Apricot Glazed Chicken and Berry Couscous

I'm not sure how to tell you about this fruit-filled meal I made last night.

I'll start by admitting these are not LiD originals. They are adaptations from my USPCA recipe books.

But don't fret, you can definitely try these at home.  They're simple, but flavor packed. 

There's an element of fun involved as well when you eat something called couscous. 

My 4-year-old held a grain of it between her little fingers and said, "Mommy... MOMMY!" 

She says it twice because I usually don't answer the first time, "Whatcha call these?"

I told her and she giggled a little bit and repeated, "Couscous?"

I nodded and she said "It's like rice a little bit. I like it!"

"Good baby, I'm glad"

Apricot Glaze

1 tablespoon of olive oil

4 Tablespoons of apricot preserves

1/4 cup of white wine

2 cloves of garlic (minced)

Pinch of Salt

1. In a small sauce pan, heat olive oil on low, toss in the garlic...keep the heat low because you do NoT want scorched garlic. 

2. Now add in the preserves and wine, whisk to combine

3. Let these simmer on a medium heat until the wine reduces and it becomes a thickened sauce. Start cooking your chicken and couscous

4. When you see this has thickened to a nice consistency, taste it and add any necessary salt. Use this to top your chicken when it's finished. 

Chicken

2 Chicken Breasts pounded to 1/2 thickness

Salt

Pepper

Garlic Powder

Red Pepper Flakes

1. Pound out the chicken so that it's about a 1/2 inch thick. Cover it with Saran wrap before pounding it. And it's okay if you don't have a fancy pounder thing. I aways use the side of a wine bottle or some other glass bottle (be careful though)

2. Season the breast on both sides

3. In a HOT skillet or grill pan with some olive oil coating, sear the chicken for about 2-3 minutes per side. Then remove from heat and let sit.

4. Top with the apricot glaze. 

Dried Berry Couscous

1 package of couscous

1 package of dried berry mix (I used one with cranberries, blueberries and cherries but there are other dried fruit i.e. raisins and apricots and dates that will work just as well)

Liquid (your choice of chicken broth, water or vegetable broth)

tsp of cinnamon

dash of salt

1. Follow the cooking instructions on the package of couscous for the number of servings you desire. It cooks extremely quickly and it's your choice to use a broth or water. 

2. Instructions will tell you to bring the liquid to a boil, I'm telling you to toss in cinnamon and a dash of salt at this point. 

3. The next step will be to add the couscous to the boiling liquid and remove it from the heat. Be sure to add your fruit now as well make sure they are combined. 

4. Follow the rest of the box's instructions (it should say to just cover the couscous and let it sit for 5 minutes)

Triumph Tart

My husband bought raspberries and blueberries from the market on Sunday. We don't usually eat berries, but he was apparently inspired by a dessert I served at a recent spaghetti dinner. 

I topped slices of angel food cake with the berries and some whipped cream - a simple no-bake dessert.

But those berries in the fridge will spoil if we don't eat them soon. It's been a week. I asked Husband about his intentions for the berries. His reply indicated he expected me to whip something up with them. "Didn't you make something good with them last time?" he asks.

Sure I did. But last time I bought additional ingredients. This time Husband did the shopping and all we have is berries. What will I do with just berries? I think a tart would be nice, but I've never made one of those before, they require crusts, but I'm up to the challenge. Hmm... there is flour, but without butter I can't make a crust. Can I?

I crack open the laptop and Google "crust no butter" What I find encourages me to give it a try. I throw together some flour, vegetable oil, milk, brown sugar and salt. I eye balled this so I can't tell you how much of each I used. But when I could see it was the correct consistency, I dumped the dough onto my cutting board, kneaded it a bit then flattened it in preparation for the berries. I placed them in the center and folded the edges of the dough up around the sides. I baked them for about 20 to 25 minutes and we ate them for dessert. Not bad for my first attempt at homemade crust.

Ingredients

Raspberries

Blueberries

Peaches

Brown Sugar

Powdered Sugar

Flour

Vegetable Oil

Milk

Salt

1. Combine flour, salt and brown sugar in a bowl

2. Add oil and milk to moisten dry ingredients

3. Use fork to toss ingredients together

4. Knead flour then roll flat

5. Peel and cut peaches and combine with brown sugar in a bowl with blueberries and raspberries

6. Pile fruit onto center of dough

7. Fold dough up around the edges of fruit

8. Bake at 350 for about 20 to 25 minutes

9. Sprinkle with powdered sugar