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

No Fuss Lunch and last day for a summer box!

June 25, 2015 by Mary 4 Comments

No Fuss Lunch.Recently I met this woman I’d like to tell you about. Gaby Wilday is a trailblazer. Based out of Ridgewood, NJ, Gaby is doing something that should be available all across the country. I think she’s aiming for that and I sure hope she achieves it. She’s a mother of 3 children, one 9 year-old and 7 year-old twins. She saw a need for providing truly healthy lunches for her kids and other children in school.
She is a co-founder of No Fuss Lunch where parents and children can go online to choose and order their lunch for the next day, as long as they do it by 8 pm the night before. That is very generous, time-wise. Gaby and her team of 18 people now, create healthy nutritious lunches that contain non-GMO ingredients, no white sugar, no white flour, no high fructose corn syrup and no MSG. The lunches consist of a wholesome entrée, fresh fruit, a vegetable with a dip, a small sweet treat, an antibacterial wipe and a bottle of spring water. She says their “secret ingredient” is their dip because including the dip insures the child will eat the raw vegetables. That’s super smart and a little sneaky too, but hey, that’s okay. However, I’d say their secret ingredient is the love they put into it too!

I remember, when my kids were young, the mornings were very, very hectic. I made homemade cookies almost every Sunday afternoon for the week ahead. Bar cookies were the best and easiest option. On school-day mornings, between flipping pancakes or frying bacon and scrambling eggs, and making the sandwiches for their lunches, while making sure the backpacks had the right homework, not to mention we had a neighbor boy come for breakfast every morning for a little while, I was a bit of a non-stop maniac. So much so, that when my oldest son was in high school, he gave me the book, Take Your Time by Eknath Easwarin, which got me into a meditation practice that I still use today. The book was about focusing on doing one thing at a time because I used to drive my son nuts! But I digress. Those days were crazy and many mothers don’t even go there, with good reason.

However, with No Fuss Lunch, these moms today don’t have to be so crazy in the morning. The lunches are made by other moms, just as concerned about healthy eating, for good bones and good brains. Gaby started with 7 lunches a day in one school. She and her team now serve over 2000 lunches a day in 5 different school districts in NJ. The lunches are made fresh that morning and delivered to the school in time with each child’s name on the bag.

No Fuss Lunch is now even branching out to delivering healthy family meals too! Gaby Wilday.Of course I LOVE Gaby’s philosophy of clean healthy eating and even for her dinner delivery service, she talks about “comfort food, but not the “comfort food” trend of the past several years: fattening, heavy, brain dulling. Modern comfort food is truly taking care of your family with ultra-healthy, intelligent choices, ease, and delightfully delicious options. All of the flavor, none of the FUSS.”

I think Gaby has a great thing going on here – for individuals and for our country as a whole. No Fuss is all about building a healthy future through smarter food.

You are what you eat.

Add a little LOVE, and you’ll be just fine!!

And to add some healthy inspiration to your dinners, order a summer box, up until midnight tonight! This was our spring box and our surprise summer box will be even better. Use the code FOODIESLOVE for 25% off!Subscription box, MARY's secret ingredients, Spring 2015.

Filed Under: Dinner, Lunch, Products for sale Tagged With: 25% off, healthy lunch choices, MSI summer box, No Fuss Lunch, school lunch

Shirataki Harvest Noodles Marinara with Grilled Chicken

May 29, 2015 by Mary 15 Comments

Shirataki Harvest Noodles  with grilled oregano chicken.
I love pasta. Doesn’t everyone? But you know, it is fattening. Well what if there was a “pasta” that was actually low in carbohydrates and calories? That is exactly what this Shirataki Harvest Noodles Marinara with Grilled Chicken dish is all about! I created this entree with the last product from our spring box. Adding grilled chicken to these saucy noodles makes a fully satisfying, delicious meal that is actually low in calories!

Really.

Shirataki Harvest noodles ready to  go in the microwave.This “pasta” noodle is made from konjac yam root flour. Full of fiber, it is a secret weight loss food popular in Asia. This ready-to-eat version from Harvest Foods, is in a delicious, light marinara sauce that is just perfect to pair with the skinless, boneless grilled chicken breasts. Plus, this is super easy to make and ready in a jiffy. For the shirataki noodles, just a couple of minutes in the microwave and you’re ready to go. Additionally, the noodles by themselves are vegan. If you would like to keep it an overall vegan dish, adding some grilled eggplant would be a good substitute for the grilled chicken.

Here’s how I prepared the dish:

SHIRATAKI HARVEST NOODLES MARINARA WITH GRILLED CHICKEN – serves 2

2 packages of Shirataki Harvest Noodles Marinara
2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
Salt
Pepper
Oregano
Olive oil spray
Italian parsley or basil for garnish
Fresh grated Parmesan cheese

Chicken breasts seasoned with salt, pepper and oregano.Wash and pat dry the chicken breasts. Season both sides with salt, pepper and a little dried oregano as shown in the picture. Let sit for 30 – 45 minutes on the countertop.

Light a grill or heat up a grill pan on the stovetop. Spray the grill or grill pan with olive oil spray to prevent sticking. Grill the breast, turning once, until it reaches an internal temperature of 155 – 160 degrees. Remove to a plate and let rest for 5 minutes.

Heat up the Shirataki noodles for 2 minutes in the microwave, following the package instructions. Be sure to puncture the top cover to let air escape. Pour noodles and sauce into a flat pasta bowl.

Slice the chicken breast on an angle and place in a layer on top of the Shirataki noodles. Grate Parmesan cheese on top, garnish with parsley or basil and serve with LOVE.

Skinny, healthy and easy never tasted so good!

The Shirataki Harvest Noodles Marinara is the last item from our MARY’s secret ingredients spring box. Don’t miss out on the summer box that mails June 25th. You can order that here.

Filed Under: Dinner, Lunch, Poultry Tagged With: grilled chicken breasts with oregano, Harvest Noodles, Shirataki Harvest Noodles, shirataki noodles

Cheese Straw Cornbread

May 22, 2015 by Mary 6 Comments

Pile of Delta Bred cheese straws on a wooden cutting board.

Delta Bred Cheese Straws.

 

The buttery, cheesy, delicious Delta Bred Cheese Straws are totally awesome and addictive on their own or served with cocktails. These were one of the first talked about items in our spring box! Comments have come in like “these cheese straws are to die for” and “where can I buy more?” and “The cheese straws were a big hit and didn’t last long at all.” Break them in half and use them to garnish a gazpacho or add some brightness to any salad. Or, you can make this Cheese Straw Cornbread and go straight to heaven.

Putting the cheese straws directly in the cornbread adds a crunchy, cheesy surprise, elevating the humble bread. I made this for a Sunday morning breakfast and it was just divine. You could put some butter on it but honestly, nothing was needed with the extra punch of these cheesy bits. I know you’ll LOVE this!

 

Cheese straw cornbread on table with newspaper.

CHEESE STRAW CORNBREAD – serves 6 – 9

1 cup medium grind whole grain cornmeal (I used Bob’s Red Mill brand)
1 cup of multi-grain flour (or you could use white flour)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. baking powder
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup butter, melted 
1 cup Delta Bred cheese straws, each straw cut into 2 or 3 pieces

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Butter an 8″ square glass baking dish.

Whisk together all the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk and butter. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and whisk just enough to combine. Then fold in the cheese straw pieces and let the batter sit for 10 minutes to let the baking powder do its thing.

Gently pour the batter into your prepared pan and bake for 20 – 25 minutes.

Serve warm with LOVE! Enjoy!!

The Delta Bred Cheese Straws were in our MARY’s secret ingredients spring box. The summer box will mail on June 25th. 

Cheese straw cornbread in pan on stove.

Filed Under: Breakfast, Brunch, Dinner, Lunch, Sides Tagged With: cheese straws, cheesy cornbread, cornbread, Delta Bred

Veggie Pho – Gluten-Free!

May 16, 2015 by Mary 13 Comments

Savory Choice Veg Pho finished in a bowl.Savory Creations International, located in Northern California, is the company that makes this outstanding Veggie Pho. Savory Creations Veggie Authentic Pho.They make other pho’s too – chicken and beef – but I chose the vegetable one to include in our spring box because I thought it was so flavorful and I love the hint of cloves. This company supplies broths and demi glace for top chefs at very fine restaurants so they really know what they are doing, as all of their products are super delicious and just as good as homemade. Of course all of them are all natural, no MSG, naturally gluten-free with zero trans fats and come concentrated in these handy little packets where you dissolve each packet in 2 cups of hot water.

Savory Choice Veg Pho with sandwiches.

I made this Veggie Pho Gluten-Free and paired it with a grilled Provolone and tomato sandwich on whole grain bread (I know – I added glutens with the bread, but we are not sensitive to glutens!) for one of our weekly meatless meals and my husband asked me to make this dinner again. You know he usually complains about the one meatless meal per week but this one was a winner!

Pho is the Vietnamese national dish, typically consisting of rice noodles, onions, herbs, seasonings and thinly sliced beef or chicken in a clear broth.

Savory Choice Veg. Pho ingredients on a wooden board.

I chose to keep this pho vegetarian as well as gluten-free, using white rice noodles and a variety of vegetables. Of course you can use any combination of vegetables or add a protein such as shrimp, chicken or pork. Anything works in this broth. It’s super easy and quick to have a satisfying meal to put on the table in a jiffy. And remember to make it with LOVE – for best results! 🙂Savory Choice Vegetable Pho in a bowl with noodles.

Here’s what I did:

VEGGIE PHO – GLUTEN-FREE  – serves 3

3 packs of Savory Choice Veggie Pho
6 cups of hot water
5 oz. gluten-free white rice spaghetti
2 radishes, thinly sliced
2/3 of a head of Romaine lettuce heart, cut in 1/4” slices
1/4 of a head of radicchio, cut in 1/4” slices
One handful of sugar snap peas, strings removed
1/4 cup oil cured, pitted black olives
2 scallions, white and light green parts, cut in 1/4” slices
Dash of Sriracha sauce to taste

Set a medium sized pot of cold water on to boil. When it comes to a boil, season with coarse sea salt and cook the white rice spaghetti al dente. Drain and reserve.

Prepare all the vegetables. Dissolve the Veggie Pho in the 6 cups of hot water in a medium sized pot. Bring it to a simmer and add the sugar snap peas. Simmer for 2 -3 minutes, until crisp tender. Add the noodles, the rest of the vegetables and the olives. Remove from heat immediately as you want to keep the rest of the vegetables crisp and tasty – do not cook them. Ladle pho into serving bowls. Garnish with scallions and serve. Use the sauce as you please for an added kick!
Making grilled Provolone cheese and tomato sandwiches.

PROVOLONE AND TOMATO GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICHES – serves 2

4 slices of whole grain bread
Unsalted butter
6 – 8 slices of Provolone cheese
1 tomato, cut in 6 slices
fresh ground pepper

Assemble sandwiches as shown, cheese topped with the tomato slices. Grind pepper over the tomatoes. Close the sandwiches and butter one side of the bread.

Melt some butter in a non-stick skillet on medium heat. Swirl the butter around to coat the bottom of the pan. Put the unbuttered side of the sandwich down and cook for about 5 minutes until bread is nicely browned. Flip sandwich over and toast the other side for 4 – 5 minutes.Provolone grilled cheese and tomato sandwich cut in half.

Remove to a plate and cut in half diagonally to serve with the Veggie Pho. Enjoy!!

The Savory Choice Veggie Pho was in our MARY’s secret ingredients spring box. The summer box will mail on June 25th. 

Filed Under: Dinner, Lunch Tagged With: gluten-free, gluten-free dinners, grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches, meatless dinners, vegetable pho, vegetarian

Broth Bowls at Panera Bread

January 26, 2015 by Mary 22 Comments

Panera Broth Bowls invitation.
Right before the holidays, I received an email invitation from a sweet Emma at Panera Bread to a Broth Bowl tasting. Hmm, broth bowls… sounded interesting. And now with this frigid weather we’ve been having, what could be better?  The formal invitation arrived, positioning the event as “An Evening of Umami.” A small group of folks interested in food, nutrition and cooking gathered in this lovely loft in Chinatown. We were treated to a terrific presentation from their Culinary Institute-trained and former teacher, Dan Kish. Dan and his colleague, Mark McDonough, (Director of Product Development) traveled the world (wouldn’t I love to be them!) to research and pull together umami tastes, spices and fresh ingredients to create the newest four dishes, these broth bowls at Panera Bread. Then they served us our choice of broth bowl(s) for dinner, along with some lovely wine.

Panera broth bowl chefs.Here’s what I knew about Panera Bread. They started in St. Louis as the St. Louis Bread Company! I am originally from St. Louis, so you know, they have to be good.

Here’s what I learned. They’re now huge (1,845 cafes) and an incredible company! I mean, having Culinary Institute trained chefs create their dishes and also be concerned about their green footprint, is BIG. For instance, they’ve considered the repercussions of transporting the broth (water is heavy) to all locations or deliberated if it should it be concentrated and then concerned if it can it retain the taste, as well as, considered how to efficiently make the bowls out of components and achieve the desired consistency, using the least amount of energy through all of the processes. Their ingredients are nearly all organic – no antibiotics in the chicken and nearly all cage-free eggs. That’s huge! This “fast casual” food has been designed to be genuinely healthy, even low calorie and totally delicious! I mean this company is really doing amazing things to feed our bodies and take care of our planet. It is not easy to create healthy food available in about 5 minutes after you order at their counter. But boy if they can change our fast food culture into something this great, wouldn’t that be way cool? Really!!! Having healthy energetic people walk the planet exuding wonderful positive energy is just what we all need.

The problem is, is that I never knew any of these things about Panera. (I think they need us to do their marketing and to spread the word, don’t you think?)

Panera Broth bowls veggies.Panera Broth bowls veggies.

So what exactly is Umami? I wanted a succinct answer. Here’s what the Umami Information Center says. (Yes, it’s true, there is one. Just Google it.) Taking its name from Japanese, umami is a pleasant savoury taste imparted by glutamate, a type of amino acid, and ribonucleotides, including inosinate and guanylate, which occur naturally in many foods including meat, fish, vegetables and dairy products. As the taste of umami itself is subtle and blends well with other tastes to expand and round out flavors, most people don’t recognize umami when they encounter it, but it plays an important role making food taste delicious.

Could it be that fake Umami is monosodium glutamate – MSG? Well there’s none of that here.

Check out these broth bowls – they’re delish!!!Lentil-Quinoa_Chicken_Table1-2

I particularly liked the quinoa lentil one with the hard boiled egg on top!Panera Bread lentil quinoa egg broth bowl.

Filed Under: Dinner, Lunch, Poultry, Soups, Vegetables Tagged With: broth bowls at Panera Bread, green restaurants, Panera Bread, social good with food, umami

Watermelon Salad with Feta and Mint

August 13, 2014 by Mary 38 Comments

Watermelon salad with feta and mint on multiple platesI adore this salad. Nothing starts a summer meal better than this Watermelon Salad with Feta and Mint! It’s great to start a lunch or dinner. It’s surprising, refreshing and scrumptious! I love how the black olives tease you to look like seeds but of course, you use a seedless watermelon. The olives are a delicious burst of salty goodness in contrast to the sweet watermelon. I started making this JACQUES PÉPIN recipe (I LOVE his recipes) when it first came out in the June, 2007 issue of Food and Wine magazine. The original recipe says this is for 12 servings but it really worked for just 10 people in our house. It’s easy and relatively fast to make. In the original recipe, Jacques tells you to use a watermelon baller and then throw in the remaining scraps but I prefer my salad to look more uniform so I just cut it into nice chunks. No matter how you cut it, my recommendation is to make this salad now, while the watermelons are ripe, sweet and juicy. Enjoy!

And, don’t forget to comment on my Calphalon Skillet Giveaway post for your chance to win one. This giveaway will end tomorrow, Thursday, at noon. Good luck!!Watermelon salad with feta and mint on a burgundy trimmed plate.!

WATERMELON SALAD WITH FETA AND MINT – Adapted from JACQUES PÉPIN – serves 10 – 12

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp.Tabasco
1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
One 8-lb. seedless watermelon, cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks (10 cups), chilled
1/2 lb. feta cheese, crumbled (2 cups)
1 1/4 cups pitted kalamata olives, coarsely chopped
1 small sweet onion, cut into 1/2-inch dice
1 cup coarsely chopped mint leaves

In a large bowl, whisk the oil, lemon juice, salt, Tabasco and pepper. Add the watermelon, feta, olives and onion and toss gently. Garnish with the mint and serve.

Filed Under: Dinner, First Course, Lunch, Salads Tagged With: Jacques Pepin recipes, refreshing salad, summer salad, vegetarian salad, watermelon salad, watermelon salad with feta and mint

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