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

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.

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!

Pear & Brown Sugar Upside-Down Cake

March 20, 2016 by Mary 16 Comments

I realize that I don’t often post dessert recipes. That’s because I don’t often make them, unless we’re having company for dinner. Personally, I would much rather have something salty and crunchy as a treat, as I rarely crave sweets, unless it’s a piece of chocolate after dinner. How about you? Are you a sweet or savory kind of person?

So last Saturday, when we had our early St. Patrick’s Day dinner with our dear friends Margaret and Wayne, I made this Pear & Brown Sugar Upside-Down Cake. I love pears. I used to make poached pears a lot when our kids were young. I remember our oldest son loved them and even tried making them himself when he was about 12, for his church youth group friends, with totally under-ripe pears – didn’t work out so well – not a good thing. He just thought he could cook them longer, but we all know that won’t work.

This recipe is from Dana Cowin’s new cookbook, Mastering My Mistakes in the Kitchen. She is the former editor of Food & Wine magazine. I had the opportunity to meet her last fall and she’s lovely!

With this book, Dana says, “I’m hoping, though, to encourage people who think they are incompetent in the kitchen to give it another shot, to realize they can do better and it will be fun. I’m trying to erase the embarrassment that sometimes comes with kitchen mistakes and embrace the power of practice and learning.”

MARY's secret ingredients 2015 winter box.

This was our 2015 winter box.

I am trying to do that with this blog and our MARY’s secret ingredients surprise subscription box too! We are running a special on our spring box to spread the word even more, which is set to mail after March 25^th. It’s Get One & Give One. Buy one spring box for yourself (for $34.00 including shipping) and tell us who to give the other one to by emailing me directly at mary@maryssecretingredients.com with your friend’s address.

We want everyone to be happy, healthy people walking this earth. Our surprise box of new, natural products you’ve probably never heard of but you need to know about enables you to transform your meals from ordinary into extraordinary! Each purchase helps us in our partnership with the global organization, Feed The Children, as we are donating a portion of our profits to them to combat hunger. And remember, good cooks never lack friends.

This latest spring box is awesome with a value of over $54.00!

Meanwhile, back to the Pear & Brown Sugar Upside-Down Cake. It is easy enough to make but it got really dark with the dark brown sugar and honestly, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but it could have been a tad sweeter. I might try to remake this using regular brown sugar and less butter. Some of you, I know, are real experts on desserts. What do you think, if I did that? Would it still work – as the amount of butter – 2 sticks is a LOT! I would think you could do this with at least 2 – 4 Tbs. less. Let me know what you think.

I remember my mother used to make a pineapple upside down cake often on Sundays. Popular in the 60’s and 70’s BUT, she had to use canned pineapple rings and she’d put a half of a maraschino cherry in the middle of each ring – yuck! Remember that? I don’t think fresh pineapples were even available in St. Louis in those days.

I always tell my kids, look at the author or chef of the recipe. Are they overweight? Then watch out, their recipes are likely to be fattening. This is not true with Dana, but this is still a lot of butter.

Other than that, this is fairly simple and quick to make. You don’t have to use your stand mixer, and it makes a pretty impressive presentation with the beautifully fanned out pears.

Here you go with the exact recipe from Dana’s book, and I did follow it to a T, something I rarely do. Enjoy!!

PEAR & BROWN SUGAR UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE – from Dana Cowin’s Mastering My Mistakes in the Kitchen – serves 8 – 10

Making caramel–heating water and sugar until you have a golden amber syrup–is a fundamental element of many desserts that I love, none of which I’m predisposed to replicate. I have made mistakes over and over again when I have tried to tackle caramel: I’ve overcooked it, I’ve undercooked it and I’ve ended up with gritty crystallized cooked sugar. Grace Parisi, Food & Wine’s longtime recipe goddess, solved the problem with a brilliant shortcut in her recipe for an upside-down apple cake. She got the flavor without actually making caramel by laying the fruit on top of a brown sugar and butter mixture; then she poured over the simple batter. I’ve adapted her method here with pears instead of apples. Sometimes the best way to solve a problem is to work around it.

1⁄2 Tbs. unsalted butter, at room temperature, for the pan

FOR THE PEARS
4 Tbs. (1⁄2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1⁄2 cup packed dark brown sugar
Pinch of kosher salt
2 ripe but firm pears, such as Bosc or Bartlett, peeled, cored and cut into thin wedges (about 1⁄3 inch thick)

FOR THE CAKE
2 large eggs
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1⁄3 cup whole milk
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 tsp. almond extract
12 Tbs. (11⁄2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
11⁄2 tsp. baking powder
1⁄2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. kosher salt
11⁄2 cups all-purpose flour

FOR THE GLAZE
1⁄4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 Tbs. whole milk
1⁄4 tsp. almond extract

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch round cake pan with the 1⁄2 tablespoon butter and line the bottom with a round of parchment paper.

For the pears, using a rubber spatula, mash the butter with the dark brown sugar and salt in a large bowl until combined. Using your fingers, spread the mixture evenly in the prepared cake pan. Arrange the pear wedges in the pan in concentric circles (filling in any gaps as necessary with smaller pear wedges)

For the cake, whisk together the eggs, brown sugar, milk and extracts in the bowl you used for the butter mixture; whisk in the melted butter. Whisk the flour with the baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl, then whisk into the wet ingredients until the batter is just smooth. Scrape the batter over the pears and spread it in an even layer, without disturbing the pears.

Bake the cake until it is golden and springy to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool on a rack for 30 minutes.

Run a dinner knife around the inside of the pan to loosen the cake. Place a serving plate over the pan, carefully invert the cake onto the plate and remove the pan. Peel off the parchment paper. Let the cake cool completely.

For the glaze, whisk together the confectioners’ sugar, milk and almond extract in a small bowl.

Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cake. Cut into wedges and serve.

Serve with crème fraîche and LOVE.

MAKE AHEAD
The cake can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.

Delicious Sunday Morning Breakfast Sausage Patties

January 30, 2016 by Mary 15 Comments

We always enjoy a big breakfast on Sunday mornings. It’s nice to take the time to make a bountiful and beautiful one to linger over as a special treat. I am spoiled in that my husband always makes me breakfast during the week. As I‘m sure you probably do, we start our workdays eating breakfast in a rush, eager to get the day going. He serves me mine to eat while I’m putting on make-up and blow drying my hair. I take a bite and chew, hairbrush in hand, multi-tasking to try to save some time.

So this is all the more reason we truly enjoy our Sunday mornings! I know I’ve published my sausage recipe before but this one is a little different with the added shiitake mushroom. I LOVE mushrooms! My husband, not so much. However, I snuck this one in and he LOVED it!

One shiitake mushroom and multiple mushrooms behind it.

Use just one very large shiitake mushroom.

Chopped up shiitake mushroom on a wooden board.

One large mushroom chops up into a lot!

The mushroom did not add a deep mushroom-y flavor, but it did add a wonderful lightness that really made these Delicious Sunday Morning Breakfast Sausage Patties good enough to record, share and make again.

I hope you’ll try these – and remember it’s always better to know what is in the food you’re eating as opposed to buying store made sausage. That is why I do not mind taking the time to make these on a Sunday morning. They actually come together, very quickly and easily – takes about 20 minutes and then time to grill or sauté in a skillet.

You should also know that these reheat beautifully in the microwave for 30 seconds for that quick weekday breakfast. So leftovers are not a problem!

DELICIOUS SUNDAY MORNING BREAKFAST SAUSAGE PATTIES – serves 6, makes 14 patties

1 lb. ground pork
1 small egg
¼ cup of panko
1 Tbs. grainy mustard
¾ tsp. herbs de Provence
1 large shiitake mushroom, stem trimmed at bottom & stem and cap finely chopped
¼ cup finely chopped red onion or shallot
2 – 3 sprigs of Italian parsley finely chopped
Sprinkling of salt
Black pepper – 20 grinds

Combine everything together with your hands. Mix thoroughly, but lightly. Do not overmix.

Shape into 12 – 14 small patties.

Spray grill pan or sauté pan with a very light coating of canola or vegetable oil. Cook patties on high heat, turning once, for a total of about 7 minutes.

Serve with scrambled eggs, toast, fruit salad, coffee and LOVE!

Decadent Oatmeal with Michel et Augustin Cookie Squares

December 22, 2015 by Mary 6 Comments

So here’s my rationale for this one. The French and the Italians always eat something very sweet for breakfast. It’s the holidays so we can be a little decadent. And, the oatmeal part is good for you!

These cookies from Michel et Augustin in the MARY’s secret ingredients winter box are so darn delicious, they really don’t need any help with a recipe. They’re made with only simple and real ingredients, as if you would make them in your own home. And the chocolate in each of them is super special! However, we always promise our product partners that we will create a new and exciting recipe or serving suggestion.

So for a super powerful breakfast, make yourself some steel cut Irish oatmeal. Then take two of these shortbread cookie squares, either flavor, cut them into chunks and place on top of the oatmeal. Wait a bit and watch the chocolate in the cookies begin to soften and melt into pure luxurious decadence!

OMG, so the shortbread gives a buttery crunch and the chocolate with the sea salt is just divine.

Oatmeal like this every morning?

Yes please!

If you have young ones, this is a terrific way to get them to eat their oatmeal. Promise.

Then for a further treat upon treat, fire up some marshmallows over your gas burner, take two cookies and have them face each chocolate side to each other and place that melty marshmallow in between and you have just made yourself THE most amazing s’more and you can tell the Girl Scouts to take a hike with their graham crackers and Hershey’s crappy chocolate variety.

Total yum.

Total heaven.

DECADENT OATMEAL WITH MICHEL ET AUGUSTIN COOKIE SQUARES – serves 4

4 cups of water
Tiny pinch of salt
1 cup steel cut Irish oatmeal
8 Michel et Augustin cookie squares, either flavor

Bring the water to a boil. Add salt and gradually add the oats, stirring as you add them. Lower heat to medium and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

When done, portion out into 4 bowls. Roughly chop up two cookies for each bowl and place in the center of the oatmeal.

Serve with LOVE and watch everyone swoon!!

Discover other unique, gourmet products in our upcoming spring box – mails March 25th! Our box subscriptions make a great last minute holiday gift. You can download a gift card at check-out to put under the tree.