Island BBQ Chicken

This is easily one of my favorite recipes for chicken. The flavors are both sweet and savory and the chicken so succulent, you'll forgive yourself for it not being the healthies thing you ate that day!

Island BBQ Chicken

This makes 6 drumsticks and does require some prep-work.

- 1 pkg drumsticks, skin-on*

- 1 cup BBQ sauce - really any type will do

- 1/4 - 1/2 cup pineapple soda (I use Shasta)

- 1 jalapeno, ribbed, seeded and finely diced

- 1 tsp paprika

- salt and pepper to taste

- 1 cup all-purpose flour

- non-stick aluminum foil

1. In a small sauce pan combine BBQ sauce, 1/4 cup of pineapple juice and paprika. Whisk to combine, add additional soda if desired and salt and pepper to taste. Stir in diced jalapeno, bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Allow to simmer for 10 - 15 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

2. Place chicken in a freezer bag and pour cooled marinade over the top. Partially seal the bag and press down to remove excess air. Place in a dish to prevent messes and place in fridge for 2 -3 hours (chicken can be marinated over night as well).

3. Preheat oven to 375. Place a sheet of the aluminum foil non-stick side up (I cannot stress enough that it should be non-stick. If you use the normal kind your chicken will fall apart).

4. Spread flour on a plate. Take each piece of chicken and coat is lightly in flour and place on the baking sheet. The flour should be thin enough that it blends with the marinade. After each piece is complete, briefly dip into marinade again and back into flour and replace on baking sheet. Let rest for 5 - 10 minutes.

5. Pour the remains of the marinade back into the sauce pan and bring to a boil, whisking occasionally and remove from heat. The marinade should be a bit thicker now.

6. Place chicken on middle rack in oven and bake for 25 minutes. Remove and brush with remaining marinade, flip and brush other side, then return to oven for 20 - 25 minutes.

7. When finished, remove and let rest for 5 minutes before serving. The chicken skin and marinade should have a light crust and be caramelized to a deep redish-brown.

This chicken goes great with a cool iceberg wedge dressed in a bit of asian ranch (recipe to come at a later date) or just steamed white rice with butter.

Fun tidbite: The dark redish-brown shiny drippings on the foil are delicious! Just pick them off and eat them =D

*This recipe can be adapted to chicken wings for an appetizer. Simply follow the directions on the package for thawing, do the steps 1 - 6 here and then follow the directions on the package for cooking. If necessary, double the marinade recipe.

Green Eggs & Ham

I got this from Rachel Ray and made some modifications.

Level of difficulty: Easy but moderately labor-intensive

What you need:

-Large cup muffin tin*

-1 package bacon**

-1 bunch spinach

-4 or 5 Yukon Gold potatoes

-salt, pepper, garlic power, paprika to taste

-foil lined baking sheet

-cheese grater

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place bacon on foil lined sheet and place in preheated oven - cook approx 10 minutes. The bacon should be slightly cooked through but still soft and pliable. When bacon is done, pour off drippings into a large skillet. Remove cooked bacon and place onto paper towel lined plate to remove excess grease. Place remaining bacon onto sheet and place back in oven for approx 15 minutes. Once remaining bacon is cooked, pour drippings into skillet.

Reduce oven heat to 375. Line each muffin cup with bacon and place 2-3 spinach leaves in each, pressing down in center to create a small bowl. Meanwhile, heat skillet with bacon grease over medium-high heat. When the grease begins to ripple but not smoke, crack an egg in and allow the bottoms of the white to barely set, then slide off into one of the egg cups. Continue to do this until your tin is full and then place in the oven. Allow whites to set fully. When eggs are finished cooking, remove from heat and allow to rest for a few minutes before easing a spoon around the outside of each cup and gently removing.

You can also crack the egg directly into the tin (as shown above) and cook at about 400 for 15-20 minutes or until whites are set.

You can use the mini muffin or regular size tins, depending on your needs. The minis work great if you're using this for appetizers.

**To make this more traditionally, you can use deli sliced ham in place of bacon or precooked bacon.

Cooking

As many of you know, I love to cook and, on occasion, am quite good at it. Id be more than willing to share my recipes but I generally dont keep very good track of them. Most of them I dont even write down, I just remember them.

I wanted to share some tips as well as some recipes so here is the first one of many.

Stuffed Tomatoes

I like to make these for lunch or as appetizers.* What you need

-4 Large red tomatoes

-3 cans chunk chicken, drained

-1/2 to 3/4 cup mayo depending on how wet you like it (I use Best Foods)

-1/4 cup chopped walnuts

-2 tbsp Mrs. Dash Origional Seasoning

-1 1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack/Shreddeded Cheddar

-3 green onions, chopped

-1 tsp each salt, black pepper, garlic powder, paprika

-non-stick aluminum foil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut top off tomatoes, about 1/4 of the way down. Use a spoon to remove seeds and pulp along with any excess ribbing. Set aside on baking sheet.

In a medium bowl, dump canned chicken and shred with a fork. In a separate, smaller bowl, combine mayo, Mrs. Dash, salt, pepper, garlic powder and paprika. Mix thoroughly and combine with chicken, making sure it is coated evenly. Mix in 1/2 cup of cheese and chopped walnuts.

Sprinkle a small amount of the remaining cheese in the bottom of each tomato cup. Carefully spoon in chicken salad mixture until cups are almost full and top with remaining cheese. Sprinkle chopped green onions on top.

Carefully wrap each tomatoe in aluminum foil, non-stick side facing tomatoes, and place in the oven on the middle rack. Let cook for 15 minutes or until warmed through. Pull back aluminum foil to expose the tomatoes and let cook an additional 5-7 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

Its as simple as that. Once done, remove the foil, plate and enjoy. The chicken salad along with the fresh tomato creates a fresh and savory treat.

*In order to make this as an appetizer, simply swap the large tomatoes for roma tomatoes that have been cut in half and cleaned. Place in muffin tins and cover with foil.

This chicken salad mixture is also exceptional on a croissant :)

My Disgusting Secret

Everyone has something they do that weirds other people out. It could be nose picking, pimple picking, or any other number of strange habits picked up throughout their lives. I remember that I picked up this weird tick after teaching myself to wink where I would blink both eyes seperately. Used to weird people out like all hell.

I used to have a friend that didnt like small talk with people she didnt know well. I never understood it and it took me a while to notice but, if she was at work and someone - just an acquaintance - mentioned the weather or asked how her day was, she would completely ignore them. At first, I thought she was being rude but for some reason, her brain tunes it right out if she wasnt familiar with the speaker. I still dont understand it but she still does it.

I actually have a lot of things I do that other people dont understand but the one Ive found that grosses people out iiissss:

I drink pickle juice or pepper juice right out of the jar.

Lots of people like pickles. My favorite is Claussen. I ate a whole jar in one day and have been drinking the juice over the course of the last few days. When I buy pepperoncini peppers, I eat the peppers then mince fresh garlic and let it sit for a few days, then, I drink the juice. 

I dont know why I do it - maybe something inside of me craves it or I'm just hardwired to finish everything - but I do know that I get freaked out when someone throws it out before I've finished it.

So - there it is. Not as bad as you might imagine but it is something I've always kept hidden.