In the hustle and bustle of the holidays, we are constantly looking for ways to add effortless sparkle to the table. Throughout the season, we want to have the freedom to invite a few neighbors or friends over on a whim and be ready to quickly throw out a few delicious nibbles and fun cocktails. We stock our refrigerators with special cheeses, our pantry with a variety of crackers and our bars with a couple of bottles of bubbly. Freixenet (“fresh-eh-net”) is a great, affordable holiday bubbly to keep around. Not only does the black bottle add a pop of elegance to any table, but once it’s opened and poured, your guests will immediately feel like you rolled out the red carpet for them.

Here are a few tips for adding a little extra bling to the festivity.

Enjoy the Cordon Negro Brut by itself with a delicious, apricot stilton cheese. It has slight hints of pear, apple and bright citrus flavors. Its clean, crisp finish balances nicely with the sharp stilton. If you want to prepare a little bit more for your guests, spicy lettuce wraps would be excellent as well.

If you want to turn this sparkling brut into a warm Holiday Toddy, boil a nub of fresh, crushed ginger with a stick of cinnamon for 10-20 minutes. Add 2 oz of Cordon Negro Brut, 2 oz of 100% cranberry juice, and 2 oz of the warm ginger mixture. Finish with a thin slice of apple and a cinnamon stick for a garnish.

The Cordon Negro Sweet Cuvee is just slightly sweet and honestly, with slight summer peach hints and is perfect with a slice of cheesecake. But, if you don’t happen to have a cheesecake laying around, is would be great with a bowl of fresh popped popcorn that is lightly salted and finished with cracked pepper.

If you happen to have an apple and an orange laying around, chop a few pieces up, add it to a glass, fill the glass half full with fresh cherry juice and top it off with Cordon Negro Sweet Cuvee for a last minute, Holiday Sangria.

If you take a little bit of time this week, to stock your pantry and your fridge with a few key items, the versatility is endless and it can help your holiday be fun and effortless.

Just for fun, Freixenet is traveling the country with a set of Mini Coopers. If you find a hidden bubble, enter the code HERE and you will be entered to win a sparkling Mini Cooper. Now that would be a great gift this holiday, wouldn’t it?

Who says the holidays are the only time for bubbles?  Make it your resolution to sparkle 365 days of the year with Freixenet cavas. Our sparkling wines come in a variety of different styles to suit any moment or mood. Cordon Negro Brut, our classic Black Bottle Bubbly, is great as an aperitif before a night out on the town or at home with takeout pizza. Our brand new Cordon Negro Sweet Cuvee is the perfect match for brunch favorites like pancakes and eggs benedict. Visit FreixenetUSA.com for more information about where to buy Freixenet sparkling wines and learn how you could win a 2-year lease on a new 2013 MINI Cooper.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Freixenet. The opinions and text are all mine.

It’s been a week of feasting, for sure! It’s the kind of week where calorie counting is put on pause and you just enjoy each meal as a gift. This week I’ve enjoyed my husband’s rich, slow roasted lamb, my daughter’s hand rolled sugar cookies, my cousin’s first ever roasted turkey, a friend’s super soaked rum cake and of course…homemade cinnamon buns. I have received gourmet food toys, such as dark chocolate with pink pepper and citrus notes, tarragon dijon kale crunch and chipotle spice sipping chocolate. Friends and family know we love our food toys!

Recently I received a special package…a wooden box.

Inside of this box was 4 jars of Rose Romano’s Italian Peppers, offering themselves to us as inspiration to embellish future meals.

There were two jars of Rose Romano’s Italian Green Peppers and two jars of Red. These gourmet toppings were beckoning us to use them!

In typical Devon fashion, he used these new food toys as an excuse to run out and buy a rib eye. Because, he was convinced that the grilled rib eye would become something extra special slathered in Rose Romano’s Italian Red Peppers with a sprinkling of Parmigiano Reggiano. He was so right! We heated the Red Peppers just a bit and poured them on our sliced rib eye, then grated fresh cheese on top to create an Italian Steak dish that the whole family loved!

The next morning, with the flavors still lingering in my mouth and a half of a jar left in my fridge, I fried up an egg in extra virgin olive oil, added a handful of arugula and finished the sandwich with a bit of the Rose Romano’s Peppers. Not only was it colorful, but the flavors worked perfectly together.

Around here, “fast food” tends to be food toys that we use to make meal preparation a little quicker. Rose Romano’s Peppers are a great addition to our pantry. The sauce is not too sweet, but just the perfect balance of fresh tomatoes that lends a base for red or green peppers to take center stage.  Not to mention, it is a  low calorie, gluten free and locally sourced product. This sauce would be great tossed in pasta, served over cheesesteak subs, used as a base for grilled pizza or spooned on polenta.

We are thrilled to announce that Rose Romano’s has even caught the attention of Philadelphia’s Kimberton Whole Foods. Word is, it’s stocked on their shelves. But, if you’re not in the Philly area, you can order it on Amazon: Rose Romano’s Italian Peppers, Marinara with Green Bell Peppers, 16 oz. jar, 4 Pack You can also read more about how Rose Romano’s Italian Peppers was created, HERE. Like all good things, this one comes with a great story.

Rose Romano’s Italian Peppers sent us their product to try and paid us for this post. However, the opinions expressed about the quality of this product, are entirely our own.

Living in Baltimore City, we are surrounded by the urban jungle. The rolling farmlands, bursting with fresh produce are about a 1/2 hour drive outside the city limits. In the past decade or so, the Farmer’s Markets, CSA’s and at home produce delivery services, like Friends & Farms, have been exploding. There are so many options!

I’ve looked at a few at-home delivery service sites that promise to deliver fresh farm products right to your door. I have to admit, I’ve never clicked the button to commit. Seeing as we have 7 people in the house, 4 of whom are grown-teenage-to-men and 1 who is a competitive gymnast (at the gym 15 hours a week) it’s hard to keep food in the house. I wasn’t convinced the amounts typically promised in a “Large Basket” would be able to deliver what my family needed.

Farms & Friends reached out and asked if they could put one of their Large Baskets in my hands. The Large Basket description is for a family of 4. It was loaded with crispy, sweet green beans, golden, yellow squash, fresh Eastern Shore corn and tomatoes and firm, crunchy cucumbers.

And there was a 1/2 gallon of milk (about 1/4 of what is consumed in this home per week), 1 dozen farm fresh eggs, 2 whole, natural chickens, turkey sausage (so yummy) and a round of beef that delivered THE best pot roast we’ve had in ages…oh and a sweet loaf of our favorite, The Breadery, bread…which disappeared before I could even snap a picture.

What would a fall, produce basket be without apples and pears?

The Large Family Basket costs $76 a week. Here’s the thing, Devon and I agreed it’s a GREAT supplement to our regular grocery run, especially in the winter months when the farmer’s markets are closed.

But, the thing we loved the most, was the heart behind this company. We had a few minutes to chat with Regina Mc Carthy, head of marketing for Friends and Farms. She was kind enough to deliver our basket. (Typically, you schedule to pick up your basket at a convenient location in and around Baltimore.) She was sharing her passion for introducing local farms and their growers along with makers of fine foods in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed area.

And, like us, Regina believes that food should bring people together – while celebrating those who raise, grow and prepare it.

The only thing she wishes would change, would be that when people come to pick up their scheduled basket, they’d stay, linger and get to know one another. She said the fact that people treat the “pick ups” as a quick drive through, has been a little sad for her and her team. We could tell that they are totally committed to the relationships that develop between the growers, the suppliers and the consumers. What’s not to love about that mission?!

*Friends & Farms gave Kristin Potler a Large Basket to sample. The opinions expressed are entirely her own.

If you ever visit Baltimore, or if you live in Baltimore and you’ve never visited Woodberry Kitchen…you must! Woodberry is unique to the Baltimore food scene. Owners Spike and Amy have built a farm to table food culture right in the heart of our city. Their commitment to stay local is changing the way Baltimore sees it’s resources. We always knew we had Eastern Shore Crabs. I think crab cakes are on every menu in Baltimore. Devon and I use to joke, that every menu in Baltimore had variations of the exact same offerings. Years ago we’d leave our city in search of good eats. Washington DC and Philly sure were cooking things up, but here in Baltimore, well, the locals aren’t keen to change. We’re a city who likes things just the way they are.

Then we saw some food innovators begin to make their way on the scene. They stepped out into uncharted territory and dared to create menus not centered on MD Crab Cakes. I’ll never forget the first time we visited Tapas Teatro. We began to feel the undercurrent of change.

We searched for it. You see, when we owned Jahva House, we were offering a full vegetarian menu that was created with Devon’s classical french training. We had pita pizzas like the Artist’s Heart topped with artichoke tapanade, sundried tomatoes, hearts of palm and a chiffonade of basil. This was over 13 years ago. We carried Boylan’s sodas and rooibus tea before it made it to the gourmet grocery aisles. We were constantly looking for the unique and creative in our food.

Last month, when Baker Boy turned 15, his one request was to go to Woodberry Kitchen for dinner. We went with my in laws.

The colors on every plate were vibrant, signaling the package of flavor each bite carried.

Each plate was thoughtfully assembled in such a way that our local products did not take the back seat, but were the essence of each dish.

The whole atmosphere made Baker Boy smile the entire evening. He’s like his mama, he doesn’t miss the details. He was taking in everything.

The service was educated and unpretentious, welcoming and comfortable.

And dessert…

let’s just say, it was the icing on the cake.

Thank you Woodberry Kitchen for a wonderful meal and for helping to change the landscape of the restaurant scene in Baltimore.

I made this recipe in my GE Profile™ Advantium® oven the other day.  I think it was around 5 pm and I realized I hadn’t planned a thing for dinner. I’d like to say this was not normal, but with five kids, homeschooling 3 of them, carpooling the other 2, gymnastics, baseball, etc…dinner tends to get away from me. So, this day was like most. I knew I was going to make chicken “something”. When 5 pm rolled around, I began to flip through recipes and see what ingredients I had on hand to make a quick meal. Since the Advantium delivered a quick meal for us once before, I decided to give it another go! This time I chose a recipe from the Advantium Cookbook.

When Chris Ann and I were in Kentucky last year for the GE Momsperience weekend, we had the privilege of meeting and cooking with, Chefs Joe and Brian. They lead us through a culinary journey of preparing our own lunch in the GE Monogram Experience Center. The recipe we helped to create was delicious and beautiful!

I figured the recipes in the cookbook would promise to be just a delicious. I landed on the Moroccan Chicken. I had all the ingredients on hand and dinner for 7 cooked in 28 minutes. Not to mention, my family devoured it…all of them, even my 5 year old!

The Advantium and I are beginning to get along. I am beginning to understand the way it thinks and cooks, now I’m going to see if I can get my baking teen and my chef husband, Devon to make friends with it as well.

Moroccan Chicken Recipe

from GE Advantium Cookbook

2 – 2 1/2 chicken pieces (I used chicken thighs)

1 1/2 C carrots, sliced 1/2 in. thick

1 C chopped onion

3/4 C chicken broth

1 Tbls. lemon juice

2 tsp grated lemon rind

1 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp tumeric

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

cooked rice

In a 2 1/2 qt oval casserole, place chicken pieces; add carrots and onion. Combine broth, lemon juice, lemon rind, paprika, ginger, turmeric, salt and cinnamon; pour over chicken. Cover. Place dish on metal tray. Cook for 28-32 minutes at U=1, L=1, M=9 or until done. (You can also bake in a conventional oven at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes.) Turn chicken over and stir carrots after 12 minutes of cooking. Serve over rice.

As part of our partnership with GE, Kristin received an Advantium Oven.  The experiences and opinions expressed here, are our own.

A couple of weeks ago, we had a new member join our family…GE Profile™ Advantium® oven. I have to admit, once it was installed, it was a little intimidating. It promised to be a microwave, European convection oven, warming oven and Speedcook oven all in one.  Not even the other members of my family can deliver all those promises in one.  I was wondering if the Advantium would be a good fit.

We started testing her out by simply heating up food in the microwave.  That’s a language our family of 7 fully understands.  My kids immediately fell in love with the preset options.  “Mom, look, you can pick how many slices of pizza you want to reheat!” The Advantium passed the microwave test with flying colors.

We spent a couple of weeks heating oatmeal, leftovers, defrosting bagels and popping popcorn.  It was more efficient than our last microwave.  Meanwhile, I began to read through the GE Profile™ Advantium® oven user book as well as it’s cookbook.  The Speedbake option was a little like learning a new language.  I couldn’t help but think of what it must have been like when the microwave was first introduced in the market.  Consumers had to learn new rules, like, “Don’t use metal of any kind,” and “not all dishes are microwave safe.”  I’m sure our parents were a bit intimidated and didn’t fully realize just how the microwave would embed itself into our cooking culture. But, today, there are very few kitchens without a microwave.

Interacting with the Advantium, I have moments where I think to myself, “Will this appliance change the way we cook?”  

The Speedcook option, promises to cook 4 times faster than a conventional oven.  Now, if we had ordered the 240-volt model, it would have upped the ante by cooking 8 times faster.  The “new language” part that I had to learn (and am still learning) is how to set the “temperature” of the oven.  You see, the Speedcook technology uses an upper lamp, lower lamp and the microwave to cook.  So, when making a meal, you have to set all three and depending on what you’re cooking, change those settings.  Now, GE makes super smart appliances, so there are plenty of pre-set options like, cheese sticks, boneless chicken breast, casserole dish, filet…this helps.  But, since we like to create our own recipes, I knew we had to be well versed in this new language.

Valentine’s evening, I had a one hour window after picking up kids and before we went roller skating with the family to whip up dinner.  We kind of have a yearly tradition of making a heart shaped meatloaf but, I tweaked the recipe using what I had in our pantry.  It usually takes 1 hour to bake, but in the GE Profile™ Advantium® oven it only took 1/2 an hour.  

I looked at my husband and said, “Now, that’s Speedcook in action…delivering what it promised.”

Taco Meatloaf Recipe

Created by Kristin Potler

1 1/2 lb. of lean ground beef

2 eggs

1 Tbls. taco seasoning

1 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. salt

2 C. crushed tortilla chips

1 C. yellow onion, chopped

1 C. orange bell pepper, chopped

3 garlic cloves

1 10 oz. can enchilada sauce

1/4 C. shredded Mexican cheese

Directions:

1. Mix ground beef, eggs, tortilla chips, seasonings, onion, pepper and garlic together.

2. Shape meatloaf into a heart and put in a glass or ceramic dish.  (One thing I discovered was that Pampered Chef Stoneware is perfect for the Advantium Oven’s Speedcook option. I was thrilled to discover this!)

3. Pour half the can of enchilada sauce on top and around the meatloaf.

4. Set GE Profile™ Advantium® oven to U=4 L=4 M=6 and cook for 30  minutes. One benefit of the Advantium is, there is no need to preheat. (If you are using a conventional oven, preheat oven to 350 degrees F and bake for 1 hour.)

5. Sprinkle cheese on top and bake for 3 more minutes.

6. Lightly heat the rest of the enchilada sauce and serve on the side of the Taco Meatloaf, along with sour cream, guacamole and salsa.

As part of our partnership with GE, Kristin received an Advantium Oven.  The experiences and opinions expressed here, are our own.

My husband popped in, mid-day, to grab his forgotten lunch and to give me a kiss.  Okay, truth be told, I think he wanted another shot of espresso.  So, he hit the grinder button and…nothing.  It didn’t work.  He cleared out the grinds, checked the cord and still…nothing.  “You have got to be kidding!” he said.  “We’ve had this grinder (Cuisinart) for less than a year.”

He gave me a kiss, grabbed his lunch and headed back to work.  I hopped in my ‘burban and went to the mall.  I walked straight in to Williams and Sonoma, directly to the coffee section (I know it by heart) and found what I was looking for…Breville’s Conical Burr Grinder.  I quickly put in my request to the saleslady, she hunted down the box in the storage unit and I swiped my card.

When I returned (ok, after a quick stop at Anthropologie…they are right next to each other in the mall!) I unpacked this baby, threw away the other, placed it right next to my Brev and filled it with beans.  My pulse began to slow down as the liquid love poured out.  Now, all is right with the world.

Thank you once again Breville for coming along with me on my daily journey!

P.S. This is not a paid endorsement.  The above is a genuine expression of my gratitude for all things Breville.

Honestly, I didn’t know what Cherimoyas were a week ago. The Minneapolis Tribune did a tiny “meet and greet” this fruit article. So, I thought it would be the perfect “food toy” (see our definition of a food toy at the end of this post) purchase. At $9.99 a pound, it wouldn’t be my everyday go-to fruit! But, for “the blog” I went to hunt them out. Two grocery stores later, I found them high on a shelf at Byerly’s. When I went to pay for them, nobody knew what they were and it sent managers and check- out people a flutter as to what to charge me. They decided that $2.99/lb. seemed fairer than $9.99/lb. I was agreeable to this version of Minnesota Nice.

We waited until they were slightly dark brown and just a little soft to the touch. I sliced them through and scooped out the white flesh. We ate ours for dessert on top of Sweet Sticky Rice, along with mango and kiwi. A great tropical getaway at your own table!

I was exposed at a young age to mushrooms.  My mom loved them, I hated them.  (Of course, looking back, she prepared only canned, slimy, rubbery mushrooms.)  When I married an aspiring chef, he was bound and determined to convert me.  I thought it was impossible.  I can’t remember the exact dish…or the type of mushroom…probably at that point, portobellos were the mushroom of choice.  All I know is, I was a convert!

I love mushrooms of any shape and size!  But, one of my favorites is chanterelles.  If you’ve never cooked with these buttery, soft fungi, you are missing out!  They can be a bit of a challenge to find.  I finally found them at Whole Foods.  They are a bit pricey, but well worth the splurge!

Devon and I had a date at Whole Foods.  We were having our friends Irene and Albert, from Holland, over for a special love feast.  You see, Albert has been here in the states without his beloved bride for six months.  But, she finally arrived to join him for the rest of the year!  This dinner had to be special!  I had a taste for mushroom risotto.  That was my only request.  As we pursued the store, Devon’s risotto became inspired by what he found.  First were the chanterelles, then the larger than normal, shallots….next the 10 year old aged gouda.  This was shaping up to exceed my expectations, taste wise!  As we wandered looking at all the food toys*, we knew there was one last ingredient needed to set this dish into a new realm…truffle oil!!  Ah!!  My mouth already yearned for that finishing touch on the risotto!  We found it!  It was a fungi love feast, in honor of Albert and Irene’s reunion!  (a great excuse to make chanterelle risotto!)

Menu:

Arugula (rocket) with apricot stilton, roasted pecans and sliced pears, finished with grapefruit vinegar and extra virgin olive oil.

Chantrelle risotto drizzled ever so delicately with truffle oil

Lemon mousse made with homemade lemon curd, fresh blueberries and whipped cream

Oh…and a few glasses of chianti!

* (definition of food toy: food that is not in your normal grocery budget… we strongly feel that every grocery trip earns one special, food toy splurge!)

After our incredible meal at Momofuku, we geared up…hats, gloves, coats…and braced ourselves for the crisp, frigid New York air.  We were back on the streets with one destination in mind.  Dean and Deluca!  The Food Toy* Museum!  The moment I walked in, all of my senses took over!  Visually, I didn’t know where to rest my eyes.  I found myself walking up to a display of fruit and lingering, like I did when I first cast my eyes on The Birth of Venus in Florence.  The textures, vibrant colors and brilliance were breath taking!  I glanced at Devon and saw the sparkle in his eye!  The four of us then began our tour!  We stopped in front of the beer cooler, where Devon and Todd began to analyze and compare the ones they had already sampled and mentally making a list of new ones to try.  Then we went past the oils and vinegars.  We found balsamics ranging in many different shapes, colors and flavors.  My heart was racing.  The flavors where swirling in my mouth as I envisioned what Devon would create for our Baltimore dinner.

You see, we had come here to be inspired.  When we returned to Baltimore, with Todd and Chris Ann on Monday, we had a dinner planned.  As always, Devon plays the roll of  executive chef (shouting out orders to the rest of us) and Todd, is his sous chef (taking in Devon’s instructions and anticipating his every need!)   It is a must when we are together.  We all fall into rank.  Chris Ann is faithfully keeping the wine glasses full and adding the details to my tablescaping at the same time!  Over the years we have found our rhythm and rhyme (Devon’s sing song approach to cooking is something to experience!) in dinner planning, preparing and sharing!

So, as we perused Dean and Deluca, we were all looking for the “Aha!” moment.  We continued our journey to the back of the store, past the salts…sampled an amazing truffle salt…that flavor stayed with me through the rest of the day!  Then we made our way back to the front of the store.  There were many incredible food toys…but Devon had not yet found his muse.  As we made our way back to the vegetables…my eyes landed on baby cauliflower in shades of orange, purple and white.  Some were round in shape and others spiral!  The plate painting began to take shape in my mind!  I called Chris Ann over, and being a fellow artist, it didn’t take her long to enter into my canvas!  We called the boys over but being practical (and in charge of our weekend budget), Todd and Devon quickly pointed out the price tag.  Ok, it would have been no less then $60 worth of cauliflower to serve at our dinner party.  Our canvas quickly went blank!  Then, Devon pointed to the basket right next to the pricey cauliflower.  The sign read, “Sea beans“.  Devon pinched a piece and went into artist mode.  Before he finished his nibble, he laid out our entree for Monday’s dinner…macadamia encrusted rockfish, with a lime cardamom beurre blanc and sea beans.

We all lingered for a moment, taking in the brilliance of what had just been spoken.  As we came to our senses, we quickly gathered up our treasure and headed back out to the cold.  We were somehow warmer.  The sights outside clearer!  There was a confidence in our steps.  Our visit to the Food Toy Museum* had not failed to disappoint…we left inspired!

*Food Toy definition:  A purchase at the grocery store that is considered a splurge!  Something that you’ve always wanted to try, or just discovered, that is a bit pricey but necessary!  We believe every trip to the market justifies one food toy purchase!