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

Calphalon Serrated Spatula

October 24, 2014 by Mary 9 Comments

Who doesn’t love Calphalon? Well they’ve been our friend in the kitchen, providing us with quality cookware for like, at least 35 years. As I mentioned when I ran the giveaway for one of their skillets, they were on my bridal registry 33 years ago and I still use those same skillets and pots today! (Our anniversary is Halloween.)

Well now they’ve moved into the small kitchen tool area and contacted us to be in our MARY’s secret ingredients box with this newly designed serrated spatula. Or would you call this a turner? I dunno. But I do know that this is very cool and handy – like two tools in one! The angle is perfect for flipping and the serrated edge allows you to make a little cut easily to check on doneness.

Here I am checking on an Italian pork sausage – important because you need it to be done!

Works great to cut a too big piece of potato when you’ve done an inconsistent job on the cutting board before, like me.

There are so many uses! And the best part about it is that you can use it with all your non- stick cookware, because it won’t scratch the surface. It’s made of nylon with soft-touch silicone accents to let you do your job and not spoil the pot. And it’s dishwasher safe, heat resistant to 400 degrees with a full lifetime warranty. You can’t beat that! If you ordered a box, I sure hope you enjoy using it!

Harmonian Orange Glazed Olive Oil Cake

October 20, 2014 by Mary 14 Comments

Harmonian is a wonderful company, based in Athens, Greece. Georgios, the owner, established it to promote harmonious ingredients – harmonious to the earth and for your body – all the things that MARY’s secret ingredients stands for. They say on their site, “taste approved; health improved.” This Harmonian Olive Oil is the fourth item in our fall box and we absolutely love it! It is light, flavorful and made with Kalamata Olives.

Of course you can use this to cook with or as a finishing oil. I think it’s so special that it should only be used as a finishing oil – or used in this fantastic olive oil cake recipe. As the oil is super high quality, extra virgin and silky in texture, you guessed it, this cake is too! It is light, fluffy and super delicious.

Here’s the recipe:

HARMONIAN ORANGE GLAZED OLIVE OIL CAKE – serves 10 – 12

2 cups all-purpose flour
1¾ cups sugar
1½ tsp. kosher salt
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. baking powder
11/3 cups Harmonian extra-virgin olive oil
1¼ cups whole milk
3 large eggs
1½ Tbs. grated orange zest
¼ cup fresh orange juice
¼ cup Triple Sec or Grand Marnier

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 8-inch cake pans and line the bottom with parchment paper. Butter the parchment paper too.

In a bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and powder. In another bowl, whisk the eggs. Add the olive oil, milk, orange zest and juice and Triple Sec or Grand Marnier. Add the dry ingredients in three batches and whisk until just combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 30 minutes, until the top is golden and a cake tester comes out clean. Transfer the cake to a rack and let cool for 30 minutes.

Run a knife around the edge of the pan, invert the cake onto the rack and let cool completely, 2 hours.

ORANGE GLAZE

4 Tbs. unsalted butter
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
2 Tbs. fresh orange juice
½ tsp. vanilla extract

Melt butter in a small saucepan or microwave.

Sift 2 cups of powdered sugar into a medium size bowl. Add the melted butter to the powdered sugar. Add orange juice and vanilla. Beat until smooth and creamy, adding a little more orange juice if necessary.

Frost the cooled cake between layers and the top (let drips down the side happen) with this glaze.

Bet you can’t eat just one piece.

Of course, use this wonderful olive oil on any vegetable, raw or cooked. Here is my favorite asparagus recipe. Roasted with the olive oil and then topped with a fresh drizzle compounds the flavor and just makes this so delicious. I bet this will become your go-to recipe for asparagus from now on. It certainly is mine!

OVEN ROASTED ASPARAGUS WITH OLIVE OIL AND LEMON – serves 4

1 1/2 lbs. medium asparagus, washed, air dried and broken at the point of tenderness and lower portions discarded
3 Tbs. extra-virgin Harmonian olive oil
Salt
Pepper, freshly ground
1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. finely grated lemon zest

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. In a baking dish, drizzle the asparagus with half of the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss to coast evenly. Roast for about 8 – 10 minutes, or until just tender when pierced with a fork. Drizzle the asparagus with the remaining olive oil and the lemon juice, and zest. Toss again. Serve hot, with LOVE. Enjoy!!

Falksalt Citron on Roasted Pompano

October 16, 2014 by Mary 18 Comments

On to our next exciting item in our fall MARY’s secret ingredients box, Falksalt Citron Sea Salt. This stuff is AWESOME!!! You can use it on anything – vegetables, fish, chicken and even chocolate! Or as my sister-in-law Pat said, “Did you just stick your finger in there and taste it plain? It’s wonderful!!”

This salt is from the Mediterranean Sea and harvested in Cypress but the company is located in Sweden, with 180 years of experience in trading salt. They produce many flavors of salt so you really should check out their site. As the site says, your pepper will be jealous. And, if you use this discount code, MSI-FALKSALT, you’ll get 20% off your next order because you are in the LOVE/MSI family. You are in the know!

Using these salts, and particularly this citron flavor is just an easy, awesome way to liven up any dish and go from ordinary to sublime with just a sprinkling!

Zucchini ready to roast with Falksalt Citron, olive oil and pepper.

Here it is on zucchini, ready to roast at 425 degrees for 10 – 15 minutes. Delish!!

And then this method works with any fish you’ve got, whether it’s a whole fish or fillets.

So get cooking and get ready for lots of compliments!

FALKSALT CITRON ON ROASTED POMPANO – serves 2

Olive oil
Falksalt – Citron
Fresh ground pepper
One whole pompano, cleaned
Fresh thyme sprigs

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Lightly slick a rimmed baking sheet with a thin film of olive oil. Sprinkle Citron Falksalt on the pan in the area that your fish will take up. Place the fish on top of the salted area. Rub some olive oil inside the fish cavity. Place in the thyme sprigs. Slick the top of the fish with some olive oil and very lightly sprinkle more Citron Falksalt and fresh ground pepper on top. Place in the oven on the top shelf and roast for 10 minutes per inch of thickness of your fish. Serve with LOVE and enjoy!

Same method here on fillets of flounder, but since the fish is thinner, do not salt the top. Only use the salt on the bottom.

KIND Bar Brownies

October 13, 2014 by Mary 18 Comments

Different, decadent and decidedly delicious, these KIND Bar brownies will not disappoint.

The next item to reveal from the fall MARY’s secret ingredients box is this brand new flavor of KIND bars – Dark Chocolate Mocha Almond. We all LOVE KIND bars, and they’ve been around for a while but this new flavor is truly decadent.

Eating them just as they are is obviously a no brainer. I am recommending three bars to make this recipe so just go ahead and eat the one in the box and then go out and buy three more to make these brownies. I served these as dessert for a small dinner party I had for our friends Wayne and Margaret and honestly each one of us had at least two. The extra burst of chocolate, coffee and almonds makes this brownie a winner! I think ten brownies in total, were eaten by four people. Yikes! And with some ice cream. Double yikes! I just rode my bike for 15 miles the next day to take it all off.

KIND BAR BROWNIES– makes 16

4 oz. unsweetened chocolate (I use Scharffen Berger), cut into chunks
8 Tbs. (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus a little more for greasing pan, cut into tablespoons
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt (French grey salt is the best)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 Dark Chocolate Mocha Almond Kind Bars, cut into chunks

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine chocolate and butter in a medium bowl and microwave on high for 30 seconds. Remove and stir and decide whether to microwave for another 30 seconds or keep stirring until all of the chocolate is melted and the mixture is silky smooth. Meanwhile, butter an 8 1/2-inch-square baking pan.

Stir the sugar into the chocolate mixture. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add your pinch of salt and beat until shiny and smooth. Add flour and vanilla and stir to incorporate – no traces of flour should remain, but do not over stir. Add Kind Bar pieces and stir gently just to distribute them.

Pour batter mixture into pan, and smooth out evenly. Bake 20 to 30 minutes, or until set and barely firm in the middle. Cool on a rack completely before cutting into 16 squares and serve. You will be in heaven!

Get Bolder with Smoulder! Shrimp and Tomato Appetizer

October 10, 2014 by Mary 22 Comments

Smouder on fresh tomatoes with olive oil

Smoulder on fresh tomatoes with a drizzle of olive oil

On uncooked salmon – so you can see how much I put on.

Smoulder seasoning.

Well this stuff is so good, I don’t know what you can’t put it on! You WILL want to put it on everything. In fact, the only thing that has stopped me from putting it on everything is that I didn’t want all the things in my meal to taste the same! Everything really can get bolder with Smoulder! It is a wonderful spice blend from South Africa that has smoked peppers, garlic, some salt and pepper. It comes in it’s own grinder so everything comes out fresher.

And here’s the thing, my husband hates smoked things, so at first I was sneaking this stuff on. I mean after all, it’s my duty to be able to tell you the best way to use it, so I had to use it. But he’s loved everything with this! The smokiness is real flavor – real flavor of the peppers, not just smokiness for smokiness sake. And the salt content is light so you can grind away to get more pepper flavor and not worry. You can put it on before you cook or use it as a finishing flavor for more intensity, right before serving, as I did here with the tomatoes.

The finished roasted salmon – use the cooking method in this link.

So let me go through all the things I’ve been putting it on lately:

Tomatoes
Any vegetable – grilled eggplant, roasted okra, roasted zucchini, cauliflower, green beans, yellow flat beans, bok choy and Brussels sprouts
Tilapia
Fillet of Sole
Salmon
Turkey Burgers
Pork chops
Chicken
Even eggs

And you can go on. Probably even popcorn!

Just go ahead and grind and smile like you’ve worked hard in the kitchen! Enjoy!!

Chelsea Market Baskets, where you can buy Smoulder, has so many interesting products, just like this one. Check out their site and order away!! Remember the holidays are coming and they make the best gift baskets.

Smoulder on shrimp and tomatoes topped with sorrel sauce

Here is a super easy, terrific recipe:

SMOULDERED SHRIMP AND TOMATOES APPETIZER – serves 2

6 – 7 large shrimp
Several grindings of Smoulder
1 plum tomato, sliced into 6 or 7 slices
2 tsp. olive oil
2 tsp. unsalted butter
3 Tbs. dry vermouth
Sea salt – optional
Sorrel sauce – optional

Wash and dry shrimp and season liberally with grindings of Smoulder on one side. Season the sliced tomatoes with grindings of Smoulder as well.

Warm the olive oil in a small skillet. Turn heat to medium high and add the unsalted butter. When the sizzling ceases, add the shrimp and tomatoes, seasoned side down. Cook for 2 minutes. Lightly salt the top side, while the seasoned side is cooking. Turn the shrimp and tomatoes over and add the vermouth. Cook for another 2 minutes. Remove the shrimp, when just no longer pink and divide on two plates. Remove the tomatoes and add to your shrimp. Let the sauce simmer a minutes longer, then pour over the shrimp and tomatoes.

Optional: Top with a little sorrel sauce and serve or garnish with fresh chopped Italian parsley.

We hope you enjoy this amazing product that was in our fall MARY’s secret ingredients box.

MARY’s secret ingredients Fall Box Revealed

October 8, 2014 by Mary 6 Comments

We really are having such a grand time with MARY’s secret ingredients! The fall box shipped out on schedule on September 25^th so everyone should have theirs by now. We hope that all of you who ordered one were just as excited as we were with the mix of ingredients this season. This box is full of wonderful things to spice up your cooking and make preparing a gourmet meal a breeze with all the interesting flavors and the two very exciting new tools enclosed.

A very big thank you to all of you who purchased, as every box sold adds to a contribution to Feed The Children. We will donate 10% of all profits to that global organization at the end of this year. No one should go hungry.

And now our lovely Marie, who will be performing in the premiere of a new opera in November here in NYC, (we’re so excited!) introduces the products to the tune, HOW DO YOU LIKE YOUR EGGS IN THE MORNING from the musical “Rich, Young, and Pretty”, written by Cahn & Brodzky, and made famous by Dean Martin and Helen O’Connell.

We’re having so much fun!

CALPHALON

Calphalon is a leading manufacturer of professional quality cookware, cutlery, bakeware, kitchen electrics and accessories for the home cook. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Calphalon is a part of Newell Rubbermaid’s global portfolio of leading brands.

Nylon Solid Turner: This spatula is smartly designed with a unique serrated edge to cut food, and the low-profile head is angled to slide under food for easy turning. Crafted with heat-resistant soft-touch silicone accents, this utensil gives you a perfect balance of comfort and control. Dishwasher safe, heat resistant to 400° F, and won’t scratch nonstick cookware. Full lifetime warranty!

FALKSALT

Falksalt sea salt flakes are extracted from pure, clean Mediterranean Sea water using traditional methods. It’s harvested in Cyprus and sold by Swedish Salinity Food with 180 years experience in trading salt. It’s a 100% natural product with no chemicals, no anticaking agents and all natural additives. Falksalt offers a wide range of natural and flavored sea salt flakes.

Falksalt Crystal Flakes Citron: These light flakes add a burst of bright lemon flavor to everything from fish and vegetables to ice cream and chocolate. Bake, cook or just top off your favorite dish before serving. Be daring!

PRODUCT OF CYPRUS BY WAY OF SWEDEN

HARMONIAN

Harmonian is a Greek brand established in June 2013. The company’s aim is to bring a new understanding of “healthy and taste conscious” food to the market.

Kalamata PDO Extra Virgin Olive Oil : Olive Oil is the true “juice of life” and is a secret shared by people at the Mediterranean basin for ages. The land of Messenia, at the southwestern end of Peloponnese in Greece, produces the fine oil of the “Koroneiki” olive variety. Harmonian selects only its top quality crops and embottles their most precious extracts with the utmost care. This oil is silky in texture, keen in flavor and rich in aroma, extra virgin, high quality. It can be enjoyed both raw and cooked.

KIND

KIND® was launched in 2004 with the aim of inspiring people to do the kind thing for your body, your taste buds, & your world. From its delicious foods made from ingredients you can see and pronounce to its commitment to social entrepreneurship, KIND® is focused on making the world a little kinder one act (and snack) at a time.

Dark Chocolate Mocha Almond bar: A brand new flavor! Dark roast coffee and whole almonds blended with honey and drizzled in dark chocolate to form a bar that, with just 5g of sugar, only tastes indulgent.

CHELSEA MARKET BASKET – Kalk Bay Food Smoulder

Their founder’s passion for inspired specialty foods, and thoughtfully designed gifts, led to the creation of Chelsea Market Baskets in 1993. Owner David Porat continues to search the world for innovative products that are distinctly high quality, fresh, unique, and have a certain indescribable charm. Chelsea Market Baskets’ ultimate goal is to delight their customers through their Chelsea Market retail shop in New York City, their mail order gift business, and their wholesale imports. They believe in product integrity and a high level of customer service. Their mission is to heighten each and every customer’s experience with these core values.

Smoulder Spice Grinder – Elements Of Spice By Kalk Bay Food : Warning: Smoking Is Addictive! A few grinds of this mix will conjure up barbeque fun. Everyone’s favorite spices, artisanally cold smoked over beech chips, make the perfect seasoning for meat on the braai. Kalk Bay Food, based in Capetown, South Africa, blends spices from around the globe into unique and delicious combinations. They are known for the quality and freshness of their products. From rare single-origin salts to inventive spice blends, Kalk Bay Food will enhance the flavor of whatever is on the dinner table.

THE PANTRY CLUB

Founded in 2010, The Pantry Club is part of a family business established by Matt and Alicia Webb. It offers ten gourmet-quality dip mix flavors that are made from natural ingredients, are MSG-free, nitrate-free and are gluten-free (with the exception of Bacon Cheddar which has gluten in it). The dip mixes can be made with the classic recipe, or they can be used to create a wide variety of meal ideas; for sauces, soups and marinades – creating hassle-free cooking that is simply delicious.

Spinach Mix Dip (Gluten Free): This special combination of seasonings not only has incredible taste, but it is a delightful complement to fresh vegetables, crackers, baked potatoes, seafood or pasta salad, or use dry as a seasoning.

TOVOLO

Tovolo believes time spent cooking should be fun, and they are honored to be a part of this experience in your home. They challenge themselves to improve the performance, function and appearance of kitchen tools. They obsess over every detail to ensure their product will out-perform expectations. However, performance alone is not enough; they want to put a smile on their customer’s face as well. They strive to add a colorful element of fun to each of their items.

The Perfect Poach: Finally, a solution to make a perfect, delicious poached egg EVERY SINGLE TIME without oil or butter! These handy bags take the guesswork and mess out of poaching eggs. Simply crack an egg into the pouch—use one pouch for each egg—immerse in simmering water, and remove after four to six minutes. Slide your perfectly poached egg onto a plate and enjoy. Bags can only be used once but they are recyclable, biodegradable, and non-stick.