The world lost a lovely lady last night in Vermont. Cheddar was a good, sweet dog with eyes that would melt your heart and a tail that never stopped wagging. She loved strawberries and havarti cheese, her daily visits with the cows in the field down the street from her home, and more than anything else, her Mom, Sally. She thought she was a lap dog despite being enormous and she was gentle with Liam from the time he was a baby, even resisting Eggy, the ultimate doggie temptation.  The above photo is of me and her when she came to see me in my dorm room at URI shortly before moving in with my grandparents, and remains one of my favorite college memories. We will all miss her very much. 

Potty Treats

Peter: Yeah, I'm looking for toilet-training books.
Bookstore Clerk: Oh, yes. We can help you there. Everybody Poopsis still the standard, of course. We've also got the less popular Nobody Poops But You.
Peter: Huh. Well, see, we're Catholic, so...
Bookstore Clerk: Then you want You're a Naughty Child And That's Concentrated Evil Coming Out the Back of You.
Peter: Perfect!

So, potty training.

Grilled Pesto Chicken

This is (I think?) the first recipe I've posted here. I have no idea where I got it--sometime last summer, I was inspired to make something with chicken and pesto and this is the recipe Google suggested. I've futzed with the recipe a little in the last year, but it mostly stands as it was. It's pretty healthy, great served with green beans and a salad, and for those of you who are wary of tomatoes I would like to posit that while the tomatoes are pretty important, it's not a tomatoey dish and you should try it, because you might really love it. It's a perfect summer recipe, and a great reminder that warm weather will come again if you have it inside during the colder months. Try it out--and let me know what you think!

Grilled pesto chicken

4 large skinless, boneless chicken breasts
⅔ cup homemade or store-bought basil pesto
3 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice, divided
4 ripe plum tomatoes, cored
3 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil; more for brushing
2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar

Splash of balsamic vinegar (optional)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 generous tsp. Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp. choped fresh basil (or a mix of cilantro, basil, and flat-leaf parsley)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat a gas grill to high.

Combine the pesto with 2 Tbsp. lemon juice and rub over the chicken in a nonreactive dish, or place chicken in a plastic bag and pour pesto sauce over it, then close bag and turn to coat. This does not need to marinate long--10 or 20 minutes is more than enough!

Cut each tomato in half. Gently remove the seeds and guts with your fingers, coarsely chop the flesh, and put it aside. In a small bowl, combine the oil, vinegar, garlic, mustard, basil, remaining 1 Tbsp. lemon juice, 1 tsp. salt, and a generous amount of pepper. Pour this over the tomatoes and combine well. Taste, and add more of any ingredient to taste.

Remove the chicken from the pesto, shaking to remove excess marinade. Grill, turning once, until golden on both sides and cooked through, 4 to 6 minutes total. Transfer the chicken to a platter and serve hot or at room temperature. At the table, spoon the tomatoes over the chicken.

Recipe notes: No grill? Heat the broiler as high as it will go and cook the marinated chicken in a cast iron skillet, flipping once, for 4-6 minutes on each side. Serve as indicated above.

Liam tried a little experiment today where Lightning McQueen spent some time driving across my computer keyboard. Here are the results:


jikki,ounnu/
[['l'----='./.[/.'0='=0p['=0..////[.p[..p.[.p[p[[/[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[/;/[[[[[[[][[[ip////////////////oo,po0p

So...who else is impressed that he managed to get that last word in there?