Chipotle-Maple Glazed Drummettes and Spicy Spanish Rice

You are going to love the blend of smokey chipotle and rich maple! My new favorite combo...

Chipotle-Maple Glazed Chicken
12-16 chicken drummettes
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup honey
1, 7 ounce can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce*
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
*(Remove 2-3 peppers and set aside to use in rice).

Preheat oven to 450-degrees.

Combine the honey, maple syrup, and chipotle peppers (setting aside 2 or 3 to go in the Spanish rice) with adobo sauce in a large, re-sealable plastic bag. Smoosh contents together to mix and then add the chicken to the bag and seal with as little air as possible in the bag.  Marinate for a minimum of 2 hours or overnight.

I have found that placing meat in a baggie with a marinade, even with barely any air in the bag, parts of the meat are still left uncovered and you have to keep going in and shifting the bag to make sure the meat is equally soaked. To solve this problem, I like to put my 'marinade bags' inside another container to insure each piece of meat stays completely covered by the liquid during the whole marinade process.

Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Place the chicken on a foil-lined baking shee and bake approximately 20 to 25 minutes until skin has carmalized and darkened. (Increase cooking time by approximately 10 minutes for regular size drumsticks/wings if you do not have access to drummettes).  Place chicken on serving platter and top with chopped cilanatro.

Spicy Spanish Rice
1/2 cup long grain, white rice
1/2 cup water
1, 15 ounce can, Stagg Chili, Vegetable Garden 4-bean Chili
2 or 3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced finely

I use a rice cooker and if you don't own one, I highly recommend that you look into getting one. You will never have under or overdone rice again!  Simply put all of the above ingredients into the rice cooker, stir. Cover and set the timer per your appliance recommendations, in my case for 60 minutes.   When done, carefully remove the lid - steam hurts! Stir and serve. I like to serve my Spanish rice in tortilla bowls. 

Please note; chipotle peppers are very, very spicy - so if you're not a fan of hot, you can reduce the number of chili's you add to this - or, you can open the chilis and remove their seeds (discard seeds), but if you do this, use gloves to prevent the chili oil from getting on your fingers and possibly later into your eyes.

Another Successful Recipe Renovation! Sloppy Joe leftovers into Tamale Pie

Tamale Pie
2 cups leftover sloppy joe filling
1, 8.5 ounce package Corn Muffin Mix (I prefer Jiffy brand)
1 egg, slightly beaten
1, 15.25 ounce can corn, drained - divided
1 teaspoon Taco Seasoning - divided
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
2 dozen black olives, quartered
1/2 cup pre-shredded Mexican blend  cheese

Preheat oven to 350-degrees.
In small bowl whisk together egg, 1/2 teaspoon taco seasoning, and melted butter - add corn muffin mix and stir together, adding 1/2 can of drained corn kernels. Mix until combined and set aside.

In medium bowl combine leftover sloppy joe filling with quartered olives, 1/2 can corn kernels, 1/2 teaspoon taco seasoning, ground cumin - stir to combine. Place filling in bottom of small casserole dish.

Pour muffin mixture atop meat filling. Using back of spoon, smooth out mix, mounding slightly towards outer edge of casserole. Muffins tend to dome as they cook - to compensate, keep the center of the mix thinner in the center so it will raise evenly. 
Bake for 30 minutes or until center of corn muffin top is cooked all the way through (test with a toothpick).

Remove from oven, cover with shredded cheese and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes, until cheese is nicely golden. Let set for approximately 5 minutes before serving. I promise, no one will recognize that this dish was once Sloppy Joe's.

More stretching techniques...

Working with leftovers can be challenging. First of all, if you're like me, you don't look forward to eating the same meal two nights in a row. Secondly, there is often a smidgeon of food left - you hate to throw it out but there's not quite enough for another meal. This is where creativity comes in handy.

For today's dinner I had 1 cup of leftover taco-seasoned shredded beef and 1/4 of an avocado that needed using. (We had taco salads the night before).  So I nuked the shredded beef until it was heated through and stirred in approximately 1 cup pre-shredded Mexican blend cheese. Spread this mixture over one side each of two spinach-flour tortilla wraps - rolled them up,  individually, and heated them in my paninin press until just slightly browned.

I smashed up the leftover quarter of avocado with a pinch of salt and added 1/2 cup sour cream - stirring together until smooth.

Piled some shredded lettuce in the center of the plate. Topped that with the cooked wraps, which I had cut each into thirds. Added a few leftover salad veggies - topped it off with my avocado-sour cream dressing and we had a beautiful dinner that in no way resembled leftovers.

I so love to play with my food!