Smoked BBQ Chicken, Green Beans and Sweet Potato Mash

This is the first use of the bbq smoker Mike got for Christmas. You could easily substitute regular barbecued chicken in this meal, although it would not be nearly as delicious! Serves 4.

Ingredients for Smoked BBQ Chicken:
4 chicken legs - back attached, bones in and skin on (I only used these as they were on sale. You can use any part of the chicken, or the whole thing in pieces. My only recommendation is to get bone in and keep the skin on, both keep the chicken from drying out.)
salt, pepper and olive oil to season
bbq sauce (your choice) to brush over chicken
Instructions:
1. Preheat bbq to 250 F, turning on only one burner.
2. Pat chicken dry and season with salt, pepper, and olive oil.
3. Brush chicken with bbq sauce.
4. Place chicken on grill bone side down, ensure it is not over direct heat.
5. Cook chicken for about 4 hours or until the liquid in the chicken runs clear. (On my bbq, which is relatively new, it took about 3.5 hours. I know it sounds like a long time, but fear not, my chicken was moist and delicious!)

Ingredients for Green Beans:
about 30-40 green beans
1 tbsp honey dijon mustard
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
sprinkle of fresh chives
Instructions:
1. Mix together mustard, vinegar, syrup, and olive oil.
2. Steam green beans for about 12 minutes.
3. Pour mixture over green beans; sprinkle with chives.

Ingredients for Sweet Potato Mash:
2 med-large sweet potatoes
2 tbsp milk (I used almond milk)
1 1/2 tbsp maple syrup
Instructions:
1. Poke fork into potatos several times before microwaving for 10-12 min, checking half way through by poking potato with a fork. If the fork slides easily into the potato, they are ready.
2. Scoop potato flesh out of skin and into a bowl.
3. Mix milk and syrup into potatoes while mashing. I usually leave them partially mashed as I like chunks of potato, but this is personal preference.

This is the smoker. The ends come off in order to stuff the tube with whatever wood chips you would like. In this particular recipe I used hickory. I soaked the hickory chips in water for about an hour, then put them inside the smoker. The smoker goes in the bbq under the grill and remains there until  you are finished barbecuing.