howl at the Moon - we both had a Caesar Salad and Mediterranean Stuffed Chicken which was good. The vegetables were a sautéed mix of snow peas, cauliflower, peppers and broccoli, not the usual overdone mush either, but very edible. The cook/chef knows what he is doing. They serve you a small loaf which is soaked in garlic butter. My main complaint is they give you way too much food. But that is a common complaint in North America. They actually have a neon sign of a wolf howling. Since we have lived in this apartment building, the restaurant has had three names, Whisky Jack's, Brubachers and now Howl at the Moon. One time we went there for lunch and I had the most delicious soup. I tried to get the recipe, but they wouldn't part with it. Thursday is our usual grocery shopping day and I was disappointed to find only American strawberries in the stores. I guess the local ones have more or less finished although we had bought some the day before. I am planning to go to the market in St. Jacobs on Saturday morning so maybe I will find some more there - a kind of last gasp. The blueberries were also from the US and when we went to the farm the day before they had lots of local blueberries. Although they were a lot more expensive than in the stores. I specially want to go to the market as there is a stall selling socks which my diabetic foot nurse has recommended. I have some long ones, but they have ankle socks and apparently much cheaper. They are more or less seamless on the toes. I find I have a lot of problems with seams. I get a regular newsletter from World Wildlife Fund; this morning there was an interesting article about relocating tigers to an area where the animals had been wiped out click here to read how it was done. Apparently tigers are dwindling at an alarming rate and if we are not careful there won't be any for our children or theirs. Of course, in some areas tigers pose an extreme hazard for the native population but this is not always the case. It will be interesting to find out if the relocation of a tiger and tigress will help to repopulate the Sariska area in India. Another segment in the newsletter is about the pressure on drilling for oil in the Arctic which according to WWF will not alleviate oil prices in the long run but will help to destroy "The Polar Bear Seas". They are advocating support of an act to close the loopholes which would possibly allow drilling in these seas. The polar bear habitat is disappearing fast enough on its own without encouraging it by drilling for oil. We have the ability to use alternate means of powering our vehicles, its time we knuckled down to using such means. These days I read a lot on the internet about improving one's carbon footprint, OK, I am doing what I can, but what about nations. I have said it before, the idea of taking til 2050 to reduce emissions by half is ridiculous. Do it NOW. We don't have time to muck about. The world is deteriorating around us and its our fault. The following is a recipe I got from World Wide Recipes some time ago. Its very good and worth giving a go. Chicken Breasts stuffed with Caramelized Onions, Roasted Red Peppers, Ham, & Herbed Cheese Serves: 4 4 chicken breasts, pounded very, very thin 4 slices of ham (Black Forest works well) 1 large onion 4 pieces roasted red pepper 1 tub (8 oz.) vegetable cream cheese black pepper your favorite herbs-for instance white pepper, thyme, basil, and rosemary olive oil margarine or butter chicken stock (around 1/4 cup) white wine (around 1/4 cup) Finely slice the onion and sauté in margarine until caramelized, about ten minutes. Finely chop the roasted red peppers, and add to the cream cheese, along with the herbs, caramelized onions, and lots of freshly ground black pepper (the more the better). Mix well. Place a slice of ham on top of a chicken breast; place a big spoonful of the cheese mixture in the middle of that, and starting with one end of the chicken, roll it and secure with wooden toothpicks. In the same pan in which the onions were sautéed heat some olive oil (a tbs. or two). Brown the rolled chicken a few minutes on each side. Once the chicken is golden all over, transfer to a shallow baking dish; add some more olive oil to the pan and scrape the bottom. Add the white wine and chicken stock, let boil and then simmer; add the remainder of the cheese mixture and stir until a smooth consistency is reached. Pour the sauce over the chicken and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 20 minutes. Serves four. This entrée goes really well with risotto and a salad. Have a great day.