Shamefully easy apple-apricot chicken breasts

I wanted something low-calorie but protein-packed for dinner tonight, and this seemed worth trying. It's so easy I almost didn't want to post it -- then I realized that if I saw a yummy recipe like this online, I'd be happy to have found something that I can prepare in about 3 minutes.

So here you go!

Apple-apricot chicken breasts (serves 4)

3-4 chicken breasts, totaling about 1 pound

3/4 cup apple-apricot sauce (I used this one, but you can also make your own*)

salt and black pepper, to taste

1.) Rinse the chicken and pat dry. Place on a baking dish, and top with equal amounts of apple-apricot sauce. Top with salt and pepper. (I needed quite a bit with this.)

2.) Bake, covered, for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

* While this no longer qualifies as "shamefully easy," you can quite simply make your own apple-apricot sauce if you have a steamer and a strainer.

Apple-apricot sauce (makes about 1 cup or 1-1/2 cups)

1.) Just wash the fruit -- 2 apples and 2 apricots should do it for this dish -- and peel the apples. Place the fruit in a steamer basket. I have a steel one that I love.

2.) Steam (covered, obviously) over a small amount of boiling water for about 10 minutes, or until the apples are soft. Lift the lid and let the fruit cool enough to handle.

3.) The skins should come easily off the apricots by gently rubbing them off by hand. Cut the flesh away from the apples and apricots, and strain them through a strainer one by one.

4.) Stir to mix the fruits.

Possible side dishes:

roasted asparagus with parmesan crisps

green salad with maple-mustard vinaigrette