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

Shakshuka

December 22, 2019 by Mary 2 Comments

Shakshuka. The name is a bit of a tongue twister, but do learn to say it and make it! This shakshuka recipe is so good, you’ll find yourself making it again and again. It is relatively easy and a perfect brunch dish – or even dinner on a busy weeknight. Paired with a good piece of toasted bread, preferably sourdough, along with some good country sausage, and you’re all set!

Shakshuka hails from North Africa, and traveled all along the middle East, now has become ever so hip and popular here.

Perfect for holiday brunches

With the holidays upon us, I thought you would enjoy this recipe especially for those of us welcoming houseguests and relatives. I’ve made this several times for “sleepovers” and here’s just a few of the comments – “thank you Mary for a most memorable brunch” – from a hard-to-please big brother, and then there was, “Gee I feel like I’m at an expensive Bed and Breakfast!” from new friends, and “delicious brunch spread” from a sister-in-law.

So please enjoy and feel free to alter ingredients – the kinds of peppers and cheeses – for example. Do use only the real San Marzano tomatoes, making sure your can says “D.O.P.” to insure they are genuine. You can use regular paprika but I prefer the sweet smoked kind from Spain. My husband never like smoky things, except for salmon and whitefish, so now at least I can use it with abandon, although I’d rather have him around. 🙁

Shakshuka in skillet with raw eggs. — Shakshuka in skillet with raw eggs

SHAKSHUKA – serves 3 – 4

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1 medium onion, thinly sliced (use a hand mandoline)
1 large green pepper, stems, seeds, and ribs removed, thinly sliced
2/3 of one fresh small jalapeño chili including seeds and ribs, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 1/2 tablespoons sweet smoked Spanish paprika
2 teaspoons whole cumin seeds
1 28-ounce can whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes, crushed by squeezing with your hands
3 – 4 oz. feta cheese, cubed in ¼” pieces or crumbled
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Large handful of chopped cilantro or parsley, or a mix
6 – 8 eggs
Crusty bread, for serving, preferably sourdough, toasted
Country sausage for serving – optional

The process

Heat olive oil in a large, deep skillet or straight-sided sauté pan over medium high heat until shimmering.

Add onion, green pepper, and jalapeño chili and spread into an even layer. Cook, without moving, until vegetables on the bottom are deeply browned and beginning to char in spots, about 6 minutes. Flip vegetables and continue to cook until vegetables are fully softened and spottily charred, about another 4 minutes.

Add garlic and cook, stirring, until softened and fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add paprika and cumin seeds and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Immediately add tomatoes and stir to combine. Reduce heat to a bare simmer and simmer for 10 minutes, then season to taste with salt and pepper. Remember the feta is salty, so do not add too much salt.

Add the feta now and some of the parsley and/or cilantro, saving enough to garnish finished servings. Stir all to combine nicely.

Using a large spoon, make a well near the perimeter of the pan and break an egg directly into it. Spoon a little sauce over edges of egg white to partially submerge and contain it, leaving yolk exposed. Repeat with remaining 5 – 7 eggs, working around pan and into the middle as you go.

Cover, and reduce heat to lowest setting, and cook until egg whites are barely set and yolks are still runny, 6 to 8 minutes.

Serve 2 eggs with sauce in large shallow bowls as shown.

Shakshuka serving with sausage and bread. — Shakshuka serving with sausage and bread

Garnish with cilantro or parsley. Serve immediately with crusty bread and LOVE. A side of sausage is lovely to go along with this. And have your serving bottle of EVOO on the table for those who want a little more oil. Be prepared for silence and ummm’s.

Enjoy!! And Happy Holidays!

Rhubarb Sauce with (optional) Bing Cherries

September 9, 2019 by Mary 6 Comments

I know I haven’t been as attentive as promised, it’s just so hard with Steve being gone and I’m sorry. However, this Rhubarb Sauce with (Optional) Bing Cherries is super delicious, easy to make, and very versatile, so I wanted to share.

You can use it in either a sweet or savory position – great on grilled salmon, chicken, or pork, AND great in yogurt or on top of ice cream. Totally yummy, all ways.

Adding the cherries is extra work – to pit and halve them. It’s optional as you don’t really need them but I thought they added a nice full-bodied contrast to the texture of the sauce. And the cherries are nice in either the savory or sweet rendering. I called my good friend, Tiziana, in Italy and chatted for nearly an hour while I pitted and halved cherries and it was a great time for us to catch up on the news on everyone! Put your phone on speaker mode and you’re all set! SWEET!!

Hope all is good in all of your worlds.

Here’s the recipe for the Rhubarb Sauce With (Optional) Bing Cherries. Do make it, it’s so easy, and enjoy! Hurry, before the rhubarb and cherries are out of season.

Rhubarb Sauce with Bing Cherries Ingredients. — Rhubarb Sauce with Bing Cherries Ingredients

RHUBARB SAUCE WITH (OPTIONAL) BING CHERRIES – serves 6 – 8

1 lb. fresh rhubarb, washed, cleaned and cut into 1” pieces
1 ½ cups pitted and halved Washington Sweet or Bing cherries
¾ cup of water
¼ tsp. ground allspice
1 bay leaf
1” piece of fresh ginger, finely minced
1 stick of cinnamon
1 star anise
5 Tbs. sugar
Salt to taste – just a little
1 Tbs. unsalted butter

Combine all ingredients, except for the salt and butter, in a saucepan and simmer until all the rhubarb is broken down. The cherries will not break down and that is what gives you the different texture, which is nice. This will take 30 – 45 minutes or so. Stir often while cooking this.

Once the rhubarb is all broken down and you have a nice marmalade texture, remove from heat, add a little salt to taste and swirl in the butter until melted. Remove the bay leaf, cinnamon stick, and start anise.

Serve as a puddle on the plate for grilled salmon, sautéed pork chops, or grilled chicken thighs, and then top each item with a little sauce. This is also great stirred into yogurt or on top of ice cream. Only serve with LOVE!

ENJOY! Delizioso!!

Finished Rhubarb Sauce with Bing Cherries – luscious and yummy!

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.

PS Seasoning & Spices Buttermilk Blueberry Shortcake

October 9, 2016 by Mary 15 Comments

Dessert can be an issue if you’ve got some gluten free family members or guests. However, I have just solved that problem for you!! Make this PS Seasoning & Spices Buttermilk Blueberry Shortcake and you will be the most loved cook around! This is easy to make, quick to bake, has the brain food of blueberries and looks amazing with a beautiful presentation. And, you’ll get the double whammy of blueberries because the freeze-dried blueberries in the mix plump up so nicely in the shortcake, coupled with the fresh blueberries and the cream. It’s delish!!

PS Seasonings & Spices is new to me as a company. But they’ve been around for 4 generations!! Owned by the Hanni family, based in Wisconsin, they started with mastering the craft of smoking and seasoning sausages and in 1984, formed PS Seasoning and Spices. They have now expanded with other product mixes.

This PS Seasonings & Spices Gluten Free Blueberry Pancake Mix is new and outstanding, and the gluten free part is like icing on the cake! You really can’t tell at all that it’s gluten free. And the mix is loaded with freeze-dried blueberries that make it oh-so-good. Of course you can follow the instructions and make blueberry pancakes, but where they call for milk, I recommend you use an all-natural buttermilk (I like Kate’s Buttermilk) and you will get fluffy, light and thick pancakes.
Here were mine!

And here is the recipe for this wonderful fresh and delicious dessert!

PS SEASONING & SPICES BUTTERMILK BLUEBERRY SHORTCAKE – serves 6

18 oz. fresh blueberries, washed and air dried
¼ cup sugar
2 1/3 cups PS Seasoning & Spices Gluten Free Blueberry Pancake Mix
½ cup buttermilk (I like Kate’s)
3 Tbs. sugar
3 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted
½ pint heavy cream, whipped
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In large bowl, gently fold and mix the blueberries with 1/4 cup sugar; set aside.

In a medium bowl, stir PS Seasoning & Spices Gluten Free Blueberry Pancake Mix, buttermilk, 3 tablespoons sugar and the butter until a soft dough forms. On ungreased cookie sheet, drop dough by 6 spoonfuls.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.

Meanwhile, in small bowl, beat whipping cream and vanilla with a whisk or electric mixer until soft peaks form.

Cut and split shortcakes, spread a large spoonful of heavy cream on the bottom, place a large spoonful of blueberries on top of the cream and top with a little more whipped cream and the other half of the shortcake. The cream acts as the “glue” here to hold it all together.

Serve with LOVE and enjoy!!

There are a few fall boxes left to purchase.

And your purchase helps us support Feed The Children.

Chef’s Cut Honey Barbecue Chicken Jerky & Spinach Omelet

July 29, 2016 by Mary 6 Comments

Chef’s Cut Real Jerky in our summer MARY’s secret ingredients box was created by Chef Blair Swiler and Dennis Riedel. Blair has been smoking meats his entire life; a tradition passed along from his father. Today the vision to change the jerky world has resulted in the best tasting, highest quality jerky on the market. They use only premium cuts of steak and white breast meat and always hand-cut each piece, using only the finest real ingredients – just like you would find at your favorite steak house. Chef’s Cut Real Jerky is the jerky you’ve always wanted. It’s Jerky Done Right. Totally.

I have a confession to make.

I am not a jerky lover. I don’t snack much between meals and jerky really is a snack item. I did try biltong when we were in South Africa. I had to – it is such a tradition that they made me! The biltong (a form of dried cured meat very similar to jerky) I had was ostrich and actually I loved ostrich! When we were there we ate several ostrich burgers – delish!

But back to this jerky. I had never heard of chicken jerky! And other jerky’s I’ve had were all super dry and usually beef, but not this! This chicken is moist and flavorful. The honey barbecue flavors are perfect with just the right amount of sweet and heat.

Jerky is actually very healthy, being high in protein, low in fat and great-tasting, if you do snack, this Chef’s Cut brand should be your new ticket!

So what I did here was a way to start your day off right. Years ago, I used to just eat a big fruit salad for breakfast and then I got a doctor who was more holistic who told me that my body, and probably everyone’s, needs protein first thing in the morning. Making this change in my diet was brilliant! I can go until 2 pm or later for lunch without killing someone, whereas in the past, if I didn’t eat by 12:30, well, watch out.

Protein, first thing in the morning provides a great foundation for you to handle any situation. You see the fruit salad just converted quickly to sugar, gave me a fast spike in blood sugar with a mighty fall starting at around 11:30 – I would be starving and not a very nice person. This doctor explained to me that if we were back in caveman/tribal days, living on the land with no refrigeration, you would’ve eaten the leftovers from the night before for breakfast.

So it won’t be a surprise that for this product recipe, I made an omelet! Honey Barbecue Chicken Jerky with some fresh spinach – it was delicious!! And what a great way to start the day, tasty protein with a boost of iron from the spinach and lovely eggs to hold it all together. No need to worry about salt, pepper or hot sauce as the seasoning that comes from the jerky is just perfect.

Make this tomorrow morning and I promise you’ll have an awesome day. Who knows, you may even win the lottery!! But you gotta buy a ticket – in other words – you gotta do the work to make this. Enjoy!!

CHEF’S CUT HONEY BARBECUE CHICKEN JERKY & SPINACH OMELET – serves 2

4 eggs
1 Tbs. heavy cream (optional)
1.25 oz. Chef’s Cut Honey Barbecue Chicken Jerky, finely minced
1 cup packed baby spinach leaves, washed and air dried (I like a lot of spinach!)
½ Tbs. unsalted butter
Fresh mint or chives as a garnish

Whisk the eggs together and then whisk in the cream.

Melt the butter in a medium non-stick skillet on medium heat. Swirl it around to coat the entire pan. Pour in the eggs. Take a fork and holding it flat, quickly stir the eggs once or twice in the bottom of the pan.

Let the eggs set and when a bottom forms, gently lift the edge, tilt and pour the uncooked eggs to move underneath and cook. Continue doing this until the top is nearly cooked.

Then distribute the minced Chef’s Cut Honey Barbecue Chicken Jerky over half of the omelet and top with the spinach leaves, evenly distributed over the jerky. Fold over the unfilled half and let rest and cook a bit more for a minute or two.

When done, slide out of the pan onto a platter. Cut in half to serve with LOVE, enjoy, and you’ll have a totally awesome day when you start it off like this!!

Lemon Zest Pork Sausage Patties for Mother’s Day

May 7, 2016 by Mary 8 Comments

When I was young, my brothers and I would serve my Mom breakfast in bed for Mother’s Day, with a single red rose in a bud vase on the corner of her tray. We had this little rectangular bench that had legs just the right height to fit over her legs in bed, and we put her tray on top. I think one of her brothers made the bench but it was really sturdy, not like a tray with collapsible legs that can buckle under and spill everything. She also used that little bench for us when we were sick in bed.

My husband talks about doing the same thing for his mom – serving her breakfast in bed. We usually went the bacon and egg route with our mom. He did pancakes. Only he got clever. One year he decided, who needs syrup on top of your pancakes, why not put it in your pancakes and save that step! Clever, eh? Well he made some nice flat plates with those babies – a new kind of Frisbee!

My kids served me breakfast in bed once when they were young and we lived in NJ. But we didn’t have that little bench I grew up with and having a tray on my thighs all wobbly and eating in my bed just kinda grossed me out. I am not OCD but crumbs in my bed just don’t work for me so we stopped that nonsense.

We moved on to them making me multi-course special dinners and I’m so excited for tomorrow as we’re going over to our oldest son’s house. He and his fiancée – oh did I tell you that both boys are engaged? Yes!!! We’re so excited and love love love both of their girls. The oldest one will marry this September in NYC and the younger one in July of next year in Poland. All great!!!

So we are going to oldest one’s house tomorrow (yes they bought a house together in Brooklyn, with a back yard!) and he is grilling up something – ribs and a surprise – so I am psyched!

But back to breakfast and sausage patties. I know I posted 2 other sausage patty recipes but lately, I’ve been obsessed with acid. No, not the drug kind. Lemons, limes and various vinegars have been on my experimentation list. Acid in dishes really perks things up. Acid in unusual places adds a brightness that wakes up your taste buds. So I thought, why not grated lemon zest in sausage patties.

And I didn’t just add a little, I wanted you to taste it. I remembered a delicious pork roast I had made once with lots of strips of lemon peel plastered on it so I went for it in these sausage patties and they were delicious!! With the added unusualness of garam masala and the touch of red chili flakes, these patties will produce the mmmm’s you’re looking for.

Try these tomorrow. So good!! Even if there’s only 2 of you, these rewarm so nicely in the microwave to have during the week. And it’s nice to have a proper breakfast on weekday/workday!

LEMON ZEST PORK SAUSAGE PATTIES FOR MOTHER’S DAY – makes 12 -14 patties

1 lb. ground pork
1 shallot, minced
¼ cup minced fresh herbs – parsley, thyme and oregano
1 tsp. garam masala
1/8 tsp red chili flakes
½ tsp Kosher salt
12 grinds of fresh ground pepper
1 small egg
1/3 cup panko
2 lemons – finely grated zest from each – use a microplane

Combine everything together well, but try not to handle too, too much. Form into small patties. Coat a non-stick skillet with a little olive oil and sauté until done on medium high heat, about 5 – 7 minutes per side. Pork should be at 155 – 160 degrees. There should be no pink left in the meat. (The egg and panko make the patties light.)

Enjoy!!

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you mothers out there!! Straighten your tiara and milk it for all it’s worth!