Recipe of the Week: Apple Braised Chicken and Banana Caramel Pudding Cake

Last night, Mango and I invited my dad over for dinner for a home cooked meal cooked by yours truly. My mom and my sister have been away all week in Chicago, which has left my father to his own devices when it comes to supper, as a result, my two grandmothers and I have made sure that my father has had a good meal everyday. Don't get me wrong, my father is a good cook, but I'm not sure how many times he's already visited his favorite Steak and Shake in my mother's absence, so, we invited him over. I spent two days trying to figure out exactly what to make him. I already knew that he was going to get plenty of Cuban food from my grandmas and he made one request of no pasta, apparently whenever he comes over I always seem to serve pasta. So, I wanted to make him something yummy and filling, and healthy! Yes, Mango and I are still on our diet (I've finally made it past the 10 pound mark!), so I needed to find something that didn't taste like "diet food".

Finally, I decided on a menu of apple braised chicken, homemade mashed potatoes, and banana caramel pudding cake for dessert. Believe it or not, everything on the menu was low in fat, found via Weight Watchers and Cooking Light. The chicken was so yummy! Definitely a recipe that I am going to keep for a long time, and the pudding cake was delicious! Personally, there is nothing better than homemade mashed potatoes, I decided to go with the herb mashed potatoes from Cooking Light, it's your basic recipe except you're using low fat ingredients. So here they are, two of my favorite new recipes! Enjoy!

Apple Braised Chicken
Serves: 4
Cooking Time: 35 min.
Prep Time: 20 min.

Ingredients:
2 tsp. vegetable oil
1 lb. uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breast (four 4 oz. pieces)
2 tbsp. all purpose flour
1 large onion, sliced
2 medium apples, firm, cored, and sliced
1 c. apple cider
1 c. fat free chicken broth
1/2 tsp. table salt
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
2 tsp. cornstarch
Directions:
1. In a large, heavy bottom skillet, warm oil over high heat. Toss chicken with flour in a medium bowl, patting off excess. Place chicken in skillet and brown on both sides. Remove chicken from pan and set aside.
2. Reduce stove temperature to low and add onion to skillet. Saute, stirring often, until tender and lightly browned.
3. Stir in apples, cider, broth, salt, ginger, and add the chicken. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook for 30 min.
4. Use a slotted spoon to transfer chicken, apples, and onions to serving dish.
5. In a small bowl, combine 2-3 tbsp. of the pan juices with cornstarch. Pour the cornstarch mixture in the pan and whisk together for one minute. Pour the sauce over the chicken and serve.

Flavor Swap: You can switch the apples for pears! Sounds yummy! Just substitute the apples for 2 pears, apple cider for pear cider, and 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg for ginger.

Banana Caramel Pudding Cake
Serves: 10
Cooking Time: 40 min.
Prep Time: 15 min.

Ingredients:
2/3 c. dark brown sugar, packed
2 tsp. all purpose flour
1 1/3 c. all purpose flour
3/4 c. sugar
1/3 c. chopped pecans
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. table salt
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 c. banana, mashed (about 1 banana)
1/2 c. low fat milk
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 c. boiling water
fat free vanilla ice cream
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Combine brown sugar and 2 tsp. flour and set aside.
3. Combine 1 1/3 c. flour and next 7 ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk together. Combine banana and next 3 ingredients and add to the flour mixture. Stir well until moist.
4. Spoon the batter in to an 8 inch square baking pan and sprinkle with your brown sugar mixture.
5. Pour your boiling water over the batter (do not stir). Bake for 40 min. or until cake springs back slightly in the middle. Serve warm with ice cream.