What’s Cookin’ in the Country?

Don’t you love it when a meal looks like you’ve spent so much time preparing it, but you know that it was a cinch? Today’s recipes are three ingredient wonders that include a main dish and a dessert! 

I’ve had the recipe for this Apricot Orange Chicken for a long time (I got it from Taste of Home), but hadn’t made it in a long while.  I’d forgotten how much extra payoff there is with such easy prep!  There are only three ingredients to combine and pour over chicken pieces!  Shhhhh!  Don’t tell.  It’ll be our secret.

Apricot Orange Chicken
Ingredients

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts – Or a cut-up fryer
1 18 oz jar apricot preserves – You could also replace this with  Orange marmalade or preserves
1 cup orange juice (or orange juice blend)
1 envelope onion soup mix

Instructions

Place chicken in slow cooker.
Combine preserves, juice, and onion soup mix in a small bowl and pour over chicken.
Cook on low for 4-5 hours or until chicken is tender.
Serve over rice.

This has lots of pan juices after it’s finished cooking.  I like to add some corn starch to water, then pour that into the juices.  Serve the thickened sauce with the chicken and rice.


For my husband’s recent birthday, I made one of our favorite, but simple cakes:  Chocolate Cherry.  I’ve shared this in the past, but I’m sharing again today because the cake is also only three ingredients! The icing tastes like a piece of fudge on top of this scrumptious dessert!  Store the cake in the fridge for best results.  This freezer great, too! 

Chocolate Cherry Cake
1 box Chocolate Cake mix
2 eggs
1 can Cherry Pie Filling

Mix ingredients and pour into a greased 9 x 13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 min, or until the top springs back.

While cake is in the oven make the icing:
5 Tbl. marg.
1/3 cup milk
1 cup sugar

Bring to a boil and boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add 1 cup chocolate chips. Let icing sit for 15 minutes. Pour warm icing over warm cake. Store cake in the fridge. Enjoy!

I guess there’s no excuse for not having a great meal on the table when you find simple recipes like theses, huh?  =)  Hope you’ll give them a try!

With love from my country kitchen,