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

MARY’s secret ingredients boxes are on their way!

April 27, 2014 by Mary 14 Comments

It’s been a week of preparing and packing the actual boxes. Our team at the office, headed by our amazing Lily, did an awesome job! The boxes have all been lovingly filled with amazing products that I know will inspire your cooking. All of our spring MARY’s secret ingredients (MSI) boxes are on their way. I’m guessing that those of you who ordered them will have them in your hands early this week and I can’t wait to hear what you think.

Our spring boxes are completely sold out. But don’t worry, you can still order the other seasonal boxes right now but really, don’t wait, as we’ve already sold quite of few of those as well, as many people purchased all of the seasons.

The ingredients in this season’s box are from all over the world, and of course, fit our profile of all natural, healthy, gourmet eating. I have been busy working on recipes and serving suggestions using all of them, which will appear here in the coming week.

More importantly, we want to thank everyone – our partners and our customers who have made a commitment with us to eradicate world hunger as we are donating 10% of our profits to Feed The Children. No one should go hungry.

Soon the suspense will be over and you’ll be spicing up your cooking with new flavors and new ingredients! Spread the word and remember, to always cook with LOVE.

Order Your Surprise Spring Box Now!

April 14, 2014 by Mary 18 Comments

I’m SO excited, MARY’s secret ingredients, our new surprise box of awesome culinary products, will ship on April 25^th. We are busy putting the finishing touches on it. We have amazing products that I LOVE. While we hand-picked and targeted artisanal, gourmet and organic producers in the US only, we were also contacted by international manufacturers with very fine products, wanting to be in our box. So now we have those too! The box is selling for $25.95 and while we promise the value will always be at least $30.00, this inaugural box has a value of just a little over $42.00! So order your spring box now so you won’t miss out. And, as a special offer to you, dear readers, use the promo code 4LOVE at checkout and get $4.00 off of each box.

We’ve had several orders requesting personalized notecards to enclose, as the box would make a great gift, and that option is available at checkout where you have the billing and shipping address information. We have customers who have ordered a full set (all seasons) and then placed a second order as a wedding gift for friends who are foodies. Nice gift!

I have been busy working on scrumptious recipes and usage suggestions with the box ingredients. Those will be posted here on LOVE, in the beginning of May, as I don’t want to ruin the surprise for you.

Besides being able to showcase and present to you new great products that I love, I am very excited about having this venue be able to contribute to eradicating hunger in the world, as we will be donating 10% of our profits to FEED THE CHILDREN. This wonderful organization provides not only food, but water, health care and education to children in need all over the world. Did you know that lack of food contributes to 2.6 MILLION child deaths every year? Or that nearly 18 MILLION American families suffer from food insecurity? That means that they don’t always know where their next meal will come from. Isn’t that crazy, in our wealthy country?

So order a box and become part of the solution to eliminating hunger AND give yourself a surprise present. I know you’ll LOVE it, adding more variety to your cooking with LOVE for your friends and family!

Mary’s secret ingredients is here!!

March 14, 2014 by Mary 16 Comments

I’ve been so looking forward to this day. Mary’s secret ingredients, a limited edition subscription box bursting with culinary surprises, is here! The website is launched. We’ve lined up partners that can’t be beat. We’ve curated the product assortment in the box to be awesome. I’m so excited to have this media outlet to present all the great new small food manufacturers that are wholesome and gourmet.

Products pictured here are characteristic of the wonderful surprises that may be in your box.

This is such a great opportunity for them to get their product into your hands. And, this is such a great opportunity for you to be surprised with new, unique, artisanal and non–processed food items and ingredients arriving at your doorstep.

The world is truly full of great people who have awesome ideas for new products. This is a chance for you to be first in the know. I will provide additional support in blogs following your receipt of the surprise subscription box, to use those products in even more unique ways, with recipes and tips.

Unleash your creative inner self! Order a MARY’s secret ingredients box today and make some memorable days in your kitchen with your family and remember, always prepare and serve your food with LOVE and it will always taste better!

Thank you all for your support!

Sending love to you, Mary Frances

Spread LOVE – MARY’s secret ingredients is COMING SOON!

March 5, 2014 by Mary 20 Comments

I’ve been doing a lot of soul searching, trying to figure out ways to spread more LOVE in this world of ours. Like many people, I constantly want to try new flavors, and to learn other countries’ traditions and favorites. What are those unusual vegetables or fruits at the Jamaican market? What do you do with all the different dried chilies you see in some stores? How can you fuse certain heritages’ flavors? There are so many new ingredients introduced every year – artisanal, unique, small batch – how can you find them and play with them in your repertoire while continuing to spread LOVE in your cooking?

Well, I’m out to solve that problem, as well as to do my part to help feed hungry children. Soon, we will be bringing you MARY’s secret ingredients, a limited edition, culinary surprise, subscription box service containing unique, gourmet and artisanal ingredients, along with small kitchen products to spice up your cooking. During each quarter in 2014, 100 themed seasonal boxes will be filled with lovely surprises to inspire you, delivered right to your door. The cost will be $25.95 per box (including shipping) and 10% of our annual profits will be donated to the wonderful non-profit organization Feed The Children. No one should go hungry. Not in this country. Not anywhere. Put double LOVE in your cooking!

Our site will go live in the next few days. We have exciting and delicious ingredients to share with you. Terrific partners have signed up to participate with their delectable products. Additionally, I’ll be creating new recipes with these colorful ingredients, so you can refer back here to the blog for further inspiration in your cooking.

As mentioned, there will be only four box themes curated this year, with room for just 100 orders for each, so sign up just as soon as our site is launched which will be early next week. At the moment, we are only able to ship within the U.S. – we hope to be able to serve our international friends in the near future. You, my dear readers, are what makes all of this extra fun, and I want to thank you, near and far, for being part of this community and being here on my food adventure.

I’m so excited to share this with you all, and will let you know when the site has launched!

My good friend Marie gave this butter knife to me as a birthday present – the inspiration for this new adventure. Isn’t it great?

Chatman J Cakes – now available on Etsy.com!

January 28, 2014 by Mary 23 Comments

OMG, I slept eight straight hours last night!!! I didn’t wake up once. I can’t believe it, nor can I remember the last time that happened. Usually I wake up after four hours, like clockwork, and have a heck of a time going back to sleep. Wow! This feels great! Maybe it’s due to the Chatman J Cakes we had last night for dessert.

I want to tell you about Jean Chatman. I met her at a foodie lecture event a few months ago. She’s a lovely lady and so very proud and excited about her cakes. She certainly makes them with LOVE, as you can tell and taste it. After 15 years in the corporate sector and years of hosting parties for families and friends, Jean decided to follow her dream and pursue her passion.

The Zucchini Bread with walnuts

Jean asked if I would review them. She focuses on 3 varieties – Rum, Coconut and Zucchini bread with walnuts. Using organic and local ingredients, these cakes are mixed by hand. They are all delicious, but my personal favorite is the rum, which is so very moist and addictive. The coconut cake is topped with a layer of fluffy white wisps – but sadly my photos of that one got corrupted. I also loved the addition of walnuts in the Zucchini Bread. It’s a very nice touch.

The Rum Cake

Check out Chatman Cakes website where she has other delectable desserts – the cheesecake looks divine. And they’re now also available on Etsy.com.

If you live in NYC, you can find Chatman Cakes at Harlem Shake (hey, that rhymes) on 124^th Street and Lenox Avenue or, in the spring, at Marcus Garvey Park on Saturdays from 9 am – 3 pm.

When you don’t have time to make a dessert yourself, this is a great buy. They’re homemade goodness – it’s just from someone else’s home!

New Holiday Small Plates e-Cookbook is Out!

December 18, 2013 by Mary Frances 6 Comments

Hot off the press (or oven), our new holiday small plates e-cookbook is out: Secrets for Holiday Small Plates, Savory and Sweet. Since small plates are all the rage, I wanted to put together this collection of ten really great recipes. This is a perfect little cookbook for an easy cocktail party and makes an awesome stocking stuffer gift!

After all, the holidays should be about getting together, having time to relax, visiting with friends and relatives, and enjoying your own party. These recipes will allow you to do that, eliminating the stress. You can see all the recipes if you click on the ad on the right side of this blog. The cookbook is a 30 page, interactive downloadable PDF that will work on your tablet, phone or computer. And I must say, it is beautifully designed by our wonderful designers here.

So make your party stress free and you will enjoy more!

And please let me know how you like it.

With LOVE, Mary Frances