Cookies!

Once again, we all know I don't like to bake cookies. It's tedium to me and I'd much rather make (and eat!) a large-ish chocolate cake smothered in even more chocolate ganache, but I make cookies for my dear children.

One thing that makes the whole task easier is to have pre-made dough on-hand. I will often whip up a batch of whatever strikes my fancy and stow it away in the freezer for later. However, I don't always have the time and will once in a great while resort to dough from the grocer's freezer. The only problem with that is the iffy ingredients often involved.

Enter the perfect solution for moms who are not only in short on time, but looking for products that aren't chock-full of preservatives and the like, Ice Box Bakery. Created by mom and pastry chef, Jen Bush, the Ice Box Bakery line covers it all; fresh ingredients and ease of use.

Not only are the cookies preservative-free and simple to bake and slice, they're absolutely delicious. Our test batches went from parchment-lined baking sheet to tummies in no time flat. And with 8 fabulous flavors to choose from, there's sure to be a cookie for everyone! Check them out: Gluten Free Chocolate Chip, Deluxe Chocolate Chip, Classic Sugar Cookies, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip, Double Dutch Chocolate, Chewy Ginger Spice, Tart Cherry Pie, and Old Time Peanut Butter.

Ice Box Bakery Deluxe All-Natural Cookie Doughs can be found at retailers nation-wide by searching here: http://www.iceboxbakery.com/store-locator .

Ice Box Bakery Samples Provided free of charge through Ice Box Bakery.

ShopRite and the New York City Wine & Food Festival 2010

I haven't been M.I.A. on purpose, oh no - I realize my last post was cut short, but there really is a wonderful reason and I'm going to share it with you: ShopRite and the New York City Wine & Food Festival are responsible, in part, for my absence. No sooner had I decided to blog our food for a week then I realized I had so much to do before heading off to NYC for 2 days. I do have photos and I promise to share, but until then you need to hear about the fun time I had!

I have been chosen as one of a select group of bloggers to be a ShopRite Blogger Panelist. What does that mean for me? Well, I get to sample ShopRite products, develop recipes and share with my readers here and on the ShopRite blog. Having been a ShopRite shopper since my own mother bought our groceries there, I am more than equal to the task and really look forward to this.

The most important part about the NYCW&FF are the hosts and beneficiaries of this. While it may seem pricey to some, the festival benefits Share our Strength and the Food Bank for New York City, two organizations I am behind 110%!

ShopRite kicked off the Blogger Panel by sending us all off to the NYCW&FF 2010 where we saw the ShopRite brand in action, sampled until we glutted ourselves and were fortunate enough to meet food executives, fellow bloggers and even a celebrity or two (Fabio Viviani and Tyler Florence)!

Chef Fabio Viviani - Yes, I was taking covert photos of him, but not because I'm a stalker! I honestly wasn't sure it was him. I approached him after Chef Faith's presentation and told him how much our family loves him. He sent kisses to the kids and when I told him we stopped watching Top Chef after his season (our hearts were broken!) he reminded me to watch Season 8 as he will be back! Don't miss it!

We started at Pier 54 Hudson River Park, where we were able to sample wines from just about everywhere (which I passed on as a teetotaler) and food from the ShopRite stores. We also watched ShopRite's Executive Chef Faith Alahverdian cook up a feast of beef and share her infectious passion about food.

Chef Faith Alahverdian

The ShopRite Culinary Workshop Chefs doing their thing.

The food! This is just part of what all those wonderful chefs were cooking up at the tasting.

After that Val of From Val's Kitchen and I traipsed off to Chelsea Market as Val had never had the chance to see it and it's one of my favorite stomping grounds in NYC. Once we shuffled out of there (feet a little sore at this point) we sat with Bob Clare, one of the owners of the Oakland, NJ ShopRite and his friend Janice. We chatted for a bit before heading to Abe & Arthur's for Tyler Florence's signing of his newest book, Family Meal. How cool is that? Full review up & coming for this book, by the way.

We stayed at A & A for dinner (impeccable service and wonderful food - highly recommended) and had the best time laughing and eating together. After that I trucked back to my room at the Tribeca Grand Hotel and Skyped with Marty and the kids for a little as they were all so excited about mommy going to NYC.

The ShopRite team, the gals from Coyne PR and the other bloggers were the highlight of the weekend, though and I look forward to getting to know them all better throughout the year. I came away with so many great products, food ideas and memories and I can't wait to blog about them all!

There are more photos of the Festival here: New York City Wine & Food Festival

What Do We Really Eat?

I am questioned fairly often about what a larger family eats for dinner each day. Mostly what we're eating is what I've posted either here, at A Thousand Soups, at Disney's Family.com or even at Half Hour Meals.

This week, however, I'm going to share what we're eating each day. This will be the good, the bad and the ugly - I'm sure. There is no way to have a family this size without having a snag here and there and I'm planning on sharing what our schedule is and what other extenuating circumstances, if any, there are each day.

So, are you ready? This evening for dinner I've done the very bad: Pancake Breakfast Sandwiches. I went uber easy with prepared and frozen pancakes and sausage, deli American cheese and fresh eggs.

My preference would be to make the pancakes myself from homemade and sausage myself as well, but feeling as I have been, and having wiped myself out yesterday going to the kids' first parade of the year, I'm doing simple and not-so-good-for-you.

Line up!

I don't have a real recipe for these - but it's very simple, cook one egg and one sausage patty (or a strip of bacon if you prefer) for each sandwich and layer together with a slice of cheese between two small pancakes. Serve up with hashbrowns or potato pancakes and orange juice. Easy even for 9 people, just get an assembly line going and you'll be done in no time.

Project Food Blog - Keep Watching!

No, not for me, but for everyone else still involved, because the competition will surely be heating up very soon! Continue to check out Foodbuzz's Project Food Blog to see who the next Food Blog Star will be - there are some fabulous bloggers still in the running and you won't want to miss it.

I want to thank all of my awesome friends for voting for me, but anyone who knows me well knows I'd rather make it on merit over popular vote any day. I also want to thank Kathy Lauer-Williams of the Morning Call for her post urging everyone to vote. I love her and she's done a great job of getting the word out about me since her first article in the paper a year and a half ago. Thanks, Kathy!

Also, my family helped quite a bit last week with the second challenge and I wouldn't have gotten it posted without them. Love you guys!

As for me, last week was quite possibly the worst week ever for me to have been in a competition. I spent Monday morning in the emergency room rather ill and the doctors there discovered some things I need to address. No worries - you know I can't be kept down! So, onward and upward! Hope you'll all keep stopping by.