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

IKEA-inspired meatloaf with gravy

I couldn't resist saying this recipe was inspired by IKEA. Have you ever had the Swedish meatballs in the store's cafeteria? They're so tasty.

I wanted to make something similar to those, but I didn't feel like rolling the meat into so many little balls, then frying them on the stove. And although I have a great recipe for meatballs that are baked, not fried, it's not what I was in the mood for so much today.

I also wanted to incorporate my father-in-law's secret meatloaf ingredient. (See if you can guess which one that is...)

I knew the sauce served with IKEA's meatballs was going to be tricky. I wanted to combine the gravy -- a plain white gravy -- with the fruity side served with it, which I think is cranberry, into one sauce. After a little trial and error, I came up with a sour cream-strawberry-pepper sauce that I think is amazing! Try it out for yourself.

IKEA-inspired meatloaf (makes 8 servings)

1 pound lean ground beef

1 pound ground turkey

1 egg

1 egg white

1/3 cup milk

1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped

1-1/2 cups crushed garlic bagel chips

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

3/4 teaspoon allspice

1 teaspoon salt

a few dashes of black pepper

1.) Put crushed bagel chips in a bowl with the milk; let them soak up the liquid for a few minutes.

2.) Combine that with the rest of the ingredients, and mix well by hand.

3.) Put in a loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes.

4.) Serve with sweet sour cream-pepper gravy on the side (below).

Sweet sour cream & black pepper gravy (makes 1-1/2 cups)

2 tablespoons butter

1 cup chicken broth

1-1/2 tablespoons flour

3 tablespoons strawberry fruit spread (try to find the no-sugar-added kind)

1/2 cup sour cream

salt to taste

lots of freshly ground black pepper (don't be shy here)

1.) Heat butter in a sauce pan over medium heat. Stir in the flour and chicken broth, and simmer, stirring, for about 3 minutes. Use a whisk to make sure lumps are removed.

2.) Reduce heat to low, and stir in the jelly and sour cream. Add salt and pepper. Serve this -- on the side -- with meatloaf. Some people don't like sweet food as much as I do!

Possible sides:
butternut squash-potato puree
Mom's tortellini salad
stuffed garlic mushrooms
Hugh's scalloped potatoes
zucchini slaw
tomato-basil salad

Banana-carrot bread

I think sweet little breads make the nicest holiday gifts. They are affordable, breakfast-worthy (you can't say that about a cookie or fudge), and even often quite healthy.

Last year, I discovered the cutest way to give bread loaves. Instead of trying to find an attractive way to package them, I found disposable paper loaf pans in which you can bake the bread first. They are called Loaf 'Em and Leave 'Em loaf pans. I got them at Goods for Cooks on the downtown square here in Bloomington.

I've been thinking about various types of breads again recently, but not just for holiday gifts. My 1-year-old is usually a great eater -- I could put anything in front of her, and there was not much she didn't like -- but in the past few days, I've noticed she's happy with three things: black beans, tofu, and this whole wheat bread. No fruits or veggies!

So, while I thought perhaps I'd never have to hide fruits and vegetables in her food, that's what I have done with this delicious loaf. I used a basic banana bread recipe and cut out half the sugar (sucanat), replaced the margarine with a little butter, and added carrots. You can try this with other veggies you like, such as sweet potato.

It's a dense little bread, but packed with flavor and healthy goodness!

Banana-carrot bread (makes 1 loaf)
2-1/2 or 3 over-ripe bananas
2 small carrots, finely shredded
1-1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup butter (or 1/2 cup applesauce, to veganize and sweeten more)
1/4 cup sucanat (or brown sugar)

optional: chopped walnuts or toasted sunflower seeds

1.) Mash bananas with a fork and combine with the shredded carrot. Put aside.

2.) Cream together butter or applesauce and sugar.

3.) Combine the banana mixture with the butter-sugar mixture.

4.) In a separate bowl, mix together all dry ingredients. Add dry mix to the wet mix and stir.

5.) Pour into a loaf pan and bake in a pre-heated 375-degree oven for about 30 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the bread comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Victory cookies!

YES! WE! CAN!

I made these cookies for a party last night, and what a party it turned out to be. You might want to make these today because you're probably in a celebratory mood. At least, I hope you are.

This recipe is from my sister-in-law Kristen. The family looks forward to her delicious Christmas cookies every year, and I just frosted these with a fluffy and easy frosting that I topped with red, white, and blue decorations.

The key to these is to not bake them too long. They should be soft cookies. They will keep, unfrosted, in tupperware in the freezer until you're ready to frost them. Put wax paper between the layers.

Kristen's famous sugar cookies (makes a couple dozen, depending on your cookie shapes)

2/3 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1 tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups flour

1.) Combine the butter, egg, milk, and vanilla in one bowl, and mix.

2.) Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in another bowl, and mix.

3.) Combine the two mixtures, bit by bit, and mix well with an electric mixer, if you have one.

4.) If the batter seems too soft to cut shapes out of, cover and chill it in the fridge for a half hour. Lightly flour a flat surface and roll out about 1/8-to-1/4-inch thick dough.

5.) Cut out your shapes. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet (an air-bake one works well). Bake at 375 degrees for 7-9 minutes.

6.) Cool on a wire rack completely before frosting.

Fluffy white frosting (for about 4 dozen small cookies or one 10-inch tube cake)*

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup water

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

2 egg whites

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1.) Combine sugar, water, and cream of tartar in a sauce pan. Cook, stirring often, until bubbly. Sugar should be completely melted.

2.) In a mixing bowl, combine the egg whites and vanilla. Add the sugar mixture very slowly, beating with an electric mixer on high speed the whole time. Stiff peaks should form after about 9 minutes, and that's when the frosting is done. (I put mine in the fridge for about 20 minutes before using. It was easier to handle.)

* from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book

Courtney's blueberry muffins

My friend Courtney -- her amazing pumpkin cookies were mentioned here -- has made some blueberry muffins that she's sharing with my blog. Hooray!

She said the Paula Deen recipe itself received a few negative comments at the Food Network site where she got the recipe, but hers turned out great.

The recipe below is copied and pasted from that site. I don't usually do that, but I'm pressed for time today. I'm volunteering to help get out the vote for Obama in my area. Today is a big day!!

Blueberry muffins (makes 12 muffins)

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
1 egg, slightly beaten
3/4 cup whole milk
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup granulated brown sugar or white sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin.

In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and sugar. In another bowl, combine butter, egg, and milk and mix well. Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture and with a spatula, stir until just combined. Do not beat or over mix; it's okay if there are lumps in the batter. Gently fold the blueberries into the batter.

Spoon the batter into the muffin tray, filling each cup about 2/3 full. Bake for 10 minutes and remove from the oven. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with the granulated brown or white sugar and return the muffins to the oven to bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes, until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool for about 10 minutes in the pan before turning the muffins out.

Shrimp, corn, & "sausage" chowder with potato dumplings

I was craving some kind of gumbo-ish, chowder-ish, shrimp- and sausage filled dish yesterday, even though the weather was a sunny 75 degrees or so.

I decided to get faux Italian sausage, and I picked up a Boca box because it was on clearance. (Usually, I would get Applegate Farms, but it's pretty pricey.)

The potato dumplings were Dan's idea. I noticed last-minute, as I was slicing things in the food processor with the oil heating on the stove, that I didn't have any potatoes, and he suggested our instant potato dumplings my mother brought us. They are great as an easy side dish and made from dried potato flakes, potato starch, and seasoning salt.

You could easily substitute matzo balls, American dumplings, or regular potatoes in place of the potato dumplings.

Shrimp, corn, and "sausage" chowder with potato dumplings (serves 8-10)

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon canola oil, divided

3 stalks celery, sliced

1 small or medium onion, sliced

1/4 cup chopped green pepper

1/4 cup chopped red pepper

2 spicy Italian sausage links (I used Boca's vegetarian Italian sausage, but you can use real sausage, too -- it would be even more delicious!)

5 cups chicken broth

1/2 cup water

8 ounces frozen corn kernels

8 ounces peeled shrimp

1.5 teaspoons dried thyme

3/4 teaspoon gumbo file (ground sassafrass leaves -- I like Tony Chachere's)

salt and pepper, to taste

1 cup soy creamer or light cream (I like the soy because it's a little sweet)

8 potato dumplings, cut into fourths or eighths (If you can't find the instant brand I use, Marena -- which I haven't seen it in the U.S. -- try this simple recipe)

1.) Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large soup pot over medium. Add celery, onion, and red and green pepper, and cook about 7 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2.) Add chicken broth, corn, carrots, thyme, salt, pepper, and gumbo file, and bring to a boil.

3.) Simmer the two sausage links in 1/2 cup water in a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Cook for 10 minutes, turning occasionally. Drain sausages, return to skillet with 1 teaspoon oil, and brown on all sides, about 4 minutes in all. Slice the sausage when cool enough to handle.

4.) Add sausage to the soup pot; bring to a boil. Turn heat to a gentle simmer, and simmer about 20 minutes, covered.

5.) Add the shrimp just as you turn off the heat, and cover. Let sit 5 minutes.

6.) Stir in creamer or cream, and add the hot potato dumplings.

Angel cake

I chose this recipe for my daughter's first birthday because it had very few ingredients -- I wanted to keep it simple -- and just egg whites, not egg yolk. (She hasn't yet eaten the latter.)

It was the first time I've made a cake like this, and the first time I've used a tube pan. The hardest part was getting all the egg whites beaten until they were stiff; I used 10 egg whites, so it took a while, even with the electric mixer.

The resulting cake was very good, although it did seem to flatten a little between the time it came out of the oven and the time we ate it (the following night).

It was almost completely eaten by two toddlers and four adults, as you can see by the last photo. Alice (top) and her friend Maya loved it! Maya wasn't sure at first, then she clapped.

This recipe came from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book.

Angel cake (makes one 10-inch tube cake, or about 10 small pieces)

10-12 egg whites, or 1.5 cups, room temperature

1.5 cups sifted powdered sugar

1 cup sifted cake flour or sifted all-purpose flour

1.5 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup sugar

1.) Sift the powdered sugar and flour together three times. In a separate bowl -- a very large bowl -- beat the egg whites with an electric mixer on medium until soft peaks form, and the tips curl.

2.) Add the regular sugar 2 tablespoons at a time, and comtinue to beat until stiff peaks form, and tips stand straight up.

3.) Sift 1/4th of the flour mixture into the egg whites at a time, folding in gently. (Be careful; the powder will get blown around easily.)

4.) Pour the batter into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan. Bake on the oven's lowest rack at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes, or until the top springs back when touched lightly.

5.) Immediately invert the cake while still in the pan. Cool completely, then loosen the sides and remove from pan.

Today's food fact: Ever wonder why dieters and other food-conscious folks ask for egg white omelettes? One egg white has 17 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, and 3.6 grams of protein. One egg yolk alone has 55 calories, 4.5 grams of fat, 2.7 grams of protein, and 210 milligrams of cholesterol. (Source: http://www.dietfacts.com/)