CHG Favorites of the Week

Blog of the Week
Home Ec 101
Worth a visit for the graphics alone, Ivy and Heather's cooking/cleaning/snarking blog is a neato source for not only the domestically challenged, but their pearl-necklace-and-apron-sporting older sisters, as well. Far out!

Book of the Week (That I Can’t Stop Blathering About)
A Cook’s Tour by Anthony Bourdain
Sweet, sweet readers – I know I’ve gone on ad nauseum about this travelogue the last few weeks, but I swear on all that’s good and true, it’s totally worth it. Please, do yourself a favor and check it out of the library RIGHT NOW. Bourdain writes circles around every person who’s ever picked up a pen, living or dead (except maybe Philip Roth), and this particular novel will make you want to head to Cambodia and eat cobra hearts immediately.

Comedy of the Week
“Hey Food” by Cookie Monster and the Sesame Street Beetles
From the creators of “Letter B” comes this pro-comestible performance by a few mop-top muppets (moppets?) and the estimable Mr. Monster. Speaking of, did anyone else, when they were little, think he was actually eating those cookies? I did, and couldn’t understand how he did it without a tongue. Mysterious!

Organization of the Week
Idol Gives Back
Ain’t nothing like a star-studded quasi-telethon to get America’s hearts in a giving mood. This year’s Simon-sponsored extravaganza will benefit Children’s Defense Fund, The Children’s Health Fund, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, Make it Right, Malaria No More, and Save the Children. Check out this page for a phone number, address, and donation link.

Quote of the Week
“If life gives you lemons, make some kind of fruity juice.” - Conan O'Brien

Tip of the Week
To save storage bags when freezing smaller cuts of meat, place the first piece in the bag and squeeze out the air. Then, fold the remaining part of the bag over, insert the second piece, and seal. If it’s kept folded during the freezing process, there should be a partition of air between the two meats.

Untried Cheap, Healthy Recipe of the Week
Michael Anthony’s Fork-Crushed Purple Majesty Potatoes at Smitten Kitchen
Oh my my, aren’t these just the prettiest things you ever done seen? I do declare, they’re purpler than Prince himself. And they probably taste better, too. (Addendum: the Michael Anthony in question is Michael Anthony the chef, not Michael Anthony the bassist from Van Halen.)

Video of the Week
“Pour Some Sugar on Me” – Def Leppard
Ahhhhh, the anthems of my tween years. Who amongst us hasn’t jammed out to this at their 8th grade Halloween Dance? (Um … younger readers, don’t answer that.)

(Special extra bonus joke:
Q: What has nine arms and sucks?
A: Def Leppard)

The Hour: How 60 Minutes a Week Can Save Hundreds of Dollars on Food

Since I started reading personal finance and food blogs about a year-and-a-half ago, I’ve tried dozens of new dishes, learned an obscene amount about index funds, and discovered that no topic on Earth drives women into a commenting frenzy like overpriced bridesmaid dresses. Yet mostly, I think more than anything else, I’ve realized how to save money and eat well at the same time.

For this, I owe tons of thanks to destinations like Money Saving Mom and Like Merchant Ships, who have long advocated things like grocery lists and menu planning. This kind of stuff never occurred to me in my early ‘20s, and The Boyfriend and I are much better for it now. We eat like the dickens and haven’t had to sell any major organs to finance peanut butter purchases (lately).

Yet, as our needs are ever-changing and Brooklyn is Brooklyn, I’ve gradually created my own system. Basically, it’s a mish-mash of everything I’ve ever read online (excluding Office recaps), crammed into an hour. And it might not work for some. But for others – it’s exciting! And it could save hundreds of bucks a month! And if you’re interested in trying it, the process is spelled out below! Woof.

Ah – but before your first Hour begins, a few preliminary steps are necessary. These may seem like a pain in the tuchus now, but they’re vital, and after they’re completed, things will run much smoother.

1. Go through your fridge, kitchen cabinets, pantry, and any other food storage areas of your humble abode. Make mental notes of the staples you own, and chuck or donate anything that A) you can’t identify, B) is in an advanced state of decay or mummification, and/or C) is old enough to be carbon dated.


2. If you don’t already know, do a quick Google search to find out which two acceptable grocery stores are located nearest to you. Make sure they have online circulars, note which day of the week they come out, and be sure to sign up for any discount cards or rewards programs next time you’re in the store.


3. Find some form of coupon source, whether it’s through the Sunday paper or a website (Coupons.com, Smartsource.com, etc.). Many of the online sites require the download of a special printer program, but they’re not terribly invasive.

Once you have these steps accomplished, it’s time to get rolling on your Hour. So, find a quiet spot, plug in your Macbook, jack up your iPod (to 11 of course), and start your timers.

00:00 – 00:15
SCAN THE ONLINE CIRCULARS
In general, a supermarket’s biggest sales are found in its weekly circulars. The most steeply discounted items, called “loss leaders,” usually go for well under the regular price, since they’re used to lure customers into stores. They also tend to include produce, meat, dairy, and staples, which are healthier than processed foods.

Use the first 15 minutes of The Hour to comb each of your two selected circulars, and record sale prices ONLY for items you willingly eat. Look especially for staple items, so you can stockpile. Your list can have any format, but here’s a sample of mine:

Pathmark
Beans (Goya 14 oz cans) – 2/$1
Bread (Arnolds) – 2/$4
Carrots - $0.59/lb
Cereal (Honey Nut Cheerios 17oz) – 2/$5
Chicken (boneless, skinless breast) - $1.99/lb
Flour (Gold Medal 5lb) - $1.99
Mushrooms - $1.50/lb

Food Lion
Cereal (GM 13-17oz) – 4/$6
Grapes - $0.98/lb
Oranges – 10/$2
Red Onions - $0.59/lb
Pasta (Ronzoni 16oz) – 2/$1

Of this list, you may only be in the mood for carrots, chicken, grapes, mushrooms, oranges, and pasta. However, you might also consider buying beans, flour, and cereal, as you’ll probably use them in the future, and it’s rare to see such good prices. (Incidentally, a great side effect of writing all those numbers down: you’ll have a better idea of what food CAN cost versus what it USUALLY costs.)

Oh, and no worries if you prefer to visit one supermarket per week. You’ll generally get better prices if you try two, but with gas costs being what they are …

00:16 – 00:30
CLIP AND ORGANIZE COUPONS
Lotsa bloggers consider coupons a waste of time, as their primary function is to get consumers to purchase goods they wouldn’t have otherwise. Yet, when applied carefully, coupons can be a great boon to one’s savings. The trick is to A) pair them with sales, and B) only clip ‘em for stuff you already use.

For instance, in this week’s Key Food circular, four boxes of GM-brand cereal were being sold for $6, total. I had two coupons for $1 off, meaning my final cost for the whole shebang was $4. They normally would have gone for about $16. Not too shabby, yo.

If you have the time, you might find it useful to gather coupons from the newspaper AND a few websites, of which Coupons.com is particularly good. One caveat, though – if you decide to print them off your computer, make sure your grocery store(s) accept(s) them. One of mine doesn’t. It’s a bummer. (Yeah, I’m talkin’ ta you, KEY FOOD.)

00:31 – 00:45
STEP 3: PLAN A WEEKLY MENU
Based on what’s on sale and what you already have stocked, draw up a menu strategy for the upcoming seven days. It’ll prevent you from ordering out, and give you an idea of exactly how much food you need, keeping waste to a minimum.

This week, since chicken breasts are going for $1.99/lb and mushrooms are $1.50, you might want to make Light Chicken and Mushroom Marsala one night for dinner. For breakfast another day, maybe try French Toast, since you have eggs and syrup, and loaves of bread are on sale for $2. Anything goes, and you can use All Recipes, Epicurious, or Food Network to search for recipes.

When writing it up, your menu can be as simple as this:

Monday
B: cereal & fruit
L: PB&J & granola bars
D: Chicken, rice & carrots

Or as complex as this:

Monday
B: Me (cereal, soy milk, grapes), TB (cereal, soy milk)
L: Me (leftovers, orange), TB (sandwich, grapes, popcorn)
D: TB & Me (Light Chicken and Mushroom Marsala, rice)

For more examples try here, here, or here.

00:46 – 00:60
STEP 4: CREATE A GROCERY LIST
Finally, the easy part. When you have an idea of what you have, what you need, and what you want to make, it’s time to create a grocery list. It should include the sale items, plus any other ingredients needed, but not much else. Then, go forth and start buyin'. Just remember, STICK TO THE LIST. It’ll keep you from purchasing extraneous, overpriced, last-minute items that your roommate will eat anyway.

And that’s it. Hour’s done. Admittedly, this procedure might take more than 60 minutes the first few weeks. But once you get the knack, it’ll flow like mad. And the savings will be plentiful. Personally, I save more on weekly groceries than either of us make at work in an hour, which makes the process totally worth it.

If anyone decides to try The Hour, I’d love to hear constructive criticism, but in the meantime, readers – any suggestions? Do you see anything I could add? Or anything I could take away for streamlining purposes? The comments are open!

(Photos courtesy of Flickr member toriloveskitty, jupiter images and raw story.)

Tuesday Megalinks: The Jayhawks Edition

Like a three-pointer at the buzzer, this week’s links will win your heart and make people from Tennessee feel bad. Congrats, Kansas!

Being Frugal: When Times are Tight - 168 Frugal Tips to Make Your Dollar Stretch
Whoa, nelly. Lynnae’s hit the motherlode. This is basically every personal finance/frugality blog, wrapped in a single post with pretty paper and a big, fat bow. Three woots!

Carnival of Personal Finance #147: MoneyNing
Longest. Carnival. Ever. Set an hour or two aside to peruse, and you’ll never have to read another money book again. (Until next week.)

CNN: Tasty tricks for cutting fat, calories from recipes
Quick and dirty article about lighter substitutes for oil, butter, etc. Has anyone ever tried the canned-pumpkin-for-vegetable-oil trick? Spill, por favor.

Consumerist Conglomerist: 5 Helpful Grocery Shopping Tips
Oh, Consumerist – you saucy minx. I do adore a good April Fool’s Day jest.

Consumerist: Walmart Shoppers Feeling the Pain When Buying Groceries
The post is short and to the point, but the comments – oh, the comments. There were 123 at last glance, and they waver between “I just sold my grandma for a loaf of bread,” and “I made soup out of my sofa last week and my family of 12 was completely satisfied.” Good times.

Festival of Frugality #120: A Penny Saved
If the FoF had rides and game booths, what would they be? I'm thinking a Wall Street Roller Coaster and the Milk Bottle Game, where the prize is the bottles themselves, so you can go home and repurpose them.

Get Fit Slowly: Bill Would Make it Illegal to Feed the Obese
Who’s Bill? And why is he being so mean? (Thank you, thank you. I'm here all week. Please tip your waiters.)

Lifehacker: Five Fast-Food Restaurants to Feel Good About
Roses are red.
Violets are blue.
Chipotle’s barbacoa burritos are manna.
Please order me 42.

Make it From Scratch Festival: My So Called Me
Jenny’s rounds up the week’s best recipes and crafts from across the web, while her blog title makes me think blissfully back to the days when Angela Chase had this huge crush on Jordan Catalano, but Rayanne Graff totally betrayed her trust by doin’ it with him! Don’t cry Angela – Brian Krakow still loves you.

Metafilter: The Perfect Meatloaf
67 comments and counting, and the consensus seems to be some combination of: meat (duh), oatmeal (!), eggs, pepper, A1/worcestershire sauce, ketchup and bacon. To quote Mr. Burns, "Excellent."

New York Times: Some Good News on Food Prices
Some are arguing that higher processed meal costs are gonna level the playing field for organic and other healthy-type edibles. I’m not sure about that, but it’s certainly nice to think about.

Re-nest: 27 Household Uses for Citrus Fruit
#28: Throwing at a sibling’s head during a fight over the remote. (Not that it ever happened growing up, MY SISTER L.)

Sara Moulton: Sara’s Weeknight Meals
New series! Starring Sara! On PBS! Did anyone just see me do a pirouette? Because I totally did.

Serious Eats: What’s Your Best Low-Cal Recipe? and How Can ANYONE Afford to Travel and Eat?
Nice comment corral on two very CHG-esque subjects. I really love the S.E. commenters in general, though. They’re informed and eloquent, which beats out the everyday “LOL!!! You SUK!” stuff you see on YouTube.

Slashfood: A book club for foodies? A lip-smacking idea
Oh, what a neat idea. Anybody interested?

(Photos courtesy of KU, KUSports.com, and Getty Images.)

Light Fresh Tomato Lasagna: We’ve Got the Means to Make Amends

While Sundays in Casa de CHG are usually peaceful, relaxing affairs, last night was particularly sweet. Laid up by a slight illness, The Boyfriend and I had a little wine, worked quietly in our living room/Giant Teal Box of Tealness, and listened to old Pearl Jam B-Sides (found here, at I am Fuel, You are Friends). PJ was one of my favorite bands growing up, and hearing Ten at any time, in any form, transforms me to that dorky, flannel-clad 15-year-old who thought Eddie Vedder held all the secrets to life. (Note: he does.)

I’m 30 now (Eddie’s 43!?!), and while they still holds box seats in my heart, I don’t run out and buy Pearl Jam albums on the first day anymore. In fact, I don’t buy ANY albums on release day, and haven’t for a few years. I don’t know why that is. Am I too busy? Do Pearl Jam and Radiohead and U2 mean less to me now than they did in 11th grade? Is this what happens when you’re 30?

I don’t have a great segue here. Just know that last night, as I was pondering these Questions of Great Importance, I was also chowing down on a mean slice of Cooking Light’s Fresh Tomato Lasagna, minus that tricky “fresh” part. On the suggestion of my friend M last year, I baked the dish with canned, whole peeled tomatoes (instead of off-the-vine), which has since made it cheaper, easier to prepare, and not at all lacking in taste. (Thanks, M!)

A few points if you decide to make one of your own:

1) Reducing the sauce to a chunky (not watery) consistency is incredibly important here, as it will make or break the lasagna. (I speak from traumatic experience.)

2) It’s worth splurging for a slightly nicer-quality brand of tomatoes, since it’s the highlight of the dish.

3) As always, Cooking Light is pushing it calling this an eight-portion meal. If I had company coming, I’d make sure I had a salad and some garlic bread waiting in the wings. Oh – and since CL calculated the nutritional numbers, only the price is added up below.

Now, I'm off to stew for awhile over aging, music, passion, and how a few scruffy-looking, Doc Marten-sporting dudes from Seattle can simultaneously define and upheave a willing listener's life. Tonight, while you're making this lasagna (hee), try it yourself: go home and listen to your favorite band when you were in high school. How did they make you feel, and when did it change? What does that answer mean to you now?

P.S. No Code is PJ's best album. I’m not kidding.

Fresh Tomato Sauce Lasagna
8 servings
Adapted from Cooking Light.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup finely chopped onion
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 28-oz cans whole peeled tomatoes
2/3 cup thinly sliced fresh basil
1 teaspoon salt, divided
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, divided
2 cups part-skim ricotta cheese
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
Cooking spray
8 cooked lasagna noodles
1/2 cup (2 ounces) finely shredded fresh Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon thinly sliced fresh basil

1) In a small pot or Dutch oven, heatl oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic. Cook until tender, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. While this is happening, crush the tomatoes with a food mill or by hand and add them to the pot. (You could probably just buy crushed tomatoes, too, but I haven’t tried it.) Bring pot to a boil. Drop heat to a simmer. Cook 80 minutes, until sauce is a little thickened. Kill heat. Add "2/3 cup basil, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper." Stir. Set aside.

2) Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray a 13x9 Pyrex/baking dish with cooking spray.

3) In a medium saucepan, heat ricotta over medium heat. When hot, add mozzarella. Stir until mozz is all melted, and fully incorporated with the ricotta. Kill heat. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Stir.

4) Pour 2 cups tomato sauce in baking dish. Spread to cover bottom. Place 4 noodles over the sauce. Add all the ricotta/mozzarella and spread out on noodles. Place 4 remaining noodles on top of cheese. Spread last 2 cups tomato mixture on noodles. Sprinkle with the parmesan. Bake for 15 minutes, "or until cheese melts and filling is bubbly." Take out of oven. Garnish with basil. Give lasagna a few minutes to cool and set. Serve.

Calories, Fat, and Price Per Serving
290 calories, 11.8 g fat, $1.28

Calculations
1 tablespoon olive oil: $0.10
1 cup finely chopped onion: $0.18
4 garlic cloves, minced: $0.12
2 28-oz cans whole peeled or crushed tomatoes: $2.98
2/3 cup + 1 tablespoon thinly sliced fresh basil: $1.69
1 teaspoon salt, divided: $0.02
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, divided: $0.02
2 cups part-skim ricotta cheese: $1.99
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese: $1.49
Cooking spray: $0.03
8 cooked lasagna noodles: $0.50
1/2 cup (2 ounces) finely shredded fresh Parmesan cheese: $1.13
TOTAL: $10.23
PER SERVING (TOTAL/8): $1.28

Comments of the Week

This week, Monica and Dani offer takeout advice, Leanne devises a chicken dish shortcut, Dialectically_Yours has a few great cookbook suggestions, and lots of folks have lots to say about confronting loved ones on weight and money issues.

As always (well, as of the last three weeks), some comments were edited for length.

On Healthy Takeout on a Budget

Monica: Indian: Saag paneer and aloo gobhi are also on the healthy end, as well as most vegetable curries. Yes, they're both made with butter, but they're mostly vegetables in butter, which is better than lamb in butter. If you have a Korean takeout nearby, bibimbap has infinite variations and most of them are healthy as takeout goes, although not quite as healthy as my home bibimbap. Finally, Greek delis often have wonderful bean salads and marinated vegetables.

Dani: In Australia, all Asian takeouts have a plain stir fried vegetable dish which, with rice makes an ample meal.

On Sweet Victory: Chicken with Shallot-Apricot Sauce

Leanne: At the end you pour pan juices AND sauce over the chicken. But, wouldn't it be easier to combine them and make it one "sauce"? I think I would sautee the shallots in the chicken pan after the chicken is cooked, deglaze once with chicken broth, and then proceed with adding vinegar and jam.

On The Dos and Don’ts of Buying a Cookbook

Dialectically_Yours: COPY OUT the dozen or so recipes you use most from one cookbook. If you're having trouble cutting the list DOWN to twelve, it's a keeper … Cooking is as much about memory and tradition as it is about nutrition, so DON'T gut your shelves over a new diet, ESPECIALLY if it's a result of health issues.

On Touchy Subjects: Confronting Loved Ones About Weight and Money Problems

Anonymous: Here is my suggestion if you are concerned about someone's weight: ask them to go for a walk with you. Also, be aware that weight is an incredibly private issue for some people. Some people would rather die than talk about it. Just because someone isn't harping on it, doesn't mean that they aren't thinking about it and trying.

Anonymous #2: Ive been overweight my entire life, and my ex-husband, who eats at least twice as much as I has always been very thin. Even his "gentle" comments were offensive to me becuase he has absolutely no idea what it is like to be in my shoes.

Anonymous #3: I have been married to a women for 30 years. ... She has added 5 - 10 pounds every year or so and now is about 60 -70 pounds overweight. I never said a word about her weight. … Sad point is, it affects our social life, our sex life and her health. I seem to have two choices, accept it or divorce her. That is a sad situation to place a devoted, loving partner. Any suggestions from people on either side of this issue would be greatly appreciated.

Kinder: My mother-in-law has a quickly worsening weight problem. At some point, I asked if she wanted to work out with me, under the pretense that it would be a positive social experience, a time to bond. But she bailed out after three trips (once she realized that going to the gym entailed doing exercise). I said nothing about her diet of baked goods and fried food; I was silent about her complete resistance to an exercise routine. And now I'm just exhausted. I actually really dislike going to the gym, but I do for the sake of my children. I'm kind of hurt by my mother-in-law's aggressive inactivity, but I want to help her have a better life. And I want her to be there for her grandchildren.

Anonymous #4: I have two cases - one friend, one relative - who constantly complain about their weight, who feel free to comment on my not being overweight, etc. My favorite was the friend told me I must be so skinny because I drank grapefruit juice. Never mind the fact that at the time I was an avid cyclist, and had ridden over 200 miles that weekend. … I do worry about their health, I would love to say LET ME HELP YOU. … It kills me because I know it's killing them. … So yeah, it would be lovely if these two would LET me be eyes on the paper. But it's hard to do when they keep waving their paper under my nose.

Anonymous #5: "Mind your own business" on these issues is a fine philosophical position - as long as it's consistent. If a person's actions are self-destructive, and they are fully aware of the consequences of their actions, then they have no claim on you for assistance when they've messed up their own lives.

Julia: Re: "I wonder: is there 'an enjoyable social experience' you can share with somebody who suffers from poor fiscal management?" What about asking them to take a financial workshop or course with you like the Dave Ramsey course? My dad took it and asked me to join him. I know it was his way of giving me financial advice without US actually having to talk about it.

Jeff S.: It's always important to remember that while your choices are your own, they can affect the people you love. These people may have to care for you when you are incapacitated, nurse you when you are down, or mourn for you when you have passed away. If you really want to avoid their input, then you may as well break all ties now, because they have a vested interest in seeing you happy and healthy. Unconditional love is not the same as unconditional acceptance of all of your choices.

Ering: I have changed a few habits and they way I did it is to use the challenge on ZenHabits website. Leo has a forum where you state the habit you want to create (i.e. eat healthy instead of stop eating badly) at the beginning of the month (or whenever you find out out about it!) and then you make a commitment to two things 1) meeting your habit and 2) report on it daily.

Anonymous #6: Justifying an intervention because someone's weight inconveniences your friendship is no more right than raping a friend because you feel a child will make her happy one day.

Chicken with Shallot-Apricot Sauce: Sweet Victory

Hey everybody! Remember yesterday, when I was all like, “Buy a cantaloupe! They’re delicious, and nothing could ever possibly be wrong with them?” Uh … not so much. Astute reader Joel pointed out that there was a cantaloupe recall on March 22nd, as a Honduran company called Agropecuaria Montelibano has shipped quite a few salmonella-tainted melons. The offending paragraph has been removed, and please feel free to send me the bill if you went out and bought a dozen. As always, I’m dumb.

(Edited to add: this looks like it might be a bigger deal now. See here.)

For further proof of my dumbinity, it finally occurred to me (after nine months) that I should mention more of my failures on this blog. (Note: it didn’t actually occur to me. It occurred to my friend F, who said, “You know, you should mention more of your failures on the blog. That way, people would feel better about the dishes you DO post on.” He’s usually right about these things – and about New Zealand novelty folk duos – so I’m going with it.)

Anyway, of the three or four new dishes I make per week, usually only one or two work out. I can generally chalk this up to my own inexperience or sketchy recipes, because as it turns out, you can’t eat everything you read. To illustrate, here are a few examples of recent bombs:

Weight Watchers Macaroni and Cheese: I whipped this up last year, but used fat-free instead of low-fat cheese, turning the meal into an abomination on par with Soylent Green. This time around, I followed the directions to the letter. And you know what? It still sucked.

Strawberry Mousse from Enchanted Broccoli Forest: Dude. I’m not sure why they didn’t just call this “Two-Hour Strawberry Yogurt,” because that’s exactly what it is.

Mashed Yucca with Garlic: This one was more my fault than lovely, wonderful Sara Moulton. I dumped waaaaaay too much milk into the mixture, creating a soupy, lumpy catastrophe instead of velvety, creamy comfort food. As my roommate C noted, “So, the yucca was yucka.” She’s clever, that one.

Ellie Krieger’s Pasta Puttanesca: Ellie is wonderful, and quickly becoming one of my favorite Food Network cooks. And while this dish was far from a disaster, it was nothing special either. (Incidentally, “nothing special” meals are almost worse than flat-out disasters, because they had so much potential. It’s like when a parent says, “I’m disappointed in you,” and it’s ten times more traumatic than if they just yelled.)

Roasted Butternut Squash, Rosemary, and Garlic Lasagna: An unmitigated disaster. It took a year to cook, made me nauseous, and nobody ate the leftovers. It’s LASAGNA for pete’s sake. Leftovers are THE POINT. Cooking Light, I expected better.

While the letdowns have been plentiful and painful, I’m proud to say that today’s recipe, Chicken with Shallot Apricot Sauce, is a winner. It got raves from The Kitchn, as well as CHG reader Gretchen, who tried it and gave an enthusiastic thumbs up. My own version was fruity and sweet and fancy looking, to boot. The chicken was a tad dry, but I think that was more a result of my overcooking than the instructions.

I should mention that The Kitchn recipe serves four, but I made a half-batch and reduced the olive oil a bit. Those calculations are reflected below.

Chicken with Shallot-Apricot Sauce
Serves 2
Adapted from The Kitchn.

For the chicken:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (Mine were 6oz each – Kris)
salt and pepper
1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1/8 cup chicken broth

For the sauce:
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
2-1/2 medium shallots, peeled and sliced thin
1/4 cup chicken broth
1/8 cup balsamic vinegar
1 heaping tablespoons apricot jam or preserves
salt and pepper

1) Sprinkle salt and pepper all over the chicken. In a large skillet, heat 1/2 tablespoon oil over high heat. Place chicken in skillet and brown, about 3 or 4 minutes per side. Cover pan. Drop heat to low. Cook chicken fully, another 4 or 5 minutes. When done, use tongs to put chicken on a plate. Tent with tin foil and set aside.

2) Jack heat up to high. Add 1/8th cup broth to chicken pan, scraping up browned bits with your spoon as broth heats. Remove from heat and set aside when bits are fully scraped.

3) While this is all going on/as chicken breast browns, heat the other 1/2 tablespoon olive oil in a medium pan over medium heat. Add shallots. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook until shallots soften, around 5 minutes.

4) Add 1/4 cup broth to shallot pan, scraping up browned bits with your spoon as broth heats. Add vinegar. Drop heat to medium-low. Cook another 5 minutes or so. Add jam. Stir thoroughly to mix. "The sauce will thicken but should still be easily stirred."

5) Slice chicken. Place on platter. Pour contents of pan #1 (the juices) on top. Pour apricot-shallot sauce on top of that. Serve.

Approximate Calories, Fat, and Price Per Serving
305 calories, 9 g fat, $1.52

Calculations
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (6oz ea): 375 calories, 4.2 g fat, $1.49
1 tablespoons olive oil: 119 calories, 13.5 g fat, $0.10
6 tablespoons chicken broth: 5 calories, 0.2 g fat, $0.10
2-1/2 medium shallots, peeled and sliced thin: 36 calories, 0.1 g fat, $0.98
1/8 cup balsamic vinegar: 20 calories, 0 g fat, $0.15
1 heaping tablespoons apricot jam or preserves: 55 calories, 0 g fat, $0.18
salt and pepper: negligible calories and fat, $0.03
TOTAL: 610 calories, 18 g fat, $3.03
PER SERVING (TOTAL/2): 305 calories, 9 g fat, $1.52

CHG Favorites of the Week

Blog of the Week
Smart Spending at MSN
Every week, this Lifehacker/Slashfood-style site compiles the best posts from around the personal finance blogosphere, giving regular MSN readers a chance to read, comment and debate. Frugality is a major topic, but everything is fair game, like Clever Dude’s recent, excellent post on homebuying. It’s about time something like this existed. Thanks, Donna, Karen, & Co.!

Comedy of the Week
"$240 Worth of Pudding" from the State
I didn’t catch the State until very late in life, so I missed out on a lot. (Tragically, my parents didn’t have cable when we were growing up. They thought we’d watch too much MTV. Which? Yeah, we totally would have.) Here, Michael Ian Black and Thomas Lennon get serious and sexxxay with a metric ton of Jello.

Organization of the Week
Charity Navigator’s Food Bank Page
CN’s received several mentions here before, but this particular page will point you directly to food pantries and distribution services in your area, from Alameda to West Texas. The star ratings will tell you how efficiently run your particular bank is, so you can pick and choose as you like.

Quote of the Week
“My friend asked me if I wanted a frozen banana. I said ‘No, but I want a regular banana later, so ... yeah.’” – Mitch Hedberg

Untried Cheap, Healthy Recipe of the Week
Lazy Day Peanut Noodle Salad Recipe at 101 Cookbooks
It’s the 3rd of April, and there is nothing I want more from this life than spring vegetables and peanut butter-slathered noodles. (Also, for it to warm up about ten degrees.) (And a new skirt.) (And a pony.)

Video of the Week
“Just Like Honey” by The Jesus and Mary Chain
Oh, we are hitting the wayback machine today, folks. If you love feedback, romance-laden angst, or dyspeptic, mopey Brits, this is the band for you. It’s a gorgeous song, anyway.

(Photos courtesy of Flickr members Dmitry Kolchev and Sarahkim.)