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

Roasted Salmon with Dijon Mustard and Beet Horseradish

February 3, 2017 by Mary 8 Comments

The headline on the latest Food and Wine magazine reads Eat Smarter, Live Longer, only I made a typo at first and wrote, Eat Smarter, Love Longer. That works too! In that vein, I invite you to try this latest recipe of mine, Roasted Salmon with Dijon Mustard and Beet Horseradish, that uses the superfood, Holy Schmitt’s Beet Horseradish, from our friends at the Schmitt’s family farm on Long Island.

Pairing their beet horseradish with salmon was an unlikely combination but I thought the colors would be spectacular and I was not wrong! This would be a perfect, easy and tasty dish to serve on Valentine’s Day!

My family has a beloved recipe of beets with horseradish. We call it Chrzan which I’ve since learned from my smart-alecky son who now speaks fluent Polish, chrzan is really only the horseradish. If you want to mention the beets, you say Ćwikła z Chrzanem. (And the phonetic spelling for chrzan is [h-shan] and Ćwikła z Chrzanem is [ch-vee-qua -z- [h-shan]-em.)

I know! Polish is hard and there is no V in the alphabet!

So horseradish is a true ancient superfood plus a super easy way to add huge flavor. The word horseradish goes back to the 1590’s in English. It combines the word horse (formerly used in a figurative sense to mean strong or coarse) and the word radish. Horseradish contains significant amounts of cancer-fighting compounds called glucosinolates which boost the liver function and suppress the growth of tumors. It’s a phenomenal source of iron and magnesium for energy production, calcium for healthy teeth and bones, and has a whole bunch of anti-stress B vitamins.

When you roast with horseradish, it almost becomes sweet. It definitely does not stay super hot. It’s a super easy way to add some deliciousness to your fish!

Matt Schmitt is the 4th generation farmer in Riverhead, Long Island. He converted one-half of a garage to be a commercial kitchen, grows 15 acres of the horseradish root and uses his German grandfather’s recipe to make the jarred variety. And right out of the jar, it is Holy Schmitt’s HOT!!

But I’m really delighted with this recipe. Super simple, nourishing, healthy and so tasty and different!

ROASTED SALMON WITH DIJON MUSTARD AND BEET HORSERADISH – serves 3 – 4

1.5 lbs. center cut salmon fillet
Olive oil
Salt – preferably French Grey
Pepper, fresh ground
1 Tbs. Dijon mustard
2 Tbs. Holy Schmitt’s beet horseradish, drained

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and place a rack in the top position.

Wash and pat dry fish with paper toweling. Cover a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and put a thin film of oil down the size of your fish. Season the top side of the salmon with salt and pepper. Spread the Dijon mustard evenly on top. Then distribute the beet horseradish over the mustard coated fish.

Roast for 13 – 15 minutes for medium – medium rare cooked fish. Remove to a platter and cut into 3 – 4 serving pieces. Serve with LOVE and enjoy!!

Grilled Leg of Lamb with Almonds and Orange Blossom Sauce

January 25, 2017 by Mary 6 Comments

Two sorries here – we updated our site and this post got deleted so I am posting it again as many of you have written that you would like to make the recipe. And, there is no way I can post without you receiving it by email again. 🙁 Here’s the original post:

Sorry I have been out of touch. It has been quite a week and the following was written last Sunday night/early Monday morning.

It is 2:50 am and I am in the hospital emergency room with my husband. He fell getting out of a hot salt water and baking soda tub soak and cut his head badly enough to need stitches. 🙁 This happened around 11 pm.

I’m wondering why isn’t any of the support staff who work in this hospital at this time of night happy? They chose this job and I know it’s the middle of the night but this is their shift, right? I mean like, shouldn’t they be prepared for it? – unlike me at this moment.

Looks like we’ll be lucky to get out of here at 5:30 am. Emergency rooms are just no fun. No smiling faces and waiting, waiting, waiting.

However, the doctors have all been very nice.

Hospitals, architecturally and visually, seem to be so poorly designed and outfitted. To get a chair to be able to sit next to my husband’s bed was quite an ordeal. Why don’t they have chairs available? Yet they make room for chairs that are all connected as one complete unit in a large waiting room area, that sits completely empty. Well who would want to be out there if your loved one is in an emergency situation? You want to be right by his side. And who picks these wall colors or floor patterns? Or the lighting?

Really. I see a huge opportunity for architects and interior designers to make these places function much more efficiently, look and feel a whole lot more cheerful and therefore the people who work here and visit would have a much healthier, happier attitude. This emergency room reminds me of all of the TSA security checkpoints in airports. They all still look like makeshift operations, no accounting for process in the design, expecting old folks to balance on one leg to take a shoe off or put one on. I mean really, we’ve had these checkpoints now for 16 years!

And the gloves!! No longer latex because of too many allergies – they are now made of nitrile – whatever that is – but probably neither one is biodegradable so I fear the whole earth will be covered in this substance and nothing will be able to breathe!! Yikes! One doctor alone says he goes through more than 50 pairs a shift!

Thank you for allowing this little rant of mine. Writing this on my phone has helped to calm me down in this situation, while my husband gets stitched up. The plastic surgeon is doing a beautiful job!!

And fortunately we are fortified! We had a great dinner! We started with a Caesar salad, followed by a riff on an Ottolenghi leg of lamb recipe, (I added more garlic and replaced the thyme with rosemary) with roasted potatoes and blanched snow peas with a sherry vinaigrette. Cut-out Christmas cookies finished the meal while watching Blacklist. Seemed to be a lovely evening…

We never know our next steps, do we? That is why we should always eat well, be joyful and enjoy every moment in the moment!
Ottolenghi grilled leg of lamb recipe with red peppers and cilantro garnish.

GRILLED LEG OF LAMB WITH ALMONDS AND ORANGE BLOSSOM SAUCE – serves 6 – adapted from Ottolenghi

1/2 leg of lamb, deboned and trimmed (2.75 – 3 lbs.)
1.5 red peppers, seeds removed and cut into ¾” thick strips
2 Tbs. olive oil
Salt and black pepper

Marinade:
7 garlic cloves, crushed
Grated zest of 2 lemons
6 Tbs. lemon juice
2 Tbs. rosemary leaves, chopped
6 Tbs. olive oil

Sauce:
7 Tbs. olive oil
6 oz. whole almonds
Grated zest of 1 lemon
4 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp honey
½ tsp orange blossom water
2 Tbs. mint, finely chopped
2 Tbs. coriander leaves, finely chopped

The recipe says this looks fantastic when served on a large platter over a bed of fresh parsley – leaves and stalks. You can sear the meat, grill the peppers and make the sauce (without the herbs) – all in advance, then finish the meat and add the herbs to the sauce at the very last minute. I did not do this but sounds like a good idea!

Because a deboned leg of lamb is always different thicknesses, this way of sectioning the lamb into more uniform pieces is a really brilliant way to cook it!

Start with the marinade. In a large bowl combine the garlic, lemon zest and juice, the chopped rosemary leaves, olive oil, 1½ teaspoons of salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper and stir well. Cut the lamb into 4 or 5 even pieces in thickness and add to the marinade. Use your hands to massage the marinade into the meat. Put in the fridge and leave to marinate for a minimum of 2 hours or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 425ºF. Take the lamb out of the fridge at least an hour before cooking.

Place a large ridged griddle pan on high heat. Drizzle the peppers with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and ¼ teaspoon of salt and place on the grill. Cook for about 7 minutes, turning once, until charred on all sides. Set aside to cool.

Put the lamb pieces on the hot grill and cook for 2 – 3 minutes on each side or until charred all over and starting to caramelize. Transfer onto a roasting tray and put in the hot oven for 4 minutes. The meat should reach a rare to medium stage by then (leave a few minutes longer if you like it well cooked). Check by pressing against the meat. The less the “give” the more it is cooked. If you aren’t sure, just make a small incision to check for the color or use a thermometer and it should be at 120 degrees for rare to medium rare. Once the lamb is cooked, remove it from the oven and leave it to rest for 5 – 10 minutes on a cutting board or platter.

Meanwhile make the sauce. Heat 3 tablespoons of the olive oil in a small pan and add the almonds. Cook for 3 – 4 minutes stirring continuously until the nuts are golden brown and evenly cooked. Remove from the heat and allow to cool a little in a shallow bowl to stop the cooking. Place the nuts in a food processor and roughly crush. Mix in the lemon zest and juice, honey, orange blossom water, ½ teaspoon of salt, ½ teaspoon of pepper and the remaining olive oil. Mix well and set aside.

When you are ready to serve, carve the lamb into 1/3″ thick slices and arrange it on a platter along with the peppers. Add the freshly chopped herbs to the sauce and spoon on top. Garnish with cilantro leaves. Serve any of the remaining sauce on the side.

Serve with LOVE. Total DELISH!!

Warm Farro Salad with RayZyn’s

December 31, 2016 by Mary 23 Comments

Imagine raisins that have more antioxidants than wine!! Not that I’m giving up my wine but we could always use more antioxidants to combat all the diseases out there. These Wine RayZyn’s are a crunchy superfood in three flavors – ChardonayZyn, MerlayZyn, and CabernayZyn are really simply dried wine grapes. If you got our MARY’s secret ingredients winter box, you received two of the three flavors.

They’re delicious and super crunchy. A little different than you’d expect, the crunch comes from the seeds and the seeds have more antioxidants than the rest of the dried grape, so crunch away!!

I made this warm farro salad with the RayZyns, (any flavor will work), some sautéed onions and radishes. I’m calling this a salad because of the radishes but believe me, this was delicious and comforting, even on a cold winter night. Finishing it with the sherry vinegar adds just the right amount of acid to tie the sweet, from the RayZyns, with the savory, from the onions and radishes, together, while the lovely farro adds its own soft chewy texture. The butter at the end is a good addition as well, to tie it all together.

And don’t worry about serving this warm salad to your kids, there’s no alcohol in these RayZyn’s and they’re non GMO, all natural, and vegan!

Make this to go with any protein. You’ll be delighted.

WARM FARRO SALAD WITH RAYZYN’S – serves 4

1 cup farro
1 tsp. coarse sea salt
3 cups water
2 Tbs. olive oil, divided
1 small onion or shallot, minced
1 anchovy fillet, drained and patted dry
1 Tbs. unsalted butter
3 radishes, chopped
1/2 cup RayZyns, any flavor, finely chopped
Fine grind sea salt
Freshly ground pepper
1 Tbs. sherry vinegar

Warm farro salad with RayZyn's ingredients on a wooden cutting board. Combine farro, water and 1 tsp. coarse sea salt in a small pot. Being to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Test after 15 minutes. The texture of the farro should be tender and chewy, a little al dente. And the farro should always be covered with water while cooking. This will take 15 – 30 minutes of cooking time.

Meanwhile, as the farro is cooking, in a small skillet, warm 1 Tbs. olive oil on low heat and add the minced onion or shallot and the anchovy. Cover and let cook on low heat for 10 minutes to soften and sweeten the onion, and melt the anchovy, stirring occasionally.

Uncover and add the chopped radishes and cook for just 3 minutes on medium high heat. Remove the skillet from the heat and add the 1 Tbs. of butter. Swirl it around to melt the butter off heat, but keep the skillet in a warm place.

Finely chopped RayZyn's with three radishes on a cutting board. Finely chop the RayZyn’s, any flavor will be delicious.

Drain the farro when done. Shake the colander and stir the grains to remove any extra water. Lay the farro out on one-half of a clean linen or cotton towel and cover with the other half of the towel to mop up any extra water from the farro.

In a warm bowl, combine the farro, the radishes and onion mixture, the finely chopped RayZyns, plus 1 Tbs. good olive oil and sprinkle the sherry vinegar over all. Toss to combine well and taste for salt and pepper. It may not need any salt.

Serve immediately, with LOVE!

Stash MerryMint Organic Green Tea Holiday Cocktail

December 27, 2016 by Mary 5 Comments

I love green tea. It’s a super brain food. Not that I need to be any smarter, mind you, just saying… 🙂

Here’s some interesting info: Green tea contains the amino acid L-theanine, which is able to cross the blood-brain barrier. L-theanine increases the activity of the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA, which has anti-anxiety effects. It also increases dopamine and the production of alpha waves in the brain.

Well goodbye anxiety, bring on the dopamine and alpha waves and make me happy. I’m in!

This Stash MerryMint Organic Green Tea is so fresh and potent, I LOVE it! The two types of mint – peppermint and spearmint, combined with ginger root, lemongrass and wintergreen oil make this tea so minty flavorful – you will love it! This is the fifth item in our MARY’s secret ingredients 2016 winter subscription box.

Of course you can enjoy it plain or with just a little bit of honey, but I opted to make this truly American Holiday minty and lemony cocktail. This tea in an alcoholic drink is merriment for the season!!

Brew the tea ahead of time, combine with the honey and then let it cool. I guarantee this will be your favorite drink this season. It’s not too strong, yet lovely in a straight up glass. This is what is in fashion now – interesting drinks that are not too alcoholic.

Here’s to the season and an AWESOME new year!!! xoxo, Mary

STASH MERRYMINT ORGANIC GREEN TEA HOLIDAY COCKTAIL – makes 1 drink

1 Stash Tea MerryMint Organic Green Tea tea bag
4 oz. boiling water
½ Tbs. honey
1 oz. American whiskey or bourbon
½ oz. Cynar
Lemon peel twist

Brew the tea bag in the water for 3 minutes. Remove bag and stir in the honey to dissolve. Let the tea cool completely.

Pour over ice in a shaker, the whiskey or bourbon, Cynar, and honeyed tea. Shake to combine. Pour in a straight up cocktail glass or old-fashioned champagne glass. Peel a lemon twist over the glass and drop in.

Sip and enjoy!!!

Chinese 5 Spice Duck Legs with Lingonberries

December 24, 2016 by Mary 12 Comments

I was first introduced to lingonberries at the Red Rooster restaurant in my home neighborhood. President Obama frequented it often, making getting home those nights a bit of a nightmare – no train stops near there!

Marcus Samuelsson, the chef and owner of the Red Rooster, was raised in Sweden. At his restaurant, they serve lingonberries with Swedish meatballs and that dish is super delicious!

But the thing is, lingonberries are great with SO many things!! They add the right amount of tart with just the right amount of sweet – a perfect combination.

In Sweden, I learned that most Swedes pick their own lingonberries and make their own jams. And this brand, Felix, in our MARY’s secret ingredients winter box, is a Swedish favorite so you know it has to be good! But you know it has to be good because we chose it to be in our box, as we only allow the best and purest products to go in.

Often, on Saturdays and Sundays, I buckle down and make dinners to have easily during the busy work week. I like to make duck legs as they’re easy to do, quick to warm up during the week, a little different, and we LOVE them! So make this super simple recipe of Chinese 5 Spice Duck Legs with Lingonberries – it just takes a bit of time, but then you’ll be able to serve a restaurant worthy meal, during the week! How cool is that?

And the Felix Lingonberries look so festive – perfect for this time of year!

CHINESE 5 SPICE DUCK LEGS WITH FELIX LINGONBERRIES – serves 2

2 duck legs, washed, patted dry and trimmed of excess fat (save to render if you wish)
Sea salt, fine grind
1 tsp. Chinese 5 Spice, divided into ¼ tsps.
Felix Lingonberries to sauce on top

Season duck legs on each side with salt and ¼ tsp. of Chinese 5 spice. Rub it in on the meat evenly. Ideally, let the legs sit out on the counter for 1 hour.

Place legs skin side down in a cold non-stick skillet and turn heat to medium. When the legs start to sizzle, cover the pan and turn heat to low and cook undisturbed for about 60 – 65 minutes (check once to be sure legs aren’t burning); the skin should be golden/dark brown. Turn and cook until duck is very tender, another 20 – 25 minutes.

Serve the legs on a bed of jasmine rice sauced with the Lingonberries and LOVE. Total yumminess!

If you are serving these on another night, warm them in the microwave on high for 30 seconds to get the interior meat warm and then place in a skillet on low, warming on both sides and getting the skin crispy again, until hot all the way through.

Regarding the leftover fat from the legs, you can render it in a skillet on low, while your duck legs are cooking and drain and save the fat in a container in the fridge. It will keep for several months. Using a little bit of this fat in place of olive oil for roasting or sautéing anything adds a nice rich flavor. I even used some to make my pie crust this past Thanksgiving and it was delicious and much better for you than using Crisco. I used half butter and half duck fat.

Enjoy!!

And Happy Holidays to all!!!

Pecan, Olive Oil and Benedictine Coffee Cake with Magisso Cake Server

December 22, 2016 by Mary 4 Comments

The Magisso cake server, so pretty in pink, is a sleek, sexy little tool that is included in our winter MARY’s secret ingredients subscription box. Beautifully designed, made of undulating curves of plastic with the edge sharpened on one side, makes cutting and serving your cake a singular beautiful motion. Press down to cut, gently squeeze in to lift, and release your grip to place the cake piece on your plate.

It is a most harmonious motion. No sawing with a knife, no messy pieces, just giving you pure unadulterated pieces of cake with a sexy little curve to the shape of your piece.

So I made this nut cake, trying to recapture a nut cake recipe that my mother used to make. It was her favorite cake. Loaded with finely ground nuts and not too sweet, she loved it. Me, as a kid, not so much. But here I was last Sunday craving it!

Here is the recipe:

PECAN, OLIVE OIL AND BENEDICTINE COFFEE CAKE WITH MAGISSO CAKE SERVER – serves 10

Unsalted butter, for the pan
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
3 large eggs, room temperature
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup Benedictine
3/4 cup pecan halves, toasted and finely chopped
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
Strawberries, slightly sweetened whipped cream, or ice cream (butter pecan or vanilla) for serving with the Magisso Cake Server

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Toast pecans in a pan in the oven for 7 – 8 minutes. Remove nuts from the pan right away to prevent further toasting and place on a cutting board to cool. Then finely chop.

Generously butter a 9-inch round cake pan and dust with flour, set aside.

Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl; set aside.

Put eggs in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment; beat on high speed until light in color, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to medium. Add granulated sugar; beat until mixture is pale and thick, about 4 minutes. Reduce speed to low; mix in oil and liqueur. Lightly fold in flour mixture in 3 batches using a rubber spatula. Fold in toasted pecans. Spread batter into prepared pan.

Bake cake until a cake tester inserted in center comes out clean, 20 – 24 minutes. Let cool in pan on a wire rack 10 minutes. Turn out cake onto rack to cool completely. Turn cake over on a plate and dust with confectioners’ sugar.

Cut with Magisso cake server and serve with strawberries and slightly sweetened whipped cream or ice cream (butter pecan or vanilla). Let the ice cream get a little melty on the cake – pure heaven…

This cake even tastes better after a day or two – wrap it well in plastic wrap. Always serve with LOVE and enjoy!!

Still have a gift to get for that difficult person on your list? We have MARY’s secret ingredients gift cards here!! Gift cards are delivered by email and contain instructions to redeem them at checkout. Our gift cards have no additional processing fees. Easy peasy!

Roasted Butternut Squash and Red Onion Dip with Home Cook’s Pantry Za’atar

December 20, 2016 by Mary 7 Comments

Open this little packet of Home Cook’s Pantry Za’atar and get ready for a huge fragrant explosion of deliciousness! Sumac, sesame seeds and other herbs make this a terrific combination to use on ANYTHING.

Really.

Combine it with some olive oil and dip a piece of good bread into it and I guarantee, you’ll be hooked.

For the most part, I like to use fresh herbs in my cooking. But some flavors you just can’t get fresh, like sumac. And when you can get a dried spice mix that’s carefully blended and super fresh, well, let me tell you, it’s nothing like the McCormick supermarket dried spices.

Use this za’atar on vegetables, meats, chicken or fish. I particularly loved it in this warm butternut squash dip – both in the dip and sprinkled on top to finish it. This is a great dip to serve for holiday entertaining. It’s different, totally delicious and even healthy!

There are different spice blends that fall under the name za’atar, a typical Middle Eastern staple in cooking. They can be predominantly green or red in color. Recipes for such spice mixtures were often kept secret, and not even shared with daughters and other relatives. Can you imagine? This za’atar contains pepper, cumin, oregano, salt, sesame seeds, ground sumac and thyme.

Home Cook’s Pantry buys fresh whole spices and grinds them when you order. They stock over 90 unique spices to make their blends. Each mix has a shelf life of one year and they never use MSG, artificial coloring, or anti-caking agents in any of their seasoning blends.

They can also customize your blend – more heat, less sweet, omit for allergens – whatever your needs, they can accommodate. They are really special!

On to the recipe:
ROASTED BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND RED ONION DIP WITH HOME COOK’S PANTRY ZA’ATAR – serves 8 – 10

1 large butternut squash (2 1/4 lb. in total), cut in half lengthwise with seeds scraped out
2 medium red onions, cut into 1 1/4-inch wedges
4 Tbs. olive oil, divided
3 1/2 Tbs. light tahini paste
1 1/2 Tbs. lemon juice
2 Tbs. water
1 small clove garlic, crushed
Maldon sea salt or Kosher salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 Tbs. Home Cook’s Pantry za’atar, plus more to sprinkle on top
3 1/2 Tbs. walnuts
1 Tbs. coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Rub the cut sides of the squash with ½ Tbs. of olive oil and fill a baking dish with ¼” of water. Place squash cut side down in the water. Meanwhile in another baking dish, toss the red onion with 2 Tbs. of olive oil, salt and pepper. Place both pans in the oven and roast for 25 – 30 minutes, until the onions have taken on some color and are tender. Remove the onions and leave to cool. Turn the squash right side up and roast for 10 – 15 more minutes until it is very tender when pierced with a fork.
When squash is done, remove from the oven to cool. When squash is cool enough to handle, scrap the squash from the skin and place in a food processor along with the onions and all of the juices from the onion pan. Add 1 Tbs. of olive oil and the other ingredients, except for the walnuts and parsley.

Process this mixture into a smooth puree.

Pour the remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons oil into a small frying pan and place over medium-low heat. Add the walnuts along with 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook for 2 minutes, stirring often, until the nuts are golden brown. Remove from the heat and transfer the nuts and oil to a small bowl to stop the cooking.

To serve, spread the warm dip out in a low shallow bowl. Sprinkle the walnuts and their oil on top, followed by more za’atar and parsley.

Serve with baked pita chips and a variety of dipping vegetables – celery, carrot and fennel strips are nice along with breakfast radishes.

This is a super healthy appetizer recipe to have on hand in the midst of all of the rich food of the season. Make and serve with LOVE!

Tuscan Bean Soup with Sfoglini Spaccatelli Pasta

December 17, 2016 by Mary 6 Comments

Tuscan Bean Soup with Sfoglini Spaccatelli Pasta is a recipe based on one from my Tuscan cookbook. I have been wanting to make this soup since the summer when I received the book from my friend Cristina while in Arezzo on that wonderful trip. This Tuscan Bean Soup with Sfoglini Spaccatelli Pasta is so comforting and this pasta is to die for.

Really.

It is made with Organic Durum Semolina flour and water. That’s it! And it is so delicious, really like homemade. My husband could eat this pasta every night so if the good folks at Sfoglini in Brooklyn, NY want to send me a case of this stuff, bring it on!

The pasta shape is Spaccatelli and is sometimes referred to as Strozzapreti or “priest collars.” It resembles a rolled-up scroll or towel, smooth and tight. Legend has it that the name refers to how annoyed Italian men became at seeing their wives labor over cooking extravagant meals for the local clergy. Ha! This two inch strand of tubular pasta is a great substitute for ziti or macaroni in any dish and is superb with a chunky meat sauce as the shape envelops the sauce into the curved folds.

Rather than a chunky sauce that you can make on your own, I opted to highlight this pasta in this luscious bean soup. Plan ahead as you have to soak the beans overnight before cooking, but this is well worth it. This soup is so Tuscan, so comforting, and so perfect on a cold winter night.

I suppose you could use drained and rinsed canned beans but cooking the real thing is so much better. And it’s not much effort. It’s just time. So give this a go!

TUSCAN BEAN SOUP WITH SFOGLINI SPACCATELLI PASTA – serves 8

8 oz. Sfoglini Spaccatelli Pasta
1 lb. dried cannellini beans
8 oz. of ripe or canned tomatoes, crushed
8 cups of vegetable stock
3 cloves of garlic and 1 clove of chopped garlic
1 onion, chopped
3 sage leaves
Chili pepper flakes
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Rinse and cover the beans with 3 inches of cold water and soak overnight. The next day, rinse, drain and cover with 1½ inches of fresh cold water. Add 3 wholes cloves of garlic and sage leaves and bring to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer and cook for 1.5 – 2 hours, partially covered, until very tender, making sure the beans are always covered with water. Add salt to taste when done.

Puree the beans in a blender with some of the water until you achieve a smooth puree.

In another saucepan, sauté the finely chopped onion and garlic in a little oil. Add the tomatoes and chili pepper flakes and cook for 10 minutes.

Add the bean puree and hot broth. Add salt to taste and bring to a simmer.

Fill a separate large pot with water and bring to a boil. Add coarse sea salt and the Sfoglini Spaccatelli Pasta and cook for 4 minutes. Drain and add to the soup, stirring for 1 minute to combine and to let the pasta finish cooking. Taste the pasta to be sure it is done. It should be al dente.

Ladle the soup in bowls, drizzle with olive oil and top with fresh ground pepper and serve with LOVE.

Enjoy!!!

There are a few boxes left with this special pasta and you can buy a winter subscription box here and receive all of the great products. Remember better pantries make better meals!

Additionally your purchase helps in our partnership with Feed The Children. No one should go hungry.

2016 Winter Subscription Box Revealed

December 16, 2016 by Mary 2 Comments

The holidays are here and this MARY’s secret ingredients 2016 winter subscription box is the perfect festive gift! We’ve got delicious organic green mint tea (an awesome combination), and bright red lingonberry jam to make your toast (and many other things) festive! Then, the coolest looking cake slicer and server from Finland to cut and serve your cake oh so neat, the most potent and fragrant za’atar spice mix to add zip to anything, and RayZyns made of wine grapes, that are full of antioxidants. Eat these crunchy babies and they’ll keep you healthy all season long, and the MOST DELICIOUS pasta. Ever. Handmade in Brooklyn with just organic semolina flour and water, you will want to eat this everyday!!

When you cook with love and exciting new ingredients, your food will always taste better. So gather round the table, make some memories and spread some LOVE.

Take a look at the video our awesome team of designers put together!!

FELIX

Felix jams has been bringing Swedish lingonberries to the American palate for over 50 years. As familiar as Volvo, IKEA, and Swedish meatballs, lingonberries were recommended on the Doctor Oz Show as a super fruit with antioxidant benefits. This small red berry has been picked and enjoyed since Viking times. Its piquant sweet and tart flavor makes it as unique as it is delicious.

Felix jams are made of simple ingredients: Handpicked wild Lingonberries, pure sugar and fresh water, in a time-tested recipe. Because many Swedes are accustomed to picking their own wild berries, an unusually high standard is required for jams to succeed in Sweden, and Felix is the number one choice.

HOME COOK’S PANTRY ZA’ATAR

Home Cook’s Pantry specializes in fresh, made-to-order spice blends. Each pure blend is customizable to your taste preferences, made without artificial colors, fillers, anti-caking agents or MSG. Experience a different culture at each meal with blends from around the world.

Za’atar is a mix of herbs, sumac and sesame seed. It is an intensely aromatic ancient spice blend and condiment that is used to flavor everything from grilled meats to baked bread. It is also delicious when used on roasted vegetables, sprinkled on salads, and it can also be steeped to make tea.

MAGISSO CAKE SERVER

Established in 2008 in Helsinki, Finland, Magisso has a burning passion to make meaningful design and international business. Over 20 design awards later they still thrive from that same passion. They are driven by a desire to solve problems and create beautiful designs.

With the fun and colorful Magisso Cake Server, cutting and serving your favorite cake is easier and more stylish than ever. All you need to do is press the cake server through a cake, squeeze it gently to lift the piece onto your plate. Release and get a perfect piece of cake upright on your plate.

SFOGLINI PASTA

In 2012, Sfoglini (Sfo-lee-nee) opened its doors in Brooklyn, NY with one clear mission: to bring classic Italian style pasta back to New York City. They are dedicated to sourcing top quality American organic grains and using traditional Italian methods to bring you the same pasta served at some of New York’s most revered restaurants. Spaccatelli, also sometimes referred to as Strozzapreti “priest’s collars”, resembles a rolled-up scroll or towel, smooth and tight. It is superb with a chunky meat sauce that wraps into the curved folds.

STASH TEA

Since 1972, Stash has been dedicated to providing premium quality teas. They begin with tea leaves from the world’s premier tea gardens and the finest herbs and spices gathered from around the globe. Their master blenders combine these botanical ingredients to create unique and delicious teas that are natural and free of artificial flavors and colors.

Organic Merry Mint Green Tea – A festive blend of organic green tea and lively spearmint and peppermint.

THE WINE RAYZYNS Co.

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The box contains two of the following flavors:

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Start the New Year right. Eat healthy. Live Joyfully.

There are a few boxes left and you can buy a winter subscription box here and receive all of these great products! Look out for all of my recipes using these products in the coming days. Better pantries make better meals!

Chocolate Cake Recipe from Jean-Georges

December 11, 2016 by Mary 6 Comments

I realize I don’t post many sweet things. Not that I’m not sweet, mind you. 🙂 I am more of the savory type, loving salty things. But when I entertain, I do like to make a dessert, as long as it’s relatively quick and easy and this Chocolate Cake Recipe from Jean-Georges is simple and easy. It’s from his Home Cooking with Jean-Georges cookbook, which my sons gave me last year for my birthday – a signed copy – no less! The book is a collection of his favorite simple recipes.

Jean-Georges says his mother used to make this for him as an after-school treat. Nice treat! He also says it tastes even better after it sits for a day. We didn’t have a chance to try that as Margaret, our guest, took the last piece home, as her birthday was coming up and this gave us a chance to sing to her. (Maybe she can tell us.) The good thing about it is it’s nearly gluten free with only 1 tablespoon of flour and the rest being almond flour so even my sister-in-law Trish could eat it.

I used to bake all the time for my boys for their school box lunch. That was my Sunday afternoon activity – chocolate chip cookies, lemon bars, brownies, peanut butter cookies, snickerdoodles, and pecan bars – that were so sweet I couldn’t even eat them and those were their favorite! They were like a super, super sweet and buttery pecan pie. I LOVE pecan pie, but I could not stomach these things. Now that they’ve grown up, they do agree with me.

When I was a little girl, about 12 years old, one summer my mother gave me the responsibility to plan and make dessert every night of the week. I grew up in the Midwest – St. Louis suburbs – where in those days, dessert was mandatory. It could be as simple as Jello with Cool Whip (yuck) – which was a newfangled thing then – or more complicated like a pie. This taught me about planning and a lot about making desserts. Mom did a good thing!
This is the same cake recipe that our daughter-in-law made for my birthday a few weeks ago. She garnished it with strawberries and the dusting of cocoa powder on the whipped cream was a nice touch. I garnished it with some raspberries and very slightly sweetened whipped cream. Lacking birthday candles, I used a tea light for Margaret’s birthday celebration. You know, you use what you’ve got. I also did not have a fluted tart pan or springform pan so I just used a regular 8” round layer cake pan and it came out fine.

Here is the recipe and don’t forget to add your LOVE when making. 🙂

CHOCOLATE CAKE – serves 6 – from Home Cooking with Jean-Georges cookbook

4 Tbs. unsalted butter, plus more for the pan
1 Tbs. all-purpose flour, plus more for the pan
3 large eggs separated
1 tsp. granulated sugar
3½ oz. bittersweet chocolate, preferably Valrhona 66% cacao, chopped
½ cup confectioners’ sugar
½ cup almond flour
Dutch-process cocoa powder

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour an 8” round fluted tart pan with a removable bottom or a springform pan or an 8” round layer cake pan, tapping out excess flour.

Whisk the egg whites with the granulated sugar until medium-stiff peaks form.

Meanwhile, fill a medium saucepan with an inch of water and bring to a simmer. Combine the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over the simmering water. Melt, stirring occasionally. Remove the bowl from the saucepan.

Beat 1 yolk into the chocolate mixture to temper it. Beat in the remaining yolks, then beat in the confectioners’ sugar, almond flour and all-purpose flour until well mixed.

Add a third of the whipped whites to the chocolate mixture and mix well to loosen it. Then gently fold in the remaining whites just until combined. Pour into the prepared pan and gently spread evenly.

Bake until puffed and a knife comes out clean, about 17 minutes. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then invert onto the rack. Let cool completely. Carefully flip the cake right side up. Dust with cocoa powder. Garnish with slightly sweetened whipped cream and raspberries or strawberries.