Wildly Awesome Chicken Drumsticks

Today, I think we should talk about total awesomeness. There was the time I left my purse hanging on the back of a chair at a mall food court in downtown Minneapolis. Four hours later (I know … really? Four hours? Sadly, yes. ) I realized I had left without it, panicked, and then discovered that some nice person had turned it in, fully intact, to the mall security office. Not only was that awesome, but it reminded me that people are basically good.

Another awesome experience I had was years ago – I was flying home from Seattle late in the day on July 4, and I got to see fireworks displays from the stratosphere for every major city in our flight path the whole way home. Wow. THAT was cool.

And then there was last night … when I adapted a recipe to create the most wildly, amazingly good chicken legs I have ever had. So if you are looking for more “awesome” in your life, you could a) leave your purse in a busy mall and hope for the best; b) book your flight now for the evening of July 4; or c) take the safe and inexpensive route of make this recipe! My family ranks virtually everything we eat on a scale from 1-6. My husband, who is generally a “by the rules” kind of a guy, gave this recipe a 7. It’s the first time he has ever broken the 6 point scale. And THAT was totally awesome!

j*a*N*e

Wildly Awesome Chicken Drumsticks

A festival of Tastefully Simple seasonings!

• 8 chicken legs
• 1 tsp. Seasoned Salt
• ½ tsp. cracked black pepper or lemon pepper (optional)
• 1 Tbsp. Roasted Garlic Infused Oil
• ½ cup water
• 2 tsp. Garlic Garlic™
• 1½ tsp. Fiesta Party Dip Mix^®
• 2 Tbsp. (1 capful) Onion Onion™
• 1-2 Tbsp. honey (optional)
• ½ lemon (optional)

Give the chicken legs a little spritz of non-stick spray (optional) and then season them with the Seasoned Salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a large, non-stick skillet and add the seasoned drumsticks. Cook over medium heat, covered, until browned, flipping once – about 15 minutes per side. Gently add the water, then sprinkle the chicken in the pan with the remaining seasonings; drizzle with the honey and finally, squeeze the lemon half over all. Continue to cook over medium to medium-low heat, covered, for about 10 minutes. Remove the lid and continue cooking, turning the legs as needed, until the sauce is reduced and the chicken legs are sticky and tender – about 15 minutes.

Wildly Awesome Chicken Drumsticks

Testing Notes:

• Two things started this adventure – I found a recipe on a website that sounded good, and I found chicken legs on sale – 11 in a pack for $2.97 (and they came from an organic farm … awesome)!
• 10 ingredients is more than I would usually use in a recipe, but five of them are our seasonings/oil, and the pepper, honey and lemon are optional – so use what you have. I think the cooking process helped make the chicken tender, so even if you don’t have every single ingredient you will likely come up with something wonderful. Feel free to omit/add/experiment!
• While it was not difficult to make these, the chicken does take about 1 hour of total cooking time, so you’ll want to plan for that.
• If your lemon is at room temperature when you squeeze it you’ll get more juice out of it. If it’s cold, microwave it for about 10 seconds first.
• I served this with some boxed seasoned rice and steamed broccoli and cauliflower. I had about half a can of leftover garbanzo beans in the fridge, so I sautéed them in a little butter with some onion and add them to the rice … it was delish.
• Honestly, we loved this. We also chowed it – between the three of us, we ate seven chicken legs. Oink oink …

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