Ma Whats For Dinner?

Happy Birthday to the wild man

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Wed, 16 May 2012 10:58:50 +0000

Big day around here!Birthday boy is 6 years old today.

Can’t believe it!

How did we get from here.

To here?

And what a ride it’s been!

So to the funniest…

sweetest…

most unique individual I’ve ever come across

I hope you have the most amazing birthday yet.

Love you baby boy!

Happy birthday, Brady!!!

Slow roasted pulled pork sandwiches

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Mon, 07 May 2012 14:00:55 +0000

I love pulled pork.

Not only is it delicious…

But it’s cheap…

And I can use it for days!!!

Perfect for a summertime BBQ!

Check out the three meals I got out of my $11.94 pork shoulder!

First one…

Pulled Pork Sangies

Serves: 10 Prep time: 15 minutes + 1 day Cook time: 6 hours

For the dry rub:

3 T paprika

1 T garlic powder

3 T brown sugar

1 T dry mustard

3 T coarse salt

1 t liquid smoke

1 t dried oregano

¼ cup olive oil

For the Sandwiches:

1 (5 to 7 pound) pork roast, preferably shoulder or Boston butt

2 T prepared mustard

2 packages Hawaiian bread rolls

2 cups BBQ sauce

In a food processor combine the paprika, garlic power, brown sugar, dry mustard, salt, liquid smoke, and oregano. Turn in the processor on and add in your olive oil until you have a nice paste.

Rub your pork butt with the prepared mustard then slather on your spice mixture. Be sure to massage it in well and get it into all the nooks and crannies. Let in marinate in the fridge for as long as possible, at least 1 hour or up to overnight.

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

Place the marinated pork in a roasting rack and roast at 300 degrees until an instant read thermometer reads 170 degrees F, about 6 hours, when the pork just easily falls apart.

Pull the pork into small pieces and serve on a Hawaiian buns with BBQ sauce and cole slaw. MMMMmmmm! So good!

Pasta with turkey bacon, peas, and dandelion greens

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 11:00:25 +0000

My lawn has exploded…

Exploded with dandelions…

And I couldn’t be more excited.

They may be seen as weeds…

But they’re actually delish!

I love to pair them up with a pasta.

Then my aunt mentioned her quick go to pasta was with turkey bacon and peas….

Hmmm, sounds like a match made in heaven!

This is a delicious and quick dish that’s good for you and tastes great!

The boys loved the sweetness of the peas and I love the smoky turkey bacon and whole wheat pasta.

Make a big batch and keep it in the fridge…

Makes a great quick lunch with a salad!

Super easy…

Super quick…

Super delicious!

WHAT YOU NEED:

1 box whole wheat pasta (I like fusilli)

1 t extra virgin olive oil

4 slices organic turkey bacon (We use Applewood Farms)

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 cup english peas (you could use frozen, I had fresh on hand)

1 bunch dandelion greens

S&P

1 cup of pasta water (if necessary)

parmesan cheese

WHAT TO DO:

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Season with salt. Add your pasta and cook to al dente according to package instructions. When you have about 2 minutes left to cook grab a cup of the cooking water and set aside.

While the pasta cooks, heat a large saucepan over medium high heat. Add in your olive oil and then toss in your bacon. Cook til crisp, about 7-8 minutes. Toss in your garlic and let cook for another minute. Add in peas and dandelion greens, and season with S&P. Let the sauce simmer for a few minutes and then add in your pasta water.

Drain your pasta and toss in the sauce. Sprinkle with freshly grated parmesan cheese and serve.

YUM!!!

Secret Recipe Club – Chicken, Bacon, and Ranch Taquitos

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 14:00:25 +0000

Oh I’m so excited.

I joined a club…

An awesome club.

I’m a joiner…

What can I say.

Today is my first reveal as a full fledged member of

The Secret Recipe Club

And this month I got assigned to pick a recipe to try from the wonderful

Carries Sweet Life

And there was so much to choose from!

I finally settled on a true crowd pleaser.

And even with my recipe OCD I hardly changed a thing!

Check out these baked taquitos that pretty much brought the house down!

Carries Sweet Life Chicken Bacon and Ranch Taquitos

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
12 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 jalapeno pepper, diced
4 cups cooked, shredded chicken I used a rotisserie chicken
1/2 packet dry Ranch Dressing mix
2 cups Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded
3-4 Tablespoons green onion, chopped
20 (6-inch) whole wheat or flour tortillas
Salt
Non-stick cooking spray
bacon drippings

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Cover a large baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray lightly with cooking spray.

Brown your bacon in a large skillet until crispy. Remove bacon and set aside.

Toss in diced jalapeno and scallions into your bacon drippings and quickly saute until slightly soft. Remove from drippings…be sure to keep the grease!

In a large bowl, mix together cream cheese, chicken, bacon, cheese, jalapeno and green onions.

Fold in your ranch mix.

Mix well.

Spoon 2-3 tablespoons of the chicken mixture into a tortilla and roll it up.

Place taquito seam-side down on the baking sheet. Repeat until you are out of chicken.

Brush tops of taquitos with the reserved bacon drippings and sprinkle with kosher salt.

Place pan in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes. Be sure to keep an eye on them in case you have to run upstairs to say hand out time outs to 3 year olds who hit their brothers in the face with a Wii remote…just saying.

Serve these bad boys up with ranch dressing or salsa!

Delish!

Thanks Carrie…these are going into permanent rotation!

Taco Pie

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 11:00:49 +0000

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!

Baseball Week – Cracker Jack Popcorn Balls

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 11:00:59 +0000

Cracker Jacks…

Get your Cracker Jacks…

Here’s a quick, easy and fun way to get your team to eat their favorite snack on the run!

WHAT YOU NEED:

3/4 c light corn syrup

1/4 c butter

2 t cold water

2 1/2 c confectioners’ sugar

1 c marshmallows

5 quarts plain popped popcorn

1 cup shelled peanuts

WHAT TO DO:

Heat a large saucepan over medium heat.

Add in the corn syrup, butter, cold water, sugar and marshmallows.

Heat and stir until the mixture comes to a boil.

Meanwhile in a large bowl, combine your popcorn and peanuts.

Carefully combine the hot mixture with the popcorn, get each and every kernal and peanut.

To make this easier you can rub some vegetable oil on your hands.

Shape the coated popcorn into balls before it cools.

Wrap with cellophane or plastic wrap and store at room temperature.

What’s your favorite snack at the ball park?

For the record, this is not my picture. It’s is courtesy of Amazon. My camera decided to lose the pictures I took of our popcorn balls, so sadly this will have to do. Maybe you can make some and send them to me?

Baseball Week – Sloppy Joe Dimaggios

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 11:00:21 +0000

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.

Baseball Week – Sliders into home plate

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 11:00:21 +0000

Play Ball!!!!

I love this time of year.

Bring on the Boys of Summer!

What says baseball more than grilling burgers?

Well, sliders in this case.

Sliding into home plate?

Get it…?

Serve ‘em up with some garlic fries on the side!

This’ll be a home run for sure!

WHAT YOU NEED:

1 1/2 lbs ground beef (I like 85/15 for burgers)

1 T dried onion

1 T montreal steak seasoning

1 T cold water

sliced cheddar

baby brioche buns

WHAT TO DO:

In a large bowl combine the meat, onions, steak seasoning, and water. Mix well to blend and then form the meat into sliver dollar sized burgers. Stick em on the grill for about 4 minutes on the first side. Flip ‘em and then toss the cheese on top and grill for another 3-4 minutes.

Place these little beauties on a brioche roll and serve to your little leaguers!

Keegan loves to help grill

I dress up the grown ups with drunken onions and mushrooms…

I sauteed onions and mushrooms in a pan with olive oil, S&P, and beer till they were nice and soft! Pile ‘em high on your burger!

How are you celebrating the start of baseball season?

Oh, yeah, I’d wouldn’t be a proud member of the nation if I didn’t end this post with…

GO RED SOX!!!

Pork Pops with peanut dipping sauce

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 11:00:30 +0000

Spring Fling continues with this fun dinner!

Everyone loves food on a stick!

These pork pops are sure to have your kids begging for more!

WHAT YOU NEED:

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup rice wine vinegar

2 T toasted sesame oil

2 T honey

1/4 cup orange juice

2 T dijon mustard

1 t grated ginger

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 t lemon pepper

3 scallions, chopped

1 pound pork tenderloin

1/2 cup peanut butter

WHAT TO DO:

Combine the first 10 ingredients in a bowl and mix well to incorporate the marinade. Place half the mixture in a large ziploc bag. Reserve other half of marinade.

Place the pork tenderloin in the ziploc bag and let the meat marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 375 and heat up a grill pan on your stove top. After the pork is marinated, place on a hot grill pan and sear each side of the tenderloin. Transfer the pork to the preheated oven and bake for 35 minutes or until a thermometer reaches 155 degrees.

Remove pork and let it sit for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile make your dipping sauce by using the marinade you set aside and mixing it with the peanut butter. Mix until smooth.

Slice pork into 1 inch slices, then thread onto a kabob skewer.

Serve with peanut sauce, rice and grilled asparagus.

Bow ties with spring veggies and bacon

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 11:00:47 +0000

Happy Spring!

Aren’t you glad it’s springtime?

Though we’ve had a mild winter…

And it’s a bit chillier here than it’s been all winter…

So I’m pretending it’s spring.

And this will make you feel like spring…

A delicious and quick pasta that the kids will adore!

Mom and Dad too!

Feel free to add grilled chicken or shrimp to make it a heartier dish.

Bow ties with spring veggies & pancetta

WHAT YOU NEED:

1 box bow tie pasta

4 slices thick cut bacon, chopped

1 1/4 pounds asparagus, trimmed, cut on diagonal into 1-inch pieces

1 scallions, thinly sliced

8 ounces crimini mushrooms

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

1/3 cup heavy cream

3 T extra virgin olive oil

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 T lemon zest

1/4 cup italian parsley, chopped

1/4 cup basil, torn

WHAT TO DO:

Heat a large pasta pot over high heat. When boiling add salt and cook pasta until al dente. Drain, but reserve 1 cup pasta cooking liquid. Return pasta to pot.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet cook bacon over medium heat until crispy. Using slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towels to drain. Set aside.

Pour off all but 1 teaspoon drippings from skillet. Add mushrooms to the drippings. Cook for 3 minutes. Add asparagus, scallions, and garlic to the mushrooms in skillet and cook for 3 more minutes minutes. Remove from heat.

Add veggies, 1/2 cup pasta cooking liquid, 1/2 cup Parmesan, cream, olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, parsley, basil, and S&P to pasta.

Mix well. Add more pasta water if necessary. Sprinkle with bacon and more cheese if desired.

Tasty Tidbit – Kids not asparagus fans? Try this dish with frozen peas!