Guys, are you enjoying your summer? Are you going to the beach, eating a bit too much ice cream and cheeseburgers, getting a tan, getting bug bites, and overall loving life? I hope you are! That's what summer is about. I've spent a lot of time with family and friends on little but wonderful long weekend trips and, of course, eating!
Golden Harvest in East Lansing, MI
My best friend recently moved out to Michigan where her boyfriend is pursuing his PhD. Not too long after she moved, we planned a weekend for me to come visit and the trip didn't disappoint! We went to a beach along Lake Michigan, drank wine slushies and lots of beer, and ate some great food. The best of it all was Sunday breakfast at Golden Harvest.
This small and eclectic diner-style joint is, as I understand it, pretty famous in the Lansing area. They have outrageous breakfast and brunch-style dishes and their specials are to die for! We started the meal with an order of the biscuits and gravy (OMG) and then I had a Monte Cristo sandwich with a side of homefries. I mean...they say a picture is worth a thousand words so I'll just leave you with this:
*hearts eyes emoji*
Pulled BBQ Chicken
Cory takes trips up to Rochester for work from time to time, and during his last visit a coworker sent him home with three local barbecue sauces to try. BBQ is my favorite kind of food so I couldn't wait to put these sauces to good use. I used this Country Sweet Mild Cooking Sauce to make some of the best pulled chicken ever!
I started by searing a couple of pounds of seasoned boneless, skinless chicken thighs and a quartered onion in a big dutch oven. When the chicken was golden brown, I dumped in a whole bottle of this amazing cooking sauce and let it simmer away for over an hour. The chicken then shredded like a dream and was perfect for sandwiches, salads, even tacos!
Peach Cobbler Popsicles
We recently threw a party for some friends who were moving away from Boston out west. The theme was Wild Wild West, because who doesn't love a themed party?! For dessert, I whipped up these delicious Peach Cobbler Popsicles.
I adapted the recipe from Billy over at Wit and Vinegar, replacing the berries with chopped peaches. This was my first go around making homemade popsicles and it worked like a dream! Have some patience when you are trying to unmold the pops...run the bottom of the mold under warm water for a quick 15-25 seconds then use a little elbow grease to pull them right out. These popsicles were sweet, decadent, and truly delicious!
Slide By Food Truck in Boston, MA
My friend and I started a little tradition last summer where we visited a new food truck near our office every week and posted our lunches on Instagram with the hashtag #JessAndIvyFoodTruckAdventure. While we haven't been as consistent this year, we recently tried the Slide By food truck. They offer 3 to 4 different sliders each week, each meal coming with 2 sliders and french fries - a perfect lunch portion! I had panko-crusted chicken sliders with bacon. I have never had a more perfectly fried piece of chicken, and from a truck no less! Absolutely recommend :-)
A beer, for good measure
Cory and I took a trip to Cooperstown, NY, for the Baseball Hall of Fame Induction ceremony this year to see my all-time favorite player, Mike Piazza, get inducted. It was an awesome weekend filled with baseball and beer. On our way out, we stopped at the Saranac Brewery in Utica, NY. They are currently offering the most amazing Cold Brew Coffee Lager that any and all coffee lovers MUST get their hands on! It is smooth and rich, yet somehow a bit refreshing.
P.S. I'll be back with new recipes next week! But in the meantime...how about Nutella Ice Cream?
There is something about homefries that just make me weak in the knees. There's a little diner that we visit sometimes on the weekends and I always get the pancakes + homefries! Glad to hear you had a fun time in Cooperstown too, we've been meaning to visit, I went to the Baseball Hall of Fame when I was a little girl but haven't been since.
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