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

Our Thanksgiving e-cookbook is now available on Amazon

November 19, 2013 by Mary 2 Comments

I wanted to let you know that our Thanksgiving e-cookbook is now available on Amazon. Download your copy and let it help make your life easier next week!

The book is already receiving rave reviews for its fantastic scheduling help (planning is an essential part of stress-free cooking!) and of course the scrumptious recipes. It is also beautiful to look at thanks to our wonderful designers here.

My family is very excited for Thanksgiving!! Everyone is coming from different places and at different times, but we will all be upstate by Wednesday evening. Everyone wants to contribute and help. Such excitement. There will be just six of us – both of our boys and we’re lucky to have both of their girlfriends too. One celebrated Thanksgiving four times already with different relatives and the other one’s family, (being natives of Poland), does not really celebrate this holiday. We are so lucky that we get to have them!

This past weekend, we had our neighbors from down the road over for dinner. We just met them. Ronny and Cathy are the owners of Ronnybrook Farm, along with Ronny’s brother. If you live here on the East coast, you may know them for their super creamy, fantastic ice cream, chocolate milk that is to die for, yogurt, regular milk and now eggnog, at this time of year. They brought us some ice cream and eggnog. I love eggnog but never buy it as it’s really very fattening. But hey, now that it’s in my fridge and was a gift, I have to have a little, right? My father loved eggnog around the holidays. He liked it both straight or spiked with a bit of bourbon but he always sprinkled some nutmeg on top. Isn’t it funny how all of these food memories are so fresh to me. I must have been destined to write this blog and share food stories.

For dessert for Ronny and Kathy, I made an apple crisp. A perfect dessert for this time of year and perfect a la mode! (I knew they were bringing ice cream.)

Apple crisps are easy to make, and warmed up with a little ice cream it’s a bit of heaven!

With working so hard to launch the e-cookbook last week, I have Thanksgiving fully on the brain. I’m starting to really think about all the things I’m grateful for: Time together with my family. New and old friends. Being able to show these people how much I love them with food. Being cooked for by some of the very talented people in my life. You, my dear readers. And even eggnog!

There is one more thing too. Remember adorable Domino? We saw him over the weekend and he is growing up so fast! Notice his horns are two different sizes. Ethel says he keeps bashing them, but they do grow back.

He’s so cute. He hangs out with her two dogs and wants to be petted like them too. Only he won’t chase the tennis balls!

Thanksgiving e-book is out!

November 13, 2013 by Mary 12 Comments

Dear Food Loving Friends,

I did it. (the very famous line from Presumed Innocent – great movie!) But no, really, our Thanksgiving e-book is out! I wrote our first e-book on how to make a fantastic Thanksgiving meal. I have collected and put together my favorite 13 recipes, along with a process guide on how to get everything accomplished on the days leading up to the big day. This makes it easy for you. Understand that I have been making Thanksgiving dinners for quite some time now and this is a collection of my very best recipes. It was only last year, that I discovered the perfect side dish of Brussels Sprouts with a Fish Sauce Vinaigrette. Yes, really! I know it sounds weird but this dish works really well in the pairing with the other rich dishes that surround the turkey.

Of course, you don’t have to make every recipe that is there. Pick and choose to suit your taste. But in this book you’ll find the very best way to roast your bird to achieve moist, melt-in-your-mouth white meat that doesn’t even need gravy. But don’t worry, I give you the best giblet gravy to make as well, seasoned with thyme and the crushed roasted vegetables that formed the rack for roasting the bird. My appetizers are great too – light and just right and you won’t need a second oven to prepare them in, because I don’t have one at our country house, which is where we’ll be celebrating. My stuffing has become globally famous and the cranberry sauce is just sweet enough, punctuated with fresh ginger and orange zest. Believe me, I’ve tried dozens of different recipes for all of these dishes and in this book, I only present the ones that made it to stardom.

The process guide combats intimidation and will keep you organized and sane. (So will a glass of wine.) We’ve even included little check boxes for you to appreciate your accomplishments along the way. Of course, the book is beautifully designed by our team here at PM+CO, because that’s what I do in my day job.

Check it out here with a full listing of recipes. Please share your experiences with me. I welcome your input!

With LOVE,

Mary Frances

Hillsdale Art Fest

September 21, 2013 by Mary Frances 22 Comments

Today and tomorrow, I am exhibiting my paintings at the Hillsdale Art Fest in Hillsdale, NY. It is an event sponsored by the Columbia County Council on the Arts. It’s always so much fun to meet other artists and see what they’ve been creating, what they feel they need to express to the world. I have been trying to abstract landscapes. It’s hard. I don’t know why it’s so hard but it is. I feel I am making progress but I am not yet there, to my satisfaction. My medium is acrylic and for sketches I prefer pastels or watercolors.

Our good friends Margaret and Wayne came to visit us at the Art Fest and brought us the news that their dear friend and young colleague, 47 years old, dropped dead of a heart attack on the street outside of his house in Brooklyn, after going for a morning run. He wanted to make sure he was back in time to take his 10-year old daughter to her first day of school.

Shock, grief, disbelief. How could this happen? We knew this young man as well. We were all together in Vancouver at a conference this time last year.

So Margaret said they are coping and one way to cope is to cook a meal and have friends over for dinner. We are those lucky friends and went to their house tonight for dinner. She said she needs to cook to occupy herself, and keep her mind on something else. As Molly O’Neill said at Longhouse, cooking a meal orders her. There is a beginning, a middle and an end.

Cooking and conversations about food are great unifiers. I recently had a lunch scheduled with a woman from a competitive brand design firm. I had the idea that perhaps we could partner on some large government projects. At the last minute, she was called into a meeting so she sent two of her colleagues, whom I had never met, to meet me for lunch. It was an odd set of circumstances but okay, let’s go with the flow. So we all talked about each others’ businesses and types of work and so on. They were both very reserved and naturally cautious about revealing too much about their business. After about 30 minutes of this chit chat, I casually mentioned that I have a food blog and pulled out my LOVE business cards. Well, I want you to know, their facial expressions, posture and attitude changed immediately. They wanted to tell me about their cooking, their kid’s cooking, what was in their pantry and favorite recipes. It was a change so drastic, it was palpable. It was so lovely!

After I returned to the office, I received a call from the woman I was supposed to have lunch with and she was exuberant about how these two ladies came back and couldn’t stop talking about my food blog! I’m telling you, we should all break bread with our challengers and rivals. Everyone has to eat. Food is the great connector and equalizer. Margaret needed to cook for friends to bring some order back into her life. Here’s her beautiful meal from tonight.

Greek casserole pastitsio combines béchamel, pasta, ground lamb, tomato sauce, cheese, cinnamon and nutmeg. Super homey, yummy and delicious! This is not Margaret’s recipe, but this gives you an idea of this dish.

A delicious beet and fennel salad.

I hope you’re eating great food cooked with LOVE and that this blog helps you do that.

LOVE travels to our Potato Salad Winner in Alabama!

July 26, 2013 by Mary Frances 4 Comments

We’re traveling the world! Look at this great photo of Nikki Landau in our LOVE apron at her new house in Fairhope, Alabama!! Nikki Landau in a LOVE apron outside her home in Alabama with a large stone fireplace and pool in the background. (I like how the umbrella matches our logo!)

Congratulations Nikki for entering the winning potato salad recipe!! It’s the one with anchovies and is truly delicious. Aunt Rose would be proud.

Please send in pics of you in your LOVE apron, and we’ll feature you too!

LOVE apron travels to Paris!!

July 17, 2013 by Mary Frances 4 Comments

Who knew our LOVE apron would go to Paris – one of my favorite food cities! Meet our dear friend Al Zdenek on one of his nine balconies in his Paris apartment. His partner Alain presented him with a LOVE apron for his birthday last week. (they make great birthday presents)

Al started out as a client for us and has become a great friend. He is the president of an incredibly successful wealth management firm. Trust me, if you want to be like Al, with fantastic apartments in NYC and Paris, leave your money with him to manage at Traust Sollus.

And to all you men out there asking for a men’s size in the apron, you can see that it truly is unisex. pretty Love the secret ingredient apron

Aprons are going fast!!

February 21, 2013 by Mary Frances Leave a Comment

Meet my beautiful nieces and sister-in-law, Patti!! I’m so very happy to share this picture with you. Aren’t they all gorgeous??

You too can show your secret ingredient with our beautifully embroidered full length apron, and always be reminded to add that extra dash of LOVE to your cooking. It just makes everything taste better!

Sending lots of LOVE your way!