Jenn’s Cook Book

Here is a quick, simple recipe from Everyday Food magazine using just 5 ingredients! This is perfect when you need an easy way to spice up some plain chicken. The tangy flavor is great for fall, with just a kick of heat from red pepper flakes.

Spicy Apricot-Glazed Chicken
from Everyday Food

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup apricot preserves
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat broiler. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Arrange chicken on broiler pan.

Combine apricot preserves and red pepper flakes. Brush half of the mixture over the chicken.

Broil chicken 5-7 minutes. Flip chicken and brush with remaining apricot mixture. Broil an additional 5-7 minutes, until chicken is cooked through and no longer pink.

James sent me a great website with 50 autumn recipes to make in a crockpot. The first recipe listed was for hot cider, but with a slight twist. Inside of traditional apple juice, this beverage uses apricot nectar combined with spicy nutmeg and cinnamon sticks. Visit the website for more information and recipes here at Keeping the Castle. The original recipe comes from About.com. This recipe can be halved. We made this tasty drink for Thanksgiving, but it would be great at any holiday party…just set the crockpot on the table and let guests help themselves to a glass of cheer.

36 oz (2 1/2 cups) apricot nectar
2 cups water
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp cloves
2 (3 inch) cinnamon sticks

Combine all ingredients in a 4 quart or larger crockpot. Stir well and set crockpot to low. Heat for 2-3 hours, stirring halfway through.

Serve with a cinnamon stick if desired.

I was skeptical of this combination given that the orange-mint tea didn’t turn out as good as I hoped, but I tried the Lime & Mint Iced Tea and it was quite good. Given this, I decided I would give mint another try (you may have already noticed that I favor basil as a garnish for my fruity-tea recipes). The combination worked, though it probably isn’t a recipe I would do again unless I had leftover ingredients to use up, which was actually why I made it in the first place. The recipe did not specify a type of tea to use, so I used Orange Pekoe (also known as Lipton Original, as I’ve recently realized).

10 tea bags
4 cups cold water
4 cans (12 oz size) apricot nectar
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves, slightly crushed
1/4 cup sugar
mint sprigs, for garnish

Bring water to a boil in a large saucepan. Remove from heat and add tea bags. Steep 5 minutes. Discard bags. Stir in nectar, mint and sugar. Cover and chill 3-4 hours.

Pour tea through a strainer into a serving pitcher or punch bowl before serving. Add ice and garnish with mint sprigs as desired.

To make a single serving:
2 tea bags
1 cup water
1 1/2 cups apricot nectar (or 1 can)
2 tbsp crushed mint leaves
1 tbsp sugar
mint sprig, for garnish

This is actually what I made instead of the full recipe. Follow the above directions, though you can reduce chill time to about 1 hour. Pour tea into a tall, ice-filled glass instead of a pitcher. Garnish as desired. This makes a large serving (2 1/2 cups), so there would be plenty to share with two!

From the Stash Tea Company (see Links page for details), here is a great new iced tea recipe. The recipe calls for sparkling water, but I used sparkling water with lemon. Any strong black tea can be substituted for Irish Breakfast.

4 Irish Breakfast tea bags
1 1/3 cups boiling water
1 1/3 cups apricot nectar
1 1/3 cups sparkling water
lemon slices or wedges, for garnish

In a heat-resistant pitcher, pour water over tea bags. Steep for 10-15 minutes, or until desired strength. Chill for about 1 hour.

Stir in apricot nectar and sparkling water. Serve over ice with lemon slices or wedges, as desired.

Try experimenting with different flavors of nectar, such as peach, pear, papaya or guava. Nectar is typically at the store in the juice aisle, but can also be found with the Mexican-style foods.

Here is another refreshing iced tea recipe from BellyBytes.com! This one uses orange pekoe tea, which is a basic black tea that is highly fragrant, with fruity and floral notes, a woodsy aroma, and a sweet aftertaste. The original recipes calls for 3 teabags, but I like my tea strong, so I used 4.

4 bags orange pekoe tea
4 cups water
3 1/3 cups chilled apricot nectar (five, 5 1/2 oz cans)
1/2 cup chilled simple syrup, or to taste (see below)
fresh apricots, optional

Put tea bags in a heat resistant pitcher. Bring 4 cups of water to a boil and pour over tea bags. Steep tea for 5 minutes and remove tea bags. Cool tea and chill, covered, for about 1 hour or until cold.

Stir in chilled nectar and simple syrup. If using, halve and remove stones from apricots. Place 2-3 apricot halves and ice in each glass. Pour tea over ice and apricots.   

Simple Syrup:
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups water

To make Simple Syrup:
In a small saucepan, bring sugar and water to a boil, stirring. Boil until sugar dissolves. Let syrup cool and chill, covered. Simple Syrup will keep for 2 weeks. Chill, covered, until ready to use.

Here is a great dessert recipe from the Everyday Food book. It is listed in the “Fall” chapter, but I think it works better for spring or summer, when the stone fruits are more in season. The combination I used was peaches, plums, and apricots. Because the apricots were small, I used 4 instead of 2.

Pick 3 of the following:
2 apricots
2 nectarines
2 peaches
2 plums
Plus:
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 to 3 tbsp sugar (depending on the sweetness of the fruit)
2 tbsp butter, cut into pieces
1 tbsp fresh lime juice (about 1 small)
Vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt, optional

Preheat oven to 400F

Prick the skins of the stone fruit. Halve each fruit and remove pits. Halve fruit again. Separate rosemary leaves and discard stems.

In a roasting pan, toss the fruit with rosemary, sugar, butter, and lime juice. Roast, tossing occasionally, until the fruit is fork-tender, 15 to 20 minutes.

Serve warm over vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt, if desired, and drizzle the pan juices over the top.

Here is my first attempt at fish (or any seafood for that matter). This recipe comes from Smuckers.com and can be used with salmon, sole, or flounder. Just be careful when preparing this dish to remove all skin and bones from the fish fillets.

Fish Fillets:
1 egg
1 tbsp water
1/2 cup corn flake crumbs or bread crumbs
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp pepper
4 small fillets of salmon (sole or flounder)

Apricot Lemon Sauce:
2/3 cup Smuckers Low Sugar Apricot Preserves
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp grated lemon peel
1 tsp prepare mustard
1/8 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 425F and coat a baking sheet in cooking spray.

In a pie plate or shallow bowl, combine egg and water. In a plastic bag, combine crumbs, salt, paprika, and pepper. Shake bag well to distribute ingredients. Dip each fillet into egg mixture, drop into bag and shake to lightly coat with crumbs (do not over coat). Arrange fish in a single layer on baking sheet.

Bake for 7-10 minutes or until fish flakes easily with fork (do not turn fish). Be careful not to over bake or the surfaces will start to harden.

Meanwhile, in small saucepan, combine sauce ingredients over low heat. Stir occasionally and serve sauce with fish. TIP: use one whole lemon, cut in half. Use the first half for juice and grated peel. Cut the second half into wedges to serve on plates.

Serving Suggestions:
Since salmon and citrus are both high in anti-oxidants, why not make an anti-oxidant meal? Serve this dish with a fresh spinach salad tossed with raw almonds and olive oil, pomegranate juice or green tea, and dark chocolate for dessert. Also try with a white & wild rice blend mixed with sliced almonds and chopped celery.

The sauce is very tart, to make it sweeter follow the below instructions:
Use regular preserves or add 1/2 tsp sugar
Increase salt to 1/4 tsp
Add 1/8 tsp regular or red pepper
Substitute honey-dijon mustard for regular mustard

After a long week of working 10 hour days, plus having to work a half day on Saturday, I thought my mom deserved a home-cooked meal. I’ve been wanting to try this recipe for awhile now, so I made Apricot Chicken with some Onion Mashed Potatoes, a variation of the Garlic Mashed Potatoes from Lipton Recipe Secrets (see posting on October 27th, 2006). The combination was great with plenty of leftovers for next week when she’s back on overtime!

Apricot Chicken

8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 package Lipton Recipe Secrets Onion Soup Mix
1 bottle (8 oz) Russian OR Spicy-Sweet French dressing (Wishbone)
1 jar (13 oz) apricot preserves

Preheat oven to 400F and grease a large baking pan.

Combine soup mix, dressing and preserves in a large bowl. Arrange chicken on prepared baking pan and cover in apricot mixture.

Bake uncovered for 30-35 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink.

Onion Mashed Potatoes

6 medium red-skinned potatoes
1 package Lipton Recipe Secrets Onion Soup Mix
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 milk

Wash and cut potatoes (peel only if desired) into a large pot of water. Bring to a boil and let simmer 20-30 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

Mash potatoes with soup mix, butter, and milk, mixing well. Sprinkle with salt and pepper as desired.

Serve this meal with some seasoned veggies, a good choice is Green Giant’s new frozen veggies that cook in the microwave. These have some great varieties, like Tuscan Seasoned Vegetables or Herb & Garlic Broccoli and Carrots. Quick, easy to make, and tastes great!

The simplicity of this recipe appeals to me, I haven’t tried it yet but I’ve wanted to ever since reading about in in Real Simple magazine. Included is a side dish, also from Real Simple. Bonus: prepare the side dish and some veggies while the chicken cooks! Maybe some green beans and carrots.

Chicken with Tangy Apricot Glaze

2 (4-pound) packages chicken pieces, skinned
1 (8-ounce) bottle Russian or spicy sweet French dressing
1 (1-ounce) envelope dry onion soup mix
1 (13-ounce) jar apricot preserves

Place chicken pieces in a lightly greased large roasting pan.
Combine dressing, soup mix, and preserves; spread over chicken.

Bake at 300° for 2 hours or until done.

Couscous with Apricot Vinaigrette

1 10-ounce box couscous
1/4 cup apricot jam or preserves
2 tbps white wine vinegar
3 tbps olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
3 scallions (white and green parts), chopped
1/4 cup (1 ounce) roasted almonds, chopped

Place the couscous in a serving bowl. Add 1 1/2 cups boiling water and stir. Cover tightly and let stand for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the jam in a small saucepan over medium heat or in a microwave on low until bubbling, 30 to 60 seconds. Remove from heat. Immediately add the vinegar, then the oil, and mix until combined. Season with the salt and pepper; set aside.

Fluff the couscous with a fork and stir in the scallions and almonds. Add the vinaigrette and toss. Serve warm.

Tip: You can also drizzle the vinaigrette over rice or quinoa instead of couscous.