Category: Food and Recipes

My New Best Friends!

It was love at first sight. Yeah, I know, I’m a little dramatic sometimes, but when I set my sights on these beautiful looking pans, I just had to have one (or two) for myself! They are so versatile, easy to clean and they cook food evenly, besides they are so darn pretty. I just love my new Le Creuset pans! (Hey, retail therapy never hurt anyone…. well, except my pocket)

Le Creuset Oval French Oven

I started my Le Creuset collection with two pans; one large frying pan and one large oval french oven pan, both red. I have been using them almost every day since I got them the week after Christmas. They were my gift to me and I am getting my money’s worth! I got them at the Le Creuset Outlet in Clinton. They had some great sales for the holidays and the prices were un-beatable, better then amazon and same as the prices you find at Marshalls and Home Goods. Trust me, I looked everywhere for months, in search of the best deal. Since the prices were on par to my local Home Goods, I thought the outlet would give me the variety that I wanted since I was looking for some specific sizes/color. (oh yeah, I also own a few Le Creuset casserole dishes that I picked up over the years at TJMaxx and Home Goods. They are so easy to clean and they were dirt cheap!)

Beef and Vegetable Stew in the Le Creuset

So far, I’ve cooked Vegetarian Chili, Risotto and Beef Stew in my risotto pan and the pan has so much space, it’s great for making these hearty meals. I highly recommend that you add one of these beauties to your kitchen!

 

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Back to Business

Well, the holidays are over (phew) but the emotional trials continue as our family has suffered another major loss with the death of my sweet, Godfather To-Manuel, who joined Julian on Monday morning after a short battle against cancer. It is truly a tragedy for this world to lose such a loving, caring soul. He was a great man and an important part of my childhood and of my parent’s life so we all are going to miss him, greatly!

Manuel Pedreira

It is heartbreaking to see others suffering such a loss. Seeing him in the hospital bed all hooked up to IVs and a respirator brought back so many memories of this same time last year at Yale with our baby Julian. I can’t believe that one year ago, I was in the hospital room with him, taking care of him, holding him, comforting him. I was with him and now I am not. It really is so strange how things change so quickly in life. One minute, everything is good, life is good, everyone is happy and then the next, your entire world is overturned. That’s what happened to us and now that’s what has happened to my cousins, my Godmother, my aunt, my family.

All we can do is move forward and remember all of our loved ones, remember all of our memories with them, trying to stay connected to them, somehow. That’s all we can do. The journey isn’t easy, there will be very sad and difficult days but hopefully, as time passes, those days will be fewer. Hopefully.

As life continues to happen all around us, Food Jules has been in a hiatus over the last couple weeks, taking a step back to get through the emotional and physical battles of the holidays. However, now that the holiday season has ended, our classes will start up again soon. Here is a quick sneak peak at our upcoming classes.

  • Fri, January 13th – Teen cooking class, Monroe Library
  • Sat, January 14th – Kids cooking class, Monroe Library
  • w/o January 28th – Arts & Imagination cooking classes, Fawn Hollow Elementary and Stepney Elementary Schools

Food Jules continues to provide fresh baked goodies to Food Works every Friday morning. Tomorrow, we’ll have Organic Blueberry Crumb and Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins as well as Cranberry Orange Scones. So stop over at Food Works for your healthy, sweet treat!

Cranberry Orange Scones

 

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This Week’s Specials

Today, at Food Works in Monroe you’ll find lots of freshly baked, delicious Food Jules goodies.

We have Banana Blueberry Bread, Cranberry Orange Scones, Morning Glory Muffins and Pumpkin Muffins… as well as some Chocolate Rugelach and Holiday Biscotti, dipped in Food Jules Hot Fudge Sauce… all organic and made with natural, whole grain ingredients!

Cranberry Orange Scones

Go there to pick up your yummy sweet treats!

Chocolate Rugelach

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Busy Bee

Oh yes, I know and I apologize… it’s been pretty quiet here on the blog but I’ve been a very, very busy bee and no, it doesn’t have anything to do with Christmas, as I am trying to avoid thinking too much about it!

Instead, I’ve been doing a lot of cooking and baking! This past weekend’s classes were great, the kids on Saturday at Minds in Motion were wonderful and it was another successful class. On Sunday, I taught my first adult class and the ladies were amazing and so much fun! We made a lot of yummy food and some Apple Cider Sangria (without the wine, unfortunately). In any case, you should know that Food Jules was in the news again…. there is a short clip on the Monroe Patch about the Minds in Motion workshops where you’ll see me working with the kids in the cooking workshop and you’ll see Lilliana enjoying her Wild Weather workshop. We were also featured in today’s Monroe Courier, you’ll find a large unpleasant photo of me on page 8 and you’ll see Lilliana digging for archeological artifacts on the front page! The only one that wasn’t in the news was Lucas 😦 but maybe next time.

Well, I should tell you that there will be some delicious treats at Food Works tomorrow (Fri, Dec 9th), starting with these melt in your mouth, Oatmeal Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookies, Apple Pie Crumb Muffins, Pumpkin Pie Muffins and Cranberry Orange Scones, all organic and made with whole grain ingredients! So, stop in tomorrow to pick up all your yummy goodies for the weekend.

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Yummy Goodness!

For those of you who are new to Food Jules, every Friday, we deliver freshly baked goodies to our local Food Works in Monroe. This week’s specials are…. CRANBERRY NUT MUFFINS and APPLE PIE CRUMB MUFFINS as well as some SNOWBALL COOKIES! Stop over at FoodWorks on Friday, 12/2 for your yummy treats but hurry, these baked goodies go very quickly!

Also, some reminders for this weekend…. Food Jules will be teaching a Kids Cooking Workshop on Saturday at Masuk High School as part of the Minds in Motion program. The students will be cooking some Nutritious and Delicious Snacks!

On Sunday, I’ll be at the EWML teaching my first adult cooking class, where we’ll be making some Favorite Holiday Hors d’oeuvres and sipping some Mocktails.

Empanadas
arancini di riso
Spinach and Cheese Bites

I know, doesn’t it all look so very yummy? Plus, we’ll be making Shrimp Cakes, one of my new recipes as well as Crab Stuffed Mushrooms. DELISH!

 

 

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On Display

Food Jules Organic Jams, Hot Fudge Sauce, Granola and Baked Goodies are available at Food Works and Purdy Hill Bakery in Monroe, CT.

Cooking classes available for kids and teens at Edith Wheeler Memorial Library in Monroe, Stepney Elementary, Girl and Boy Scout Troops, Minds in Motion Workshops and Birthday Parties…. coming soon to Fawn Hollow Elementary Arts & Imagination in Winter 2012.

 

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