How about warming the apricots slightly and serving them over a scoop of ice cream? That's what we do with our brandied peaches.

You could buy a quart and not have too much left over to tempt you for later, some of the better icecreams don't have a lot of junk and you'd be getting your calcium!!!

And your dinner sounds delicious!

Grace

It does sound delish! And I second the warmed apricots over vanilla ice cream. Elegantly simplistic!

Alexa

Can you post the crockpot chicken recipe please!

I was also going to suggest the marinated apricots over vanilla ice cream, and perhaps with a purchased biscotti as well.
Looks like we all agree on the ice cream LPink! :-)

SharonCb

I think everything sounds great too. Are you planning a starch? Potatoes, bread, cous cous, anything? I would want one, two or three most definitely but maybe I'm not the healthiest!

What about crepes with the compote? Just on their own or stuffed with cream cheese.

Another vote here for the apricots as a topping for ice cream or frozen yogurt with a cookie or two on the plate.

I think the chicken would be good served with spaghetti squash. You could cook that any time before the weekend, take the shreds out, refrigerate, and reheat.

Lpink...they have some wondeful vanilla frozen yogurt out there. I would serve the apricots with frozen yogurt and yes maybe a little cookie for crunch.

It all sounds so delish!

Are you planning on a side?? I vote for a couscous simply because its fast and easy.

As for the tidying up...just concentrate on the public areas of the house. I am sure your guest(s) are there to see you-not your dwelling!!
There have been plenty of times I've entertained and prayed that no one would open the bedroom doors and take a peek LOL!! Don't get me started on the basement....geez louise that was the catch all for my family for years!!

Good luck and please post the recipe when you get the chance!!

Cheers!
Susie

Wow sounds delicious to me. I vote for the frozen yogurt or ice cream with the apricots. Does your beau eat yogurt? I have found my guys won't touch it. Men can be so trying at times!!!
Joann

Well, as far as the starch goes, there are the pita chips as the appetizer, and I was going to do red potatoes in with the roasted vegetables--I'll probably do red potatoes, sweet potatoes, red onions, butternut squash and maybe parsnips. Pretty starchy! I could serve the chicken over pasta, I have done that in the past, but then not with the roasted veggies I think. Roasted veggies seem easier to me--no draining like pasta! (although I do love pasta, no doubt about that!)

I'll post the chicken recipe when I get home. It came out of one of my favorite cookbooks--"La Cucina Ebraica," Jewish Italian Cooking by Joyce Goldstein.

On the way to work I had an epiphanny. I have this strawberry rhubarb sauce I could serve with crepes, but I would have to find the crepes already made. I have a crepe pan and can make them but I really have to focus my time on getting the house ready. I have a huge piles of junk in the dining room, which yes, I am probably going to have to box up and stash in the basement, but even after I do that, I still have to dust and clean up in there, etc., etc. And I don't mean dust the extreme places either. My house has been barely lived in for three months, there's dust on everything!

Anyway, has anyone ever had store bought crepes? Or even seen them in any stores? I saw them once in the store, I didn't know if they would be any good. It didn't seem like they'd be the greatest, but I like store bought pie crust . . . and have had good luck with store bought wonton wrappers . . . maybe after they're heated up? I could also buy some of those little phyllo cups and do my standby jam tarts made with a dollop of store bought pudding and my homeade jam, or the apricot compote. It does seem like ice cream is the consensus and a good idea. I do not usually eat ice cream in the winter--I get too cold! But it might be good with warm fruit compote and some coffee with amaretto or something. Much easier than cake, and less starchy!

What about wine? I need something inexpensive.

THANKS for all the tips and encouragement! I am feeling better about this already. My house has been in CHAOS for months--Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome! Not the way I like to live.

Forget the crepes. Stick with the apricots and the frozen yogurt for healthy although nothing wrong with the ice cream. The store bought biscotti and coffee. Hey, I'd be one happy camper if I was eating that.
I am not a wine person so no suggestion there.
I understand about the stress of cleaning but just set a reasonable goal and stick with that. No major sorting etc. Put stuff in a basket or box to get it out of the way and do your dusting. Your company is more important anyway.

You know, you are so right Fran. The more I think about it, forget crepes. Even if I find some decent premade ones, I would still have to figure out how to fold and plate them. I know it sounds pathetic, but my brain is so fried at this point in the semester I would be happy not to even have to deal with that little detail! Even assembling the tarts would take some dexterity! :)

I love the idea of throwing those apricots in a pan with maybe some Michigan dried cherries and a cinnamon stick and some cardamon and ginger, and then forgetting about it until 45 minutes later. Plus I would get to use my little cut glass footed bowls that I love. Next to a dollop of high quality low fat ice cream, with a sugar cookie stuck in it for good measure. And coffee to warm up. Glop, glop, glop, that's my kind of cooking!

At the Allentown Farm Market they have these great cookies called APs or AiPees or something like that, that are very good and unusual. They are very thin, thin sugar cookies with colored sugar topping.

Then maybe while I'm at it I can stop at my favorite winery--Clover Hill, and ask them what wine they recommend. But then again, my friend may be like Annie and not like wine, I'd better find out!

I thought your brandied apricots sounded great. Personally I'd love them with angel food cake. I'd tear slices into one inch pieces and put them in your pretty dishes and top with the apricots, heated or not. Doctored or not. Then if you want a little something on top of it, I'd take some plain yogurt and thin it with some of the juice from the apricots and drizzle some on top. Nice and light, healthy and a nice ending... to me. Smiles. Good luck on the cleaning. I know it sure can be a pain, although I do some of my best cleaning under pressure. lol..

I was thinking the apricots over a good quality vanilla yogurt, and a small crispy cookie. Or crumble some gingersnaps and make little layered parfaits..

Laurie, I just have to know, is this a female friend, or a...well....a date?

Annie

Yeah what Annie said, LOL.

Given your time and budget constraints, and the weather, I agree that crepes and a frozen dessert would be better another time. You are making enough from scratch AND cleaning your house - you are going to run out of energy - for dessert, I'd buy frozen pound cake and toast some slices, and make a nice presentation in a bowl or individual bowls with your compote on top (love the cardamom stuff you were describing).

If you want some healthier cookies too, don't forget Haika's Kitchen, only a couple of blocks from the market.

Pollo Ezechiele (Ezekiel's Chicken)
from "Cucina Ebraica - Flavors of the Italian Jewish Kitchen" by Joyce Goldstein

Serves 4

1 small fryer chicken, 2 1/2 to 3 lbs., cut into serving pieces
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
4 TBLSP olive oil
1/3 cup pitted Mediterranean-style black olives, coarsely chopped
3 cloves garlic
1 TBLSP chopped fresh sage
1 TBLSP chopped fresh rosemary
1 TBLSP chopped fresh basil
(extra fresh herbs to garnish, optional)
2 large tomatoes, peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped
1/2 cup dry red wine

Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. Warm the olive oil in a large saute pan over high heat. Add the chicken pieces and saute until golden on all sides. Add the olives, garlic, herbs, and tomatoes. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and cook, until the chicken is tender, about 25 minutes.

Uncover the pan and add the red wine. Raise the heat to high and cook rapidly to reduce the pan juices. Adjust the seasonings. Transfer to a warmed platter and sprinkle with more fresh herbs, if desired. Serve at once.

Can add a sliced onion to the initial saute and sub tomato paste instead of tomatoes.

OK, that's Joyce's recipe. Here's how I adapt it for my budget and slow cooker. Do the saute part to brown the chicken, onion and garlic. Then transfer to the crockpot and add a can of whole tomatoes, chopped, and the olives and herbs. I use dried herbs, subbing 1 tsp. dried for 1 TBLSP fresh. Cook in the crockpot on low for 4 hours. When the chicken is done, take it out and transfer it to a serving dish. Dump the juices into a saute pan, add the wine and reduce/thicken the sauce. Can add a cornstarch slurry and some tomato paste to make the sauce even richer, and freshen with additional herbs if necessary. Pour the sauce over the chicken and garnish with fresh or frozen chopped parsley.

The key is to brown the chicken before putting it in the crockpot, to use smaller pieces, (some folks only do thighs, which supposedly turn out best in the crockpot, but I think all the parts are OK if you don't overcook and don't use boneless and don't use huge pieces.)

For dessert I may just serve my warmed up applesauce with yogurt and toasted almonds in the cut glass cups, I have done that before. Or I may use my homeade strawberry or strawberry rhubarb sauce over angelfood cake, store bought. I have served the applesauce dessert before to good effect. That is one big plus to canning, you can pull out homeade stuff at the last minute. I'd like to do something with those apricots, but this is why the dang things have been sitting in the fridge in brandy for almost a year! I just never get around to messing with them! We'll see how it goes. As Jessy said, I may get tired and want to take the easiest possible route.

Back in the day when I had more free time, I always enjoyed making something kind of fancy when I had folks over for dinner, stuff single-me would never bother fussing with by myself. Especially desserts--I'd make pies, cakes or cobblers, or one of my favorites--blackberry shortbread! Oh well, like you all said, the most important thing is the guests/company, fussing over the food should not be the main focus of a get together! But I would still like it to be homey. The best dinner parties I've been to have been the ones where the food was not fussy, but still delicious, not too many dishes and overdone. The hosts could serve it in a relaxed manner. I think I have not yet quite mastered that art. Alexa sure managed that art at our little get-together! My aunt, who is in her mid 80's has always managed to do that, pull incredibly delicious stuff out of her kitchen with mysteriously little fanfare. But I know she has a lifetime of little tricks up her sleeve! Just her little special touches and recipes. A lot of it is her knowledge of quality ingredients, and how she always has a little something going in the kitchen, so that when the final dish comes out we don't notice that the process took two days of manging the various parts bit by bit.

I get so tired of restaurant or pre-made stuff from the store. Not that it isn't nice, but there's just something about it. It isn't the same as homeade, even a homeade tuna fish sandwich carries that special something. I'm trying to focus these days on simple, simple yet homeade foods. It makes a huge difference to me not to be eating out. I can't totally describe the effect, it's just something a bit spiritual I think.

As Jessy said, I may get tired and want to take the easiest possible route

Like answering the big question?!!

Lpink, If you can get it in your area, Barefoot Cellars makes several really good wines and they are really reasonably priced (like $5.99 a bottle where I live).

Their Pinot Grigio is quite good and their Chardonnay is better than fair. For reds I love their Zinfandel, and their Shiraz is good, too.

Little Penguin wines are very good, and just a little more, price-wise. I love their Pinot Noir at $7.99 a bottle. have not tried any of their whites, tho.

Beringer makes a decent Chardonnay at about $8 a bottle, too.

Hope that helps with your wine selection.

PS...love your menu, I may have to try that chicken!

Linda

I know you all like reports on how the actual dinner went, so here goes. It took awhile for it to actually come about due to my busy schedule and my friends'.

I had pita and hummus for an appetizer. My celery and carrots from the fridge were marginal so I skipped those. For dinner, after talking to my friend as to what he would like, I made baked ziti, (except I used penne, which I like better.) I still have the chicken in the freezer so I may do this for another dinner party. I hope to have a little less hectic schedule this next semester. With the ziti I made roasted vegetables--sweet potato, butternut squash, parsnip, red onion, red pepper and turnips. Roasted with olive oil, rosemary, lowfat soy sauce, a smidge of maple syrup and balsamic vinegar. The ziti was made with sauteed cremini mushrooms and zuchinni, with homeade canned spaghetti sauce, (Booberry's recipe--Yummo!) Supplemented with Paul Newman's sauce. Also added baked italian style tofu. Also mixed italian cheeses and topped with parmesean. Whole wheat penne for the pasta. Very delicious. The last dish was sauteed spinach "with a twist" which was dried cranberries, pine nuts, and a dash of garlic, red pepper and nutmeg. Pretty good.

No dessert, just champagne as this dinner ended up being New Year's Eve. The wine we had with dinner was excellent--Berringer's Pino Grigo.

L, I was wondering how that went, of course, I knew it was a date. (grin)

Annie