Glazed Chicken with Apple Salad

This is another Pampered Chef recipe, but no fancy tools or exclusive spices are needed. I LOVED this. And, in fact, I'm craving it. Good thing I have all the stuff at home to make it again. The salad by itself is divine and would work well with any dish. The salad has a coleslaw-ish factor, so I also might add some shredded cabbage the next time I make it.


Glazed Chicken with Apple Salad

Dressing and Apple Salad Ingredients:
2 tbsp cider vinegar
2 tbsp apple jelly (I had no trouble finding this at wal-mart, but you can also use apricot preserves)
1/3 cup reduced-fat mayonnaise (I used fat free)
1 Granny Smith apple
1 red apple such as Jonathan, McIntosh or Gala (I used Gala)
1/2 cup lightly packed watercress, plus additional for serving (I would double this in the future)

Chicken and Glaze Ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I had tenders on hand, so that's what I used)
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
1 tsp prepared stone-ground mustard
1 tbsp brown sugar

Directions:
For dressing, mix together vinegar, jelly and mayonnaise; set aside. For salad, slice apples into julienne strips. Remove leaves from watercress stems (discard stems); coarsely chop watercress leaves. Combine apples and watercress in medium bowl; set aside.

For chicken, heat a grill pan over medium-high heat 5 minutes. Meanwhile, flatten chicken to an even thickness with a mallet or meat tenderizer. Brush with oil and season with salt and pepper. Cook chicken 4-6 minutes or until grill marks appear. Turn chicken over; cook 4-6 minutes or until center of chicken is no longer pink.

While chicken is cooking, prepare glaze. Combine jelly, mustard and brown sugar in small bowl. Brush chicken with glaze during the last minute of cooking.

To serve, arrange additional watercress on serving plates, if desired. Pour dressing over salad just before serving; toss to coat. Top watercress with salad and chicken.

Serves 4

Nutritional info:
Calories 280, total fat 7g, saturated fat 1.5g, cholesterol 65mg, carbohydrate 28g, protein 26g, sodium 560mg, fiber 1g.

Diabetic exchanges per serving:
2 fruit, 4 low-fat meat (2 carb)

Warm Caramel Nutty Brownies

Confession: I love Pampered Chef. Specifically, I love their recipes. Everything I've tried has been divine. These brownies are no exception. Usually, I can't stand brownies with nuts. Maybe I love thee because the nuts are chopped up so fine that it's more like a crumb topping. The addition of the brown sugar to the brownie batter is a delicious touch too. You'll want some milk or ice cream to go with these because they're quite rich.

Because I'm lazy, I'm going to copy and paste the recipe directly from their website. However, I have made these without the fancy tools they've listed, and it still turns out great.

Warm Nutty Caramel Brownies

Ingredients:
1 pkg (12 oz) semi-sweet chocolate morsels, divided 1 pkg (18-21 oz) brownie mix (plus ingredients to make cake-like brownies) 3/4 cup packed brown sugar, divided		1 cup salted mixed nuts, divided 5 rolls (1.7 oz each) milk chocolate-covered chewy caramels, divided (40 pieces total) Vanilla ice cream (optional)

Directions:
1.	Preheat oven to 375°F**. Lightly brush Large Bar Pan with vegetable oil using Chef's Silicone Basting Brush. Chop 1 1/2 cups of the chocolate morsels using Food Chopper. In Classic Batter Bowl, combine brownie mix, water, oil, eggs and 1/4 cup of the brown sugar; mix well. Fold in chopped chocolate; pour batter into bar pan, spreading evenly using Small Mix ‘N Scraper®.
2.	Chop nuts using Food Chopper. Combine half of the nuts and remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar; sprinkle evenly over brownie batter. Bake 20-22 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
3.	Meanwhile, using Utility Knife, cut 16 caramels into quarters. Place remaining 1/2 cup chocolate morsels in Prep Bowl; microwave on HIGH 1 minute or until melted, stirring after each 20-second interval. Spoon melted chocolate into resealable plastic bag; set aside.
4.	Remove bar pan from oven to Stackable Cooling Rack. Immediately press remaining 24 caramels evenly into brownie in four rows of six caramels each. Sprinkle quartered caramels and remaining nuts over brownies. Trim corner of chocolate-filled bag with Utility Knife; drizzle chocolate evenly over brownies. Cut into squares; serve warm using Mini-Serving Spatula. Serve with ice cream, if desired.

**When I've made these using a standard 9X13 pan, I've baked them at 350 or whatever temperature the box suggests for that size of pan. The 375 is if your cooking them with a stoneware bar pan.