Family

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Friday Dance Party – Streisand With Duck Sauce

This is another edition of Friday Dance Party on Acorns On Glen.  It’s the time where we give thanks for another week of living.  We give thanks for making it through and for being able to celebrate this fact.  How do we celebrate another week of living?  We dance.  So take a moment and be proud of the fact that you’re here and you’ve made it to another Friday.  Not only you, but your family and friends as well.    So, to that end, are you alive this Friday?  Have you given thanks for this?

Good, now let’s dance.

I’ve decided that life has no real rhyme or reason anymore.  You can work so hard to create and plan something for yourself and then it can be over in just a few freak seconds.  Think of the people who have been victim to the tornadoes of this Spring.  They can devise intricate plans to accomplish things like having a large family, saving lots of money or working their way up the corporate ladder into their dream job and then go home one night and have disaster strike out of the blue that ends it all.  There seems to not really be a sure-fire way to plan your entire life.  There just seems to be too many variables.  Is living a long and prosperous life just luck?  I don’t think so.  I’ve decided the one thing that you should decide to build is happiness.  Happiness is the one true thing that can create a life that is fulfilling and rich.  A life without regrets.  I believe that if you are true to yourself and work to be happy, then you are destined to attract the same type of energy from the universe.  This melding of happy energy flow manifests itself by giving you things like a great family and friends, a job that you wake up excited to go to every day and a just a sense of gratitude for being in this world.  Happiness is the key to unlock all doors to success.  I need to work to be more happy….then the rest will come.    No rhyme or reason…just happiness.  So that’s why this week’s song is ‘Barbra Streisand’ by Duck Sauce.  Duck Sauce is an American-Canadian DJ duo consisting of Armand Van Helden and A-Trak.  The pair aim to produce disco house tracks that will appeal to club DJs.  In a recent interview, a member of the duo said there was no rhyme or reason behind their new hit.  “There really is no relation or rational reason behind the lyric in the title, Barbra Streisand,” said A-Trak.  “It’s just something that we thought would make people laugh….We just came up with this idea that it would be funny to say someone’s name.”  Be careful.  This song is habit forming.  After you listen and dance to it a few times you’ll be walking around humming the melody or walking up to people and saying ‘Barbra Streisand’.  People will think you are a little bit weird, but you’ll be happy and that’s what is important these days.  So reward yourself for another week of living and shake it to a little Duck Sauce.  You deserve it…and get happy.  Are you a little disgusted with what’s going on in the world these days and what do you do to get over it?

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A Not So Ordinary Hamburger

This is a hamburger recipe with a little punch.  For so many years, a hamburger on the grill was just that.  Hamburger from the supermarket pressed into patties with a little salt and pepper.  While they were good, they weren’t great.  There had to be a way to punch the flavor up just a little.  So here is the recipe we use here on Glen Road that combines several ingredients that make the patty taste great.  It may not have been posted for use over Memorial Day, but we have the rest of the Summer.  We call this recipe our ‘Not So Ordinary’ hamburger.

Ingredients:

  • 2 pounds ground chuck
  • 1 pound ground sirloin
  • 1/2 cup seasoned dry seasoned bread crumbs
  • 1/4 cup steak sauce (use your favorite)
  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • 3 extra-large eggs
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 8 to 10 hamburger buns
  • Your favorite fixings, for serving

Directions:

Carefully mix the meats, bread crumbs, steak sauce, mustard, eggs, salt and pepper with the tines of a fork, but do not mash them.  Combine them so that the meats and ingredients mix together well, but the meat is light and not packed together.  Lightly form hamburger patties and press lightly into shape.

Prepare a charcoal grill.

Cook the hamburgers for 4 minutes on 1 side, then turn and cook 3 minutes on the other side for medium-rare. Remove to a plate and cover with aluminum foil. Allow the hamburgers to rest for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, grill the buns, cut side down, for 1 minute, until toasted.  Place a hamburger in each bun, plus your favorite fixings, if desired, and serve.

The addition of the steak sauce and Dijon mustard give the hamburger the kick we were looking for in the burger.  Bread crumbs and the eggs help keep the meat moist.  So why go for ordinary hamburgers when you can go for extraordinary?  Give our ‘Not So Ordinary’ hamburgers a shot.  What did you cook this Memorial Day weekend?

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Memorial Day History

This is a little history about Memorial Day.  On Monday, Americans will be celebrating Memorial Day.  Considered by many to be the opener to the summer season, the holiday actually has roots that stretch back through the nation’s history to the Civil War.

That history, shared by the  Department of Veterans Affairs, started when the head of an organization of union veterans, called the Grand Army of the Republic, established Decoration Day on May 5, 1868.  The day was meant to be a time for citizens to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers.  Maj. Gen. John A. Logan declared that it should be observed on May 30, possibly about the right time so that flowers would be blooming all over the country.

Congress declared Memorial Day to be a national holiday in 1971 that would be celebrated on the last Monday in May and would honor all soldiers who had died in the nation’s wars.  In addition to that, the National Moment of Remembrance Act passed in 2000 suggests that people pause wherever they are at 3 PM local time on Memorial Day to remember those who have died in service.  What will you be doing this Memorial Day weekend?

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Friday Dance Party – Revenge Wanted With Adele

This is another edition of Friday Dance Party on Acorns On Glen.  It’s the time where we give thanks for living another week. We give thanks for making it through the journey and for being able to celebrate this fact.  How do we celebrate another week of living?  We dance.  Sometimes life gets so hectic that you forget that you are so lucky to be on this planet.  Friday Dance Party just wants to make sure that you take that needed second to realize this fact.  We want to make sure you are truly living in the moment.  So, to that end, are you alive this Friday?  Have you given thanks for this?

Good, now let’s dance.

We want revenge on the weather this week.  OK, we did ask for some rain this week so that our newly seeded lawn could grow, but this is ridiculous.  All week, we have seen a downpour of rain.  Enough already.  Do we seek my revenge on the Weather Gods, the Weathermen and Weatherwomen on TV, Spring or maybe its evil cousin, Winter?  We don’t know exactly who we need to get our revenge on, but we do know that it needs to quit raining.  There is a garden to plant.  There are plants to trim and flowers to pick.  We can’t do any of this if we have to stay indoors and worry about building an ark or not.  We need to see some sun.  This crazy weather needs to stop.  While we’re plotting our revenge, we thought it would be perfect for us to dance to the revenge-tinged hit from Adele, ‘Rolling In The Deep’.  Whether it’s a love gone wrong or an overdose of bad weather, we need to get even with somebody.  Not sure we can outsmart Mother Nature, but we’re putting our money that Adele is more than capable of getting the revenge she is looking for from her ex-love.  So let’s celebrate another week of living with Adele.  Get to shaking and clapping and be happy that you made it through another week.  You deserve it.  Has it been crazy weather in your neck of the woods too? 

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Chocolate Love In A Bowl

This is heaven in a bowl.  Warm, gooey chocolate with a blast of vanilla ice cream.  What could be bad with a dessert like this?  My answer:  Nothing!  If you are a chocolate lover, this dessert is perfect for you.  It is also pretty easy to assemble and bake which makes it a great choice when you don’t have a lot of time.  I’ve made this dessert for a while and I think I got it from an Anna Pump recipe.  Anna Pump is a wonderful chef, cookbook author, baker and innkeeper famous for her Hampton’s bakery, Loaves & Fishes.  She is not what I would call a “famous” food personality like a Martha or an Emeril, but she is often mentioned by many famous foodies as one of their inspirations.  If you don’t know about her, I encourage you to buy one of her cookbooks and enjoy one of her recipes.  She knows how to cook.  One taste of this Brownie Pudding and you’ll understand what I’m saying. 

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, plus extra for buttering the dish
  • 4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 3/4 cup good cocoa powder
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • Seeds scraped from 1 vanilla bean (I have also substituted 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract when I didn’t have a vanilla bean in the pantry)
  • Vanilla ice cream, for serving

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.  Lightly butter a 2-quart (9 by 12 by 2-inch) oval baking dish.  Melt the 1/2 pound of butter and set aside to cool.  In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs and sugar on medium-high speed for 5 to 10 minutes, until very thick and light yellow.

Meanwhile, sift the cocoa powder and flour together and set aside. 

When the egg and sugar mixture is ready, reduce the speed to low and add the vanilla seeds and the cocoa powder and flour mixture.  Mix only until combined. 

With mixer still on low, slowly pour in the cooled butter and mix again just until combined.  Pour the brownie mixture into the prepared dish and place it in a larger baking pan.  Add enough of the hottest tap water to the pan to come halfway up the side of the dish and bake for exactly 1 hour. 

A cake tester inserted 2 inches from the side will come out 3/4 clean.  The center will appear very under-baked; this dessert is between a brownie and a pudding.  Allow to cool and serve with vanilla ice cream.

The part I like about this dessert is the fact that it is part chocolate brownie and part chocolate pudding.  You sort of get the best of two chocolate worlds in one dish with this recipe.  If you are having friends over for dinner, this is a great one to serve…it always pleases.  We hope you like this dessert.  Anna Pump never disappoints.  What chocolate dessert recipes are your favorites?

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The Italian Grandmother Makes Cauliflower Macaroni

 

This is another great recipe from our Brooklyn Italian Grandmother.  It is quick, simple and delicious.  It is perfect for a weekday supper when you don’t have a lot of time to cook.  It also doesn’t use a lot of dishes which is great at clean up time.  We call it cauliflower macaroni, but feel free to use broccoli or zucchini if you like.  Our Brooklyn Italian Grandmother has made this recipe for quite a while and it is one of our favorites.  Our recipe makes a generous portion.  It feeds 4 to 6 people, depending on how hungry the crowd.  There is something so good when you keep the ingredients simple and fresh.  However, while the dish is simple and delicious, feel free to jazz it up with a few pieces of jewelry like our Italian Grandmother always does.

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 large heads of cauliflower
  • 1/4 cup of olive oil
  • 6 cloves of garlic, chopped (use more or less depending on how much you like garlic)
  • 32 ounces of chicken stock
  • 2 chicken bouillon cubes
  • 2 pounds penne or pasta of your choice (we used whole wheat penne)
  • Grated parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes to taste

Directions:

Clean cauliflower by separating each floret from the stalk and wash under cool water.  Don’t worry about the size of the florets because they will break down when mixed with the cooked pasta at the end of the recipe. 

Clean and chop garlic cloves into small pieces.

  Hot Spring trend…pearls, diamonds and garlic.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet and add garlic.  Sautee garlic until it is a golden color.

Add cauliflower.  Fill the pan with plenty of cauliflower as it will cook down. 

  A trifecta….three rings in one shot.  Isn’t that Catherine Middleton’s engagement ring on one of our Italian Grandmother’s fingers?

Add chicken stock and the chicken bouillon cubes. 

  Diamond ring alert at 12 o’clock.

Place a lid on the skillet and simmer the cauliflower in the stock until it is very tender.  You can do this ahead of time if you would like.  When the cauliflower is tender, remove it from the burner and set it aside or use it immediately.  If you do set it aside, make sure to reheat before you use it.

Place pasta in boiling salted water and cook until done.  Drain the pasta and return it to the pan. 

Place the cauliflower and broth on top of the pasta and mix with a spoon.  When mixing, the large cauliflower florets will break down into more manageable pieces.  Serve the pasta with plenty of grated Parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes on top.

The pasta is so delicious because there is rich chicken broth at the bottom that is so flavorful after being simmered with the browned garlic.  The garlic and the stock also add so much flavor to the cauliflower as well.  The grated cheese and red pepper flakes also add their own special kick.  Again, if you are not a lover of cauliflower, try using broccoli or zucchini instead.  We’ve used them all and the dish is always good.  The worst part is this–do you use a spoon (for the broth), a fork (for the pasta/cauliflower) or both?  Do you have any easy pasta dishes that you would like to share on Acorns On Glen?

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Spaghetti Carbonara A Little Lighter Than Normal

 

This is spaghetti carbonara a little lighter than what you normally see in an Italian restaurant.  We can’t take credit for it.  The recipe came to us from Rufus’ Food and Spirits Guide.  Rufus is the hardest working cook we know and his blog inspires you to cook more and think about the food that you eat.  It is a great site and well worth a visit.  He has frequently commented on our posts here at Acorns On Glen so we have spent some time on his blog and found this great recipe that we had to try……mushroom spaghetti carbonara.  This sounded right down our alley and we cooked it up as soon as we had the time.  So hats off to you Rufus and your great recipes and thanks for your support of Acorns On Glen.

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb spaghetti
  • ¼ lb pancetta or 3 slices high-quality bacon diced fine.  I used pancetta.

  • ½ cup mushrooms sliced 1/8” thick.  I used shiitake mushrooms.

  • 1 shallot minced

  • 1 egg yolk
  • 3 tbsp heavy whipping cream
  • 2 tbsp fresh parsley
  • ½ cup grated Romano
  • Pepper/salt to taste

Directions:

Beat egg yolk and cream in a bowl. Season with black pepper. Set aside.

Place diced pancetta or bacon in a frying pan.  Over medium heat, render fat and brown meat.  Reserve two tablespoons of drippings.  If using pancetta, add butter if needed.

Saute scallion on low in the reserved drippings until browned.

Add mushrooms and cook as a single layer flipping as needed.  When mushrooms begin to brown turn off heat.

Meanwhile, in a separate pot, boil heavily salted water.  Cook spaghetti to al dente.  Strain and return to pot.  Season with pepper.  While pasta remains hot add egg mixture.  Stir constantly until noodles are coated to cook the egg.  Add bacon and mushrooms to pasta.  Stir well.  Add cheese and mix again.  Garnish with fresh parsley.

YUM!!  What we loved about this carbonara is that it was not too thick and heavy.  You can actually get a better mixture of flavors than the normal carbonara with bacon floating in a heavy mixture of egg yolks and cream.  I guess this lighter version is also pretty good for the heart and waist line as well.  Again, thanks Rufus for the great recipe.  Please check out his great blog and let him know who sent you.  Do you have any lighter-fare recipes that you can share on Acorns On Glen?

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JoJo’s Journal – I Hate Bath Time!

 Who, me?  I’m not dirty!

This is another edition of JoJo’s Journal here on Acorns On Glen….bark!  Hello, my loves, it has been so long since the last time I wrote to you.  Spring has been so busy for me given that I can actually leave the house now and run around the back yard and investigate everything.  All of this running around leads me to my post today.  When you are an inquisitive young pup like I am, it comes with a cost.  The cost is that you get dirty a lot more often.  It only makes sense.  There are sheds to crawl under.  Grass and mud to run through.  Gardens to jump into.  Here I am after a long and hard (and dirty) weekend.  If only I could play outside and not get dirty.  Why you ask?  Because I hate to take a bath.

On Glen Road, which answer below let’s you know that it is time for me to take a bath? 

  1. I stink.
  2. I don’t smell very good.
  3. My roommates on Glen Road pick me up and then put me down and say P. U.
  4. Everyone on Glen Road keeps saying ‘what’s that smell?’ and it turns out to be me!
  5. My roommates let a skunk come into the house last night and left me out in the yard.
  6. All of the above.

If you guessed number six, you would be correct.  So this weekend, it was off to the tub for me.  Never a pretty picture.  So you can understand what it takes to make me so glamorous, I have authorized the release of these bath pics to the general public.  Here I am after my initial spray….I am trying to flee by running up the side of the tub and out of the room.

  I’m so humiliated, I can’t even show my face!

Finally, I just surrender and let nature (and soap and water) takes its course.  When I’m wet, I look about 10 pounds lighter.  See how sad my little face looks in this one.

 Don’t get any soap into my eyes!  I don’t want to have to attack!

Then it’s a towel dry and under the hair dryer.  I guess it is worth it because here is how I turn out.

 Who can resist such a hot young thing?  Bark!

I’m so happy to be done with my bath.  I am also glad that you got to see that beauty is a lot of work.  It is worth it in my opinion.  As I’ve always said, “Beauty may only be skin deep, but ugly is all the way to the bone”.  Take care my lovelies and I’ll talk to you again soon.  I’m off to play in the back yard some more.  Do you have a favorite pet that can talk to me here on Acorns On Glen?