Dec 15, 2016 - Hearty Holiday Breakfasts Made Easy!

With relaxed work schedules, or guests in the house, the morning hours around the breakfast table with family and friends are some of our favorite holiday times. IN THIS ISSUE, we have three hearty breakfast recipes for your morning menus each with several do-ahead steps. WE'RE READY to help you conclude your holiday shopping whether you're just starting, or filling in some holes with a few stocking stuffers. We like to think of ourselves as a one-stop shopping spot -- we're certain to have something for everyone on your list! HAPPY DECEMBER! We're so pleased to see you've all been busy signing up for classes on our new website! Three of the classes have already filled, and many of them are well on their way. Our theme for the 1st quarter cooking classes is FEASTING WITH FRIENDS. We've got some fabulous home cooks in our Acorn Farm circle, and many of them have signature dishes or special comfort foods that they love to serve to their family and friends. We've asked a few of them to share their dishes with us.  We've also asked Chef Steven and Chef Brigitte to give us their take on comfort food and home cooking. The results will be delicious! TA-DA! OUR NEW WEBSITE  Since we have a wonderful, new website, you can always find the times, dates, and details of everything happening at Acorn Farm. We hope you've taken the opportunity to visit our new site at www.acornfarmmi.com. You'll find all of the classes for the first quarter of 2017 and you can  SIGN UP ONLINE!  When you browse the classes, please take a few minutes to explore the rest of the website. We've started a BLOG,  Milford Musings, that you'll find under Farm Life. We'll be posting regularly and hoping to hear from you in the comments section. If you're looking for help finding a special gift for someone, take a look at our Gathered Goods page, highlighting our curated collection of favorites. Tonight we're hosting a free demo and we'd love to see you there!  Read on . . .     TONIGHT!  LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED! - FREE Thursday, December 15th, 6-8 pm Our favorite Chef, Steven Grostick, will be showing us how to make a beautiful appetizer table that looks like a million bucks without spending a million bucks (or a million hours.) He'll feature some easy-to-put-together finger-foods made with some of the products we carry, and show you how to supplement them with favorites from the deli and produce sections of your grocer to make a dazzling spread for your guests. Of course, you'll be tasting it all, and bringing home some recipes. Enjoy a leisurely time in the store, and taste a Christmas cocktail or a sip of wine. Here's the menu for the evening: Peppermintini Winter Cocktail Herbed Lemon Risotto with Prosciutto Ham & Fresh Winter Truffles Spiced Nuts Sweet Potato Crostini with Goat Cheese, Grapes & Pepper Jelly Roast Chicken & Black Beans in Phyllo Cups with Corn Relish Roast Pork Tenderloin Crostini with Farmhouse Chutney Cranberry & White Chocolate Farmhouse Oatmeal Skillet cookie with Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramel & Whipped Cream Happy Cooking! Kathy Magaluk and all of us at Acorn Farm

Serve Mom Breakfast in Bed

April showers have given way to May flowers, and the Bradford pear trees are putting on quite a show. In the same way, a busy April has given way to a wonderful May, with some great events planned as well. BACK FROM THE AMALFI COAST A small contingent of Acorn Farm folks (staff and customers) have just returned from an extraordinary trip to Italy's Amalfi coast - with countless stories to tell and pictures to share. Have a look at our Facebook page to see just where we were and what we saw! A DAY IN MAY The first event we have planned is A DAY IN MAY, taking place on SATURDAY, MAY 15th from 12noon until 3pm. You've heard that diamonds are a girl's best friend, well . . . we'll be showing why they should be EVERYONE's best friend . . . SWISS DIAMOND, that is! The superior non-stick finish is the absolute best we've ever tried, and we think we've tried 'em all! They never chip or flake, and if you treat them right, they'll be right at home in your kitchen for a very long time! Rumor has it that we'll be making and providing samples of a fabulous dish we learned to prepare in Italy. It's a dish that's best prepared in a high-performance, non-stick pan like Swiss Diamond. Come in and see just how well it performs! You'll have a taste of Paccheri - a wonderful pasta with a cheesy filling, browned and served hot and delicious! We'll pass along the recipe as well. VITAMIX Get it while it's hot!  Saturday is the last day you can take advantage of our VITAMIX sale -- $50 OFF our price on any of our VITAMIX machines!  That means a full $150 OFF the MSRP! Turn fresh fruits and vegetables into delicious, soups, smoothies, beverages, sorbets, and more at just the touch of a button!  These machines are made in America and built to last! COOKING CLASSES And now, a word about our remaining classes! We've got a fun grill class coming up on July 6th that still has a few spots, due to it falling just after a holiday weekend. Do consider taking this class, as it is full of, well, FUN food. Take a look at the full description below. We have also added a class to the summer schedule. Our July 20th BRAZILIAN CLASS filled so quickly and had such a long wait list, that we opened up the exact same class on July 19th! Again, see the description below and call us at 248-684-1373 right away! GLAMPING & GRILLING WITH GROSTICK! Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - 7:00 - 8:30pm - $40 with Chef Grostick Just the aroma of something cooking on the grill evokes a flurry of childhood memories and some of the fun food of our youth! We're going to explore some of those great foods with a little more grown-up twist!  Take a look at this simple but sophisticated menu: Toas-tite Campfire Sandwiches  - Three different delights for the gourmand to enjoy! BBQ Pulled Pork on Cheddar & Scallion Cornbread Tuna Melts with Havarti Roast Beef with Mustard & Beer-Braised Onions on a Hoagie Roll Grilled Carrot Salad - with cauliflower and french beans in a Tarragon Brown Butter Vinaigrette. Mini Red Hasselback Potatoes - delicious potatoes, cut into a fan of sorts, topped with goat cheese, bacon & roasted garlic and and cooked until crisp on the outside, tender on the inside.   Cast Iron Trout - prepared to the perfection that only cast iron can produce.  We'll finish it with a little pancetta and tomato sauce. Campfire S'Mores - Oh, yes!   We'll let Chef Grostick do his gourmet spin on these.  Don't expect the same S'mores you had around your troop's campfire. BLAME IT ON RIO! Tuesday, July 19 - 7:00 - 8:30pm - $40 - This new session just added! OR Wednesday, July 20, 2016 - 7:00 - 8:30pm - $40 - FULL! with Chef Grostick The Olympics are coming! The Olympics are coming! While not many of us are going to be traveling to Brazil to watch the beloved games, we'd like to honor the host country with a fabulous spread of Brazilian favorites, full of bright and bold flavors.   Brazilian Lemonade - Start the evening cooling off with a simple Brazilian lemonade.  Sweet, fresh, and made with, surprisingly enough, limes! Salada de Couve com Manga - A salad with some great brazilian staples - mango and kale, with the crunch of pine nuts Frango Churrasco - Chicken thighs, bathed in a perfectly seasoned marinade with garlic, lemon, and coriander, then skewered and grilled to a heavenly crispness. Brazilian Pork Ribs - Toto, we're not in Kansas City anymore. Enjoy a distinctively different Brazilian sauce with soy, lime and parsley, a good dose of garlic and some unexpected herbs.  A slow-simmer turns these into juicy moist ribs before they're finished on the grill for a fantastic char. You're about to experience a new "go-to" rib recipe for your repertoire!  Grilled Flank Steak with Root Vegetable Chips & Brazilian-Style Chimichurri - Enjoy some of the same flavors you'd find in the Caribbean islands but without the heat. The marinade carries the aroma of cumin, coriander, and lime and the chimichurri adds a beautiful freshness to the dish. Add a little crunch with the chips to finish it off and you'll be ready to fly the Brazilian flag. Pudim - a lovely custard-like flan served with glazed and grilled pineapple and other tropical delights! Happy Cooking! Kathy Magaluk and all of us at Acorn Farm

Mastering Muffin Making

There's nothing like fresh, warm muffins! In this issue, we've set out to discover the key techniques needed for baking a better muffin. We put our new findings to practice in three recipes: Savory Spinach, Bacon and Cheese Muffins, Citrus Poppyseed Muffins, and everyone's favorite, Nana's Banana Muffins. HAPPY MARCH! It seems that March has blown in like the abominable snowman! Despite the weather, we've been enjoying some great classes here on Main Street. If you've not taken one this year, now is the time to sign up! We're continuing our virtual culinary trip around the world and I've listed our NEW, 2nd QUARTER CLASS AND EVENT SCHEDULE below. As always, call right away (248.684.1373) if you know you'd like to be in a certain class. They typically fill within the first few days so don't delay. A WORD ABOUT OUR CLASSES -- most of our cooking classes are demonstration-style rather than hands-on, and are generally limited to 16 people in order to give everyone a good view and a more personal experience. When a class is scheduled and you sign up, we purchase and prep food for the amount of people who have signed up. For that reason, we are unable to refund the fee for the class should your schedule change and you find yourself having to cancel. You are, however, more than welcome to give your spot to someone else or to call and see if we have anyone on our waiting list that we can call. Your evening includes class time from 7-8:30, a special coupon to use on the evening of class, and a nice packet of the evening's recipes to take home. At the end of class, you'll enjoy a plate full of all the delicious things prepared that evening. Now, have a look at the great spring schedule we've put together for you! ABUNDANCE BREADS On Sale: SATURDAYS -- March 5 and 12 We've been enjoying having Linda Skemp in the store the past few weeks, selling her homemade, whole-grain breads. She'll continue to be here the next two Saturdays from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. with different selection of breads each week. Come have a taste! All of her breads are vegetarian and made of real ingredients that were grown in the ground, not created in a lab. She bakes her breads right here in Milford so come down and support a great local business! SASHAY INTO SPRING! Saturday, March 12 from 10:00am - 5:00pm - FREE! Due to recent weather, um, issues - none of us are feeling particularly spring-y.  Yet, Easter is just weeks away (March 27th!). The temperatures that weekend should be in the 60's and we decided to invite you in for a little mini soiree! We'll be tasting some Michigan goodies from American Spoon and maybe a few more surprises. Anyone making a purchase gets to open an Easter egg to find out which gift we have for you! So, get up, get going, and get on down to Acorn Farm and have a look around.  We've got loads of fun tools and gadgets that would be fantastic in an Easter basket for your friends, your mom, your adult kids, you name it!  We have colorful peelers, scrubbers, Swedish dish cloths, and so many more great items --- you'll be tempted to keep them for yourself! PAINTS & PIES WITH A PURPOSE Thursday, March 24 from 7:00pm-8:30pm  $15 What? You've never put those two together? Truth is---we haven't either so we're going to give it a try.  Many of you are familiar with Community Sharing - a wonderful group that provides food, clothing, educational and emergency financial assistance to those in need in our area. Each year they run The Empty Bowl Project, highlighting the importance of making sure no one goes hungry. Here's how it works. Bowl-painting parties are held at homes and businesses for a charge of $15 per person. Your bowl then serves as your ticket to attend the main event - a simple meal of soup and bread donated by local chefs. Acorn Farm is hosting one of the painting parties and since we always think of March as "Pi Month," our staff will provide a variety of pies for your sampling pleasure! A donation of $15 (it all goes to Community Sharing) allows you to paint a bowl, enjoy some pie, and then attend the soup supper on May 15th. If you are unable to attend, you can donate your bowl to Community Sharing who will, in turn, sell it so that someone else can attend the soup night. Sounds like a win-win event to us! No experience necessary and all materials will be provided. We'll have a blast! SPRINGTIME COOKIES Wednesday, April 6 from 6:00 - 8:00pm - $30 with Sharon Mancini Sharon Mancini is a wonderful teacher and she loves to help you make great-looking (and tasting) cookies! This is a very hands-on class and Sharon brings everything you'll need to decorate 4 large springtime cookies. The skills you'll learn will translate easily to other cookies and you'll learn a great new skill! This class is a lot of fun and a great night out with a friend!The spring cookies we'll be decorating are a flower, a dragonfly, a butterfly, and a teapot! VIVE LE FRANCE! Thursday, April 7 from 7:00 - 8:30pm - $40 with Brigitte Romero Brigitte Romero is our very favorite French Chef and she always teaches us a new skill! Our last crepe class was so successful and there were far more people that wanted to be a part of it than spaces in the class.  So, we're going to do crepes again! Although the class is still demo-style, each person will have the opportunity to make and flip a crepe. Here are the dishes she'll be showing: - Mixed Vegetable Salad in a Basket - we're excited about this. A lovely mélange of vegetables, topped with asparagus and served in a tomato basket with a pastry handle. Gorgeous and oh-so-pretty for a shower or luncheon. - Crepes filled with Braised Chicken in a Mushroom Bechamel Sauce - Pan-sautéed Asparagus with Garlic, Lemon & Provencal Herbs - Crepe Cake - Stacked crepes layered with a luscious Lemon-Butter filling and served with Fresh Berries. If your mouth isn't watering yet, you haven't been paying attention! WE'RE NO SPRING CHICKENS Wednesday, April 13 from 7:00 - 8:30pm - $40 with Stephen Grostick We're No Spring Chickens, but we can teach you to prepare one! This delightful springtime class will be light and delicious, playing on a theme of citrus and spring! - Spring Chicken a l'orange - Chicken pieces, bathed in a beautiful orange sauce, finished with fresh herbs. - Herbed Wild Rice Pilaf Amandine - enjoy the earthy goodness of wild rice, savory herbs, and the nutty crunch of almonds.   - Salad of Arugula and Cara Cara Orange & Thyme-Marinated Olives - Add some lightly browned goat cheese croquettes for the perfect tang to set off this lovely salad. Sweet, salty, and sour all play off the slight bitterness of the arugula!   - Lemon Roasted Cauliflower - if you've not roasted cauliflower before, you haven't lived! Add a little lemon and it'll send you right over the moon! - Lemon Curd Napoleans with Raspberries & Berry Coulis - needs no explanation, just a fork.   Mmmmm! THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL Thursday, April 14 from 7:00 - 8:30pm - $40 with Steven Grostick Indian cuisine is aromatic, intense, complex in flavor and just plain delicious. It sometimes employs a whole different set of cooking skills from tempering the spices to grinding your own curry blends. Steven is going to give us a peek into some of these wonderful dishes, starting with a classic and adding a few dishes that he loves. All incorporate a lot of spices typical to Indian cuisine but no heat to be afraid of! And please don't worry, we'll learn how to pronounce them all before class! - Butter Chicken (Makhani) - A true Indian classic, laden with a mildly-spiced curry, yogurt, green chilies and butter, of course! Marvelously creamy , served over a lightly-seasoned yellow rice. - Chole Bhature -  a classic curried chickpea dish served with any of a number of Indian breads. We'll be serving naan. So simple but so much flavor! Garnished with cilantro and served with  fresh onion & lemon wedges. - Baingan Bharta - a fabulous dish of charred eggplant, cauliflower and zucchini, seasoned Indian-style. If caponata married baba gannoush and honeymooned in India, this dish would be the result! - Kulfi - a deliciously different dessert, an iced milk with pistachios and spices. Reminiscent of the flavor of a frozen chai latte. You'll want seconds! THE CUTTING EDGE Saturday, April 16 from 9:30am - 11:00am - $35 with Ed Bartush The one thing we all use in our kitchens every single day is a knife. With something that we use so much, it would be a shame not to use it as efficiently and expertly as possible. Sometimes it helps to have a little bit of instruction. Ed Bartush is our Wusthof representative, and he's a wonderful teacher, ready to show you the proper way to use your most common knives, how to hold them, care for them, sharpen them, and answer your questions. The class is hands-on, and each person will be slicing, dicing, and chopping right along with Ed. It's a lot of fun so sign up! Your fingertips will thank you.  Each participant will leave with an Epicurean cutting board valued at over $20! Hurray! Class starts at 10:00 sharp. Very punny. LOOK SHARP! Saturday, April 16 from 12:00n - 3:00pm - FREE! with Ed Bartush Ed will be happily sharpening your knives for free on April 16th. You can bring up to 3 knives, (no serrated please), and he'll get them in tip-top shape for you. The sharpening is free and we will have a donation jar for Community Sharing if you feel so moved! LADIES NIGHT OUT! Thursday, April 21 Ladies Night Out is a big favorite in Milford, and it only happens twice each year! This spring we'll be exploring an Earth Day/Green Theme with some wonderful products to go along with that topic.  We'll be serving some of our favorite treats that we carry in the store, and highlighting some of the products that we're proud to carry because they reduce waste or are healthier for you and the planet!  We hope you'll be a part of the fun! RED BAG DAY Saturday, April 30 - ALL DAY! April 30th will be our second Red Bag Day of 2016. RED BAGS are given to our Kitchen Cash members after they've filled their first Kitchen Cash Card. Whenever there are five Saturdays in a month, you're invited to come in on the fifth Saturday and bring your RED BAG to get 20% off most things in the store.  If you're already a Kitchen Cash Club Member, we really want you to have a Red Bag, so visit the store and we'll upgrade you. Not a member? Come and sign up! It's completely free!  Fill out a Kitchen Cash Club Card; it stays in the store so you don't have to remember to bring it with you each time. Every time you make a purchase, we record it on your card. Once you've made purchases on six visits, we total the dollar amounts, take 10% of your total, and return it to you as a gift card to use on absolutely anything you want in the store! What's the catch? There isn't one! A SPRINGTIME SOIREE Thursday, May 5 -  7:00pm - 8:30pm - $40 May is such a lovely month. We begin to long for the lighter flavors of spring -  peas, asparagus, fresh fish, etc. We've put together a lovely springtime menu for you that is perfect for treating your family or fabulous to share with friends. Colorful dishes with lively, bright flavors will make for a dinner they'll remember. - Lemony Springtime Soup - A wonderful soup with fresh spring peas & rice, brightened with lemon and just a hint of mint.   - Poached Salmon - Poaching is a cooking technique that produces flavorful, moist fish every time. Come learn the secrets that make poaching a go-to method for your fish and fowl.   - Cucumber Dill Sauce - a great complement to the salmon, flavored with Dijon and fresh chives. - Warm Glass Noodles with Edamame - the easiest and tastiest side you'll ever love. Goes together in minutes but tastes like you put in some serious effort. Some of us on this continent are just starting to experiment with things like edamame and cellophane noodles but there's no better time to start. We like this dish because it tastes great but it's also good for you! Edamame is full of protein, omega-3's, and all sorts of things your body needs!   - Madelines  - a delicate and delightful little French cake, crispy on the outside, tender and moist on the inside. Ours will be scented with citrus and served with fresh strawberries and a reduction of white balsamic. PASTA PERFECTION! Wednesday, May 18 - 7:00 - 8:30pm - $40 OR Tuesday May 24 - 7:00 - 8:30pm - $40 with Chef Steven Yes, indeed! We're having another virtual visit to Italy with this cooking class. We know you're going to love it so we thought we better run it twice, allowing more of you to enjoy the wonders of great homemade pasta. Pick a day and give us a call! All of these dishes are so good, you might never want to leave!   - Open-Faced Fried Pasta Squares - Italian cuisine as a finger food! Little  squares of tender pasta, fried and topped with mushrooms (we're hoping to get morels) sherried cream, and asparagus.   - Spinach Gnochino - a tiny little gnocchi with oven roasted tomatoes, garlic and oregano, balanced with a shaved Manchego cheese. So good! - Outside-In Doppio Ravioli Bolognese - Chef Steven puts the Bolognese on the inside with this beautiful double-piped ravioli. Served aglio olio style -- coated with olive oil and fresh garlic -- and finished with basil and herbs. - Gelato - smooth, creamy, cool, and flavored with caramel, espresso and toasted hazelnuts. Italy's answer to ice cream. Happy Cooking! Kathy Magaluk and all of us at Acorn Farm