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

Food Waste

September 25, 2015 by Mary 17 Comments

I have to step up on a soapbox now. Most of you know of my desire to tackle the hunger problem in the United States and the world at large. That’s one reason I started the MARY’s secret ingredients subscription box business, as we are donating 10% of our profits to Feed The Children in their work to support a wide range of services to empower communities and wipeout hunger worldwide. No one should go hungry. In the US alone, over 48 million people suffer from food scarcity and over 15 million children go to bed hungry every night. In our super rich country, this is an atrocity. On the other side of the coin, the amount of food waste is horrendous.

Take a look at this John Oliver video:

Clearly this is a distribution problem. How can we get surpluses of food to the folks who need it?

And apparently many expiration dates on food are arbitrary at best. Maybe they’re put on to increase sales earlier as no decent grocery store will sell expired products and of course, they must restock.

When we lived in Summit, NJ, I made a discovery late one night at Kings, an upscale grocery store, with headquarters in the UK. I was in the store shopping a little before their 10 pm closing time and the woman in the bakery and bread department was going around filling shopping carts with loaves of bread and other bakery items. The bread was mounded high, the carts were overflowing.

I asked her what she was going to do with that. She said she couldn’t tell me.

I said, “Aw come on, please tell me.”

She said, “No I can’t.”

I pleaded, “Pleeeaase.”

She moved closer to me, cupped her hand near her mouth and whispered, “We throw it away.”

I was speechless.

She was embarrassed.

It was perfectly good bread, just not at its very freshest peak and Kings was such a high-class store, they didn’t even want to have a day-old rack. So they just threw it away.

At that point, after numerous letters written to the store’s corporate offices to get permission, I started a pick-up program twice a week for bread and once a week for the gently bruised fruits they also threw away. So three times a week, I filled our station wagon with food and delivered it to organizations that fed the hungry. It was a tiny bit I could do then. I hope to do more with MARY’s secret ingredients.

Today is the last day to purchase a fall box. We still have a few left. Buy one and surprise yourself with healthy ingredients and help us in our cause to feed the hungry.

Having enough to eat should not be a privilege. It is a basic human right.

Also, we’re having a TWITTER PARTY today (9/25) at 1 pm EST!! You can ask me cooking questions and I’ll ask you some too. Should be loads of fun! Join us!!

Easy Ice Cream Pie with Power O’s Crust

July 21, 2015 by Mary 18 Comments

A pie crust that is actually good for you?

Impossible?!

Well, no.

Not if it’s made with Power O’s this super unusual, delicious cereal that’s made with beans!

This is the fifth item in our MARY’s secret ingredients summer box and really so unique, so smart and so delicious! I was told by a doctor years ago that the first thing I should put into my body in the morning was protein. So I usually eat meat but cereal is really a more normal breakfast food. So here, with Power O’s you can have both!

Beans are comparable to meat when it comes to calories, says Dawn Jackson Blatner, RD, a registered dietitian at Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s Wellness Institute in Chicago and a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. But they really shine in terms of fiber and water content, two ingredients that make you feel fuller, faster. Adding beans to your diet helps cut calories without feeling deprived.

Our diets tend to be seriously skimpy when it comes to fiber (the average American consumes just 15 grams daily), to the detriment of both our hearts and our waistlines. The recommended amount for a daily dose of fiber is 21 to 25 grams per day for adult women (30 to 38 grams for adult men). Meat, on the other hand, contains no fiber at all.

This difference in fiber content means that meat is digested fairly quickly, whereas beans are digested slowly, keeping you satisfied longer. Plus, beans are low in sugar, which prevents insulin in the bloodstream from spiking and causing hunger. When you substitute beans for meat in your diet, you get the added bonus of a decrease in saturated fat, says Blatner.

So maybe with this recipe I negated part of the goodness by adding ice cream, OR you could say that this is my attempt to make an ice cream dessert healthy!

This company, Love Grown Foods, was started by a husband and wife team, Alex and Maddy. I met them last year at the Fancy Foods Show and their philosophy completely matches mine. They said, “We started Love Grown Foods 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. We are here to change the way people think about food, eat food, and ultimately buy food. Join us on our journey as we SPREAD the LOVE!”

This is exactly what I’m hoping to do with this blog and with MARY’s secret ingredients.

“Nuff said.” Eat your beans this way!

EASY ICE CREAM PIE WITH POWER O’s CRUST – serves 8

4.4 oz. Power O’s, honey or chocolate, crushed
Pinch of French Grey or Kosher salt
7 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted
2 Tbs. all natural chocolate sauce
2 pints of all natural vanilla ice cream
Strawberries
Blueberries
Aged pomegranate balsamic vinegar, (optional), for drizzling

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Crush the cereal into fine crumbs with a rolling pin. Place in a bowl. Melt the butter and pour over the crushed Power O’s. When the warm butter hit the chocolate Power O’s, the chocolate smell was intoxicating – proof that they’re using real, high quality ingredients – as opposed to making this crust with processed food graham crackers – YUK!

Mix the cereal crumbs and butter well. Pour into a 9″ pie plate and distribute and press in evenly all around forming the crust, being careful not to make any area too thick, particularly where the sides meet the bottom of the pan.

Bake the crust on the middle rack in the oven for about 8 minutes. Let cool completely before filling.

Drizzle the chocolate sauce on the bottom of the crust.

Spoon the 2 pints of ice cream evenly all around in the crust. Do this quickly so you don’t have melting along the sides. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze until ready to serve.

Just before serving decorate the top with blueberries and strawberries as shown. I did this for July 4^th – very patriotic!

Cut with a knife dipped in hot tap water, drizzle each piece with aged pomegranate balsamic vinegar (optional) and serve. This vinegar was a very nice, surprising touch!

And as a little reminder, our fall box ships on September 25th and it’s going to be also full of great unusual products! The supply is limited so best to order now before we run out.

Rufus Teague Roasted Pecans

July 17, 2015 by Mary 6 Comments

The R ufus Teague Touch O’ Heat sauce is soooo good, it really works with so many things. It’s what I used on my ribs here, and because of that, we contacted them directly to ask them if they’d like to be in our MARY’s secret ingredients box. I’ve never done that with anyone but I thought a barbecue sauce would be ideal for the summer box and honestly, I’ve never liked a bottled barbecue sauce better than this one! It’s 100% natural, gluten-free with NO high-fructose corn syrup, which is a rarity in barbecue sauces. Additionally, the Touch O’ Heat Flavor (they also have a whiskey flavor which I also LOVE) is not too hot at all. I hate it when things are so darn hot that you just can’t taste anything. How about you? Many of the recipes today are all about that. Maybe the younger people just don’t have any taste buds left? My husband and I are more into flavor than just pure heat.

So this sauce is great on anything – pork, burgers, beef, chicken, even fish (!), so here I am racking my brain for something very different for you to make with this sauce and I think I’ve finally found something! It doesn’t use very much of it so you can still do your ribs and chicken!

It’s a tradition in the south at cocktail time. Roasted pecans! – with Rufus Teague Touch O’ Heat Sauce. Here is my recipe.

RUFUS TEAGUE ROASTED PECANS – serves 3 at cocktail hour

½ cup of pecan halves
1 Tbs. Rufus Teague Touch O’ Heat Sauce
Maldon Sea Salt Flakes to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small baking pan, toss the sauce with the nuts so that the nuts are coated evenly. Place in the oven on the top rack to roast for 9 – 11 minutes. Do not worry if they get a little dark, as you need to get the nuts toasted and the sauce will darken and caramelize, but they are not burnt.
Remove from the pan and let cool on a separate plate. Crumble some Maldon Sea Salt Flakes on top, toss and serve!!
It couldn’t be simpler and these are so very delicious at the end of a long day with a glass of wine or a cocktail.

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.

Sauteed Kale and Beet Greens with Maguey Sweet Sap

July 15, 2015 by Mary 18 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.

GoodHousekeeping.TV

July 7, 2015 by Mary 12 Comments

Everyone knows Good Housekeeping as a magazine and as a seal. This venerable brand is 130 years old!! Imagine! Well respected, well read and if your product gets the seal, a hearty congrats to you!!

Well now I want you to know that they’ve just launched GoodHousekeeping.TV where they will be curating the best for you in cooking (yay!), crafting (not so much for me), DIY/home (that’s Do It Yourself) and party planning. They are featuring only genius ideas to educate and entertain viewers.

The deal here is that they’re offering free 2 – 3 minute videos on tips and tricks and paid 30 – 180 minute in-depth, step-by-step demonstration classes, which can also include downloadable patterns and instructions that you can print for your projects. The cost is so reasonable – $2.99 to $5.99 per class. At that price, it’s a steal!

The Good Housekeeping Seal has always fascinated me. They have this whole Institute, that puts each product through a battery of tests to evaluate it properly for consumers. Now they even have a Green Good Housekeeping Seal, so you can choose products that are environmentally responsible on a wide range of criteria.

So this .TV site combines the time-tested expertise of the Good Housekeeping Institute and the editorial team of Good Housekeeping magazine with some of the Web’s best-known DIY tastemakers and stars of social media demonstrating everything from DIY projects, to triple-tested recipes, home makeovers, tips, tricks and inspiration.

Check it out! You’re sure to find some helpful tips and interesting info for you.

And let me know what you find!

No Fuss Lunch and last day for a summer box!

June 25, 2015 by Mary 4 Comments

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! 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!

« Previous Page
1
…
7
8
9
10
11
…
13
Next Page »