Ingredients
1/2 cup apricot all fruit spread
1/4 cup honey (eyeball it)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon vinegar – cider, rice wine or white wine
3 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
3 tablespoons spicy brown, Dijon or yellow mustard – whichever you prefer
2 tablespoons sesame seeds or poppy seeds (optional)
1/2 sheet puff pastry dough, such as Pepperidge Farm brand
4 pre-cooked chicken sausages (1 package), any flavor, available in the packaged meats case near the keilbasa and hot dogs
1/2 head iceberg lettuce, chopped
1 can Mandarin orange segments (6 ounces), drained
1/4 English (seedless) cucumber, sliced
Salt and pepper
Directions
Pre-heat oven to 425°F.
In a medium size mixing bowl, combine the apricot preserves and honey. Pour 1/3 of the apricot mixture into the bottom of a salad bowl. Whisk in the soy sauce and vinegar, then stream in the oil for your salad dressing. Stir the mustard into the remaining apricot-honey base for the chicks in blankets and dipping sauce.
Cut the pastry into four rectangles. Spread a little apricot honey mustard on each rectangle, then roll up the sausages in the blankets and pinch at the seam to keep the chicks in their sleeping bags. Brush the tops of the sleeping bags with a dab of the mustard for gloss and color, sprinkle with seeds, if using, and arrange on a nonstick baking sheet.
Bake according to the puff pastry package directions, or until golden brown all over, about 12-15 minutes.
While the chicks are in the oven, add lettuce, mandarin oranges and cucumber to the salad bowl. Toss with the reserved dressing and season with salt and pepper.
Remove the chicks from the oven, place on plates and pass remaining sauce for topping or dipping. Pile up the salad alongside chicks in sleeping bags, unless you hate it when your food touches, in which case use a separate dish. De-lish!!
This is one of many "Yum-o!" recipes – it's good and good for you. To find out more about Yum-o!, Rachael's nonprofit organization, go to www.yum-o.org.