Fireman's Chicken aka Cornell Chicken

A couple days agoa I saw Diedra tweet that she was making Fireman's Chicken. I was instantly intrigued.

A google search showed that it is also called Cornell Chicken. It was originally created by a Cornell food science professor, Dr. Robert C. Baker. He also invented the chicken nugget, turkey ham and poultry hot dogs.

The chicken went on to become so popular that it was a must have at every cookout and barbeque in Western New York. Fundraisers, Fireman's BBQ's, festivals and the like.

I love food that comes with a story... a background... some history. We used this recipe and yes... it is delicious! We didn't even wait to dish it up and ate it right off the tray we brought it in from the grill on.

Kitchen upgrades & Helper pugs

Having the outside of the house painted inspired Aaron to do some upgrades inside too. After lots of grumping by me about our white linoleum that despite all the scrubbing in the world never looked clean, Aaron suggested we put in a new floor.

Helper pugs are ever so eager to help.

Of course if you are tearing up the floor you might as well pull down the wallpaper and paint as well. Here are two interesting things found while peeling off wallpaper... #1 - more ugly wallpaper #2 - a coupon for Calgon that expired in 1995

Life is like riding on the back of a tandem bicycle. If you are quite short.

I have a list of things I want to do this summer and going for bike rides is high on it. Last night we packed up Banana Split, the Schwinn Twinn tandem bike I got Aaron for his birthday and headed for the lake.

It is an odd thing to be the one riding on the back of a tandem bike. Especially when the person in front is 6'5". You can't see much ahead of you.... only the scenery whizzing past and an occasional glance behind you of where you have been. You just hang on and pedal like crazy. Kinda like life right?

Video posted above for anyone viewing via RSS feed - it might not show up

Beach bubbles at sunset

Aaron and I split a Wegman's Seafood Sub and took it up to the beach for supper. I also brought some bubbles.

Aaron was blowing them and I was laughing like crazy, taking pictures of the sunset through them.

It was ridiculously picturesque... beach, sunset, BUBBLES!

Cicada in the veggie garden

I was inspecting our veggie garden's progress when I first found an empty shell, then a few inches away, this guy that crawled out of it. I don't think it is one of the 17 year cicadas that have been in the news, but a Dog Day Cicada.

Moving on to the garden... our tomatoes look great. I counted over 30 growing on our four plants.

I can't wait until they are ripe!

Pretty excited about the celery also.

Back to the cicada... he was really chill, just strolling around peering up with his big eyeballs. He just better not be eating my veggies.

Juicing berries

I love how we are getting fruits in our CSA share. It gives me more things to juice! This one is apple, carrots and blueberry. I was hoping it would be blue but it only turned out darker than the usual.

This one is cherry, apple and carrot. Still not cherry red, but very tasty.

Painting the house

When we bought this house we knew there were some things we had to do eventually. Last year it was the roof. This year... paint.

We decided if we had to paint the house we might as well switch up the color. While keeping pretty much the same stucco color, the green trim is being painted brown instead. It's hard to see in the photo but the side is still green while the front is brown. Plus there are little accents of robin's egg blue if you can find it.

The house looks weird to me without its shutters.

The painters took off all the shutters and are fixing them up. Looking forward to seeing it all finished!

Zucchini bread to share

Last week's CSA had zucchini included and it has finally cooled off enough for me to venture to turn on the oven. That means two loaves of zucchini bread with my tried and true recipe.

I like how this recipe makes two loaves. One for home and one to take to the office to share. It looks especially appetizing when wrapped in parchment paper and baker's twine!

Grilled Stuffed Peppers

Each CSA share gets better than the last. Peaches and blueberries!

With a collection of five green peppers, I was geting hungry for stuffed peppers. But with the recent heat wave, I didn't feel like turning on our oven. I figured there must be a way to cook them on the grill.

A little research on the oven showed that you can cook them using indirect heat, place the charcoal brickets on one side and the peppers on the other.

These are the best stuffed peppers I have ever made. Partly because of the grill and partly because of the stuffing combo I came up with.

After looking at oodles of recipes online I came up with this mixture.

16 oz Wegmans sage pork sausage

1 onion chopped

1 green pepper chopped

2 cups uncooked rice

1 can chopped tomatoes

1/2 cup grated parmesean cheese

1 Tablespoon worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon monterey steak seasoning

4 more green peppers

1 cup shredded monterey jack cheese

Cook the rice in a pot or rice cooker. Brown the sausage in a pan with the onion and one of the green peppers. Mix in the rice, tomatoes, parmesean cheese, worcestershire sauce, and monterey steak seasoning. Cut the four peppers in half and stuff them with mixture. Top with monterey jack cheese and grill on a bbq grill with indirect heat for about 30 min or until peppers start to soften and brown.

Camp food

I might as well come out with it... my favorite part of camping is the food. Breakfast over campfire is delightful. Check out the nifty camp toaster we use. So simple but it really works!

Fried potatoes. (Coffee bubbling away too)

And bacon of course. Ohhhh the sizzling bacon!

The dinner wasn't half bad either. We have never cooked steak over a campfire but it was amazing. Heat up the skillet really hot, add butter, salt and pepper the steak then plop it in.

Don't forget the sides... corn on the cob and new red potatoes. So good!

Campfire

It's not camping without toasted marshmallows and s'mores is it?

Another great part of camping. Sitting around the campfire at night, just watching the flames.

Camping

We are on a camping trip for the weekend at Cayuga Lake! We got to the campsite just in time. Aaron pitched the tent and we were tucked in no more than an hour before it began to pour.

Luckily the weather cleared for the rest of the weekend and we were able to go for a walk down by the lake.

Pugs love camping.

Pet of the Week

The Rochester Animal Services shelter, foster homes and rescue group partners are all packed with animals, so RAS is running special summer promotions on cat and dog adoptions!

From now until July 31, all dog adoptions at RAS are 50% off! You can see the available dogs at http:bit.ly/RASdogs

The cats wanted to get in on the action too, so until the end of the month RAS is running Midsummer Meow Markdown days! All cat adoptions are only $5! See the adoptable cats at http://bit.ly/RAScats

I was so happy to have a Rochester Animal Services happy tails story right in our own office! My co-worker Debbie just adopted Molly from RAS. Look how happy this pooch is!

Lollypop Farm is also running a special on cats. Until the end of July their cats are also $5. You can find out more about their Five Dollar Felines on their web site.

Pumpkin #18003489 Pumpkin is a 5 year old male domestic longhair mix. He's looking for a new home for his handsome self. Come meet him at Lollypop Farm! He's eligible for our Five Dollar Felines program which means approved adopters can take him home for an adoption fee of $5 through July 31.

Heat Wave

We are in the middle of a heat wave in Rochester. This is when the pugs and cats start to dangle.

They get floppy and loose and just sort of hang there.

Dangly fur feet everywhere.

And then when temperatures rise over 90 degrees the critters just go melty. Pug puddles.

Cats fall over where they stand and melt too.

Iced Mint Sun Tea

We have a heat wave going now and I am on a refreshing beverage making streak. This time it's mint iced sun tea. Mint from my herb garden!

Cold Brew Coffee

I knew cold brewing coffee was next on my summer coffee adventure but I thought it would be difficult. I was looking at this recipe and hem hawed around because I didn't have anything like the bins that were used.

Then someone tweeted me this cold brewed coffee recipe and saw they were just using a jar. A jar?! Well, that is right up my alley!

Cold-Brewed Iced Coffee:

1/3 cup ground coffee

1 & 1/2 cups of water

Mix coffee and water together in a jar and let sit at room temperature for 12 hours. Strain and mix equal parts coffee to water. Add milk and ice.

I practically quadrupled the recipe so I could have a big batch for the week. It really was easy and I was surprised at how smooth the coffee turned out. Went great with my coffee ice cubes!

Corn Hill Festival and GCAE

The Corn Hill Festival is this weekend and the Genesee Center for the Arts and Education had a tent there. I worked a shift yesterday to help people make letterpress postcards and tell them about the Center.

I'm glad I have been taking Letterpress classes at the Center so I can tell people first hand how cool it is!