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

Almond Joy After-Dinner Drink with Catskill Provisions NY Honey Whiskey Truffles

April 13, 2017 by Mary 6 Comments

Ok, so you try to think of something spectacular to serve for dessert, particularly when guests are over, when all you really want is a small super special chocolate thingy, right? Well if you had that “thingy” then how about a terrific, simple after-dinner cocktail to serve with it?

It would work even better than a dessert, right?

So we have it here for you in the MARY’s secret ingredients recent spring box! These artisanal, handmade NY Honey Whiskey Truffles from Catskill Provisions will have you hurrying back to their website for more, I guarantee.

I absolutely adore chocolate truffles and have eaten them from all over the world, but I’m telling you, THESE are THE BEST!!! And I do not say that lightly.

Just look at this cut one where the interior ganache swirls up on just the cut!

And the flavor, with the whiskey and honey, is to die for. Catskill Provisions uses their own honey and their own honey whiskey to make these precious gems. There are only four in this beautifully packaged box. (I told you, you’ll want more.)

100% New York State raw honey is the common ingredient in their all-natural food products, from chocolate truffles and sauces to mixes and marinades to rubs and cocktail rimmers and, of course, their highly acclaimed whiskeys & spirits.

It began with one beekeeping kit—a gift that sparked a passion. Claire Marin, proprietor of Catskill Provisions, was immediately taken with the bees’ Zen-like devotion to their pursuits. She was impressed with how they worked together towards a common goal, in easy harmony with their environment.

Born in Madrid and raised in New York City from the age of fourteen on, Claire had already attained success in the publishing world as Vice President, Publisher of Woman’s Day Brand Group. But after moving to the small, rural town of Long Eddy in the Catskill Mountains, she found herself more and more moved by the bees. Following their example, she began building her own community-oriented business with resources close at hand—the hives, maple trees, and local farmers of Upstate New York.

And so in thinking about my job here, to use these in a different way — I couldn’t use them in a recipe, they are way too special on their own. So I created this delicious drink recipe to go with them! An all around PERFECT dessert in my book!

Make with LOVE and enjoy!!!

ALMOND JOY AFTER-DINNER DRINK WITH CATSKILL PROVISIONS NY HONEY WHISKEY TRUFFLES – serves 1

1 bar spoon (1 tsp.) of very hot tap water
1 bar spoon of honey, preferably Catskill Provisions
Stir to combine in a cocktail shaker

When the honey is dissolved, fill the shaker with ice

Add 1.5 oz. Rye whiskey
and 0.5 oz. Disaronno Italian Liquor or other amaretto liquor

Stir for 30 seconds – do NOT shake

Strain into your favorite straight-up glass (I used our Baccarat Perfection Martini glasses)

Enjoy thoroughly with Catskill Provisions NY Honey Whiskey Truffles.

Go to sleep dreaming the sweetest dreams….

Get Dressed Sesame Sensation Roasted Eggplant Noodles

April 10, 2017 by Mary 13 Comments

Don’t you wish you had a go-to recipe for a cool meal you could make ahead and serve either hot or cold to your guests? Well, let me tell you about my Get Dressed Sesame Sensation Roasted Eggplant Noodles recipe with the wonderful Get Dressed Sesame Sensation Dressing & Marinade. This dressing & marinade is so rich and flavorful, it is so much more than a salad dressing! I was able to make this amazing main course dish in practically no time, because “dresser”/owner/creator Vanessa Miller has done all the work for you. Full of garlic, sesame and red chili spice, this is a dream to work with and makes a delicious spicy vegan meal!

Vanessa was a NYC school teacher who loved to entertain large groups of friends and family in her Manhattan apartment, much like her Tunisian mother did when she was growing up here. At those gatherings, Vanessa would fill a buffet table with tons of food and many different salad dressings. Her friends raved and encouraged her to go public with them. So she quit her teaching job, pooled all her resources and started Get Dressed Salads!! Now, she has five flavors and is working on expanding her distribution.

Her husband, a commercial real estate broker, happened to bring one of his clients to our space, as we were moving out of our offices and noticed our boxes – and that’s how we met! He’s a sweetheart, always on the lookout for placement of his wife’s products.

This recipe of Get Dressed Sesame Sensation Roasted Eggplant Noodles is just perfect for a complete meatless meal. Buy smaller eggplants that are super fresh and firm and chop into the 1/2” cubes and roast for only the 15 minutes as you don’t want them to be mushy. I only added the red pepper to roast for 5 minutes because I wanted that to be a bit crisp. You could also add matchsticks of seedless cucumbers as a topping if you’d like, along with the chopped peanuts, scallions and cilantro.

I served this warm when I first made it, but eating the leftovers cold is just as yummy, maybe even better, so you could make this a day ahead and relax the day you’re serving.

Make this soon, with LOVE! It’s so easy!

GET DRESSED SESAME SENSATION ROASTED EGGPLANT NOODLES – serves 6

1 lb. eggplant – 2 small ones are better than 1 large, chopped into 1/2” cubes
1 red pepper, cut into ½” squares
1 cup of Get Dressed Sesame Sensation, divided
1 Tbs. low sodium soy sauce
1 Tbs. rice wine vinegar
1 Tbs. balsamic vinegar
3 scallions, thinly sliced
½ cup roasted peanuts, chopped
¼ cup roughly chopped cilantro
1 lime, cut into wedges
1 lb. spaghettini
Coarse sea salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Put a large pot of water on to boil for the pasta.

Cut the eggplant into ½” cubes and toss with ½ cup of Get Dressed Sesame Sensation salad dressing in a bowl. Let marinate at room temperature for 20 – 30 minutes while you prepare the red pepper squares, shell and chop the peanuts, wash and chop the cilantro and slice the scallions.

Turn the marinated eggplant out onto a parchment covered rimmed baking sheet and roast in the oven for 10 minutes. At the 10-minute mark, add the red pepper squares to the eggplant, tossing to mix and coat with the dressing and then roast both for 5 more minutes. The eggplant should be crisp tender and the red pepper should be slightly crisp.

While the vegetables are still roasting, salt the boiling pasta water, generously with coarse sea salt to taste like the ocean. Cook the pasta. Start testing at 2 minutes less than the least amount of time stated on the package.

Meanwhile, pour the remaining ½ cup of dressing in a wide pasta bowl. Add in the soy sauce and two vinegars and whisk together.

Drain the cooked al dente pasta and add to the sauce in the bowl along with the roasted eggplant and red pepper, scraping all the juices off of the parchment, tossing with tongs to coat thoroughly.

Serve in wide soup bowls, topped with the chopped scallions, peanuts and cilantro, with a squeeze of fresh lime over all. The lime is so great! Just the right spark of acid.

Enjoy!!

SOOM CHOCOLATE TAHINI CAKES

April 8, 2017 by Mary 6 Comments

These three sisters have got it all down pat. Their Soom tahini’s are to die for!

Really.

The Soom Company is made up of three sisters, Shelby, Jackie and Amy who worship the sesame seed, with good reason. It’s so good for you in so many ways, but let’s talk first about the taste. My husband hates things with tahini – but not with theirs! True story.

The three sisters decided to call the company Soom Foods because soom soom is sesame in Hebrew.

Tahini is a versatile “paste” made from sesame seeds, which are high in protein, calcium, omega-3, six fatty acids and antioxidants. Soom only uses sesame seeds from Ethiopia – the very best place for them. They produce and package their product in Israel and import it to sell in the US. The chocolate tahini is peanut-free, dairy-free, gluten-free, kosher, no added oils… and only 10 grams of sugar! 

This Soom Chocolate Sesame Spread tastes so naughty, but it’s actually good for you! It’s like if Nutella had a soul, it would be Soom! The indulgence of chocolate with the nourishment of sesame.

So dig in and spread on ANYTHING.

Here it is on ice cream – so smooth, so yummy, so delicious.

Their website has lots of recipes using their regular tahini and the chocolate variety.

And then I made these cakes. So good…

Make with LOVE and enjoy!

SOOM CHOCOLATE TAHINI CAKES – serves 6

8 Tbs. unsalted butter, plus more for greasing pans
½ cup unsweetened cocoa, plus more for pans
2 – 3 Tbs. toasted sesame seeds
½ cup all-purpose flour
2 pinches of salt
1/3 cup Soom Chocolate Sesame Spread
3 large eggs
¾ cup superfine sugar
Zest of 1 lime (optional)
Ice cream, for serving
Fresh mint for garnish

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Use extra butter to grease 6 half-cup muffin molds or similar, or use smaller molds. Dust molds with cocoa and sprinkle the sesame seeds in the bottom of each. Sift together remaining 1/2 cup cocoa with the flour and the salt. Set aside.

Melt 8 Tbs. butter in a heatproof bowl over simmering water, or in a small, heavy saucepan on very low heat. (Watch carefully if using a saucepan.) When almost completely melted, remove from heat and stir until smooth and all melted. Set aside.

Using an electric beater, whisk eggs. Add sugar and beat until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in the Soom Chocolate Tahini on a low speed. Add in the cooled melted butter. Fold in the cocoa/flour mixture by hand with a spatula, until thoroughly combined.

Pour the batter into the molds and set molds on a baking sheet. Place in the oven and bake 12 to 14 minutes, less for smaller molds. A skewer or toothpick inserted in the middle should NOT come out clean. 12 minutes was perfect in my oven.

Cool for 20 minutes or more before unmolding. Dust tops with lime zest and serve with ice cream or just serve with ice cream and mint garnish. The center of the cake should be warm, wonderful, and gooey.

Serve with LOVE and enjoy!!!

The Spring 2017 MARY’s secret ingredients box revealed!

April 7, 2017 by Mary 2 Comments

Yes! Spring is officially here (even though I was still wearing gloves today) as our Spring 2017 MARY’s secret ingredients box revealed!

As always, we have unique products you’ve probably never heard of, but we think you need to know about as they are all natural, good for you and will make your ordinary dinnertime super extraordinary, easily, with my recipes coming up. And, we have this great theme going on with honey (so good) and sesame (open wide!).

Did you know that honey helps prevent cancer and heart disease, reduces ulcers and other gastrointestinal disorders, is anti-bacterial and anti-fungal, reduces cough and throat irritation and even though it’s a sweetener, it helps regulate blood sugar?

And sesame seeds are one of the most ancient foods on earth. Full of protein, rich in oils, and high in linoleic and oleic acids. All good! That’s why we created this box for you!!

Here is our terrific fun video made by our super talented team.

Recipes to come using all of these awesome products and remember to always cook with LOVE and I guarantee your food will taste better!

CATSKILL PROVISIONS WHISKEY HONEY TRUFFLES

Combine New York honey, whiskey and chocolate and what have you got? THE most delicious chocolate truffle in the whole wide world!

Located in Long Eddy, New York, in a small northwestern corner of the Catskill Mountains, Catskill Provisions specializes in creating all natural food products and craft spirits from resources close at hand, including the finest raw wildflower honey.

Whiskey Honey Truffles — NY State handcrafted bittersweet chocolate truffles infused with our NY Honey Whiskey. Vanilla, salt, local butter and cream (all organic) join in this marriage for a decadent experience.

GET DRESSED SESAME SENSATION SALAD DRESSING

You know how you always wanted to recreate the delicious cold noodle dish from the Chinese restaurant? Well here you go – dress your noodles and lots of other things with this baby and slurp away!

Feel your best with Get Dressed,™ an all natural, vegan, kosher,  gluten-free and sugar-free line of specialty salad dressings. Gourmet “dresser,” Vanessa Miller designed each delicious dressing to double as a marinade to effortlessly elevate otherwise ordinary dishes. Suggested pairings on every label remove the guesswork and ensure speedy, mouthwatering meals. In addition to delighting tastebuds, each Get Dressed bottle cap contains a secret message, reminding dressers at home to seize the day and dress it your way.

Sesame Sensation is the first spicy tahini dressing on the market. It will elevate your taste buds and instantly make your dish into a gourmet meal!

JOSEPH JOSEPH SMART BAR

Joseph Joseph has done it again, melding form and function in the most beautiful way. You’ll LOVE washing your hands again and one wash will remove the disagreeable odors too.

Founded in 2003 by twin brothers Anthony and Richard, Joseph Joseph specialises in creating design-led products for the kitchen and home with a strong emphasis on form, functionality and quality. As one of the fastest growing companies in the worldwide homewares market, the brand has earned global recognition for its multi-award-winning designs.

SmartBar takes hand washing to a whole new level with its multi-layer approach to hygiene. Its sleek stainless-steel case not only looks good but also helps remove odour from fingers and hands by attracting the sulphur molecules deposited by foods such as garlic and onions. Unlike other stainless-steel soap bars though, smart bar can also be filled with liquid hand soap meaning you can have thoroughly clean and fragranced hands in one go. Simply fill the unit with liquid soap and then press the silicone button to dispense a small amount into your hands through the non-drip valve at the back of the product. For mess-free storage, smart bar even comes with its own silicone draining mat. Hand wash only.

SOOM CHOCOLATE SESAME SPREAD

This chocolate covered enchanted sesame seed spread will have you spreading it on everything, and then some. Move over Nutella – this is way better for you! This is like a spreadable chocolate covered halva bar!

Sister Entrepreneurs “We are a Philadelphia-based women-owned business of three Soom sisters – Shelby, Jackie and Amy – passionate about showcasing the delicious, nutritious and versatile qualities of tahini. Inspired by the unique flavor of Ethiopian sesame seeds, we are dedicated to popularizing tahini in the American market.”

Chocolate Soom — Why deny your sweet tooth? Peanut-free, dairy-free, gluten-free, kosher, no added oils… and only 10 grams of sugar!  The indulgence of chocolate with the nourishment of sesame.

WILDER HONEY JALAPEÑO MUSTARD

A little sweet, a little spicy, a lot addictive. We bet you’ll be spreading this mustard on EVERYTHING!!

At Wilder Condiments, we love California. That’s why our mustards are made from here, from ingredients grown here – bringing bright and bold flavor to your favorite eats. We believe in beach cookouts, brown bag lunches, and good food tasting better.

Our mustards were a backyard project, mixed up between BBQ’s and beer brewing sessions by chef and owner, Isabel Freed. Based along the sunny surf swept coastline of Santa Cruz, our hometown inspires us – with good food in good company at the helm of everything we make.

Honey Jalapeño Mustard — The perfect blend of sweetness and spice. Made with sustainably grown California honey and jalapeños. Best enjoyed brushed over grilled chicken, with a crisp sav blanc in a picnic basket.

Buttermilk Challah French Toast

March 30, 2017 by Mary 7 Comments

I love French toast! It’s even better than pancakes for me. Did you know that this past Saturday was National Waffle Day? Me neither, until our totally on-the-ball, wonderful marketing associate, Abby, at MARY’s secret ingredients pointed it out, and that made me think of making French Toast too. But then I thought, how could I make French Toast even better? And I came up with this Buttermilk Challah French Toast recipe – and it was totally yummy!!

It’s less sweet. It sort of tastes like French Toast coated with crème fraiche. It’s a subtle sophisticated difference, but I really liked it. And it’s a whole lot better for you too as buttermilk is considerably lower in calories and fat content but high in calcium, Vitamin B12 and potassium as compared to regular milk. One cup of buttermilk may contain up to 99 calories while milk may contain up to 157 calories. Also, one cup of buttermilk typically has 2.2 grams of fat while the same amount of milk gives you 9 grams of fat. So there!

What makes your French Toast work?

I remember once being on location for a catalog and advertising photo shoot for several days and our crew of five folks spent three days together shooting slippers. Yes, slippers, for Dearfoams, and at one breakfast at the local diner, they had French Toast, but no powdered sugar in the kitchen. Bradley, the photographer looked at me and said, “So you need that to make it work for you?”

I thought that was such a funny yet very true way to put it.

And yes, I do need confectioner’s sugar with a tiny bit a melted butter, to make my French Toast work for me. Ever since I started eating leftover dinners, sliced turkey or only eggs for breakfast, as I need a lot of protein, I rarely make these sweet things. So it’s a good thing we had the sugar on hand, while my husband prefers maple syrup.

Here you go with this super simple recipe. Since there were only two of us, after I made it on Saturday and used just half of the batter, I covered the pie plate with Saran wrap and refrigerated it. The next morning on Sunday, I took the batter out and let it warm up at room temperature for about 20 minutes and then started soaking bread slices again to make a fresh batch of Buttermilk Challah French Toast. This was a way cool, super fast breakfast the second time around. And, it was just as good!!

Make with LOVE.

BUTTERMILK CHALLAH FRENCH TOAST – serves 4

1 loaf of challah bread
4 eggs, beaten
1 cup of real buttermilk (I use Kate’s)
Pinch of French grey or Kosher salt
1 Tbs. vanilla extract
¾ tsp. ground cinnamon
1 Tbs. unsalted butter

Slice the challah into generous ½” slices. Lightly beat eggs in a Pyrex pie plate. Add buttermilk, salt, vanilla and cinnamon and whisk to combine thoroughly.

Soak the bread slices in the egg buttermilk mixture, turning over several times to coat thoroughly.

Heat the butter in a large skillet until sizzling. Add dipped bread slices. Brown on each side for 2 – 3 minutes on medium-high heat. Watch it so it doesn’t brown too quickly because the inside needs to cook as well. You may need to add more butter to the skillet.

Serve with pure warmed maple syrup or a tiny swish of butter and powdered sugar.

Tuna Salad Sandwiches with Holy Schmitt’s Mustard Horseradish

March 22, 2017 by Mary 4 Comments

Tuna Salad is common enough, basic enough and simple enough, so why do you need a recipe? Because, this Tuna Salad is made with Holy Schmitt’s Mustard Horseradish and it is DELICIOUS!!

Take something as mundane as tuna salad and infuse it with life with this Holy Schmitt’s Mustard Horseradish and WOW!! It’s true, a few tablespoons of this and real flavor abounds. Besides, it’s healthy for you because horseradish is a true superfood, not to mention a sinus-clearing device. Chase the winter blues away, welcome spring and make this for lunch soon.

Because Matt Schmitt, a 4th generation Long Island farmer, plants the horseradish, nurtures it, knows that there are no chemicals to fertilize it, so it’s totally non-GMO and organic, harvests the root, scrubs them clean, peels them and grates them in his own converted garage/commercial kitchen, your can trust that this is pure stuff, the real deal.

I like a little hard-boiled egg in my salad. I think it adds some creaminess. You could leave it out if you’d like but I recommend it.

You know horseradish is a staple in all Slavic countries, where it’s cold and root vegetables rule. Horseradish is known to suppress the growth of tumors, has significant amounts of cancer-fighting compounds called glucosinolates and is chock full of iron, magnesium, calcium and anti-stress B vitamins. But you don’t even need to know all of those benefits – you just need to know it’s DELICIOUS!!

TUNA SALAD SANDWICHES WITH HOLY SCHMITT’S MUSTARD HORSERADISH – serves 4

2 cans, 5 oz. each, solid white tuna packed in water, drained and carefully flaked
1 hard boiled egg, chopped
¼ cup (scant) minced onions
5 Tbs. minced celery
4 Tbs. Holy Schmitt’s Mustard Horseradish
5 Tbs. mayonnaise
Salt
Fresh ground pepper
2 plum tomatoes, sliced
2 handfuls of baby spinach leaves, washed and air dried
8 slices of mutli-grain bread, toasted

Combine first 8 ingredients and fold together to combine. I really don’t like it when people mash up canned or jarred tuna. Fold it together with a rubber spatula so you will still have nice chunks of tuna.

Make your sandwich. Lay ½ handful of baby spinach leaves on one side of toasted bread. Put one quarter of the horseradish tuna salad on top, spreading evenly. Lay on top 3 slices of tomato. Top with other slice of bread. Cut in half. (My mother used to always cut diagonally – then my oldest son insisted on that for his school lunches – I did not do that here – sorry Mom.)

Dig in and ENJOY!!

Be the best tuna salad you ever had!

Going Through Everything – and Quick Pasta with a Sweet Sausage Bolognese

March 16, 2017 by Mary 4 Comments

This office move of going through everything after being in business for 38 years has been massive, to say the least. What a tumult of emotions I have been through! I found files where I had saved many keepsakes and thank you notes. I had no idea I had entertained so many people for lunch over the years, especially when we had our previous office for ten years, where we had a large terrace with a Hudson River view.

It was amazing to me that so many people wrote about it! Gathering around a table with food is what people remember. And the wine parties. And the birthday cakes. But after about 7 or 8 years there, the buildings started growing up all around, leaving us just a sliver of a river to see and creating a wind tunnel down 38^th Street to make it not so nice anymore.

Things change so. They can’t stay the same. And I feel a little like an outsider looking in now when I leave my home office for a meeting. Like I’m not part of the in-crowd work force anymore. Like I’m sneaking around.

My husband wanted to operate like this – virtually from the cloud – five years ago, but I resisted. Now, I pretty much like it. I’ll certainly save on make-up and even soap if I’m not careful because it is easy to roll from bed to desk and back again. But no, we must have some rules and we do have our weekly two meetings with our team members here.

Going through everything has sort made me feel like I’ve died already. You see, I saved all those things, thinking I would go through them right before I died. So I did it now. My friend Margaret said she still wouldn’t have thrown them away but I wanted to save that task from my boys. Lord knows I did it enough with my parents and then with Steve’s. I’m still washing his mother’s tablecloths and napkins from when she passed last May.

So needless to say, our meals have had to be super quick and easy for the weary hungry souls we’ve been. Once again, I have relied on some all natural, very flavorful sweet Italian sausage to give us the boost of flavor you can easily count on, as I did with the one-sheet-pan meal of sausage, potatoes and arugula.

I used a lot of red wine in this sauce, because I had an open bottle on the counter just begging to be put to use and I am in a “get rid of things” kind of mode. And adding the little bit of cream at the end smoothed out the ragged edges of the sauce, along with our emotions.

Make and serve with LOVE!

QUICK PASTA WITH SWEET SAUSAGE BOLOGNESE –serves 5 – 6

2 Tbs. coconut oil (better brain food!)
2 shallots, minced
1 lb. all natural sweet Italian sausages, meat removed from casings
1 28 oz. can of whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes
¾ cup dry red wine
1 ½ tsp. dried Greek oregano
¼ tsp. red chili flakes
Salt to taste – French Grey or Kosher
Pepper – fresh ground to taste
2 Tbs. heavy cream
1 lb. good quality dried pasta (I used Sfoglini from our box!)
Coarse sea salt

Put a large pot of cold water on to boil for your pasta.

Warm the coconut oil over low heat. Add minced shallots and cover to let them sweat and sweeten for 10 minutes.

Uncover and raise heat to medium and add the sausage meat, breaking it up into small pieces, tossing it to brown all over. Once browned, add the tomatoes and their juice to the sausage and shallots, crushing the tomatoes with your hands as you’re adding them. Turn heat to medium-high to bring the sauce to brisk simmer/low boil. Add the wine, oregano, chili flakes and salt and pepper to taste. Stir sauce every so often and keep the brisk simmer/low boil going, along with the stirring. The sauce needs to thicken quite a bit.

When the pasta water comes to a boil, add enough coarse sea salt to make it taste like the ocean. Add your pasta and check at 2 minutes less than the least amount of time they tell you on the package. When pasta is al dente, save some pasta water and drain the pasta.

Your sauce should be thickened by now. Remove from heat and stir in 2 Tbs. of heavy cream. Combine the sauce with the pasta in a warm wide bowl. Add 1 Tbs. pasta water, to help the sauce cling better to the noodles. Toss and serve!

You could add grated cheese but I think it’s not necessary. This dish, with the wine and cream, is nice and rich just by itself. Enjoy!!!

If there are only two of you eating, cook only 8 oz. of pasta and use only half of the sauce. You could then freeze the sauce for another meal later in the month or refrigerate for up to 5 days and cook your pasta fresh again. Always better to have fresh pasta than to rewarm it.

Refreshing Winter Citrus Salad Recipe

March 5, 2017 by Mary 9 Comments

Tis the season for oranges to be plentiful and this Refreshing Winter Citrus Salad Recipe is just the thing to drown out the winter blues, wake up your tastebuds and start thinking about spring!

You know I love blood oranges and Cara Cara’s are so nice too as this salad combines both of them along with pink grapefruit, regular navel oranges, some celery for crunch and young escarole leaves for a touch of bitterness. The oil cured black olives add contrast and just the right amount of extra salt, while the thinly slivered red onions do their thing. This is DELICIOUS!!

We are rounding home stretch of moving and cleaning EVERYTHING out of our offices, reorganizing and repositioning the businesses, coming home dirty and dusty every night for the past week and this salad is just the thing that cleans our bodies and souls up before jumping into the shower and then bed. This is also the reason there has been a pause in my posts.

Of course you don’t have to be dirty and tired to enjoy this salad. It’s crisp and refreshing at any time. Beautiful to look at, with all the colors, it’s a feast for the eyes too. This is the kind of salad that’s so good, you just want to keep shoveling it in and mumbling mmm’s.

Please make sure you peel all of the citrus as described below, with a sharp knife. You don’t want any bitter pith coming in to ruin your dish. Make this now, with LOVE, while all the oranges are plentiful. Enjoy!!!

REFRESHING WINTER CITRUS SALAD RECIPE – serves 3 – 4

4 Tbs. olive oil
2 Tbs. sherry vinegar
Salt and pepper
1 navel orange
2 blood oranges
2 Cara Cara oranges
1 small pink grapefruit
1/2 small red onion, very thinly sliced
3 tender inside celery stalks, thinly sliced at an angle
Handful of black oil cured olives
½ small head of escarole, tender inside leaves
Large pinch of flaky Maldon sea salt

Whisk together olive oil and vinegar in a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

Wash and spin dry the escarole leaves. Wrap in paper toweling and chill in the refrigerator.

To remove the peel from all of the citrus fruit, use a small serrated or very sharp boning knife. First, cut off a thin slice of peel from the top and bottom of the orange, so it can sit flat on the cutting board. Next, take off the peel, cutting from top to bottom, following the curve of the fruit. Try to remove only the peel and white pith, not the flesh of the fruit. It should end up being perfectly spherical and naked.

Once peeled, carefully slice peeled citrus crosswise. Arrange escarole leaves on a large platter. Arrange all citrus slices in a random pattern on top of the escarole, letting them overlap a bit here and there. Scatter onion and celery over top. Dot the surface with olives.

Whisk vinaigrette again, and spoon evenly over the salad. Sprinkle lightly with flaky salt and serve with LOVE.

Enjoy!!!

Super Quick Sausage, Potato & Arugula Recipe

February 21, 2017 by Mary 20 Comments

We are on total overload moving our offices to be virtual. That translates into getting rid of 38 years worth of sample work, documents, furniture, books and everything, by the end of February. So time is of the essence to me these days and this Super Quick Sausage, Potato & Arugula Recipe has been a real lifesaver for us. It’s speedy to make, beautiful to serve and delicious!

Why this is great! It’s always great to use sausage in a dish as a real time saver because if you can buy really good homemade, all natural Italian sausage, it is already full of herbs, spices and flavor. You could even mix hot and sweet sausage, but in this recipe, I do prefer all sweet. The three different kinds of potatoes add interest in flavor and texture and of course I always love arugula. But try to get the real thing here – the bunches of big leaf arugula – as opposed to the clamshell packages of baby arugula that, to me, really don’t have any flavor any more. I want the real thing, with the spicy bite!

I first made this in January, on the day we had to take Zach to the airport for his flight back to Warsaw. Of course, in my usual bad style, I arrived home late and had planned to make this dish. But it came together so quickly, it didn’t matter that I was late. We still ate in plenty of time and got him to the airport early.

The original recipe was in Food and Wine magazine, but I have changed it, adding a bit more meat and less potatoes. I have also made it exactly like the magazine recipe but I prefer it my way.

SUPER QUICK SAUSAGE, POTATO & ARUGULA RECIPE – serves 4

1 large red potato, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
2 large Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 1-inch wedges
1 large baking potato, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
10 medium unpeeled shallots, halved
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing
French Grey or Kosher salt
Fresh ground pepper
1 3/4 pounds sweet Italian sausage, cut into 3-inch lengths
One 8-ounce bunch of arugula, stemmed and chopped
1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 425°. On a large rimmed baking sheet, toss all of the potatoes with the shallots and the 1/3 cup of olive oil. Season generously with salt and pepper. Roast for about 15 minutes, until the potatoes are lightly browned.

Brush the sausage with olive oil and add to the baking sheet. Roast for 20 to 25 minutes longer, until the potatoes are tender and the sausage is cooked through.

Line a large platter with the arugula. Transfer everything on the baking sheet on top of the arugula. Sprinkle lemon juice over all evenly. Serve with LOVE.

What mark do you want to leave on the world?

February 12, 2017 by Mary 6 Comments

Me?

I want people to eat healthy and feel great. I want them to know what they are putting into their bodies. You can feel vibrant, so alive and excited with the energy to do anything if you eat right, sleep deeply and exercise regularly, allowing you to make your mark in the world. It may take some effort at first but then you will ONLY want to live this way. I don’t eat out very much – I want to know exactly what I’m eating. I take our lunches to work, which are easy, as they’re leftover dinners. That way I know I’m eating clean good wholesome food.

Which brings me to my next big gripe. I think it’s great that there is more interest in food in general with all the food and cooking shows around. However, many of them are promoting fat laden, really rich and unhealthy food. And if you’re not too knowledgeable about food content and calories in general, you wouldn’t know that. So I think the producers of these shows are doing a grave disservice to the general population.

My food and recipes are clean, healthy and good for you. They also taste DELICIOUS. There is no reason why you can’t have it all!!

I have spoken to Food Network producers and they say that healthy food shows, no one will watch. I say take it up a notch and make it just as fun, tasty and exciting, while educating people on the right way to cook and eat.

I am also for promoting that all women’s bodies are different and we can’t all be super thin but to promote being overweight or obese is ok? That’s crazy!!! It is plain unhealthy. I recently saw an ad in the subway for a new TV show called Teachers and 4 out of the 6 girls were overweight. It’s funny, I look at old pictures of relatives who were fat when I was young, and today, with everyone being heavier, they don’t look so fat.

Graham Kerr in his garden at home in Mount Vernon, Wash., last summer. In the 1970s, he lurched from indulgence to a denunciation of excess, but he eventually found his way to a middle ground. Credit: Ruth Fremson/The New York Times

Even Galloping Gourmet – the TV chef Graham Kerr from the 70’s – who used to shoot extra fat into already well-marbled prime rib roasts admitted in a recent New York Times article that he was over the top unhealthy with his food. In 1987, his wife (who also produced his show and came up with the idea of leaping over chairs) had a heart attack and a stroke at age 53. Mr. Kerr blamed himself — and his cooking.

The double decker fat-laden burger at Chumley’s restaurant. Credit: Ben Sklar for The New York Times

Just last week, Pete Wells from the New York Times reviewed the newly revived restaurant, Chumley’s in the West Village, which used to be a favorite hangout of mine when I was at Parsons. Then it was cheap good bar food. Now, Pete says, their burger “is like an erotic poem on a theme of fat. It is a double decker, both of its patties buried under American cheese and soaked with bone marrow that’s been hit with a blowtorch. Liquid marrow falls from the burger; so do a few dark and crunchy fried shallots and orange blobs of cheese. On the side are very crisp and skinny fries tossed, after their second trip to the deep fryer, in melted dry-aged beef fat.” Eating the burger painted his face with grease until he looked like Martin Sheen at the end of “Apocalypse Now.”

Is any of this necessary? Come on, I’ll make you a tasty burger any day of the week without all that fat. Food is medicine. Great healthy food can be preventative and curative medicine. I have seen it perform with my husband who slipped and badly hurt his head in the bathroom. He is recovering nicely with natural analgesics and herbs, eating lots of pineapple and blueberries and I have been cooking only with coconut oil.

I want to share with you one of my Christmas presents from our son and his fiancée. It was a collection of handmade soaps and bath bombs, beautifully made and packaged. The outside of the box had all of this script writing on it, in Polish, of course. This is what it says:

I wish you…Silence, because in silence we find that which is lost. Happiness and a ruckus when we feel like dancing and (when we feel like) being among other people. Love, which never ends and gives refuge and the courage to act. Calm dreams. Warmth that warms up the palms and the heart. Vigilance, because it allows us to see the world and people the way they are. Work that allows us to believe in oneself. Gentleness, because it wins people over and brings peace. Friends who understand. Time that would allow us to remember the good moments and would allow us to forget that which we don’t want to remember. A home. Travels. Good whiskey. The right words spoken in the right time. Faith that everything is going to be alright and the hope that maybe it will be even better than that. Wisdom, so that we are able to separate that which is important from that which is trivial. The firmness to reach out for that which is fair. Passion. Normal blood pressure. As much money to make us feel safe. Health, to be able to enjoy all of that.

Close-up shot of handmade soaps and bath bombs.

I love the rosemary in the soap.

I repeat again, I wish you health, to be able to enjoy all of that, and LOVE, which never ends and gives refuge and the courage to act.

May you act to make your mark on the world with LOVE.