The Great Cooking Magazine Challenge ~Installment #2

So I am doing good... 2 for 2! Yayyyy! Gotta celebrate every step of the way because you never know when I'm going to fall off of this Cooking Magazine challenge wagon. In case any of you reading this have no idea what I'm talking about, I have given myself a challenge to try at least one recipe out of each of my new cooking magazines within a week of them coming into my possession. See my first post regarding this challenge here. At least one of my blogging buddies has taken the challenge. Check out Carol of There's Always Time to Cook's 2nd post about the challenge here. She's ahead of me!

My wonderful sister Cindy, who was one of the main people that taught me how to cook and bake and who shares my love of good food and recipes has given me a subscription to Everyday with Rachel Ray the past few Christmases. So Rachel is going to be making a regular appearance in the challenge. Her recipes tend to be pretty easy and quick. Sometimes calling for ingredients I don't have, but usually ingredients that can be substituted without essentially changing the recipe. For this particular recipe I actually had them all, so it definitely caught my eye. I did add a little bit of parmesan and some grilled chicken to make it more of a main meal. Also, I skipped the toasted bread and served it with leftover garlic bread. Oh yeah..I also added salt to taste. For some reason it wasn't in the list of ingredients and I thought it needed just a touch to bring out the other flavors. This had a nice light fresh taste!



Greek-Style Bread Salad with Creamy Lemon-Caper Dressing

12 baguette slices
1 Tbls extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing
3 cloves garlic, 1 halved 2 finely chopped
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbls greek style yogurt
2 Tbls lemon juice
1 10 oz bag chopped romaine lettuce
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved lengthwise
1 small red onion, finely chopped
2 oz cooked chicken
1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese
2 Tbls capers, rinsed
Salt & Pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 375°. Brush both sides of each bread slice with olive oil, place on a baking sheet and bake for 10 mins. Rub the garlic halves on each toast. In a large salad bowl, add the chopped garlic; whisk in the yogurt, lemon juice and 2 tbls olive oil. Toss with the lettuce, tomatoes, onion and capers. Season with salt and pepper. Divide the salad among 6 plates and top each with 2 toasts.

I can't go away without sneaking in a little bit of my day in the yard. It was sooo sunny and nice today. Even a littel bit hot! At least by Northwest standards. By Louisiana standards it was a gorgeous winter day lol.

This is a flowering red currant about to be in full bloom



Another pretty daffodil opened up today



And I inspected my clematis and found so many fat little flower buds!