Recipe of the (Yester)day!

It has been an interesting week of meals around here!!  Started off with the Halibut (grrr), then Tuesday I decided we would play it safe and have steak kabobs to make up for Monday.  Well, we find out when trying to fire up the grill that we were plum out of propane!  So I stuck them in the oven...not a disaster but steak should really be cooked on the grill (in my opinion-and my dad's)!  So yesterday we took our (Tyler's) Tahoe to be adjusted from the hail storm and find out it is totaled.  That is some pretty serious hail, huh?!  Ok, back to the meal...so we got home and I had laid out chicken to fix my friend, Kelly's Apricot Chicken recipe!  She gave it to me probably 2 years ago and for some reason I hadn't made it yet--well until last night!!  All of her recipes are delicious but this one was a tasty treat and turned our week of meal fiascos right around!  Tyler was scouling as he watched me pull the apricot preserves out of the pantry but I told him to calm down and wait for the results!!  We both loved it and it reminded me of a chinese food dish that would be A LOT more fattening, fried, expensive...you get the point, if we would have just got takeout.  Here's the skinny:

*Pre-Heat over to 350 degrees

1 pound chicken breast thawed (I used the Tyson Tenderloins, I just love'em)

1 cup Apricot Preserves

1 packet Lipton Onion Soup Mix

1 10 oz bottle Russian (Thousand Island) salad dressing (I accidentally bought French dressing--give me a break, its been 2 years since I saw the recipe--at least I remembered it was a reddish dressing from another country!!)

I sprayed my 9 x 13 pan with non-stick cooking spray AKA Pam then mixed the other ingredients in another bowl and poured over my cute little tenderloins, flipped them over to coat, covered with aluminum foil and set my timer for 50 minutes.  Somehow I remembered Kelly telling me to take the foil off for 10 minutes so I did this at the end and total cooking time was 1 hour.  The chicken and sauce were lovely and bubbly upon completion! 

I fixed up some Premium Minute Rice (I have no idea why I bought "Premium" --I guess I was feeling extra classy at Homeland that day since I managed to snag a shower before I went!) and some corn.  Every meal I make can be paired beautifully with corn...it has to do with my upbringing...Tyler thinks it is so funny that when I make any pasta or italian meal I MUST have corn!  Lasagna, spaghetti, fettucine...you name it--I must have corn.  But corn also went well with my Russian/French/Chinese dish :)  I'm a texture AND a color person so I like having a little crunch and a pop of yellow.  

Sorry for finding a way to turn every recipe into a long story...bad habit...I can turn anything into a story...but I assure you, if you like chicken and rice or sweet and sour chicken, it will be worth it!  Its good enough for Kathy Lee Gifford...that's what reminded me about this recipe.  Her momma was on her show for Mother's Day and whipped this recipe right up and said it was one of their families favorites!!  No photo either, give me a break--its been a rough cooking week around here and we were STARVED by the time dinner was served after our car fiasco.

P.S. Everyone at State Farm has been so wonderful to deal with for our home and our car damage so if you are shopping for insurance give them a shot!  This is our first claim experience with them (fortunately) but its good to know "we are in good hands"!  

Have a splendid Memorial Day weekend!!!!!