Ma Whats For Dinner?» Contests

My favorite new App – Everywhere Exercise

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 11:00:07 +0000

Are you anything like me?

You get up at 6 something…

Get a whole bunch of little people up…

Fed…

Dressed…

Cleaned….

Packed up…

Out the door…

Off to where the have to go…

And then the real fun begins.

Getting the house in order, the bills paid, the groceries in, the laundry done, the dinner made, all before having to taxi around said little people to 7000 activities?

How on earth am I supposed to fit time in to spend an hour or two at the gym a day?

And then I feel guilty when I’m too busy to make it there…

Enter my new favorite thing EVER!!!!

It’s helped me fit in some exercise everyday!

Even if I’m standing in line at the grocery store…

Or watching Fanboy and Chum Chum with the kids.

I downloaded this great App on my iPhone.

It’s so cool!

So this wonderful woman tells me great ways I can fit in exercises to tone, sculpt, and energize everywhere from my computer desk to an airplane!

It’s genius!

And I love the names of the exercises…

Like Ms. Fidget and The Ballerina!

You have to check it out!

Go see Everywhere Exercise and see for yourself how simple and brilliant it is.

It’s available on your iPhone, iPad, and Android!

Let me know what you think.

Want to win your own?

I’m giving one away.

All you have to do is go to Everywhere Exercise‘s website and tell me what your favorite thing about this awesome idea is!

Want another chance to win?

Just go and “Like” Everywhere Exercise on Facebook.

Want more chances to win?

Like Ma Whats For Dinner on Facebook.

Yes, there’s more.

You can follow Ma What’s For Dinner on twitter!

Be sure to leave a comment for each entry.

You guys are going to love this app!

Contest ends 4/25/11 at 12 midnight!

Rapunzels Rainbow Tangled Angel Hair

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 11:00:10 +0000

It’s week three of our Disney Princess competition!

This week features the beautiful and brand new

Rapunzel from Disney’s new Tangled

The hubs took the boys to see this flick.

They all loved it.

But all I could think of when trying to come up with a recipe was…

Rapunzel, Rapunzel throw down your….

ANGEL HAIR!!!

So here it is…

This is a super delicious quick dish that comes together in a flash.

Rapunzel’s Rainbow “Tangled” Angel Hair Pasta

WHAT YOU NEED:

1 lb box angel hair pasta

2 T Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 T butter

1 zucchini cut into ribbons

2 carrots cut into ribbons

1 yellow squash cut into ribbons

1 box grape tomatoes

3 cloves garlic, sliced thin

1 t crushed red pepper

S&P

parmesan cheese

WHAT TO DO:

Heat a big pot over hot water for your pasta. Cook according to package directions for al dente. Angel hair cooks very quickly!

Meanwhile in a large skillet heat extra virgin olive oil and butter over medium high heat. When the oil is warming add in your garlic and crushed red pepper. Be sure to keep a careful eye on it. As soon as it begins to brown add in your vegetables. Season well with S&P. Let the veggies soften up while your pasta cooks.

When your pasta is done, drain well and add to the skillet of veggies. Toss well to coat and add grated parmesan cheese.

Serve and enjoy!

Now it’s your turn…

If you want this adorable Magical Glow Rapunzel doll to call your very own…

Send in your Tangled recipes!

Contest ends Friday at midnight!

Can’t wait to see what you come up with.

Princess for a day

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 11:00:37 +0000

Ladies and gentlemen…

We have a winner.

Well two winners.

Drum roll please…

The first winner in our Disney Princess contest

And winner of the Cinderella Princess Doll is…

Joana Cooperman for her inspired Princess French Toast!

Check this out!

Cinderella’s Crème de Carriage Brulee French Toast
Ingredients
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons corn syrup
• Cinderella waffles (we have a Cinderella in her carriage waffle maker – we just use Bisquick to make it) I also like to use Challah
• 5 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups half-and-half cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon brandy-based orange liqueur (such as Grand Marnier®)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
Directions
1. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Mix in brown sugar and corn syrup, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Pour into a 9×13 inch baking dish.
2. Remove crusts from bread, and arrange in the baking dish in a single layer. In a small bowl, whisk together eggs, half and half, vanilla extract, orange brandy, and salt. Pour over the bread. Cover, and chill at least 8 hours, or overnight.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Remove the dish from the refrigerator, and bring to room temperature.
4. Bake uncovered 35 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven, until puffed and lightly browned.

That’ll fetch many a Prince!

And the winner of the beautiful Baby Ariel doll is….

F. Ehsaan for Smoked Red Velvet Fish Cakes

350 grams finely chopped skinless red snapper
4 tablespoons thai red curry paste
1 tin cherry tomatoes
1 teaspoon garlic paste
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
1 cup chopped cottage cheese
A pinch of cinammon powder
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons onion paste
4 -5 tablespoons plain flour
1 whole egg

Grill the tomatoes on a grill pan until grill marks are formed.

In a food processor,grind half of the tomatoes & fish.

Mince,2 tablespoons thai red curry paste,1 teaspoon garlic paste,egg,cottage cheese,plain flour and lemon zest and refrigerate until required.

Shape the mixture into ovals using 50g of mixture for each cake.

Melt butter in a wok.

Add remaining tomatoes,onion paste ,cinammon powder and remaining thai red curry paste.

Cook on low flame until the gravy thickens.

Now add fish cakes and cook for 15 to 20 minutes on low flame until it is fully cooked. You can even coat the prepared fish cakes in plain flour and shallow fry before adding them into the gravy.

Serve with boiled pasta or rice.

Congratulations! Stay tuned on Monday when Rapunzel from Tangled lets down her hair! You won’t want to miss it.

Disney Princess Contest – Baby Ariel

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 11:00:22 +0000

Happy Valentines Day!

Want to know one of my favorite love stories?

It’s the subject of this week’s contest.

It’s week number two of our fun and exciting…

Disney Princess Contest

This week’s theme?

The Little Mermaid

Your mission?

To think up some fishes…dishes!

Something that would make lil ol’ Ariel

Want to pick up her SNARFBLAT

And chow!

Extra points if you remember what a snarfblat is…

So start thinking of some fun and fishy recipes

One’s that would make a Mermaid blush!

Send in your recipes.

You have until this Friday at 12 PM to get them in.

Last week’s winner has been decided!

I’ll announce the Cinderella winner on Wendesday!

Stay tuned…

Cinderella’s Prince Charming’s Prime Rib Roast

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 11:00:51 +0000

This dish was originally called “Someday My Prince Will Come Prime Rib” but then I was told that Snow White sang that song, not Cinderella.

See what happens when you have all boys?

I’ve been busy thinking of a Cinderella inspired dish for our awesome Disney Princess Contest

So I decided to come up with a dish inspired by the boys in Cinderella…

Namely the Prince.

Prince Charming.

This got me thinking about my Prince Charmings

And their favorite dishes…

What do all boys like?

Meat!

Good meat!

Prime rib meat!

Voila!

This dish did the trick!

In fact, they dove into it so fast that I didn’t get a good after shot.

I guess that’s the sign of a really really yummy dinner.

WHAT YOU NEED:

5-7 rib, bone in prime rib roast

S&P

3 cloves garlic

3 springs thyme

3 springs rosemary

olive oil

WHAT TO DO:

Let meat settle to room temp. Usually 2-3 hrs before cooking.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Cover and I mean cover the whole outside of roast heavily with salt and pepper. Cut 3 slits in the meat and stick a garlic clove inside each slit. Drizzle with olive oil and toss your fresh herbs on top.

Cook for 20 minutes on 450° to brown up the outside.

Reduce heat to 350° temp hits about 140° to 150°. About 2 hours or so.

Make sure your therometer is in the meat and not in the gap between ribs and meat.

Let sit for 1/2 hr temp will rise another 10° or so. Slice and enjoy.

That is for med-well. If you want it medium or medium rare cut back on the heating time.

Now it’s your turn!

Send me your ideas for Cinderella recipes!

Post them here in the comments and you could win that gorgeous Cinderella doll for the princess in your life!

Contest ends Friday at midnight!

Noteworthy Nugget: This is my brother in law, Matt’s, recipe. My boys adore it! I’ve never seen them eat so much at one sitting. Matt, let me know what Disney Princess you’d like!

Disney Princess Contest – Cinderella

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 13:14:12 +0000

Today is the start of an exciting new giveaway here at

Ma, What’s For Dinner?

We’re teaming up with the new

Disney Princess Collection

for some exciting new ideas!

What’s the best way to get a picky eater to try something new?

Bring them into the kitchen and whip up a fun theme inspired dish together!

This week’s theme?

The classic and timeless…Cinderella

Here’s where you come in…

Think up some recipes using Cinderella as a theme.

Like…

Bibbidy…Bobbidy…Booberry Pie

Magical Pumpkin Carriage Soup

See where I’m going with this?

I’ll post my Cinderella inspired recipe on Wednesday.

You have until this Friday at 12 PM EST to get your recipes in.

Winner announced Monday.

What do you win?

A feature on Ma, What’s For Dinner and that very adorable Cinderella doll up there!

Next week?

The Little Mermaid’s Baby Ariel!

Start thinking…

Can’t wait to see what you come up with!

And the winner is…

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 11:00:32 +0000

The winner of our Superbowl Recipe Contest and proud new owner of the Bento Box Lunch Box is…

KATE!

at If you can make that you can make this

For her awesome

Crispy Fried Wonton Pizza Bites (serves 8 )

These wonton pizza bites taste fried, but are actually baked, which keeps the kitchen smelling good, and makes life much easier if you’re feeding a crowd. They can be made a day or two in advance and heated up on Game Night.

30 wonton wrappers (I’m guesstimating 3 or 4 per person)
2 large balls of mozzarella cheese
8 – 10 tbsp marinara sauce (shop bought is fine)
30 small slices of salami
1 egg
Vegetable oil

* Pre heat the oven to 400
* Spoon a blob of marinara sauce into the center of the wonton.
* Top with a cube of cheese and a slice of salami
*Crack the egg, and give it a quick whisk.
* Use a pastry brush (or your fingers) to dab a layer of egg around the edges of the wonton wrapper, then fold over into a triangle (try to seal out air pockets)
* Repeat for the rest of the wontons
* Brush both sides of each wonton with vegetable oil and place on a baking tray
*Bake for about 10 – 15 minutes until the parcels are golden and crispy – keep an eye on them
* Season with salt and pepper then serve
They can be made in advance and warmed through in a low oven to re-heat, or forzen, then baked from frozen (15 – 17 mins)

She also has other great variations on this….

Switch out the salami for pineapple chunks and sliced ham
Or mushrooms and a drop of truffle oil
Or chopped black olives
Switch out the mozzarella for goat cheese
Or Cheddar
Replace the tomato sauce with pesto and add chopped cherry tomatoes and mozzarella
Or pine nuts, goat cheese and black olives

Great recipe Kate! Thanks for entering everyone.

Come back for a new Contest starting Monday!

Calling all Superbowl Recipes

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 11:00:29 +0000

It’s getting closer!

One of my favorite times of year.

They’ll be handing this out shortly…

And just before they do…

I’ll be handing out this…

To the lucky winner who sends me the very best Superbowl recipe!

Get me your entries!

I’ve gotten some great ones so far.

Think yours can beat it?

Time is ticking…

Contest ends on February 2nd!

Superbowl Recipe Contest

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 11:00:45 +0000

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL????

It’s coming!

I love this time of year,

Did you know that the Superbowl is the 2nd biggest food holiday in America?

Second only to Thanksgiving.

It’s true.

So now it’s your turn.

Break out your best Superbowl recipes.

Post ‘em here….

Email them to me…

Make ‘em and ship ‘em to me!

Just get it here!

What do you win?

No, you don’t win the Vince Lombardi trophy…

And yes, you know I was going to show my Pats…

What you do win is this Super Cool…

Bento Box Lunch Box

From those awesome folks over at Laptop Lunches

Think packing school lunches is a hassle? Not anymore with Laptop Lunches bento lunch boxes for school.

It’s super easy to put the fun back into your lunchmaking routine with lunch boxes that inspire you to pack wholesome foods your kids love and deserve. Your student will be the envy of the lunch room with our cool, bento boxes. Good for you. Good for the planet. Great for your kids.

It’s that simple.

Good. Simple. Fun.

Want it?

All you have to do is send in a recipe.

Yup, that’s it…just one recipe.

We’re looking for your very best Superbowl Recipe.

It can be a dip…

A soup…

Some wings…

Some skins…

Whatever it is get it to me and you can be the proud owner of this delightful lunch box.

And be featured right here on

Ma, What’s For Dinner?

As the winning recipe just before Superbowl.

Get on it!

Contest ends February 2nd!

Winner announced on February 4th.

This contest is replacing our earlier contest for Valentines Day…seems you all have waaaaay more Superbowl Recipes than Valentines Day ones!

Pics courtesy of NFL.com and Wikipedia…Thanks!

Laptop Lunchbox Giveaway

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 11:00:23 +0000

We’re running our coolest contest yet!

The awesome folks over at Laptop Lunches

are giving us this very cool Bento Box Lunch Box

to give to one very lucky reader of

Ma, What’s For Dinner?

It could be you!

Think packing school lunches is a hassle? Not anymore with Laptop Lunches bento lunch boxes for school.

It’s that simple.

Good. Simple. Fun.

Want it?

All you have to do is send in a recipe.

Yup, that’s it…just one recipe.

We’re looking for your very best

Valentine’s Day recipe!

It could be a crafty one…

Or a romantic one…

Or a downright sweet one.

Let’s see what you’ve got!

Be sure to visit the Laptop Lunches website and leave me a comment here about what your favorite item is!

Contest Ends January 15th!