Apple Chicken

Apples remind me of the fall, which is my favorite season, and not just because its my birthday. And, lately I have been much more adventurous about cooking with them in savory dishes.

Also, my latest and greatest obsession is Brie cheese. I tried it last month for the 1st time and I was hooked.

These two great tastes that taste great together are found in Deborah's apple chicken recipe, and you must make this chicken. It is fabulous. I have had it 4 times in the last 2 weeks! It is super easy, and ultramega delicious.

Deborah's Apple Chicken

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast, butterflied
2 small to medium apples, diced
4 tablespoon butter
salt and pepper
flour
4 slices brie cheese
1 cups apple cider
1 cups chicken broth
tooth picks

Preheat the oven to 450F. Warm 1 tablespoon butter in a large, non-stick saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the apples and saute until softened. Set the saute pan aside because you will need it again. Tuck a slice of Brie and several pieces of apple into the pocket of the chicken breasts. Close with toothpicks. Repeat for all breasts. This will empty the saute pan.

Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Pat a little flour onto both sides of each chicken breast.

In the saute pan, warm 1 tablespoon butter over high heat. When the butter foams add the chicken breasts and brown them on all sides. Transfer the chicken to a foil lined cookie sheet that has been sprayed with Pam, and put it into the oven for 15-20 minutes. While the chicken is cooking, make the sauce.

Pour the cider and broth into the saute pan to deglaze. Bring to a boil over high heat until reduced by about 1/2 cup. Use as a gravy when serving the chicken.

Candied Cranberries

I am normally not a huge fan of cranberries. My sweet tooth just won't accept tart. But this recipe caught my eye in Cooking Light magazine because these cranberries are sweet, festive, beautiful, and an inexpensive homemade gift! I just love how pretty they are!

Here is the recipe. It makes about three cups cranberries.

1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 1/2 cups water
1 12-ounce bag fresh cranberries
3/4 cup superfine sugar OR 3/4 cup regular sugar ground fine in food processor or blender

1) Rinse and drain cranberries. Pick out stems and any soft or mushy cranberries. I usually fill the sink with cool water...the best cranberries will float!

2) Cook sugar and water in medium pan over low heat. Stir well until sugar is dissolved. Bring liquid to a bare simmer so that bubbles lightly break the surface. DO NOT BOIL. Remove pan from heat. If you accidentally boiled the liquid, let it cool for a few minutes.

3) Add cranberries to pan and stir. If any cranberries split, don’t despair. Pour the cranberries and the liquid into a medium bowl. Place a saucer on top of the cranberries to help keep them submerged. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

4) Put half the superfine sugar on a rimmed tray or shallow pan and break up any lumps. Drain cranberries in a colander (over a bowl, if you’d like to save the liquid for cocktails or to reuse it for the same recipe) and shake them well to remove all the liquid. Dump the cranberries onto the sugar. Shake the tray or pan to coat the cranberries and sprinkle the remaining half of the reserved sugar onto damp berries that need more coverage. Use all the sugar. Carefully separate any cranberries that stick together and let dry for a few hours.

5) Serve immediately or within a few days. The sugar coating becomes more dry and fragile with time, so they’re best early on when they’re at their prettiest.

GET NAKED!

Since I try to be a smarter shopper these days...one thing we try to do is go to Costco about once a month or so. I wouldn't say we buy our groceries there, but on some things I believe there is serious savings in buying bulk. For example the meats in bulk do tend to be cheaper, but we also have a vacuum sealer to save and freeze what we buy.

Anyway, when we go to Costco, as you most likely know, they give away samples to entice passersby and drive sales. So the diet advice of not shopping hungry, applies double here. But, there is no harm in looking and sometimes the samples are actually good for you, like when the sample is for Naked Juice.

Naked Juice is my new favorite thing for a few reasons. First of all it is real juice. Not from concentrate, not flavored water with added vitamins, but actual juice from fruits that already have vitamins. Second, there bottles are recycled and recylable. And, Naked is a company that seems to truly care about the environment and where their products come from...inside and out, from start to finish, and I support that. Blue Machine is my favorite flavor so far, creamy blueberry deliciousness! And, next on my list are the Gold Machine (pineapple) and Mighty Mango.

Check out the company info, the flavors, and all they pack into that little recycled bottle, and try this juice!

Limeades For Learning

I saw a commercial for Sonic tonite advertising a new campaign to help school teachers. They are donating $500,000.00 to educational programs. All we have to do is drink Limeades. Cherry is the best BTW.

For details on the program, you can visit LimeadesForLearning.com.

And, to find a Sonic near you, go here.

I Scream

Mr. K and I are total ice cream junkies. That may have been one of the reasons I knew he was "the one". I have never met an ice cream I didn't like or at minimum one I couldn't see through to the end. But, since we are always looking for healthier ways to eat what we want, we are willing to try new things.

We have tried sugar free versions, which honestly are not worth the cardboard box they come in. And, for a long time we were buying the Dreyers' that has 1/2 the fat and calories. It was good but not a lot of flavor choices. That was when I discovered Lovin Scoopful. I had never heard of them before, but we were very pleasantly surprised....and they have a pretty good selection of flavors to choose from.

The bonus is that Lovin Spoonful donates 25% of their profits to charities like the Special Olympics, which is pretty cool. I love supporting companies that do good things.

You can check out their website for more information and where to buy. Our favorite is the Caramel Chocolate Heaven.

Rescue The Rainforest...Drink Orange Juice!

Every now and then Mr. K and I get on an orange juice kick. We are on one now. I was sitting at the computer drinking some when the back of the carton caught my eye.

Tropicana is working with Cool Earth to save the rainforests! For every code you enter, Tropicana will preserve 100 square feet of rainforest. Every container has a code, so the more OJ you drink the more rainforest you save!

For more information, or to enter a code, just visit www.tropicanarainforest.com. You can also check out Cool Earth's site.

And, don't forget, orange juice is hugely good for you! No fat. No sodium. Tons of potassium and vitamin C. Plus, you get 2 servings of fruit in every 8 oz. glass!

So, drink up and help the Earth!

ICE

In Case of Emergency

I saw this in O Magazine, which I only read because someone gave me a gift subscription. But, I liked this very much so I am sharing.

Ice is an acronym for in case of emergency and the snippet advises you to create an emergency contact in your cell phone with that name so EMT's can reach the right people quickly and easily. Otherwise, they could waste valuable time calling people who can't or won't be able to help.

Mine looks like this as you scroll my contact list:

ICE (In Case of Emerg)

Then I listed about 5 numbers, but my phone doesn't let me attach names to each one. My phone also has a place to put notes in and there I added my blood type, allergies, and "organ donor".

This campaign was started by a paramedic in the UK, and is spreading globally. Since everyone has a cell phone these days, and this is a fast easy thing you can do...why not?

The World's Leading Emergency Contact Service

Road ID

I absolutely love taking the dogs for walks. I have 2 and they are my babies. And, occasionally, Mr. K and I leave them home if its late and ride our bikes. Though this happens less often since I feel guilty about leaving them behind.

Anyway I saw an ad for this in a magazine and I thought it was a great idea. If you happen to be a walker, you know that less is more in regards to carrying things with you, especially since a good chunk of exercise clothing is sans pockets. I usually end up putting my drivers license in my bra and checking it every 5 minutes to make sure its still there.

This is a perfect solution and you don't need to worry about loosing anything. Its a custom ID bracelet engraved with your name, who to contact in an emergency, etc. It is also available in an anklet, and it costs under $25.

It isn't pleasant to think about, and we always assume it won't happen to us, but accidents do happen. And, this is a little thing you can do to make sure that you are identified in an emergency or the people you care about are notified. On mine I added my allergies and my blood type.

And, being in the medical field, I thought this would also be a good idea for elderly people who live at home. I remember when my grandmother was living with Alzhiemer's Disease...they were a few times where she would just wonder off. One time she had tea with a lady a mile away. So, it might be a good idea for that as well, though it isn't marketed for it.

You can order yours at http://www.roadid.com/

Watermelon & Cucumber Tonic

In May I did a post about watermelon, and I recently came across this recipe in Cooking Light magazine. It sounded good, so I am posting it. It is a fruity summer variation on a gin & tonic.


6 cups cubed seeded watermelon, divided
1/4 cup mint leaves, divided
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 cucumber, peeled, sliced, and divided (leave a few rounds w/ skins on for a garnish)
2 1/2 cups tonic water, chilled
1 1/4 cups gin


1. Combine half each of the watermelon, mint, juice, and cucmber in a blender until smooth. Strain into a bowl. Discard solids and repeat for the other half.

2. Combine 2 1/2 cups of the juice mixture with the tonic water, and gin. Stir well to combine.

3. Serve over ice. Garnich with watermelon and cucumber wheels.

Purple Basil

Did you know there are 60 + different types of basil?

And, did you know that basil is in the mint family?

I didn't either.

One variety you may not be familiar with is called purple opal. It has a slightly spicy taste with hints of clove, licorice, mint, and cinnamon. Along with funky flavor it adds a punch of color.

All fresh basil should be used within a few days. And, it dries well, too.

You can use purple basil interchangeably with regular basil, but here are a couple of recipes to get you started.



Purple Basil Parmesan Biscuits

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbl sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup chilled butter, cut into pieces
2/3 cup purple basil, chopped
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
2/3 cup skim milk
1 large egg
nonstick cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 425.

2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Cut butter into dry ingredients with a pastry blender until coarse. Stir in basil and cheese.

3. Beat milk and egg in a separate bowl. Add to flour mixture and stir until moist.

4. Turn out onto a floured surface, and pat into 1" thick circle. Cut with a 2" biscuit round cutter. Makes 12.

5. Spray a cookie sheet with nonstick spray and bake for 15 minutes.

Purple Basil Lemonade

4 cups water
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup loosely packed purple basil leaves
6 tbl sugar
4 cups ice
4 purple basil sprigs

1. Combine water and juice in a large bowl.

2. Grind sugar and basil together to release the oils and a paste forms. Add to the juice mixture and stir until sugar is dissolved.

3. Separate ice evenly into 4 glasses. Strain lemonade into each glass and discard solids. Garnish with basil sprigs.