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

Faces of Hunger Film Festival in NYC

September 13, 2016 by Mary 6 Comments

On October 14^th I’ll be heading over to NYU for the annual Faces of Hunger Film Festival. Faces of Hunger is dedicated to increasing awareness of food security issues in the United States of America and is run by Palms for Life, an NYC based non-profit that works globally with organizations on-the-ground to provide access to food, water, education, and sanitation.

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know fighting world hunger is one of my main missions in life, and it isn’t just a problem in developing countries. Here in the USA one out of seven children live in food insecure households. And don’t even get me started on the sheer amount of food waste in our country; that was a whole post on its own already! One powerful statistic I saw on the Faces of Hunger page is that if we cut food waste by 25%, we would have enough for everyone to eat. We have to hold ourselves accountable and commit as a country to make a change!!

I welcome you to register here for the FREE event, I think tickets are only available for another day or so, so take advantage and join us!

They will also have an auction with various items including an annual subscription to MARY’s secret ingredients. Remember, each box supports our partnership with the global organization Feed The Children, so if you can’t join us at the event, you can still buy a box and support the cause while enjoying our curated surprises to help you make memorable meals.

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!!

Spicy Brined Chicken and Pork

May 14, 2014 by Mary 24 Comments

The wonderful bottle of brine from Sweetwater Spice Company, included in the MARY’s secret ingredients spring box, makes for a super easy way to tenderize and flavor meats. You would have either received the Tres Chilies Fajita Bath or the Pineapple Habanero Jerk BBQ Bath Brine. Both of these flavors are great to make spicy brined chicken and pork or even seafood. If you didn’t order a spring box, you can click on their ad on the right rail here and go directly to their website and order some bottles.

We have received amazing positive and enthusiastic comments and reviews on the box. Such excitement! You can see those reviews here:

http://subscriptionboxmania.weebly.com/1/post/2014/05/marys-secret-ingredients-april-2014.html
http://www.hangingoffthewire.com/2014/05/marys-secret-ingredients-box-may-2014.html
http://www.subscriptionboxmom.com/2014/05/marys-secret-ingredients.html
http://shouldibuythisbox.wordpress.com/2014/05/07/marys-secret-ingredient-spring-2014/
http://2littlerosebuds.com/2014/05/06/marys-secret-ingredients-msi-culinary-box-review-discount-code/
http://www.ramblingsofasuburbanmom.com/2014/05/spring-2014-marys-secret-ingredients-review/
http://modernmommyfiles.com/2014/05/marys-secret-ingredients-box-may-2104/

Best of all, sales of boxes help to feed hungry children worldwide as 10% of our annual profits will be donated to Feed The Children. Because of these great reviews, the summer box is selling fast, as well as the other seasons too, so if you want to get in on the fun, place your order now. Use the promo code 4LOVE when checking out for $4.00 off for a total cost of $21.95.

Using the Austin, Texas, Sweetwater Spice Company brines, I created this wonderful dinner salad by marinating skinless, boneless chicken breasts in the Pineapple Habanero Jerk Brine and then grilling them. The beauty of this product is that the brining time (30 minutes) is quick and the results produce really juicy flavorful meat. This is not a sweet dish, don’t let the pineapple in the name fool you. It is spicy with just a hint of pineapple on the back end. Here’s the recipe, super easy – use any leftover vegetables you have or grill some fresh.

PINEAPPLE HABANERO JERK GRILLED CHICKEN ON A SALAD – serves 4

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, washed, dried and trimmed of all fat
Sweetwater Spice Company Pineapple Habanero Jerk BBQ Bath Brine – follow instructions on the bottle to dilute the brine and marinate for 30 minutes or more. Do not strain the spices and add on unless you like things super firey hot!
Boston lettuce, washed and air dried
Radicchio leaves, washed and air dried
2 vine ripened tomatoes, cored and washed
16 asparagus spears, washed and trimmed of woody stem parts
1/2 lb. okra, washed and tops trimmed
2 tbs. olive oil
Vidalia or other sweet onion, very thinly sliced
Croutons – homemade preferably
Sherry vinaigrette salad dressing

Marinate chicken in the brine for 30 minutes or more – up to 2 hours.

Wash and dry the lettuce and radicchio. Toss asparagus and okra in olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Cut the tomatoes into wedges. Make the salad dressing. Remove the chicken from the brine and pat dry. Discard brine. Grill the chicken until just done. Let rest for 5 -10 minutes before slicing on an angle. While the chicken is resting, grill the vegetables until nicely done.

Arrange the lettuce and radicchio on the plates. Place the grilled vegetables, tomatoes and the sliced onions on the sides, leaving the center area clear for the chicken. Slice the chicken breasts and place in the middle. Scatter croutons on top. Drizzle dressing overall to taste. Serve with LOVE.

Enjoy!

Just look at how juicy that chicken is!

I also used the Tres Chilies Fajita Bath to brine big thick pork chops and they turned out divine! I brined them for 3 hours and grilled them – really wonderful!

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.

Pasta with Flounder in a Red Sauce and Roasted Broccoli with Radishes

March 17, 2014 by Mary 28 Comments

I’m so embarrassed, I forgot to mention in my last post that 10% of Mary’s secret ingredients’ annual profits will be donated to Feed the Children, a wonderful, worldwide organization that provides nourishing food, hygiene items, educational books and supplies for boys and girls in need.

I have always said that there is plenty of food in this world. It just needs to be redistributed and to not go to waste. Please take a look at these links and articles. No one should go hungry. I’m very excited to be able to give this non-profit a helping hand with MARY’s secret ingredients. Man, I would love to play a part in eradicating hunger in this world – it’s on my bucket list. You can help. All the more reason to order a box! Feed yourself and your family while feeding the needy children of the world.

This past week, the day after we arrived home from California, at around 5 pm, our youngest son informed me that he and his girlfriend would be home for dinner. That morning, I had taken two flounder fillets out of the freezer and had planned to roast them for Steve and me and make a simple vegetable for dinner. So now I only had a little over 1 lb. of fish for four people. I was tired and crabby from the travel and time change and had no desire to go to the fish store uptown to buy more fish and a decent vegetable. What to do?

Walking to the subway on the way home, while talking out loud to my husband, I decided to make it stretch. I called my son, Zach, and asked him to mince 5 cloves of garlic, pit and chop 15 olives, take the anchovies out of the fridge and make sure the flounder fillets had thawed. (They hadn’t.) I thought, let’s make a pasta dish with the flounder in a red sauce! Add some anchovies and olives for an extra boost of flavor! I stopped in the grocery store downstairs in my building and bought some broccoli and a beautiful bunch of large radishes. I tossed those with some olive oil and salt and pepper, and roasted them at 425 degrees for about 15 minutes, along with the recipe below and we had a super delicious, satisfying dinner for everyone; quick to boot, with everything ready in about 40 minutes. Suddenly I wasn’t crabby anymore! (A little food does wonders – think of what it could do for the world!)

Now, because I only had buccatini in the apartment, which is a big noodle, I did not toss the sauce with the pasta, but served the pasta in a bowl, drizzled a tiny bit of olive oil on top and then ladled the red fish sauce on top. If I would have tossed it all together before serving, I would have broken up all those beautiful little pieces of flounder and made mush out of them. Not a good thing, nor pretty to serve. Now I know the true Italians would disagree with me here but that’s what I did, allowing each individual to mix it up in their own bowl.

PASTA WITH FLOUNDER IN A RED SAUCE – serves 4

2 tbs. olive oil
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1/3 of bunch of parsley leaves, washed, dried and chopped
2 tsp. tomato paste
1 – 28 oz. can of whole San Marzano tomatoes, hand crushed, with the sauce
5 flat anchovy fillets, patted dry with a paper towel, chopped
Salt
Pepper
2 fillets of flounder, about 1.3 lbs., washed, dried, cut down the middle and then cut into 1/2” chunks
15 olives, black and green in oil, pitted and minced
1 lb. pasta – bucatini or fettuccine

Put a large pot on water on to boil for the pasta.

Warm olive oil in a large skillet. Add minced garlic on low heat and stir for 5 minutes. Raise heat to medium – medium high and add the chopped parsley and cook and stir for 1 minute. Add the tomato paste and stir for 1 – 2 minutes. You must always try to brown the tomato paste in order to get the most flavor out of it – this is key!

Then add the hand crushed can of tomatoes with the juice along with the anchovies and let the whole thing vigorously simmer for about 10 minutes to thicken.

Meanwhile your pasta water has probably boiled. Salt with course sea salt to taste like ocean water (you know what that means, do not taste it and burn your tongue) and add your pasta. Stir and cook until al dente.

Salt and pepper the sauce to taste and add the cut up flounder fillets. Lower the heat a bit and stir gently, often. Fold over with a rubber spatula to stir so you don’t break up the pieces of fish. This will take about 7 minutes to cook the fish. Then taste the sauce to adjust salt and pepper and at the very end, add the chopped olives. Remember the olives will add more salt so take that into consideration. Turn your heat off.

Drain the pasta when done. Place pasta in bowls and drizzle a little olive oil on top so the noodles don’t stick together. Then ladle some beautiful sauce on top in the center. Serve immediately, with LOVE.

ROASTED BROCCOLI WITH RADISHES – serves 4

1 head of broccoli, washed, stems trimmed and peeled, each stalk quartered or even cut more
5 large radishes, scrubbed, dried and quartered
2 tbs. olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Toss broccoli and radishes with the olive oil and salt and pepper to taste on a rimmed baking sheet. Roast for 15 – 17 minutes until broccoli stems are fork tender to your liking. The broccoli heads will become a little charred, but I like them that way. They are so tasty. Serve immediately, very hot, on a side plate, with LOVE.

Enjoy!!