Sweet and Savory Chicken Legs and Grilled Zucchini Chips

My hot water heater shit the bed last night.

Steve and I went out for sushi and then to the movie Eat, Pray, Love (I didn't even have to take him against his will! I think I'll keep him), and when we came back it smelt like something was burning/melting...

It was the hot water heater. I don't know what is wrong with it or if it's fixable or how much it will cost to replace. All I know is that if it would have started my house on fire with Kempton inside of it, there would not be words for how unhappy I would be right now. Just that fact alone makes me want to bring him to work with me every day.

Or put in a doggy door.

Except that it would probably also be a skunk door, a raccoon door, a mouse door, and a spider door. UGH.

Either way, everyone is fine and the hot water heater is no longer hooked up to a power source and Steven is going to help me figure out what I need to do.

Preferably today, because after I go running I will be in need of a warm shower.

In the meantime, at Georgia's request (and because I totally forgot), I am going to turn my attention towards food and post the recipes for the Sweet and Savory Chicken Legs and the Grilled Zucchini Chips that I made a couple weeks back...

The chicken was good - I am not a huge fan of chicken thighs/legs/drumsticks, but I wanted to try this recipe exactly as is for the first time. Next time I might use chicken breasts instead. The flavors were really good, and you could definitely tweak it to turn down the heat if you were cooking for those with sensitive palettes, or turn it up for people like...me!

Turns out I didn't make the recipe exactly as is.

Shocking, I know.

I only used one package of legs instead of two, but I used the full amounts of everything else (I wanted extra sauce because I put it over white rice).

Also, it was hot out and I didn't want to start the oven. So I used the grill instead!

I will post both methods, as well as the zucchini recipe I used for the side dish. These turned out really good.

Unfortunately, Steve doesn't like zucchini so he wasn't super impressed.

The other bad news is that I didn't get any "after" pictures...just "before" ones. We didn't eat until really late that night and it was very dark out by the time we pulled the food off of the grill. Here are the before pics:

The chicken, before it went on the grill. Imagine the perfectly cooked chicken bathed in the sauce, the sugars all caramelized, making it thick and dark.

Imagine this raw zucchini marinated, grilled, sprinkled with Parmesan cheese and delicious, ok?

Enjoy!

Sweet and Savory Chicken Legs (adapted from the recipe Hot & Sweet Drumsticks by Teri L. on Tasty Kitchen*) this version will serve 3, but can be easily doubled

• 1 package chicken legs/drumsticks (a little over 1 pound...my package had 6 legs in it)
• 1 cup of apricot preserves
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 2 teaspoons hot pepper sauce (I used Sriracha, but you could use anything)

Combine preserves, ketchup, soy sauce, garlic and hot pepper sauce in a small saucepan and heat (stirring frequently) until the preserves are melted and everything is combined to form a sauce that is about the same consistency as honey.

For the oven: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place drumsticks in a single layer in a baking pan and pour apricot mixture over the top. Bake for 40 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through, spooning the sauce over the chicken periodically.

For the grill: Preheat the grill to 400 degrees. I lined a baking dish with aluminum foil (easier cleanup) and put the drumsticks in a single layer, then I poured the sauce over top. Cook until chicken is done (on the grill it took about 60 minutes, but I cooked it indirectly for the first 40, then realized it wasn't cooking fast enough and put it directly over the coals for 20 minutes and they were done. If you cooked them directly the whole time it would probably only take 30 - 35 minutes), frequently spooning the sauce over top.

Let the chicken sit for about 5 minutes before serving. Serve over white rice to soak up the yummy sauce!

Printable Recipe

Grilled Zucchini Chips

• One large zucchini, sliced into thin rounds
• 1/3 cup of olive oil
• 1/3 cup of balsamic vinegar
• kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper
• a couple pinches of crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese

Toss sliced zucchini with olive oil, balsamic, salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper. Marinade for at least 30 minutes. Preheat grill to 400 degrees. Grill each side of the zucchini rounds over direct heat for 2 - 4 minutes per side, or until they are browned (I ended up flipping some of the larger slices a couple of times until they were done). Working quickly, remove them from the grill and lay them in a single layer on a baking sheet. Sprinkle immediately with parm cheese. Serve. 

Printable Recipe

* A note about Tasty Kitchen: for those of you who do not know, this is a recipe sharing site that The Pioneer Woman created. It is not made up of celebrity chefs (though there are some seriously awesome food bloggers on the site), but mostly home cooks like you and me. I would encourage you to check it out the next time you are looking for a recipe. Here is the website: http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/
And if you decide to create a profile and start sharing recipes, my profile name is: Lindsey @ Sunshine and Jellybeans...look me up and be my friend!