A FRIDGE FULL OF FOOD...

Summer Grill: Butter Onion CheeseBurgers

Happy Father's Day to all of our Dads everywhere and to Bruce and Tom, Gene's and my Dad, up in Heaven!

Even though there's only the two of us for dinner tonight and it's too stormy to set up a grill, we decided to grill Butter Onion Burgers inside anyway to celebrate our Dads.  Well worth the effort!  What's a Butter Onion Burger? It's my own creation where the onion is pressed into the hamburger as the burger grills so that it's half grilled softness but still slightly crispy, all served on a bun that's been buttered and toasted for a bite down softness that ends in crunch and keeps the condiments from soaking into the bread.  In one word:  YUM!

Don't Order Out: Tradtional Pasta Carbonara in 20 Minutes or Less

 

 This Mary Ann Esposito recipe changed my life. Okay, I know that sounds melodramatic but I really do mean it.  With only Gene and I to cook for, no matter how many times we vow to not order out and to not succumb to the convenience of processed foods, the fact is there are nights when cooking seems too big of a chore for either of us.  This recipe is our salvation.  FIVE ingredients and they are all things we keep in our pantry/fridge:  pasta, parmesan cheese, eggs, olive oil, and pancetta (or bacon, which I keep cooked up, crumbled, and in the freezer for uses such as this).

The entire meal takes five minutes longer than the time it takes to cook the pasta, and voila, it's eatin' time!

And to make this deal even sweeter? Because the sauce is made by the eggs and cheese, it's not even the caloric downfall that fast food Italian restaurants' versions are when they use Alfredo sauce. This is the real deal Carbonara and it's delicious without being stomach-achingly heavy. 

 

Slow Cooker Reuben Chowder: Corned Beef, Potatoes, & Cabbage

 

My name is Glenna and I'm a huge Reuben addict.  Love the combo of corned beef and saurkraut. There's just something deliciously sweet, salty, crunchy, cheesy wonderful about it!  Imagine my pleasure when I accidentally stumbled on a recipe for reuben chowder...and then Googled for more recipes...and then took all the things I liked out of each one and made my own--in the slow cooker!

Heaven...I'm in heaven....

Glenna's Buttermilk Pound Cake

 What most people I know think of when you use the generic term "cake" is technically a butter cake, typically eggs and butter or oil beaten together and the dry ingredients then added, as opposed to a  chiffon cake, a lighter textured cake where the egg whites are whipped separately and folded into the batter.  Pound cake is butter or chiffon cake's sweet, voluptuous cousin, with rich, velvety crumb, created from not just eggs and butter but LOTS of eggs and butter!

Originally named "pound cake" for the simplicity of its ingredients: pound of butter, pound of sugar, pound of flour... it has long since been cut down to what we think of us "regular" cake size and customized in endless variations. This buttermilk and vanilla recipe is rich and. satisfying with straight-forward, simple ingredients that showcases what, to me, is almost a religiously divine combination: butter, flour, and sugar...and an oven. .

To fancy it up, add fresh strawberries or a drizzle of chocolate or caramel sauce. For me, I just cut a slice, pick it up, and don't bother dirtying a fork and plate.