My whole life, my mother has always been an excellent cook. She taught me that the key to any recipe was using the highest quality ingredients available. That’s a lesson I’ve carried on with my own cooking, as I now raise my own children, and it’s a concept we take to heart with every item we carry.
From our oils and vinegars, mustards to delectable preserves, my Mom and I have worked together to select producers who are using the highest quality ingredients to produce some of the best tasting, most unique products around.
Working with my mother has been extremely rewarding. Every product we sell at A Taste of Olive has been selected by us and is used by us personally at home. Here are some of our favorite products and ways to use them, hopefully, your family enjoys them as much as we do!
For Delicious, Healthy, and Easy Meals at Home
Obviously, Mom always keeps a selection of our extra virgin olive oils and balsamic vinegars on hand. She loves the versatility of our oils, like roasting vegetables with Spicy Blend Extra Virgin Olive Oil or elevating an ordinary sandwich with just a few ingredients. If you know someone like my mom who lives alone, a sampler set of our extra virgin olive oils and balsamic vinegars is a perfect size.
Mom’s kitchen also stays stocked with our line of tapenades and mustards. She uses them to top a chicken breast or salmon filet, tosses them with vegetables and pasta or quinoa to make a side dish, spreads them on bread for a sandwich or panini, or simply enjoys them on our Firehook crackers.
For Mom’s Sweet Tooth (which I definitely inherited!)
After one bite of a pillowy cake layered with a velvety, smooth Curd, or a cake drizzled with a Balsamic Glaze, you’ll never look at dessert the same way. A quick and elegant dessert can be made by cutting a pound cake into two layers, spreading a layer of curd - Lemon, Orange, Key Lime, or Cranberry Orange - in between the two layers and reassembling. You can either top the entire cake with a second layer of curd, or drizzle it with one of our Balsamic Glazes and top with whip cream. In our family, we also love cheesecake, which is made even better when drizzled with any one of our varieties of Balsamic Glazes. Some of Mom’s favorites for cheesecake are Strawberry Zinfandel and Raspberry Merlot.
For Relaxing
As moms ourselves, we need to remember to take a few minutes to relax, unwind, and treat ourselves to a few minutes where you can forget the world outside. My mom likes to do this with a cup of tea, a small treat, and often a good book. What pairs better with tea than honey? At A Taste of Olive, we carry only raw, organic honey varieties, many from local producers. We have a line of local honeys in flavored and creamed varieties that mom can enjoy in her tea or on her toast, bagel, or muffin.
From One Kitchen to the Next
I have so many fond memories in the kitchen with my Mom. She made a quiche Lorraine that was amazing, long before most people even were familiar with quiche. I loved helping her with that, shredding the Swiss cheese and cooking the bacon, because I loved the eating part!
Mom is also a great baker. She made our birthday cakes every year to order, my favorite was a chocolate mint cake that she made, and doing it together was part of the fun. She taught me all kinds of tips and tricks for cooking and baking (how to split a cake into two even layers with a string).
I cherish those times almost as much as teaching my own kids about food and cooking together as a family. She taught me so many lessons about food: try to use the best, freshest ingredients, it tastes better when you make it together, and always try new things - sometimes more than once before you decide it's not for you. I’m eternally grateful for that.
Now more than ever, tradition is so important.
Motherhood certainly is the necessity of invention, we’ve seen creative cooking ideas from families practicing social distancing:
Whether the family makes a cherished, comforting family recipe or discover new ones, we encourage you to spend this time sifting through well-loved cookbooks and making memories and fabulous meals together.
Do you still need a Mother's Day gift? We are offering curbside pick-up for our West Chester customers. To make sure you have everything you need for Mom, just call (610) 429-0292 by Friday to place an order (you can always leave a voicemail). Happy Mother’s Day!
