Lemon-Apricot Chicken

Not sure why the picture got turned, but here it is. I used this recipe, but just used normal Bisquick and an egg instead of the water/egg white combination. It came out sooo good!

INGREDIENTS:

Chicken:
1 egg
1/2 C Bisquick
1 1/2 t grated lemon peel
1/8 t garlic powder
1/2 lb chicken breast

Sauce:
1/3 C apricot preserves
1 T lemon juice
1/4 t soy sauce
1/8 t ground ginger

PREPARATION:
1. Heat oven to 425°F. Spray 13x9-inch pan with cooking spray. In shallow dish, beat egg product and water slightly. In another shallow dish, stir together Bisquick® mix, lemon peel and garlic powder. Flatten chicken breasts between sheets of plastic wrap or waxed paper to 1/2-inch thickness.


2. Dip chicken into egg mixture, then coat with Bisquick mixture. Place in pan. Spray chicken with cooking spray.


3. Bake uncovered 20 minutes. Turn; bake 10 minutes longer or until chicken is no longer pink in center.


4. In small microwavable bowl, stir together all Lemon-Apricot Sauce ingredients. Microwave on High 1 minute; stir. Cut chicken crosswise into 1/2-inch slices. Pour sauce over chicken. Garnish with lemon slices.

Cupcake Bag

I made this for my little sister's 6th birthday. Here's the pattern: Cupcake Bag Crochet Pattern. Instead of the dots and hearts, I just repeated the scalloped pattern with different colors. I stitched down the bottom of each scallop so that it would rest flat.

Guilt-Free Homemade Ice Cream**

Ingredients:
1 C skim milk
1/4 C Splenda (or other 0-calorie sweetener)
1 t vanilla OR 1 t cocoa powder
1 tray of icecubes
salt
fresh fruit or other toppings (optional)

Directions:
Place all ingredients in a sandwich-size ziplock bag (if it doesn't have a great seal, double bag it); make sure to remove as much air as possible. In a larger ziplock bag* (the gallon size is perfect for two little bags of ice cream and two trays of ice), place the ice cubes, about 1/4 C of salt, and the sealed bag of ice cream ingredients. Seal the large bag well, then shake vigorously for 5-10 minutes (you'll want to use a kitchen towel, or something to keep your hands from freezing). Quickly rinse off the outside of the ice cream bag with cold water. Being careful not to allow any of the salty water into your ice cream, open the bag and spoon your ice cream into a bowl. I like to chop up a strawberry or two and add it on top.

And there you have it -- a bowl of ice cream for under 100 calories!

*Note: We were going through plastic bags like crazy, so we discovered that you could also use a large bowl with a good lid in place of the large ziplock bag.

**One more thing. If you have someone like my husband, who is offended by the idea of low-calorie, low-fat ice cream, you can make this just as easily with whole milk and granulated sugar. That's how hubby likes it, but it comes out to about 330 calories, pre-toppings.

Personal Stuffed Meatloaves

So I combined ideas from several recipes with my own idea to make individual portions (so that we wouldn't overeat, as we tend to do). That being the case, some of the measurements are kind of weird. They don't have to be exact, but you'll see what I mean. You can do any sort of filling you want. I did a spinach-mushroom one for me, and a cheese one for Jeffrey. You can be creative with vegetables and cheeses, but I'll let you know how I made ours. Anyway, this makes two individual-sized loaves. Also, I made this a few hours ahead (while Bekka was napping) and just kept it in the fridge until I was ready to start cooking it.

INGREDIENTS:

Loaf:
1/2 lb ground beef
1 t soy sauce
dried sage
ground mustard
salt
pepper
garlic powder
1 slice bread, torn in pieces

Filling (suggestions):
1/4 C grated cheese
1 C chopped mushrooms
1 C shredded spinach
1/2 t olive oil

PREPARATION:
1. Preheat oven to 375F. Line small baking pan or loaf pan with foil.
2. Prepare fillings. I just grated up some cheddar (the only kind we had at the time). For the vegetables, I sauteed them in 1/2 t of olive oil with a dash of garlic salt.
3. In small container, combine spices -- Fill 1/4 t measuring spoon a third of the way with dried sage, fill remainder of spoon with ground mustard; add to container. Fill 1/4 t measuring spoon a third of the way with pepper, fill remainder of spoon with salt; add to container. Add a dash of garlic powder and combine spices.
4. In medium bowl, add soy sauce, spice blend, and bread to ground beef. Stir well to combine. Separate meat mixture into two halves.
5. On a square of foil, spoon half of the meat mixture. Spread into a rectangle about 4"x7". Spoon filling onto meat mixture and spread. Roll up meat, starting with narrow end; pinch ends so filling does not spill out. Place seam-side down on prepared baking pan. Repeat for remaining meat.
6. Bake for 45 minutes, or until cooked thoroughly. Once cooked, allow excess grease to drain off for a few moments before serving.

Bear Hat

Made up this little bear hat for my adorable nephew. It's mostly just sc around and around. I need to find the paper I wrote the pattern down on.

Lacy Hats and Scarves

Made these hats and scarves for my daughter and niece. I wrote down the pattern as I came up with it, but need to find the paper...The scarf was really easy, but the hat was trickier because I wanted the lacy effect to go all the way up to the crown (whereas most patterns have a solid circle of increase, and then the lace pattern begins).

Heidi Hats

I spit out a bunch of these cute little hats. I wrote down the pattern somewhere... I'll keep looking for it.