I had decided on the menu plan to make chicken drumsticks for tonight's dinner.  As I went into the kitchen to get it started, I realized I had absolutely no idea as to how I wanted to prepare them.  I knew I wanted something tasty, not fried, and not horribly difficult to make.  I took a look around the kitchen to see what we had, and decided to try my hand at just throwing some stuff together that sounded good.  What I came up with was perfect!  I am pretty dang proud of myself, because it is very rare that I pull something out of thin air.  I am usually a play-it-by-the-recipe cook, and it's almost always from a recipe! 

 The chicken came out slightly sweet, but with a hint of earthiness and bite that made it easy on the taste buds.  (It looked pretty, too, but I had to take a picture with my daughter's Ipod, since the camera is currently out of the area while my boyfriend is away.)  Here's what I did, with a guesstimate on the quantities, since I just threw stuff in without measuring:

Ingredients:

• Package of chicken drumsticks, skinned (about 1 pound's worth)
• 1/3-1/2 cup honey
• 1/4 cup Dijon style mustard (or two very large tablespoons)
• The juice from one medium orange
• 1 tablespoon rosemary, crushed
• 3 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper (I'm a bit of a wuss with spicy... adjust to your taste!)

Directions:

1.   Arrange chicken in a baking pan.  (I used a glass 9x13-inch pan, and did not have any need to grease it.)
2. Over low-med low heat, stir together honey and mustard until melty and combined.  Add remaining ingredients.  Adjust spices as desired to suit your tastes.  *Note:  The sauce on the stove tasted much sweeter than it actually turned out on the chicken.
3. Once well combined, pour over chicken.  (I let mine sit, covered, for a couple hours, but I don't believe this is actually necessary.  I just already had stuff in the oven!)
4. Bake at 375*F for 45 minutes, or until meat no longer pink and juices are clear. 

I served this with rice and corn.  My kids actually both liked it!  Score one for me!

  Since the Rosemary Olive Oil Bread turned out so well, I was inspired to take a shot at another type of bread.  My boyfriend requested a Honey Oat bread, so I found a recipe at Epicurious that looked promising and decided to make a go of it. 

 Once again, it came out superb.  I'm so glad I finally got over my fear of bread!  It's my new found toy.  This one came out light, and delicious.  It's another one that the kids really enjoyed, as did my boyfriend and myself.  It makes great sandwich bread.  Or, it's delicious warm with melted butter and jam.  Or honey!  

I will definitely be making this bread again. 

Ingredients:

1&3/4 cups warm water
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
3/4 cups quick cooking oats
1/3 cup honey
3 tablespoon vegetable oil
2&1/2 teaspoons salt
about 5 cups flour

1 large egg, beaten
additional oats


Directions:

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup warm water.  Let stand for 10 minutes.
2.  Mix in remaining water, oats, honey, oil and salt. 
3.  Stir in enough flour to make a soft dough.  I used probably 4 cups, maybe a bit more. 
4.  Coat a large bowl with cooking spray.  Transfer dough to bowl, and turn to coat.  Cover with plastic wrap, then a towel, and let stand until doubled in size.  About 1 hour.
5.  Oil 2 bread pans.  Punch risen dough down, and, using remaining flour as needed to keep dough from sticking, form into 2 small loaves. 
6.  Place 1 loaf in each pan.  Cover again and let rise until doubled- about 20 minutes.
7.  Preheat oven to 350*F.   Brush the tops of risen loaves with the beaten egg, and then sprinkle additional oats over top. 
8.  Bake for about 40 minutes, or until tops are golden and a tester comes out clean. Cool completely.