From My Table to Yours...Continued...

Gallo Pinto

Since returning from my five continent tour earlier this year, I have been busy in the kitchen perfecting the recipes that I acquired from local home cooks, instructors in cooking classes, and developed after eating in local establishments. And, I am very excited about a soon to be launched cooking club which will create opportunities for us to cook together...from my kitchen to yours...stay tuned - it will be super fun!

Although I am energized and ready to roll out Mama Caruso's Cooking Club, I borrowed a little time from Mama Caruso Cooks to complete another project...and I am pleased to announce the launch of my e-book "100 Days of Giving", an inspirational and uplifting exercise in hope and a journey through changing lives through simple gifts. 100 Days of Giving is available from Smashwords and Amazon at the Kindle store and I am really thrilled to be able to share this with my readers. 100 Days of Giving is available for download by clicking on the following links and I would love to get your feedback about the book. Please enjoy!

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/324772
or through Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/100-Days-of-Giving-ebook/dp/B00DD1HWUO/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1371567320&sr=1-1&keywords=100+Days+of+Giving

Until the next post, I have included a few photos of what's cooking at Mama Caruso's...a little bit of something from my travels...from my table to yours...Mama Caruso  

Gallo Pinto from Nicaragua

Mediterranean Inspired Antipasti

Mediterranian Inspired Hummus

Getting ready to cook Asian

Awesome roots and tubers

Peanut Soup and Fufu from Ghana

Mediterranian Inspired Antipasti

Cooking in Thailand

Coconut Chicken - Bangkok

Khmer Curry Noodle - Cambodia

These recipes and more comming to Mama Caruso Cooks soon - let me know which recipe you want to cook first in the comment box below!

From My Table To Yours...

Mama Caruso in Cambodia

Want to bring authentic cooking from Cambodia, Ghana, Nicaragua or other countries right into your own home? Well I want to expand on the concept of "From my table to yours..." with an innovative concept. Look forward to a cooking club - where we will cook side by side. Time to make it happen..."from my table to yours..." what would you like to cook with Mama Caruso...in your kitchen?  Mama Caruso

Mama Caruso in Ghana

Mama Caruso in Thailand...

Creating a Simple & Elegant (and low stress) Prom Dinner Experience

Make an event special by paying attention to the little details

A Simple & Elegant Prom Dinner

Take at least one stress...or several...out of your child's prom night by following these fun and easy ideas:

• Host the dinner at your home;
• Set the table with your finest china, silver and glassware to make it special - pull out all of that stuff you have been saving for a special occasion;
• Use cloth napkins and a decorative tablecloth;
• Decorate the table with candles, fresh flowers (I like to use fresh begonias that go out into the garden the next day) and the creatively folded cloth napkins;
• Serve appetizers outside while pictures are being taken (make extras for the parents who come for photos);
• Have your guests select the menu ahead of time (ensure that they will like, and perhaps eat the food you serve- if they want macaroni and cheese - make it so, just dress up the plating...);
• Modify the menu for easy eating (serve an Alfredo sauce instead of tomato sauce);
• Keep the meal simple and accessible you are cooking for kids, who may be dressed up like adults, but they are still kids - let them be kids
• Type up the menu and put on the table as a keepsake;
• Encourage your children to invite friends who may not be attending Prom (that adds a fun and relaxed energy to the evening);
• Get into the spirit and act the part - don a Chef's jacket or hat, a special apron, server's clothing, a maitre'd outfit, pour the NON-alcoholic sparkling cider like a Sommelier - play it up and have fun! 

Simple can be elegant too

Here's our menu from this year:

Appetizers:

• Antipasto including provolone cheese, salami, procuttio, marinated artichoke hearts, olives, pepperocinis and cherry tomatoes;
• Bread sticks;
• Veggie tray with tomatoes, mini peppers, olives and a brie wheel with crackers

Salad

• Ceasar salad

Dinner:

• Fettucini alfredo
• Shrimp scampi
• Garlic bread (yes...they wanted garlic bread)
• Asparagus

Dessert:

• Assorted cakes (store bought...and again, decoratively displayed) cut into small sections
• Coffee

Sparkling cider and San Pellegrino with lemon slices were served all night

To complete the experience several of us chauffeured them to the dance reducing worries about getting dresses dirty, parking, and dealing with jackets (it was 39 degrees outside). They loved being driven and picked up right at the door. Special, elegant and simple.

Shrimp and mushrooms were
added later to accommodate tastes

Prom is fast becoming a high stress evening where the expectations of a “perfect night” are out-pacing the expectations of a two year old on Christmas Eve. The pageantry and pomp is equal to that of a wedding and could rival the costs of at least being a bridesmaid in a wedding including garter, corsage, dresses, hair and make-up. Jewelry, manicures and shoes complete the look and send the cost soaring. Take a number of stresses off of the evening by hosting the dinner party at your home and making it special by dressing up and dressing up the table - those special moments are far more memorable when shared in a relaxed fun atmosphere instead of a stilted, formal event. These guys are kids - let them be kids and have an appropriate, and special event that will be one they will be sure to talk about for years to come...and who knows, perhaps they will even host their children's Prom dinners later...much later...because they enjoyed their experience that you helped create for them.  From my table to yours...enjoy!  Mama Caruso

Where to start? How about a dinner for prom?

 I just got in a new batch of Oilerie products from St. Paul and just can't decide where to start they are all calling me to cook....from the Roasted Hazelnut Oil, Rosemary E.V.O.O. and Vanilla E.V.O.O. to the Cherry Balsamic, Raspberry Balsamic and Fig Balsamic all kinds of recipes and menus are racing in my brain - I think I am just going to have to dive in and use them all. Fortunately this weekend a friend and I are cooking the dinner for my daughter's prom party so I imagine I will be able to break these out!

For more info about these great products please go to http://www.oilerie.com/store-location/oilerie-st.paul/

From my table to yours...Mama Caruso

Life Lessons From the Kitchen...#KitchenParty

#KitchenParty at my house on Thursday nights! 

Kitchen Party! That was the highlight of my day yesterday. #KitchenParty is an on-line, live experience sponsored by BakeSpace.com. The topic for last night's #KitchenParty was, 5 Biggest Mistakes to Avoid When Producing Recipe Videos featuring special guest Andrea Metcalf author of “Naked Fitness” a book designed to “strip away the excuses and feel good in their own skin”. With Babette Pepaj from BakeSpace.com moderating, Andrea took us through a number of do’s and don’ts when creating food videos. Many of her tips originated from her own lessons learned when shooting videos, although I wish I had asked the origins of she learned about spraying hair spray on the microwave so that it does not reflect the camera person in the picture…hmmm…

The #KitchenParty Hosts, Babette Pepaj from BakeSpace.com, Rene Lynch, LA Times editor and writer and Jeff Houck, Tampa Tribune writer bantered among themselves and between those of us connecting via Google Hangout, Twitter, blogs and Facebook and really made it feel like they were sitting right in my kitchen and we were sharing and learning with each other.

I used my laptop in the kitchen and made dinner for my family while the #KitchenParty took place. Every now and then members of my family would walk into the kitchen, pull up a stool, pour a glass of wine and join in the fun. It was really great. I am going to put some speakers in the kitchen so that the sound is better next week and I can hear over the noise of my own cooking. Babette’s cat made a friendly appearance – I love this kind of in-home connecting and am very excited about what will be rolling out of Mama Caruso’s kitchen in the very near future…

Some of the tips that were shared for creating food videos included suggestions that are relevant no matter what we are doing:

·         Be genuine;

·         Don’t overact, be yourself;

·         Make it look great – olive oil and spritzing water especially come in handy for this tip;

·         Chop or sweat – be prepared;

·         Be open – in this context: meaning open all bottles and jars ahead of time…but I prefer, be open;

·         When you make a mistake, keep on going;

·         Stop thinking about it and just do it;

·         Be willing to laugh at and with yourself.

There were so many other lessons, tips and suggestions that it would be worth watching again and you could do that too by going to www.BakeSpaceTV.com and clicking on Past Episodes of #KitchenParty. So pull up a stool, pour yourself a glass of your favorite refreshment, preferably in a mason jar and enjoy!

I can’t wait for next week’s episode, and am hoping by then to have figured out how to watch the live YouTube video cast while toggling back and forth to Twitter to interact without stopping the Google Hangout from playing. But I love Google Hangout enough that it is worth the learning curve and will keep you all posted.

So I am curious, what method do you prefer for on-line connecting? Twitter? Facebook? Google Hangout? Blogging? Go To Meetings? Skype? Others? I would love to know – it will help me as I work on delivering the next phase of my work…from my table to yours…Mama Caruso

And the Winner of the Black Olive Taste Test Is...

Broken/Damaged Olive Count

The Winner Based Upon the Judging Criteria!

What would you like us to test next?

Which one will discerning palates choose?

Which one will win the Mama Caruso taste test?

I am a generic snob. I usually refuse to buy the low end generic products available in our local grocery stores, I also shy away from the grocery store label if given the option. Lately, my local grocery store has been replacing some of my favorite name brand products with their own label exclusively, forcing me to leave town to purchase my favorite products. Pickles, baked beans and the product that inspired this article, olives have all been replaced by Hy-Vee brand products. Now there may be some products that they can get away with that kind of heavy-handed marketing strategy, but these three food types are deal-breakers for me.

This is not because I am a name snob, but because I am all about cooking for people and providing them with food that they like, and I contend that generic olives are mushy and contain more