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

Speegee Spatula

July 23, 2015 by Mary 18 Comments

One recent Sunday afternoon, we went to a big wonderful party at my friend Anne’s house upstate – a pig roast! It was the most wonderful pulled pork along with dozens of salads and a huge amount of desserts. Everyone brought something and most were homemade, except for ours. It wasn’t possible coming from an amazing wedding weekend of the daughter of our friends, Margaret and Wayne. Fortunately, Anne understood. We brought coffee and wine – what we could do. When we arrived at Anne and Frank’s, the first thing she said to me was that she LOVED the blue Speegee Spatula in the box!

Okay, it looks cool and as you can see, it would be really good icing a cake. But what you don’t realize is that the silicone is heavy enough and flexible enough to do a really superior job in just traditional scraping, stirring and tossing.

I have a step-nephew who exited the family for a bit and then came back, and in between, my mother passed and what he could remember about her was “that she could scrape a bowl” as he slapped his knee!! Meaning, super clean. My mother was a child of the depression and being that she had 6 kids to feed, she didn’t waste a drop.

SPREADING

ICING

MIXING

CUTTING

Icing

SPREADING

CUTTING

MIXING

TOSSING

SCRAPING

Well you can do the same thing with this Speegee Spatula that you received in our MARY’s secret ingredients summer box in either blue or white. This is the last item in our summer box and it is a winner!

Fall is not too far away so if you liked the items here, you’re sure to love our upcoming fall box which will mail on September 25^th. Supplies are limited so order now. Don’t miss out on all the LOVE!

And remember, you’ll be helping us with our partnership with Feed The Children. No one should go hungry.

Quick & Easy Asparagus Risotto with Delta Blues Rice Grits

July 19, 2015 by Mary 14 Comments

Creamy, dreamy, these rice grits are amazing!! You know, to be included in a MARY’s secret ingredients box, we test each product beforehand to ensure it’s super delicious, easy to make, healthy and good for you. These Delta Blues Rice Grits came in and due to timing and scheduling issues, the only time I had to make them was for breakfast one morning while having a FaceTime call with my son in Poland. Did I tell you he won a Fulbright?!! Yes, we’re so proud of him but now he’ll be in Poland for the next 14 months. So thank goodness for FaceTime!

So I am making and eating rice grits at 7 am in the morning and you know what, I couldn’t stop eating them, even at that time of day! By just following the packaging instructions, which is just the same as making regular rice, they came out so creamy and super, super yummy. So what are rice grits? Well they’re the leftover broken rice bits and I’ll tell you what, I’ll take these any day over the whole rice grain!

Now we all love risotto but it needs stirring attention and it‘s not a great thing to make for a dinner party if you want to spend time with your guests. But with these rice grits being so creamy to begin with, I reworked my recipe to create this super Quick & Easy Asparagus Risotto with Delta Blues Rice Grits. I know you’ll like it as much as we did!

QUICK & EASY ASPARAGUS RISOTTO WITH DELTA BLUES RICE GRITS – serves 4

4 cups chicken broth – preferably homemade, divided
1 cup of Delta Rice Grits
1 lb. asparagus, broken at the point of tenderness to remove tough ends, and then each stalk cut into 1.5” pieces
Coarse sea salt
2 Tbs. olive oil
3 Tbs. unsalted butter, divided
½ of a medium red onion, diced
½ cup dry white wine
½ cup (heaping) grated Pecorino Romano cheese

Combine 2 cups of broth and 1 cup of Delta Rice Grits in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to a simmer for 18 minutes. Then remove from heat and uncover. There will be some liquid left and that’s okay.

Meanwhile, while the rice grits are cooking, take a small saucepan and fill with ½ of the asparagus stems (only half of the stems – leave all the tips) and cover with water. Salt the water with coarse sea salt. Bring to a boil, uncovered and reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes until the stems are very tender. Test with a fork. Drain quickly and place in an ice cube bath to stop the cooking. Drain and place stems in a food processor. Pulse to a puree. Stop and add a tablespoon (or maybe two) of cold water to make a smooth puree.

At the same time, melt 1 Tbs. of unsalted butter in 2 Tbs. of olive oil. Add diced red onion and cook until softened for about 5 minutes on medium low heat. Raise heat to medium-high and add ½ cup dry white wine.

Asparagus risotto - onions and asparagus in a skillet.

Looks like Christmas!

Simmer until almost gone and then add 2 cups of chicken broth and the rest of the asparagus. Saute for 4 – 5 minutes just until the asparagus is crisp tender.

Add the cooked Delta Rice Grits and the asparagus puree and simmer for about 2 minutes while stirring and mixing together. Remove from heat and add 2 Tbs. butter (cut into small chunks) and the heaping ½ cup of Pecorino Romano cheese. Stir vigorously to combine, season with fresh cracked pepper, garnish with basil if you wish, and serve with LOVE!

Our fall box ships on September 25th and you won’t want to miss it! The supply is limited so best to order now before we run out. 🙂

Sauteed Kale and Beet Greens with Maguey Sweet Sap

July 15, 2015 by Mary 19 Comments

Maguey Sweet Sap from Villa de Patos is the second item in our MARY’s secret ingredients summer box! This is the coolest product – a delicious sweetener low in fructose and glucose with a delightful “green” taste as it comes from the maguey (pronounced mah-gay) plant that is native to the arid highlands of Mexico. The plant needs to be at least 12 years old before you can get any syrup out of it!

Since ancient times, the maguey plant has served as a source of nourishment, shelter and textiles for the people of Mexico. The Aztecs worshipped the maguey as the goddess Mayahuel, naming it the Plant of the Gods because of its alleged medicinal properties. The plant also serves as a soil protector and regenerator, helping to prevent erosion and acting as a natural healing agent for the land.

The sap is rich in naturally occurring phytonutrients, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, amino acids and prebiotic fiber. The prebiotic fiber found in Maguey Sweet Sap helps balance the ecosystem of your intestinal flora and serves as the “food” for probiotics.

Wow!!

It’s all that and more importantly, it’s super delicious!! Use it on anything and in anything that needs a little sweetener. It has a thinner consistency than honey but like honey, it is also a raw, unrefined and an unprocessed product. The color of the syrup will change over time, getting a little darker. It is super yummy drizzled over plain Greek yogurt, in tea or on pancakes. I chose to use it in this kale and beet greens recipe and it was divine! Because of its more “herbal” taste, I felt it went particularly well with these sautéed greens. I wanted to combine these two different greens because I think it just makes the dish more interesting. Kale is good and all the rage, but personally, I adore beet greens. To me, they’re even much more interesting than the beets (and I do love beets). Separate your stems from the leafy greens when cooking as the stems do need to cook longer and hmmmm (!), just delicious!! The pancetta with the Sweet Sap addition along with the acid from the vinegar – total YUM!!! Savory and sweet – my kind of thing!
SAUTEED KALE AND BEET GREENS WITH MAGUEY SWEET SAP – serves 4

1 Tbs. olive oil
6 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 bunch of beet greens, washed, stems separated from the greens, all cut in 11/2” pieces
½ medium red onion, cut in 1/8” slices, and each slice cut in half
One ¼” thick slice of pancetta, cut in 1/4” cubes
1 bunch of Russian kale, washed, stems removed and cut into 11/2” ribbons
2 Tbs. ginger rice vinegar or plain rice vinegar
11/2 Tbs. Maguey Sweet Sap
Maldon sea salt flakes to taste, crushed
Black pepper, fresh ground, to taste

On low heat, in a medium sized skillet, warm the oil. Add the garlic, beet green stems, red onion and pancetta and stir to combine. Cover and cook for 10 minutes.

Remove cover and raise heat to medium. Add kale. Toss and cook for 3 minutes.

Add beet green leaves, toss and sauté for 3 – 5 minutes, until done.
Turn off heat and remove from hot burner. Sprinkle all over the 2 Tbs. ginger rice vinegar and 1.5 Tbs. of Maguey Sweet Sap Syrup. Stir to combine all. Top with crushed Maldon Sea Salt Flakes and fresh ground pepper. Serve with LOVE and enjoy!!
I served this as a delicious vegetable “bed” to some spice rubbed roasted salmon. Delish!!

I also used this Sweet Sap in place of the honey in my Sweet and Sour Coleslaw recipe and it was totally great!!

Our fall box ships on September 25th and it’s going to be great! The supply is limited so best to order now before we run out.

MARY’s secret ingredients summer 2015 box revealed!!

July 10, 2015 by Mary 4 Comments

Sand, surf and summer!!! You have got to check out this video created by our amazing and very talented team!! So FUN!!

The summer box is awesome if I may say so myself. Full of great new products that are sure to inspire your barbecues and beach parties. We hope to make your summertime living easy and these products will do it. And thank you for your purchase because each one helps us in our partnership with Feed The Children, as no one should go hungry.

We hope to inspire healthy eating for you and we want to eradicate hunger in the world.

That’s all.

Fall box mails on September 25^th. Remember there’s only a limited supply so order now!! They make a great gift and we can enclose a lovely note card with your message.

Here are all the products in the summer box:

Chipz Happen

Chipz Happen, a family owned and operated business, manufactures a line of gourmet tortilla chips. Created by our “Mom” over 25 years ago in her kitchen for family and friends, she took a bold leap of faith at the age of 73 to launch a company. Our mission is to produce products that are made with limited, premium ingredients that consumers can understand.

We offer four unique flavor profiles** and all of our products are gluten free, non-GMO, no trans fats, artificial ingredients or preservatives.** Parmesan Garlic, Spice-z Parmesan Garlic, Cinnful Sweet Heat and Himalayan Pink Salt.Cinnful Sweet Heat: The first DESSERT tortilla chip made with an unexpected “kick” at the end. Similar to a bunuelo but made with corn, this GLUTEN FREE tortilla chip is like traditional cinnamon and sugar with a little heat of cayenne.

Serve it over vanilla ice cream for a Sweet Heat experience or crunch over pancakes, apple pie or any of your favorite desserts for an unforgettable burst of flavor.

Delta Blues Rice

Delta Blues Rice is grown, milled, and packaged on a multi-generational family farm that has been in operation for over 90 years in the Mississippi Delta. The rich soil of the Delta has given birth to both agriculture and the Blues, feeding both the body and the soul of our country.

Delta Blues Rice Grits: Delta Blues Rice Grits are a delicious and versatile byproduct of the rice milling process. Traditionally known as “middlins,” rice grits are actually broken pieces of rice. The broken pieces cook up creamy with a texture that is perfect for sauces. Grits can also be cooked as a risotto or eaten plain with butter, salt, and pepper.

Love Grown Foods

Love Grown Foods was started to put healthier foods on the shelves because we are passionate about making delicious and nutritious foods available to everyone. We are also committed to educating kids, parents, and teachers about the importance of eating healthy.

Chocolate Power O’s: Power O’s will revolutionize your breakfast. Made with navy beans, garbanzo beans, and lentils, Power O’s are a powerfully nutritious cereal and a great way to power up your day!

Rufus Teague

Rufus Teague Made Some Sauce. He put some in a jar and shared it with the boys. They kept on painin’ him ‘til he fixed up another batch. Next thing he knew he’s makin’ sauce all the time. It’s damn good. All natural, gluten free.

Touch O’ Heat Barbeque Sauce: Rufus spiced it up a bit with this one. He always said, “A touch of heat will let you know it’s there”. Trust me, you’ll know the heat is there hangin’ out with all that delicious sweetness. This one’s special.

SpeegeeCo

My name’s Anthony Silva and I’m the founder of SpeegeeCo. I’m just a regular guy that loves to cook and try out recipes, while keeping things cost efficient. When faced with the plight of not wanting to buy anymore cooking tools just to try new recipes, was when the Speegee was born! The Speegee is a reinvention of the globally used silicone spatula. I found myself with cluttered kitchen drawers filled with items I’ve only used once, and tons of silicone spatulas! I asked myself, “Why have so many spatulas when it only really does a couple of jobs?”

Speegee Spatula: The Speegee was designed to accomplish any task that the spatula could, plus a whole lot more! From mixing, to folding, to spreading icing, transferring food, effortlessly scraping the sides of large pots, and even cutting, the Speegee outclasses the boring, old silicone spatula in every way. There’s no longer a need to clutter your drawers and spend a fortune on new tools, when one tool does it all!

Villa de Patos

Since 1980, Villa de Patos has combined ancient traditions with the newest technology to provide products that embody all that nature has to offer. Their products are minimally processed, or as we like to say, are preserved from the goodness from nature. Rooted in Aztec tradition and carefully crafted, Villa de Patos Maguey Sapis an ideal, unrefined and unprocessed alternative sweetener. Featured in Food & Wine as one of the top 10 objects of their obsession, Maguey Sap has a very unique flavor profile and tons of versatility in baked goods, marinades, dairy products, beverages and so much more.

Maguey Sap: Since Maguey Sap is never-heated and is all-natural, it is considered a “live” product meaning the colors will change gradually over time. The starting light amber color is ideal to use as an everyday sweetener, and the dark, rich brown color adds a one-of-a-kind flavor in sweet and savory dishes.

Let’s talk about temperature

July 5, 2015 by Mary 16 Comments

I hope you all had a great July 4^th holiday weekend! We certainly did and the weather is glorious today, not too hot, actually amazing for July 5^th, with the temperature in the low 80’s accompanied by cool breezes. We are here in upstate New York and had our friends Margaret and Wayne over for dinner last night. Margaret said she had even turned on the heat yesterday in her house!!

For our meal, I followed my own instructions, if you got our recipe email from MARY’s secret ingredients for dinner suggestions for the 4^th. I made Barbecued Ribs, Corn on the Cob, Sweet and Sour Coleslaw, and I started our dinner with my Smoked Tomato Soup, (minus the Nueske’s sausage and Flathaus Cheese Straws) but decided to serve it at room temperature, which turned out to be a fantastic idea. Some time ago, I remember reading an article in Food & Wine magazine about famous chefs and their mentors. This one focused on April Bloomfield and she said her mentor taught her the most about temperature. Something she was making, she served way too hot. Her mentor said, in so many words, that all of the flavors were not blossoming with all that heat.

Well my soup, because the tomatoes were smoked and it contained smoky bacon, was actually intended to be served hot, but who wants hot soup on July 4^th? So then, I thought, I’ll serve it cold and it’ll be a different form of gazpacho. But no, I said to myself, that won’t work. Serving it cold would obliterate the beautiful bacony, smoky flavors that I had worked so hard to create. So after I pureed it, I just let it sit on a cool burner on the stovetop, letting it come to room temperature – and it was divine!!

I made this decision to take a leap of faith – fortunately we were with good, forgiving friends if it turned out to be a really bad idea. However, this was a really great idea! So I just thought I’d share.
This soup also contains one of our new ingredients from our summer box. You’ll find it to be surprising so stay tuned for the upcoming posts where I’ll reveal all of the great new products!

Let’s all appreciate our freedom and give thanks!!

Best Barbecued Ribs Ever! Make them for the 4th of July!

June 28, 2015 by Mary 34 Comments

Nothing says summer more than barbecued ribs and corn on the cob, right? Well after years of trying, I think I’ve finally perfected my ribs recipe. And while I call them barbecue, I cheat. I have found this oven method to be so much easier, (You can set it and forget it!), and it doesn’t use a ton of propane or time spent fiddling with the temperature on your grill. With the low, constant heat in the oven and the pan of water underneath, to provide steam and moisture, and then a final finishing on the grill (or under your broiler) to caramelize your sauce, this, for me, is the best foolproof way to cook ribs. I wanted you to have this recipe before the upcoming 4^th of July weekend, so that maybe you’ll be inspired to make these Best Barbecued Ribs for your friends and family!
Every time I serve these to guests, they always ask for the recipe. My original source is this crazy guy named Max Good, I think, but he goes by the name Meathead Goldwyn at amazingribs.com. Do take a look at his site if you have time, as he has interesting tidbits to share about cooking ribs and barbecuing in detail. It is chock full of information. The Huffington Post also put together an article on cooking his ribs on the grill. You can check that out here.
This is his rub recipe, cut in half. At first I cringed at his inclusion of sugars in the rub but if you read his chemistry defense on the fact that the sugar creates the crust (called “bark” by the pros) and you’re really not getting very much of it, it all makes sense. I also salt my ribs before rubbing the oil and sprinkling the rub on. If you forget to do the rub 24 hours in advance, it’s okay but not ideal. The marinating time is advantageous.

Just remember that this recipe takes a fair amount of time so plan accordingly – besides the marinating time, you’ll need the hour before going in the oven and then 5 to 5.5 hours in the oven and then some time on the grill. But all of it is worth it and relatively easy. Make it with LOVE and sit back and enjoy the compliments!

BEST BARBECUED RIBS – serves 4 – 6 (depending on how big your eaters are)

2 racks of St. Louis cut ribs
6 Tbs. canola oil
8 Tbs. Memphis Dust
1 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce

Memphis Dust – makes about 1.5 cups (store extra in a glass jar with a tight fitting lid)

6 Tbs. firmly packed dark brown sugar
6 Tbs. white sugar
1/4 cup paprika
2 Tbs. garlic powder
1 Tbs. ground black pepper
1 Tbs. ground ginger powder
1 Tbs. onion powder
1 tsp. rosemary powder (grind dried rosemary leaves)

Mix the ingredients thoroughly in a bowl. If the sugar is lumpy, crumble the lumps by hand or on the side of the bowl with a fork. If you store the rub in a glass jar with a tight fitting lid, it will keep for months.

The day before or at least 4 hours before: Rinse your ribs well and pat dry with a paper towel. If the butcher has not removed the membrane from the back side, do it yourself. Insert a butter knife under the membrane, then with your fingers, work a section loose, grip it with a paper towel, and peel it off. Trim the excess fat off from both sides as well.

Lightly salt both sides of the ribs to taste with Kosher salt.
Rub the oil in on all sides using about 1.5 Tbs. per side. Then sprinkle on the rub, using 2 Tbs. per side. You don’t want a heavy thick coating. You want some meat to show through as in the above photo.

Place ribs in a glass dish, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 to 24 hours.

Serving day: Remove ribs from the fridge an hour before putting in the oven.

Preheat oven to 230 degrees.
Arrange the 2 racks of ribs, meaty side up on wire racks on a rimmed baking sheet as shown. Fill another baking pan with hot tap water and slide that in on the bottom oven rack. Slide the ribs in on a rack spaced above the water and bake for 5 – 5.5 hours.

When ribs are done in the oven, light your grill and brush the ribs with your favorite sauce and grill to caramelize the sauce, being careful not to burn the ribs and ruin your hours of cooking time. If you don’t have a grill or access to one, you can also carefully broil them as I did here. Place the pan in the center of the oven, about 10 inches away from the flame and turn the broiler to low.Watch carefully so they don’t char. About 5 minutes per side did it for me.

Assuming your meat is all good and natural, these will be the best ribs ever!!!