Dinners on a Dime — Ma Whats For Dinner?

Girls Night Zucchini & Corn Pancakes

September 26, 2012 by Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner 1 Comment

I love Girls Night Out.

You really need it from time to time.

Recently we’ve switched girls night out…

To Girls Night In.

We gather at someone’s house…

Everyone brings a dish.

And a bottle…

And then we really dish.

And you know me…being Ma and all.

I have to try and make the best offering.

This is my latest…

It was a hit!

Had to take advantage of all that zucchini in the garden…

Not to mention the boys gobbled these up…

And didn’t even know they were loaded with veggies!

WHAT YOU NEED:

2 medium to large zucchini grated

2 T grated red onion

1 cup corn off the cob (I slice mine from leftover grilled corn)

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

6 – 8 T flour

1 t baking powder

S&P

1 T butter

Olive oil

Toppings:

Smoked Salmon

Creme Fraiche

Chopped Scallions or chives

Capers

WHAT TO DO:

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

In a large bowl combine zucchini, onion, and corn.

Stir in your eggs.

Add about 5-6 tablespoons of flour, the baking powder, and S&P. (If the batter gets too thin from the zucchini liquid, add the remaining flour.)

Heat a large pan over medium heat and melt 1/2 tablespoon butter and 1/2 tablespoon oil together in the pan. When it’s hot lower the heat to medium-low and drop heaping soup spoons of the zucchini batter into the pan.

Cook the pancakes until browned on each side…about 2 minutes apiece.

Remove from pan and set aside on a sheet pan…you can keep warm in the oven. They’ll stay warm in the oven for up to 30 minutes.

Serve hot.

Top with a dollop of creme fraiche, a bit of smoked salmon, some scallions and a caper.

Filed Under: Dinners on a Dime, Featured, Healthy Side Dish Recipes For Kids, Kid Favorite Recipes, Lunch Ideas For Kids, Mommyville, Snacks Tagged With: appetizers, buy local, farm to table, girls night, moms night, pancakes, pot luck, veggies, zucchini

Best chicken ever

July 16, 2012 by Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner 7 Comments

Ever get into a dinner time slump?

Get sick of having the same ol thing week after week?

That’s when it’s time to bust out the big guns…

This is one of our go to recipes when we need to shake things up.

It’s easy…
It’s affordable…

It’s delicious…

It’s the BEST CHICKEN EVER!

WHAT YOU NEED:

3-4 pounds chicken (thighs, legs, and/or boneless breasts)

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 cup soy sauce

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 medium onion, chopped

1 t. prepared mustard

3/4 cup ketchup

1/3 cup honey

Salt & Pepper

WHAT TO DO:

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.

Lay your chicken in a large baking dish, skin side down.

Combine remaining ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Pour sauce over chicken.

Bake at 325 for 1 hour.

Turn chicken skin side up and bake for 1 more hour.

Serve on top of buttered brown rice or whole wheat noodles.

Be sure to spoon on lots of sauce, it’s delicious! My kids love this one with some garlic roasted broccoli!

Filed Under: Dinners on a Dime, Featured, Healthy Recipes For Kids, Kid Favorite Recipes Tagged With: chicken, dinners on a dime, quick easy meals

SRC – Reveal Day Fusilli with Chicken and Basil

June 18, 2012 by Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner 8 Comments

I can’t believe it’s here already.

It’s time to reveal my next installment in the

Secret Recipe Club

I love this club.

What can I say.

I’m a joiner…

Thanks to Angela for hosting our group.

So this month I was so excited to check out who I was assigned to.

I got Gloria’s blog entitled

Canela Kitchen

Gloria cooks out of Santiago, Chile and I enjoyed reading both her English and Spanish takes on all her recipes.

Gave me a chance to check on all that Espanol I learned in high school! Thanks Senora Pozzi!

I decided to try her Fusilli with prawns and basil

a beautiful little dish that is simple and lovely.

I adore that!

But I couldn’t find any USA shrimp that was priced reasonably.

You know how I’m a Buy Local nut!

So I decided to go with the ol’ standy.

Chicken from the local farm.

I changed a few things about the recipe.

If you know me, you know I have recipe OCD.

I used whole wheat pasta and added a bit more spices here and there…

So here is my ode to Gloria and the SRC

FUSILLI WITH CHICKEN AND BASIL

WHAT YOU NEED:

1 pound whole wheat pasta

2 chicken breasts, bone in

Extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 onion, diced

8 ounces chopped broccoli

crushed red pepper

1/2 cup white wine

chopped basil

chopped parsley

S&P

fresh grated parmesan cheese

WHAT TO DO:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Drizzle your chicken breasts with olive oil and season with S&P. Bake at 375 for about 25-30 minutes on until cooked through. Remove from oven and pull chicken off the bones and chop. Set aside.

Meanwhile, put a pot of water on to boil. When boiling, add a generous amount of salt and toss in pasta. Cook until al dente reserving a cup or two of cooking water.

In a large sauce pan, heat 1 – 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium high heat. Add onions and saute until soft. Toss in garlic, broccoli, and red pepper. Cook for an additional two minutes. Add in the chopped chicken and season with S&P. Deglaze the pan with your white wine being sure to scrape up all that yummy goodness on the bottom of the pan.

Toss in the cooked pasta with a cup of cooking water and stir together. Fold in parmesan cheese, and chopped herbs.

Serve it all up with a nice salad!

Filed Under: Dinner Recipes For Kids, Dinners on a Dime, Featured, Healthy Recipes For Kids, Kid Favorite Recipes Tagged With: basil, buy local, cheese, chicken, parsley, Secret Recipe Club, SRC, white wine

Delicious Dessert Breakfast Sangie

May 21, 2012 by Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner 12 Comments

So you all heard how I joined a new club, right?

I joined the crew at the

The Secret Recipe Club

And I love it!

And today is Reveal Day!!!

And I got to to choose from the many delicious recipes at

From Chapel Hill to Chickenville

The lovely and talented Aimee is busy whipping up deliciousness for her 4 kiddos…

And you know that makes me smile!!

I loved checking out all of Aimee’s fantastic recipes but the one that caught my eye was

Peanut butter, apple and bacon sandwiches

They sounded awesome.

But lo and behold the hubs had finished the Peanut Butter

So I made mine with Nutella.

Love Nutella.

And I didn’t grill ours, I made them on english muffins and therefore my friends,

Breakfast is served!

Nutella, Bacon, and Apple Sandwiches on English Muffins

What you need:

12 slices bacon, cooked

4 english muffins

4 T Nutella spread

2 Granny Smith Apples

WHAT TO DO:

Split and toast your english muffins to your liking

Spread each muffin with 1 T Nutella

Top each with thick slices of bacon and apple

Serve…and prepare to be amazed!

Thank you Aimee for this fantastic idea…and please be sure to go check out all the yummy things she is feeding her brood!

And check out all the other fantastic dishes the Ladies of the Secret Recipe Club are serving up!

Filed Under: Dinners on a Dime, Featured, Kid Favorite Recipes, Kids Desserts, Lunch Ideas For Kids, Snacks Tagged With: Secret Recipe Club

Taco Pie

April 19, 2012 by Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner 22 Comments

My family loves tacos.

Let me repeat that…

MY. FAMILY. LOVES. TACOS.

Seriously, they’d eat them every day if they could.

Sometimes I don’t feel like a regular taco.

Enter my girl, Tiffanee at One Crazy Cookie.

She came up with a new spin on our Fitz Family Taco Night.

The boys had a blast making this one.

And eating it too!

Taco Pie = $ 10.72

Family of 4 = $2.68 per person

Taco Pie

1 lb ground beef $2.49

¾ of a large onion, diced $.50

taco mix $.88

Meat Filling:

Brown 1 pound of hamburger with 1/2 cup chopped onions, drain. Add 1 packet of taco seasoning mix and 3/4 cup water, simmer while you make the crust.

1 can refried beans (optional) $1.29

Taco Crust

2 cups flour $.50

2 1/2 teaspoons yeast (or 1 packet) $.34

1 Tablespoon sugar $.30

2 teaspoons finely chopped onion (optional) (from above)

3/4 teaspoon salt $.05

2/3 cup warm water

2 Tablespoons oil $.15

1/2 cup crushed corn tortilla chips $.20

Toppings:

shredded cheddar cheese $1.94

shredded lettuce $.79

chopped tomatoes $.52

sour cream $.25

Preheat Oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium bowl, combine 1 cup flour, yeast, sugar, salt and onion. Mix well. Add warm water and oil to the flour mixture. Mix by hand until smooth. Stir in chips and enough remaing flour to make a stiff dough. (I used 2 cups). Spread into a well greased pie pan, forming a rim around the edge. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 10 minutes.

If desired spread 1 can of refried beans on the bottom.

Spread taco meat over top of beans.

Sprinkle with some shredded cheese about 1/2 cup.

Bake at 375 degrees for 30-35 minutes until the edge is crisp and light golden brown.

Sprinkle with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and serve with some sour cream.

Meaty Morsel: Let the kids help you make the pie crust. Kids love getting their hands into mixes and dough while baking. Also you can let them spread out the refried beans and sprinkle the cheese. Let them get creative with their toppings. It’s a great opportunity to get them to try new foods.

I had some jarred jalapenos in the fridge that I added to mine…I like it spicy!

Filed Under: Dinner Recipes For Kids, Dinners on a Dime, Featured, Kid Favorite Recipes Tagged With: budget dinners, cooking with kids, dinners on a dime, ground beef, pie, tacos

Baseball Week – Sloppy Joe Dimaggios

April 11, 2012 by Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner 8 Comments

This is one of my favorite of Rachael Ray’s quick meals with a couple of tweaks due to my massive recipe OCD condition.

It’s perfect for Baseball Week!

Make this for your little sluggers and the whole team’ll be over to eat!

Serves: 9 little leaguers Prep time: 10 minutes Cook time: 20 minutes

WHAT YOU NEED:

1 T olive oil

2 lbs ground sirloin

1 package hebrew national hot dogs, sliced

1 onion chopped

1 garlic clove chopped

1 T steak seasoning

1 T chili powder

3 T brown sugar

3 T worcestershire sauce

3 T dark beer, like Guinness

1 8 ounce can tomato sauce

Burger rolls

WHAT TO DO:

Heat the extra-virgin olive oil in a deep skillet over medium-high heat.

Add meat and crumble as it browns.

Add chopped hot dogs after 3 to 4 minutes then cook 3 to 4 minutes more.

Add the onions and garlic to the pan and cook to soften, 5 to 6 minutes more.

In a bowl mix the spices, sugar, Worcestershire, Guinness and tomato sauce.

Pour sauce over the meat and simmer a few minutes to combine flavors.

Slop onto buns and serve.

Filed Under: Dinner Recipes For Kids, Dinners on a Dime, Featured, Kid Favorite Recipes Tagged With: Baseball, burgers, cook with your kids, cooking with kids, food for kids, fun food, game day recipes, hot dogs, sloppy joes

Girls Night Zucchini & Corn Pancakes

Best chicken ever

SRC – Reveal Day Fusilli with Chicken and Basil

Delicious Dessert Breakfast Sangie

Taco Pie

Baseball Week – Sloppy Joe Dimaggios

Featured Cooking With Kids Videos

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Girls Night Zucchini & Corn Pancakes

Best chicken ever

SRC – Reveal Day Fusilli with Chicken and Basil

Delicious Dessert Breakfast Sangie

Taco Pie

Baseball Week – Sloppy Joe Dimaggios

Featured Cooking With Kids Videos

Join Our Mailing List

Find us on Facebook

Connect With Ma

Find A Local Farmer’s Market

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