Winter weather advisory, small craft/gale watch and two delicious recipes

Good Morning Augusta

It’s snowing outside, we’re under a winter weather advisory and small craft/Gale watch.  It’s going to be a very miserable 24 - 48 hours out there.  Don’t do something stupid in the car and end up in a hospital for Xmas.

This Morning we have periods of snow and a High of 23 ºF. Winds are out of the N at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 100%. 3 to 5 inches of snow expected.

Tonight we’ll have mostly cloudy skies with periods of freezing rain after midnight. Low 19 ºF. Winds will be light and variable. Chance of precip 90%.

The readings from my weather instruments in the North field are:

Humidity is 75%, the dew point is -3ºF, outside it’s -15.1ºC and -4.9ºF.

The wind direction is North between 0.4 MPH and  1.3 MPH, generating a wind chill of 4.9ºF.

The Barometric pressure is 30.30 / HPA 1026.0 and falling with a weather graphic indicating snow/rain.

The UV rating is 0.0 out of 16, Sunrise is at 7:09 a.m. Sunset is 4:01 P.M. Moon rise is at 8:28 p.m., Moon set is 9:57 p.m. and the moon phase is Waning gibbous.  

The RAW METAR reading from the airport in Augusta, Maine is:

METAR KAUG 171153Z AUTO 00000KT 2SM -SN OVC028 M16/M19 A3024 RMK AO2 SNB37 SLP252 P0000 60000 T11611194 11161 21200 56028

Visibility is 2.0 miles / 3.2 Kilometers with overcast to 2,800 ft / 853 m.

We didn’t receive any snow here beyond a snow squal or two, over the past 24 hours.

Okay, enough of the healthy stuff.  SWEET ITALIAN SAUSAGE AND CHICKEN

Serves 6

6 TO 8 SWEET Italian sausages (cut into bit size pieces)

1 lb chicken breast (cut into bite size pieces)

1 large onion (cut into chunks)

1 small can of mushroom pieces drained

1 clove of garlic or 1 tbsp crushed garlic

1 tbsp oregano

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 16 oz can of stewed tomatoes

Cooking spray

In a frying pan brown sausage in cooking spray or tbsp of olive oil for approximately 10 minutes on medium/high heat.  Remove sausage from pan and brown chicken for approximately 10 minutes.  Remove chicken from pan and add onions, peppers, mushrooms, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper to frying pan and cook for approximately 5 minutes.  Add chicken and sausage and can of tomatoes and bring to a boil.  Cover and simmer 20 minutes then bring to a boil for approximately 5 minutes.

Serve in bowls like a stew.

No Exchanges given with this recipe.

And for dessert:

CHERRY SHORTCAKES

Serves 4

1 (16 oz) can tart red cherries, packed in water, undrained

¾ cup water

1 (4-serving) package JELL-O sugar-free cherry gelatin

1 package fat free Jello vanilla pudding mix

½ tsp almond extract

¾ cup Bisquick Reduced-Fat baking mix

½ cup Splenda

½ cup water

¼ cup fat-free mayonnaise

¼ cup Cool Whip Lite

1 tbsp + 1 tsp chopped almonds

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Spray a baking sheet with butter-flavored cooking spray.  In a medium saucepan, combine undrained cherries, water, dry pudding mix, and dry gelatin.  Cook over medium heat until mixture thickens and starts to boil, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat.  Stir in almond extract.  Place saucepan on a wire rack and cool while preparing shortcakes.  In a large bowl, combine baking mix, Splenda, water, and mayonnaise.  Drop batter by large spoonfuls onto prepared baking sheet to form 4 shortcakes.  Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown.  For each service, place 1 shortcake in a dessert dish, spoon ½ cup sherry mixture over shortcake, top with 1 tbsp Cool Whip Lite, and garnish with 1 tsp almonds. 

Exchanges:  1 ½ starch/carbohydrate   -   1 fruit   -   ½ fat  191 calories    -   3 gm fat   -   4 gm protein   -   37 gm carbo   -569 mg sodium   -   39 mg calcium   -  1 gm fiber