Follow up on those recipes.....

Connie & Barb, here are the actual recipes for those two meals.

No Fuss Chicken

1 bottle (16 oz) Russian or Catalina salad dressing (sorry, I thought it was less.)
2/3 cups apricot preserves
2 envelopes dry onion soup mix (forgot about this ingredient completely!)
15 bonless skinless chicken breast halves (like I said, I've used thighs most of the time, or a mix of pieces)
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (optional, and my own addition)

In a bowl, combine dressing, preserves, soup mix & cayenne. Place chicken in 2 ungreased 11x7x2 inch baking pans; top with dressing mixture. Cover and bake at 350 deg. F. for 20 minutes; baste. Bake uncovers, 20 minutes longer or until chicken juices run clear.

(As I said, I always just pop mine in the crockpot & cover & bake for 6 hours or so on low -or maybe it's 8 hours, but I never leave it in that long. Either way, I use my crock-pot & the chicken always comes out beautifully tender, sometimes falling off the bone if I leave it too long. And it's fantastic over plain rice. The mix of the dressing & the juices makes a fantastic sauce for the rice.)

Torsk

6 (6 oz) cod fillets (do not need to be thawed, if using frozen fillets, and I've used flounder, halibut & tilapia with this recipe, so I assume any light-flavored, white fish will work. Though, you may need to adjust number of filets & broiling time if you choose a thin filleted fish.)

6 cups water
1 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp salt
1-1/2 c butter, melted (I use less.)
paprika

Preheat broiler. Lightly grease a cookie sheet. Place the fish in a large saucepan. Mix together the water, sugar and salt. Pour the water-mixture over the fish. The water mixture should fully cover the fish, if it doesn't, add more water. Bring the water to a boil over a medium-high heat. Boil for 3 to 5 minutes. Remove fillets from water, and blot on paper towels to remove excess water. Brush with 6 Tbsp melted butter (this is all the butter I really use), and sprinkle with paprika. Broil for 8 to 10 minutes per inch of thickness, or until the fillets are golden brown. (The butter should almost start to caramelize with the sugar still in the fish & the paprika. Serve with the remaining melted butter.

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We ended up having the Torsk last night, with Herb & Butter Rice-a-Roni & salad. VERY yummy!!!!

Tonight we're going to have sloppy joes, and we'll have the No Fuss Chicken tomorrow (Friday). I realized that I have planned on Salmon for Saturday, and didn't want fish two days in a row. Rearranging things means we'll not have the same kind of meat 2 days in a row this week.

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So, this summer I joined the Mary Jane's Farmgirl Forum. It seems like a great group of ladies from around the world who have enjoyed the _MaryJane's Ideabook, Cookbook, Lifebook_ and who've found their way to the forum to exchange ideas & recipes, book reviews & suggestions & parenting advice, household hints & gardening wisdom. Anyway, there's also a Farmgirl Barter list on there, and I decided to offer up one of my grocery sacks for another farmgirl to make me an apron with fabric that I'd already bought. Problem is, I'm not much of a sewer, certainly not if there are more than straight lines included. So, having somebody make me an apron with my fabric in exchange for one of my grocery bags was a perfect idea, I thought.

One of the other farmgirls took me up on the offer, but asked if I'd be willing to exchange 2 bags for 2 aprons, instead. She picked out the bags, and I gave her free-rein to make a second apron in a pattern & fabric that she chose.

I just got my 2 aprons yesterday, and they are BEAUTIFUL!!!! The apron I sent the fabric for came back looking as fantastic as I'd assumed it would. (One little problem, I'm a little too chubby to actually button it, so I'm going to need to lose at least 10 pounds before I can wear it. I'm calling it INCENTIVE to lose weight!!!!) The other apron she sent is in a beautiful yellow & orange butterfly patterned fabric. It's lined in a solid orange, and has a yellow butterfly applique on the pocket. They're both full-coverage aprons, which is ideal considering how often I spill or splatter things on the front of me. *grin*

But, tucked into the box along with the aprons was..... A "Kirsten" Doll. The American Girl Kirsten doll!!!!! Evidently my Farmgirl Friend found me a Kirsten doll as an extra suprise. OMG!!!!! She'd made her oldest daughter a Kirsten costume for Halloween, and I was commenting on how fabulous the daughter looked, and how jealous I was as Kirsten was always my favorite of the American Girl dolls. I didn't realize she'd go out & find me a doll & sent it to me. Anyway, what a beautiful suprise that was yesterday.

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Let's see, temp wise we've been doing good. We started to drop down in temp yesterday, but I don't think it ever even got to the -20 that the forcasters were predicting. There was also a light breeze blowing that blew in some cloud cover, and best I can tell, it's about 0 deg. F. right now. Not bad, for late December in Alaska!!!!! We did have some good gusty winds on Christmas night, and snow as well. Not too much snow. Maybe a 1/4 of an inch. But just enough to make for a snowy Christmas. *grin* We're hoping to get through the rest of the winter without too much more cold, or better yet, without ANY MAJOR cold!!!! If it stays -30 or warmer through the end of February, we'll be pretty well through the worst of the winter with only that one serious cold snap.

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I think that about covers it for today.

Have a Blessed Day!!!!!!