Last night’s dinner…it was delicious!  I should have taken a picture, but I was too eager to get started eating it.  And the recipe is from Cooking Light, so it’s not too bad for you.  I’m not sure about the sauce—it was tasty, but I don’t think I made it exactly right.  Oh well!  In any case, I highly recommend you try this recipe.

Blue Cheese-Stuffed Chicken from Cooking Light Magazine

Resist the urge to turn the chicken before it’s time; otherwise you risk having the breading stick to the pan (mistake #12).

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 breast half and about 4 teaspoons sauce)

Ingredients

• 1/2  cup  (2 ounces) crumbled blue cheese
• 1  tablespoon  reduced-fat sour cream
• 1  teaspoon  fresh lemon juice
• 1/8  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• 4  (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 1/4  cup  all-purpose flour
• 2  tablespoons  2% reduced-fat milk
• 1  large egg, lightly beaten
• 1  cup  panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
• 1 1/2  tablespoons  butter, divided
• 6  tablespoons  finely chopped drained bottled roasted red bell peppers
• 2  teaspoons  water
• 1  teaspoon  Worcestershire sauce
• 1  teaspoon  minced fresh garlic
• 1/2  teaspoon  hot sauce

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Combine first 4 ingredients in a small bowl. Cut a horizontal slit through thickest portion of each chicken breast half to form a pocket. Stuff cheese mixture evenly into pockets.

3. Place flour in a shallow dish. Combine milk and egg in a shallow dish, stirring well with a whisk. Place panko in a shallow dish. Working with 1 chicken breast half at a time, dredge chicken in flour, then dip in egg mixture; dredge in panko. Repeat procedure with remaining chicken, flour, egg mixture, and panko.

4. Heat a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon butter to pan; swirl until butter melts. Arrange chicken in pan; cook 4 minutes or until browned. Turn chicken over; place skillet in oven. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until done.

5. While chicken bakes, combine remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons butter, bell peppers, water, Worcestershire, and garlic in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer; cook until butter melts. Remove from heat, and stir in hot sauce. Serve sauce with chicken.

I woke up today to several inches of snow.  In fact, some might argue this was the snow we did NOT get during last week’s “blizzard”.

Case in point:

This is my car and front steps last week after the storm.

This is my car this morning after the overnight “snow flurries.”

It’s a subtle different but I believe you can tell that last night was a bit more snow.  Also the cars across the street are a little more snow-covered.  However, cleaning off my car from the first picture was much more challenging as it was primarily ice.  Today’s snow came off very easily.

I had to go out in the snow this morning to meet “Mike” at the gym.  I was a little worried I wouldn’t be able to get my car out of the space (they NEVER plow my street…never, never, NEVER) but managed.  I much prefer driving in the snow to driving on ice, so I didn’t mind driving.  Luckily they had plowed some of the bigger roads, and I didn’t have to go on the highway—I much prefer staying slow on surface streets when the roads are bed.  I suppose most people do?

In any case, I had a great Friday night.  I was feeling pretty grumpy yesterday afternoon, but after my grumpy pants blog entry, I remembered I had an emergency chocolate stash.  Two pieces later and I felt MUCH better.  I’m such a girl. 

I attended the Symphony concert (Mahler 6) which was great!  The review was good also.  Afterwards Chris and I went to Robust Wine Bar with a few good friends and had a great time drinking wine, eating cheese, and having fabulous conversations.  I feel MUCH better today, especially after a great workout with Mike.  (I did a bunch of planks and side planks, along with some other torturous exercises.) 

I guess the moral of the story is that a little chocolate and hanging out with a few friends makes me feel better?  I can’t believe it’s only Saturday—it feels like a Sunday!  I still have another day before I am back to work.  I am planning to cook a fancy dinner tonight.  I’ll let you know how it turns out.  I even decided to purchase a cast iron skillet for it (it calls for a pan you can put in the oven after being on the stovetop and I wasn’t sure mine were okay for that—I likely could have transferred to a baking sheet, but thought I might as well get a cast iron skillet—there will be more uses for it).