Happy Father's Day & Cornell Chicken {Recipe}

 

 

 

Happy Father's Day to all the great Dad's out there. I hope you all had an enjoyable day. Unfortunately, my dad is no longer with us but he is always in my thoughts. Especially today. I loved him so very much and he was the best Dad a girl could ask for. I wish he were here to know my kids, he would have made the perfect grandfather and I think he would think my kids, as well as my brother's kids were the "coolest kids".  

My kids are just as lucky as me .. my husband has kept up the tradition and is an AWESOME father!! He does so much for our kids, they are his everything, he loves them tons and will do anything for them. And I know my kids love him dearly (even when they are cranky and/or having a foot stomping teen moment).

We had a beautiful sunny, breezy day here in upstate New York. We went out for breakfast at local diner, my husband mowed the lawn, and started to stain our deck, and I went to a local garden center to buy MORE flowers (heck, it was buy one get one free! I had to go). Oh Yeah, the hubs even cooked up some awesome BBQ Chicken. So basically it was kind of like Mother's Day. It always seems to work that way. :)

Here's the deal on the chicken ... 

 

One of our favorite local places to eat is Phil's Chicken House in upstate New York. It's not a fancy place by any means but it has the BEST BBQ chicken.  At least I think it's one of the best...probably because I grew up eating at many gatherings such as picnics, parties, graduations, work functions, etc. From what I gather their chicken is a "your basic Cornell Chicken". Cornell Chicken is a New York state specialty created by a professor at Cornell University.

Here is the Cornell Chicken recipe that we use:

Ingredients:

• 2 whole dressed chickens (2 1/2 - 3 pounds each), cut in half
• For the basting sauce:
• 2 cups cider vinegar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon poultry seasoning

Preparation:

Combine the basting sauce ingredients in a blender and blend until emulsified. Place the chicken halves in a large zip-top plastic bag and pour in 1/2 cup of the sauce. Seal the bag and shake gently to coat the chicken evenly. Refrigerate for 2 hours.

Remove the chicken from the marinade, and wipe off excess sauce from the surface. Grill over charcoal, turning and liberally basting with the sauce every 10 minutes, for about an hour, or until cooked through.

Note: Dr. Baker's original recipe used a barbecue pit with the chicken cooked on racks, several feet away from the coals, so that the chicken cooked relatively slowly, but this recipe still works fine if you use a deep, kettle-style grill.

This recipe makes enough basting sauce for 4-5 whole chicken, and any extra can be stored in the refrigerator for several weeks.

Grillin' ... 

Remember my husband is in the middle of staining our deck so we moved the grill to the side our house and into my side garden. Here is grillin' and chillin'

 

 

 

Happy Father's Day!!

My kids are the luckiest kids to have the Best Dad!

It's National Peanut Butter Cookie Day!

So I've heard today, June 12th 2012, is National Peanut Butter Cookie Day! I hear these things but never really know if it's true. So I did little searching and according the the American Holidays today is the National Peanut Butter Cookie Day listed under the American Food Holidays (no, I didn't know there was such a list). 

Today is also my son's last day of his first year in high school - a celebration indeed. So off to the store I went and picked up the ingredients I didn't have on hand (such as Peanut Butter - yep, usually I find something to make and I don't have the main ingredient). 

Not much to say except my all time favorite cookie is a traditional peanut butter cookie made with Jif® Peanut Butter. 

 

Here is my favorite Peanut Butter Cookie recipe...

Recipe adapted from Jif.com

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
• 3/4 cup JIF® Peanut Butter
• 1/2 cup Butter Flavor CRISCO® Stick
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1 3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Place sheets of foil on countertop for cooling cookies.
2. Combine brown sugar, JIF® peanut butter, shortening, milk and vanilla in large bowl. Beat at medium speed of electric mixer until well blended. Add egg. Beat just until blended.
3. Combine flour, baking soda and salt. Add to creamed mixture at low speed. Mix just until blended.
4. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten slightly in crisscross pattern with tines of fork.
5. Bake one baking sheet at a time for 7-8 minutes or until set and just beginning to brown. Do not over-bake. Cool 2 minutes on baking sheet. Remove cookies to foil to cool completely. 

Enjoy with a big glass of ice cold milk!!