Photo Credit: Martha Stewart - Lucinda and Martha
Hi all, NYC Single Mom, Linda can’t get to everything – well she’s a single Mom! So she enlisted, me – non- Mom and old friend “CGN” to cover a recent event. Thanks Linda for letting me stalk one of my favorite celebrities – Martha Stewart!
Ocean Spray did what any cranberry co-op would do – they set up a 1,500 square foot cranberry bog in the middle of New York City’s Rockefeller Center. To help out with things, the multi-talented Martha Stewart got involved. I’m late to worship at the Martha altar, but after working at home for the past three years, she was my best friend from 11am till noon until she jumped ship from my NBC affiliate to the Hallmark Channel.
So I was quite thrilled to see her at the lovely reception that Ocean Spray hosted to promote the wonderful cranberry and Ocean Spray and Martha’s affiliation with Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry program. Martha even taped a show from the bog. It will air on November 23rd on the Hallmark Channel and will feature Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry Campaign so check the Hallmark Channel’s website for the station in your area.
This year the Ocean Spray cooperative – yes, Ocean Spray is a co-op of over 700 family owned farms – has inaugurated the “Families Feeding Families campaign with SOS. I know some folks will scream “socialism” but this is wonderful way for small farmers to get their product to market. For 80 years, cranberry AND grapefruit farmers have working together to keep standards high for these two healthy fruits.
Later in the day after the taping of the show, Ocean Spray hosted a lovely reception at at Rockefeller Centers beautiful 620 Loft and Garden. What a great space with a view of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral from a roof top garden that faces Fifth Avenue. The event was designed by Michelle Rago she was very clever in her use of cranberries in the décor.
Photo Credit: Martha Stewart
Martha and some her team attended and this gave me the opportunity to get to see in person one of my favorites on Martha’s team, Lucinda Scala Quinn. I’m a big fan of Everyday Food, the great Reader’s Digest sized magazine that Lucinda edits for the Martha Stewart empire. She now has a show on Hallmark – Mad Hungry. As I don’t have the super duper cable I try to catch her on her PBS Everyday Food. When do these Martha Mignons sleep!!! She also is the host of host of the radio show “EatDrink” on Sirius XM and author of popular cookbooks including her most recent title, “Mad Hungry: Feeding Men & Boys.” Lucinda gave some very heartfelt comments on the No Kid Hungry Campaign click to find out more and how you can participate.
Americans consume some 400 million pounds of cranberries a year with 20 percent of the consumption occurring at Thanksgiving. I LOVE cranberries and eat them year round. A few years ago when I was out of golden raisins, I substituted them in a chocolate chip recipe and have never turned back. They do make things a bit sweeter, but the chocolate/cranberry combo can’t be beat. Also, try putting them in some left over wild rice add a little olive or canola oil an itsty bit of balsamic vinegar and you have a scrumptious rice salad. These were all my own ideas – so Martha move over!
One of the recipes that was shared was one for Pumpkin Cranberry cookies, wanting to see how they compare to my cranberry chocolate chips; I went to work on baking a batch. Very similar to mine but with pumpkin added in and I used fresh cranberries – well, sort of – I had a few cups of fresh cranberries in my freezer for the past 10 months – cranberries freeze really, really well. In my cranberry chocolate chips I usually use dried cranberries which are much, much sweeter and tartier (is that a word? I know that one of the great followers of NYC Single Mom will let me know if it is) so I welcomed the chance to test out using the fresh berries in a cookie recipe. The result was a much softer cookie. With the pumpkin and the fresh/frozen cranberries adding moisture it was a great balance of flavors. Here is a link – Ocean Spray Pumpkin Cranberry Cookies.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Disclosure: NYC Single Mom was not compensated for this post.
