Brown Sugar and Pecan Brown Mustard Grilled Chicken Thighs

I love this mustard. Nobody else in the family does. Only 3 of us like any mustard at all. I actually planned to make this chicken last night but after I added the mustard as a marinade, I wanted it to sit in the fridge for at least 24 hours. I thought I created something completely original here but a google search on "mustard grilled chicken" after dinner proved me wrong. Well I didn't steal it.

I love grilled food, chicken and pork especially. I am always looking for something savory to rub, soak, or coat grill-ables in. The recipes don't have to be complex or time consuming to create a large flavorful bounty.

Tonight's dinner, grilled mustard chicken with zucchini potato pancakes. I ran across this Hub by John Lee today, Garden Zucchini Potato Pancakes. It sounded like the perfect side dish for tonight's main course.

The chicken recipe for 10:

Ingredients:

• 4 lb. of thawed chicken thighs.
• 3\4 cup of Sara Lee Brown Sugar Pecan Mustard. Your favorite mustard will do just fine also.
• 2 TSP of garlic powder.
• A dash or 2 of poultry seasoning.
• Some salt.
• Some pepper.

That's it. Mix it all up in a big zip baggie. Place it in the fridge and let it soak up the flavor over night.

To cook it, heat your grill to 375 - 400 degrees. Place the chicken on the grill skin side up. This will act as a basting for your meat. I like to use chicken with the skin and the bones. These make for a much moister tender chicken. Cook on each side for approximately 15 minutes. Remove and serve with John Lee's Zucchini Potato Pancakes.

Critique of this evening's culinary experiment:

Overall the chicken was not the great hit I thought it would be. The chicken turned out good, nice and moist and a good flavor. Just not the PUNCH I was hoping for. It tasted like, well, chicken.

Besides quadrupling the recipe, I changed John's recipe slightly. I added minced garlic to the zucchini potato mix as well as a little more salt, coarse ground black pepper and 2 dashes of Balsamic vinegar. I decided to fry them in peanut oil. You now, the artery clogger. Man there is nothin' like peanut oil. The thought of zucchini and potatoes with not much else seemed a little bland for my family's taste. According to my hot foxy mama, nothing can have too much garlic. Our adopted children grew up on institutional food loaded with salt and fat. Anything that tastes mild to them "has no flavor". So I try to prepare healthy meals with a robust flavor and I use heavy oils probably a little more than I should. Most of the kids are very active and weight issues are not a problem.

I loved the pancakes. Only my veggie girl, Tasha, was as enthusiastic as I was. My youngest put Ranch dressing on hers. Yuck, personally I rate ranch right up there with ketchup on my least favorite condiment list. Anyway, if you are a big vegetable fan you'll love these as well. They taste nice and "green". I wish I would have had a dollop of sour cream for them. It would have been a nice touch. Anyway John's pancakes were awesome. What a great way to use up some zooks. I think next time I would add a little red onion too, not a lot.