Oh, folks.  It's great to meet you here on the homestead this fine Monday morning.

What a beautiful day it is for Memorial Day.  

And just in case you are in need of a fine Memorial Day meal, I thought I'd share a super quick and super easy recipe with you.  Literally.  It's super.  Super supper.  Get it?  Bah ha.

Anyway, I also thought I'd share the wonderful news with you that I am feeling much better these days.  Now that I'm past that first trimester hump, I'm able to finally enjoy being pregnant instead of dreading the morning and night time.  Sure, I am still as hungry as a ferocious lioness in the middle of a drought in the African prairie, but none-the-less, I at least don't feel like I'm going to vomit every time I eat anything.  Or drive anywhere.  Or brush my teeth (I know.  It's weird).

That being said, I had much more fun planning our dinner menu this week.  Writing the word ‘chicken' didn't make me feel like…

…well, see the above paragraph.

And despite the fact that 80% of our kitchen is in moving boxes, I'm still focusing on serving good, nourishing meals until d-day.  After all, we now have two growing babes to nourish.

Enough jibber jabber.  Let's rock out some chicken.

Apricot Chicken
You will need: 
 – 1 whole organic, pastured fryer chicken, cut into pieces
   or 4 breasts or 8 thighs or 8 drumsticks
 – 1 cup of naturally sweetened apricot jelly (homemade is best!)
 – 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar
 – 3 teaspoons of dry mustard
 – 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
 – Salt and pepper

Step One:  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Step Two:  Place the cut-up chicken in an oven-proof dish (I used cast iron skillets).

Step Three:  Mix the jelly, vinegar, mustard, and olive oil together in a bowl.  Then, brush it over the chicken.  

Step Four:  Add some salt & freshly ground black pepper…

Step Five:  Bake for 30-45 minutes or until golden brown.

See.  I told you it was easy.

While we were eating this, Stuart kept telling me how good he thought it was.  That's a big improvement from a few weeks ago when he (very politely) asked me if he should start cooking dinner.  

I guess I was struggling a big with that ‘food' thing.

Regardless, I'm totally adding this chicken to our repertoire.  It was wonderful.  

Being me though, of course, I almost had an emotional breakdown while fixing it because I was using the last of our apricot jelly from last spring.  We will be gone by the time apricot harvest comes this year and I'm panicking a bit inside thinking about all the canned goodness I'm going to be missing out on.

It's like a football fan not being able to watch the Superbowl.

Or a fish not being able to swim in water.

It just ain't right.

Mom, will you send me a care package full of apricot jelly?  Please and thank you.

Wishing you and yours a wonderful Memorial Day!  

For other great meal ideas, no matter what your dietary restrictions, check out the meal planning service I use: Real Plans.

Apricot Chicken

• 1 whole organic, pastured fryer chicken, cut into pieces    (or 4 breasts or 8 thighs or 8 drumsticks)
• 1 cup naturally sweetened apricot jelly ((homemade is best!))
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 3 tbsp dry mustard
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. Place the cut-up chicken in an oven-proof dish (I used cast iron skillets).

3. Mix the jelly, vinegar, mustard, and olive oil together in a bowl.  Then, brush it over the chicken.  

4. Add some salt & freshly ground black pepper…

5. Bake for 30-45 minutes or until golden brown.

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