Engaging stories of love, joy, comfort and friendship with proven scrumptious, healthy recipes, we celebrate LOVE as the secret ingredient for wonderful food!

Food Waste

September 25, 2015 by Mary 17 Comments

I have to step up on a soapbox now. Most of you know of my desire to tackle the hunger problem in the United States and the world at large. That’s one reason I started the MARY’s secret ingredients subscription box business, as we are donating 10% of our profits to Feed The Children in their work to support a wide range of services to empower communities and wipeout hunger worldwide. No one should go hungry. In the US alone, over 48 million people suffer from food scarcity and over 15 million children go to bed hungry every night. In our super rich country, this is an atrocity. On the other side of the coin, the amount of food waste is horrendous.

Take a look at this John Oliver video:

Clearly this is a distribution problem. How can we get surpluses of food to the folks who need it?

And apparently many expiration dates on food are arbitrary at best. Maybe they’re put on to increase sales earlier as no decent grocery store will sell expired products and of course, they must restock.

When we lived in Summit, NJ, I made a discovery late one night at Kings, an upscale grocery store, with headquarters in the UK. I was in the store shopping a little before their 10 pm closing time and the woman in the bakery and bread department was going around filling shopping carts with loaves of bread and other bakery items. The bread was mounded high, the carts were overflowing.

I asked her what she was going to do with that. She said she couldn’t tell me.

I said, “Aw come on, please tell me.”

She said, “No I can’t.”

I pleaded, “Pleeeaase.”

She moved closer to me, cupped her hand near her mouth and whispered, “We throw it away.”

I was speechless.

She was embarrassed.

It was perfectly good bread, just not at its very freshest peak and Kings was such a high-class store, they didn’t even want to have a day-old rack. So they just threw it away.

At that point, after numerous letters written to the store’s corporate offices to get permission, I started a pick-up program twice a week for bread and once a week for the gently bruised fruits they also threw away. So three times a week, I filled our station wagon with food and delivered it to organizations that fed the hungry. It was a tiny bit I could do then. I hope to do more with MARY’s secret ingredients.

Today is the last day to purchase a fall box. We still have a few left. Buy one and surprise yourself with healthy ingredients and help us in our cause to feed the hungry.

Having enough to eat should not be a privilege. It is a basic human right.

Also, we’re having a TWITTER PARTY today (9/25) at 1 pm EST!! You can ask me cooking questions and I’ll ask you some too. Should be loads of fun! Join us!!

Buttermilk Marinated Roast Chicken with Tarragon and Dijon Mustard

September 14, 2015 by Mary 37 Comments

This has become my favorite way to roast chicken. Remove the backbone, smash the breast down, add a few strategic cuts, which helps it cook quickly, makes it perfect for a weeknight dinner! I love this new marinade I made up to make this recipe – Buttermilk Marinated Roast Chicken with Tarragon and Dijon Mustard.

This all came to life because of the US Open going on right now. Years ago, when my husband and I were dating, he took me to the Open, my first time. There, we had a drink with a napkin that had a chicken recipe printed on it for Dijon Roasted Chicken. It was sponsored by the Dijon mustard people and I remember the recipe called for making a simple sauce of whisking together melted butter, Dijon mustard and dried tarragon (we didn’t have fresh readily available in those days) and brushed it on chicken pieces to roast in the oven.

I made that recipe over and over again. It was easy and delicious. And it made me feel like I was really cooking something!

So with the Open happening now, I was called back to it and came up with this recipe – truly delicious! And you can marinate this chicken for 1 – 3 days. The buttermilk and other flavors will just sink in more and make the chicken only more creamy and luscious.

But first, it’s important to start with a great chicken! Buy it from a local farm if you can. It may cost a tiny bit more but it’s so worth it.

Up here in Columbia County, NY, I think Charlie and Kim of Second Chance Farm have THE BEST chickens around. Theirs have meaty breasts yet the dark meat is not tough and they have 3.5 lbs. in size, which is what I like.

Now in my younger days, if I didn’t have the exact right ingredients for a recipe, I’d freak – and go get them or send my husband to get them or not make the recipe.

Stupid. Really stupid.

So if you don’t have red peppercorns, don’t fret, just use black peppercorns. Improvise and most importantly, have fun and cook with a positive loving attitude.

Try this recipe, be sure to make it with love to nourish your tummy and your soul. The best part of making recipes to marinate, is that you do the work beforehand and then the night of your dinner, it’s easy-peasy. Nice!!

BUTTERMILK MARINATED ROAST CHICKEN WITH TARRAGON AND DIJON MUSTARD – serves 4

1/4 cup chopped fresh tarragon
1 Tbs. red peppercorns, crushed (If you don’t have red peppercorns, use black, no worries)
5 cloves of garlic, crushed
11/2 cups buttermilk (I use Kate’s)
2 Tbs. peanut oil
2 Tbs. Dijon mustard
3/4 tsp. fresh grated nutmeg
1 Tbs. coarse sea salt
1 3.5 lbs. chicken, backbone cut out and butterflied.
1 Tbs. peanut or grapeseed oil
¼ cup dry white wine for deglazing (optional)

Wash and dry your chicken. Using kitchen shears, cut along each side of the chicken backbone and remove it. Turn the chicken breast side up and press on the breastbone to flatten the chicken.

Using a sharp knife, cut partway through both sides of the joint between the thighs and the drumsticks. Cut partway through both sides of the joint between the wings and the breast.

Crush your peppercorns by placing them in a small Ziploc bag and smashing them with a heavy bottle.

Place the dried chicken in a large Ziploc bag and add the remaining ingredients including the smashed peppercorns. Massage everything together to combine and refrigerate for 1 – 3 days. When you open your refrigerator during that time, massage the chicken and flip the bag over.

On the day you’re ready to cook, remove the chicken from the refrigerator at least 30 minutes before.

Preheat the oven to 450°.

Set the chicken in a large skillet skin side up; spoon a little marinade on top and then grab the garlic, peppers and tarragon out of the marinade and spread on top of the chicken. Drizzle 1 Tbs. peanut or grapeseed oil all over the top of the chicken.

Set the skillet over high heat and cook the chicken until it starts to brown, 5 minutes. Transfer the skillet to the oven and roast the chicken for 30 minutes, until the skin is browned and the chicken is cooked through.

Transfer the chicken to a cutting board or platter. Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, deglaze your pan with the white wine. Boil for a few minutes on high heat stirring constantly until reduced in half. Pour the juices over the chicken, cut it into 8 pieces and serve.

Blueberry Buckle

September 7, 2015 by Mary 20 Comments

Happy Labor Day! Time to buckle down now and get back to school and serious business tomorrow, right? Somehow I think we all revert back to our younger selves, our school day calendar, and I find it’s rare that any serious business gets done in the summer, you agree? So yesterday, I made this Blueberry Buckle in honor of “buckling down.” (I couldn’t resist!)

So what exactly is a buckle, I asked and looked it up. From whatscookingamerica.net on the history of these things, they say, A buckle is a type of cake made in a single layer with berries added to the batter. It is usually made with blueberries. The topping is similar to a streusel, which gives it a buckled or crumpled appearance.

I adapted the recipe by Melissa Clark in a recent New York Times and while this is a terrific, light fruit dessert, not too sweet, just the way I like it, it did not have a streusel top. The top cracked as you can see, but no streusel crumbs. Maybe I should work on that for next time…

No matter, this is not time consuming to make, although I think mine turned out so light precisely because I did take the time to thoroughly cream the butter and sugar, while I grated the lemon zest and prepared the dry ingredients. Incidentally, one tablespoon of lemon zest is not too much – I might even add more lemon the next time as it diffuses once it bakes – you’ll use about 11/2 large lemons. And I continued to thoroughly beat the batter after adding each one of the three eggs, using speed two on my KitchenAid. When you add the dry mixture, use speed one, mixing just until no flour is visible. Fold your blueberries in by hand and you’ll be all set.

As I said, I adapted Melissa’s recipe, so there are changes. She calls for 41/2 cups of blueberries while just barely 4 cups is more than plenty in my book. I also buttered the pan and dusted it with flour to prepare it for baking. I don’t trust just using butter and there’s nothing more disappointing than to go through all this work and then have to struggle to get the beautiful dessert out of the pan, in order to make a neat presentation.

Also, I followed her instructions to serve with ice cream, but I think I would prefer creme fraiche the next time.

Hope you get a chance to make this, with LOVE, while fresh blueberries are still abundant! Enjoy!!

BLUEBERRY BUCKLE – serves 8 – adapted from Melissa Clark

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing pan
½ cup granulated sugar, more for sprinkling
¼ cup light brown sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 Tbs. finely grated lemon zest
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1¼ cups all-purpose flour plus some extra for dusting the pan
½ tsp. fine sea salt
3/4 tsp. fresh grated nutmeg – use ½ tsp. if already grated out of the jar
¼ tsp. baking powder
4 cups blueberries or a mixture of summer berries (a mix of blueberries, raspberries, blackberries or use any one kind)
Cinnamon, for dusting
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Butter a 9-inch round cake pan. Dust with flour on all surfaces.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar and beat together until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, then add lemon zest and vanilla and mix until combined.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, nutmeg and baking powder, and whisk to combine. Gradually add dry ingredients to egg mixture and mix until just combined.

Gently fold blueberries into the batter by hand, then spread batter in the prepared pan and sprinkle lightly with more granulated sugar on top. Bake 40 to 50 minutes, or until top is golden and cake is cooked through. (Mine took 50 minutes.)

Allow cake to cool, then sprinkle with cinnamon and confectioners’ sugar.

Serve with vanilla ice cream or crème fraiche. LOVE!!

Melissa states that this is best eaten the same day but I had a bite this morning with my coffee after breakfast, and it was just fine!!

Birthdays, Estate Sales and Limoges

August 30, 2015 by Mary 23 Comments

We are in Baltimore for the weekend. Today is my mother-in-law’s 96^th birthday.

I know, wow!

So we are staying at my sister-in-law’s house and I got up early to take a 5-mile walk. The car rides to get here and back are long so I have to make up for all the sedentary time we’ll have on the way home later tonight. On my walk, I saw this sign.

Do you ever have signs that call to you? Like you MUST go to this estate sale???

Same with fruit and vegetables calling to you at the market – buy me, no me, buy me!!

No?

Well I do.

So this sign called to me. I announced to my husband at breakfast that I just had to go.

Like we need another plate or glass. I know, but sometimes… that calling is strong.

Reluctantly, my husband takes me there – this is his town after all and low and behold – LOOK what I found!!

Eight, count ‘em, eight beautiful sweet Limoges china bowls for… are you ready??

I asked the girl how much. Clearly they were taking apart some relative’s house who had recently passed. I didn’t want to ask because then I’d get all weepy.

I had the stack of bowls in my hands – all eight of them. She carefully counted them and looked up and asked, “Uh, would $15.00 be ok?”

Gulp.

Yeaahhh!

To be cool, for a tiny bit, I continued looking through the rest of the house while she put them in a holding place.

Then I quickly I ran to the car to get the cash, gave her my $20.00 bill and while they had to search for the $5.00 change, I prayed no one would come and question the sale or turn a bowl over.

The transaction was made and I sauntered on back to the car, arms laden with my stack of bowls.

Success at the estate sale!!

There were actually two other German plates I thought were interesting. Should I go back and get them too or quit while I was ahead?

We decided on the latter and headed back to Ellen’s house. I couldn’t wait to tell her of my find. Ellen was flabbergasted – she loved them – she called her cousin Donna immediately and sent her a picture.

And then Ellen wanted to go back for the German plates. I was ambivalent. What if an aunt showed up there and knew what Limoges were? Or one of their distant cousins who knew something about china? Clearly the folks that were there did not know some things.

Ellen was persistent that I go back with her.

I changed my shirt and shoes to prevent recognition.

We drove there – it was 1:30 pm and the sign did say only until 1 and sure enough, they were all closed up.

I came home to just my bowls but they were quite enough.

I love the size – rather smallish and just perfect. Won’t they look great with gazpacho or even a scoop of chocolate mousse with a smattering of raspberries on the side? Maybe they are berry bowls and not soup bowls. I have to do some research.

My mother-in-law would love this story. She loved, loved, loved fine china and beautiful things. Over the years, she has given us lots of gorgeous china pieces. I will tell this story to her tonight but I’m not sure she will comprehend and she surely won’t be able to see them either.

My daddy always said, “It’s tough to get old, Mare!”

Super Quick Chicken and Summer Vegetables Stir-fry

August 24, 2015 by Mary 18 Comments

Super quick chicken and summer vegetable stir-fry in a white bowl.

This was my husband’s portion.

Deep into summer, the vegetables are overflowing at all local farmer’s markets and if you belong to a CSA, you can be sure you’re getting cabbage nearly every week now, right? And so how many coleslaw recipes can you possibly make? And St. Patrick’s Day is a way off.

Luckily, most of the local cabbages are small heads. They’re actually cute right? I think everything small is super cute.

So we had some friends over for dinner a couple of weeks ago and along with wines and dessert, they brought me a beautiful basket of veggies from their CSA and bingo, cabbage was in it and wouldn’t you know it, I had made coleslaw to serve that night at dinner, so I was definitely not going to make another coleslaw.

During the week, we seem to be coming home later and later from the office. I am not complaining as we have lots of exciting things cooking BUT, I do get home starving and I am not a particularly nice person when hungry. My blood sugar levels must go bonkers and I have got to eat quick or I am very crabby. My one son is also like me whereas our youngest is like my husband in that he can contain himself when hungry.

This dinner, this Super Quick Chicken and Summer Vegetables Stir-fry, I literally threw together in 25 minutes!!

Really.

No joke.

One thing I will point out though, is that my husband did shell the peanuts for me. But you could buy peanuts already shelled, we just always have a bowl of peanuts in the shell on our counter – to keep me from going crazy when I’m starving.

I have given you the specific vegetables I used, but you can use any combination of what you have on hand. Have fun and experiment with your mixture. Just make sure it’s colorful!

Chicken thighs are called for here because I love dark meat and thighs are very forgiving if you should cook them a tad too much. Just be sure to remove all fat before slicing into strips. Breasts would work as well, you’ll just be more careful about the cooking time.

Adding the V-8 juice at the end was a last minute idea of mine as a genius way to just get more flavors going on – and it worked! Is it necessary? – No.

Follow your own instincts and just remember, always cook with LOVE and happy thoughts. Your food will taste better! And this was DELISH!

SUPER QUICK CHICKEN AND SUMMER VEGETABLES STIR-FRY – serves 3 – 4

3 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
11/2 Tbs. sesame oil
3 cloves of garlic, minced
¼ cup dry vermouth
2 handfuls of sugar snap peas, strings removed
¾ of a large red pepper, cut into ¼” strips
½ of a small head of cabbage, cut into ¼” strips
2 Tbs. low sodium soy sauce
11/2 Tbs. of V-8 juice
Hot sesame oil for drizzling
¼ cup roasted peanuts, skins removed, roughly chopped
2 scallions, white and light green parts only, thinly sliced
Steamed Basmati white rice

Prepare your rice according to the package directions. I cooked ½ cup of dry rice in 1 cup of water with a little salt. Start this cooking first as it must simmer for 15 – 20 minutes and sit for 5 minutes afterwards.

Wash and dry the chicken thighs. Remove all fat and cut into ½” strips. Warm the sesame oil on medium heat. Add the chicken and let that brown and cook stirring often while you prepare the other vegetables. After about 10 minutes, add the garlic and wine and raise the heat to let the wine flavor your meat and reduce to 2 Tbs.

Then add all the vegetables and the soy sauce and stir until the veggies are crisp tender and the chicken is done.

Drizzle on the V-8 juice and toss all to combine. Taste and see if it needs any salt and pepper. Mine did not.

Remove from heat. Portion out the steamed rice into shallow bowls and place the chicken vegetable stir-fry on top. Drizzle on a tiny bit of hot sesame oil, garnish with peanuts and scallions and serve with LOVE and chopsticks.

Easy Cheesy Sautéed Squash

August 19, 2015 by Mary 19 Comments

This is a time-tested recipe. My mother was a good cook. My husband, bless his heart, says that I am a much better cook than she was, but for her time, she was great!! I know you’ll LOVE this Easy Cheesy Sautéed Squash recipe.

My Mom always made fresh vegetables when possible but when I was growing up in the sixties and seventies, all the rage was convenience, with the newfangled canned and boxed foods that came out in the marketplace. Think, Suddenly Stuffing (whoever named that??), all the canned vegetables, and Dream Whip and Cool Whip. Think, how many chemicals can you possibly put into anything! Of course those were the days when we biked behind the mosquito killing trucks – probably agent orange blowing out – because we thought the smoke was cool.

In the mid seventies before I left to go to NYC for college, we did have fresh eggplant, always fresh asparagus, green beans and my mom grew lettuces, tomatoes, strawberries and peppers. We still had canned peas – yuk! When I met my future husband in New York, he had never eaten fresh eggplant. I couldn’t believe it!

My Mom always made this recipe with fresh zucchini and yellow squash. Cheesy gooey, comforting, my husband still asks for this today, nearly 39 years later from when he first had it.

EASY CHEESY SAUTEED SQUASH – serves 4

1 Tbs. unsalted butter
1 Tbs. olive oil
1.5 lbs. zucchini and yellow squash – I used 1 Patty Pan, 1 yellow and 1 zucchini, each cut into 1/4” thick pieces
2 small – medium yellow onions, cut in ¼” thick rings,
Salt
Pepper, fresh ground
2.5 oz. NY state sharp Cheddar cheese (or any sharp Cheddar), cut in very thin slices
1/3 cup fresh grated Parmigiano Reggiano

Warm the oil in a large skillet and melt the butter on medium heat. Saute the onions for 4 minutes. Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook for 6 – 8 minutes until onions are softened.
Uncover, raise heat to medium, and add squash. Toss and sauté for 4 minutes. Season squash with salt and fresh ground pepper.

Meanwhile, grate your Parmigiano while the squash is cooking.

Reduce heat to low again, cover and cook for 4 minutes more until squash is crisp tender.

Uncover and turn off heat. Make sure the squash and onions are in an even layer in your skillet. Cover the top evenly with the slices of Cheddar and then sprinkle the Parmigiano over all.

Wipe dry the inside of your lid to remove all moisture. Cover the pan and let sit for 5 more minutes until all the cheeses melt.

Serve with LOVE and enjoy!!

Now I have a beef to talk about.

Does your husband like to wear raggedy shirts and pants that are so frayed and ripped you wonder when you’re washing them, why you’re even washing them at all or wasting money by spraying Shout or Oxyiclean on them because they really should just be thrown out?

My husband has several of these numbers. One sweatshirt is surely 24 years old. I know because I remember we had just bought our (expensive) house in NJ and he went to the Short Hills mall and bought this fancy hooded sweatshirt and I was like, why did you do that now? We lived there for 16 years and we’ve been back in NYC for over 8 years so the math is right.

The cuffs are so frayed, they’re completely split apart! It is pitiful. I threw it away once and he took it out of the trash. (I was guilty of that with cut-off jean shorts when I was about 15!)

Does this happen with your husband? Or wife? Drives me nuts!!!