Ma Whats For Dinner?

Superbowl Week – Carnitas

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:00:26 +0000

My favorite Superbowl food?

Hands down….

These Carnitas!

We love football around here.

We love our Pats.

We love Superbowl Sunday with snacks and the whole hood gathered round.

We love these carnitas.

Want to feed a crowd easy?

Make these carnitas and a taco bar.

Make a lot though.

My boys can rifle through these things in no time flat.

Big thanks to Girlichef for this amazing, slimmed down recipe.

So easy

Sooooo good!

Pork Carnitas

WHAT YOU NEED:

Serves 8

6 pounds country style pork ribs

kosher salt

water

corn or flour tortillas

chopped onion

chopped cilantro

guacamole

WHAT TO DO:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Liberally salt your pork on all sides with kosher salt and lay in a 11×13 baking dish. Space them out so they are not touching. You may want to use 2 dishes.

Add 1/3 cup water to each of the pans.

Cover with foil and bake at 375 for one hour.

After an hour remove from oven and turn the oven up to 450 degrees. Remove the foil from the pans. Bake uncovered at 450 until all the water is gone and all that is left is the fat that has run off the pork, about 30 minutes.

Continue to bake an additional 20 minutes while returning to baste the meat at least twice in it’s own fatty delicious juices.

Remove from oven and chop up pork and sprinkle with salt.

Serve on tortillas with onions, cilantro and quacamole.

Game on!

LETS GO PATS!!!!

Superbowl Countdown – Keegan’s Killer Kielbasa

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:00:02 +0000

Um….

If I haven’t already mentioned it….

THE PATS ARE GOING TO THE SUPERBOWL!!!!

And here’s a News Flash….

I have 3 boys.

Ok, well 4 if you count the hubs…

And let’s be honest, you have to count the hubs don’t ya?

So game days are big around here.

We’re a sports family.

Hockey.

Football.

Baseball.

Basketball.

Even soccer, or football as my mom calls it. Go Manchester United.

Anyway, we love the Superbowl.

Especially when the Pats are getting ready to beat down the Giants.

And Keegan has asked that I post his absolute favorite again…

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL?

We’re ready for some of Keegan’s favorite, and the hubs, Kielbasa

Serves: 8 Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook time: 15 minutes

2 links polska kielbasa smoked sausage, sliced

1 cup maple syrup

1 T soy sauce

1/4 cup brown mustard

1 t liquid smoke (optional)

In a large skillet over medium high heat, warm sausage until the sides just begin to crisp, about 5 minutes. Pour in your syrup and soy sauce and stir well. Add in mustard and liquid smoke and mix well. Bring to a boil then knock back the heat and let simmer until sauce is thick and rich and bubbly.

Pour onto serving platter and serve with toothpicks.

Score!

Superbowl Spicy Crab Dip

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:56:21 +0000

Ok, I’m going to admit something here…

I’m not sure if my marriage is actually a sham.

Yup, it’s true…

I think that this dip is the actually the reason the hubs married me.

Yes, it’s that good.

Trust me….

WHAT YOU NEED:

2 16oz tubs softened cream cheese (You can use reduced fat)

1 T crushed garlic

1/2 T Siracha hot sauce

1/2 t crab boil seasoning

S&P

2 cans lump crab meat (picked over for shell bits)

1/2 cup water chestnuts diced

2 scallions chopped

sourdough baguette sliced thin

WHAT TO DO:

In a large microwave safe bowl combine softened cream cheese, garlic, hot sauce, crab boil, water chestnuts, scallions, crab meat and S&P. Mix well.

Microwave on high for 2 minutes. Remove and stir well.

Microwave for an additional 2 minutes or so until steaming hot.

Remove from microwave. Top with additional scallions. Stir well.

Transfer to serving bowl and serve alongside slice sourdough bread.

People will be proposing at first bite!

Are you ready for some football??? Wings edition

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 11:00:29 +0000

Oh yeah baby.

Good things are afoot.

Because Team Fitz is back in MA

And the New England Patriots AFC Champs again.

You know what that means?

That my dear friends…

Means the Pats are on their way to the

SUPERBOWL.

I can’t wait for the rematch…

And the food.

I am so all about the Superbowl food!

Starting with these wings.

These wings are one of the best things I’ve ever had.

This recipe comes straight from my girl, Michelle.

She makes a mean pot o’ wings.

Can’t wait for Superbowl to eat ‘em again.

I have to warn you…

Once you make ‘em.

They’ll ask you to make them again.

EVERY.

SINGLE.

TIME!

Best Football Wings Ever

WHAT YOU NEED:

3/4 cup of soy sauce
2 tsp of garlic powder
1 1/2 cup of sugar

6 lbs of wings (cut)

WHAT TO DO:

In a large bowl comgine the soy sauce, garlic and sugar.

Toss in the wings and let marinade overnight for best taste.

Be sure to mix at least one time during the marinating so as to get all of the wings covered in the yummy sauce.

Preheat your oven to 325.

Cook at 325 degrees for 1 – 1 1/2 hours!

Enjoy!

Are you ready for some Football???

What are you making for superbowl?

Who are you rooting for?

GO PATS!!!

Buffalo Chicken Pasta

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 11:00:38 +0000

Baby it’s cold outside…

And that means comfort food to me!

So this pub favorite has gotten a make over…

So good, you’ll make this a new staple.

Big shout out to my girl, Shell over at Things I Can\’t Say !

She blogged about how much her kids liked this dish and it sounded so amazing I had to make it immediately. Let’s just say we were ALL licking the plates clean.

Buffalo Chicken Pasta

Serves: 4 Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook time: 20 minutes

1 pound penne

2 t salt

1 ½ t pepper

1 T garlic powder

1 T Cajun seasoning

1 pound chicken, diced

2 T oil

3 T hot sauce, Frank’s or Tobasco, divided

1 cup mayo

1/2 cup ranch dressing

¾ cup milk

1 cup chopped celery

½ cup chopped scallions

shredded mozzerella

chopped blue cheese

Put on a pot of water to boil and when it does toss in some salt to season it and add in your pasta and cook until al dente.

Season chicken with the spices. You can pour it all into a ziploc bag to shake it all up. Heat oil over med-high heat and cook chicken until it’s cooked, about 5 minutes or so. Next add 2 T hot sauce and cook for an additional minute or so. This part always makes me cough, but I use A LOT of hot sauce, I like mine extra spicy!

Combine mayo, ranch, and milk and mix. It will be lumpy, then stir in additional T of hot sauce. It depends on how hot you want it. Add this to the skillet with the chicken. Cook a few minutes, until heated.

Pour over pasta and stir to combine. Top with fresh celery, scallions, mozzarella and crumbled blue cheese. Sooo good! Thanks, Shell! This one is going into permanent rotation!!!

Happy Birthday Keegan

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:41:59 +0000

7 years ago today…

My life changed.

They put that little bundle into my arms

And life would never be the same.

You light up our lives.

And you’ll light up the world.

To my sweet

smart

funny

rock star

I love you to the moon and back.

Have a wonderful birthday!

My big 7 year old boy!

Happy Holidays to All!

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 13:04:56 +0000

Happy Holidays to all…

And to all a good night.

All of us here at Ma What’s For Dinner

Wish you and yours a wonderful holiday season.

We’ll be taking a break til the New Year…

But don’t fret…

We’ll be back in action soon!

Enjoy this time with your family!

Hanukkah Latkes

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 11:00:39 +0000

Happy Hanukkah everyone!

Our favorite thing about Hanukkah?

What else?

Potato Latkes!

Best things ever…

Latkes

Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 20 minutes

What you need:

3 ½ cups shredded potatoes (for fast latkes use the store bought kind)

½ sweet onion, grated

3 eggs, beaten

¼ cup matzo meal (you could substitute all purpose flour too)

S&P

½ cup peanut oil for frying

What to do:

Using a cheese cloth squeeze all the moisture out of your potatoes.

Once you’ve gotten them as dry as you can, place them into a large bowl with the onion, eggs, matzo meal, and season with S&P. Stir together well to combine.

Preheat a large skillet and your peanut oil over medium high heat. Form the mixture into small silver dollar pancake size latkes. Working in batches place the latkes down into the oil.

Cook until golden brown, then flip to brown the other side. Drain on paper towels, serve hot with applesauce and sour cream.

Now gather round the table, light some candles, play some dreidel and enjoy. Happy Hanukkah!!!

Winters Night Pot Roast

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 13:09:16 +0000

Ok, so this is the dish that tried to kill me.

Yup, it assaulted me.

Pot Roast is the hubs favorite meal.

So one night I was rushing…

He mentioned at 3 pm that he’d love pot roast for dinner.

So I rushed like a maniac and tried to get in in the oven.

And ended up with 2nd and 3rd degree burns on my arm.

So take your time…

Don’t rush when you’re cooking.

It was a hell of a good pot roast though…

WHAT YOU NEED:

3-4 pound chuck roast

1 T olive oil

6 carrots cut into large chunks

3 onions cut into large chunks

1 bulb fennel cut into chunks

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 T flour

S&P

2 springs fresh thyme

1 stalk fresh rosemary

1/2 cup cognac (you could use red wine instead)

3 cups beef stock

WHAT TO DO:

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees.

Sprinkle the chuck roast with flour and season with lots of S&P.

Heat a large skillet and olive oil over super high heat. When it’s good and hot sear the pot roast on both sides.

Be careful when flipping it…this is where the pot roast tried to kill me.

When it’s nice and brown on all sides remove it to a plate and let it sit.

Now toss in your carrots and onions, season with S&P.

Get them good and browned and remove them as well.

Now onto the good stuff…the sauce!

Deglaze your pan with the cognac. Scrape up all those fantastic bits on the bottom of the pan.

Add in about 1 cup up of your beef stock and let simmer for a few minutes.

Toss the veggies back into the pot and add in your rosemary and thyme.

Place the roast on top of the veggies and add another cup or two of beef stock.

Cover and cook at 275 for 3 1/2 hours.

Serve up this bad boy with mashed potatoes and green beans.

Watch it disappear in seconds!

Serve with plenty of the gravy! Try not to drink it straight out of the pot.

Not that I’ve done that or anything….

Cookies for Breakfast in a Jar

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 11:00:38 +0000

Cookies for Breakfast in a jar Prep Time: 20 minutes Cook Time: 20 minutes

2/3 c brown sugar, packed
1 t baking soda
¾ t baking powder
1 c all purpose flour
¾ c whole wheat flour
3 c multi grain cereal
½ cup dried blueberries
½ cup dried cranberries
½ cup raisins

Layer all ingredients in a mason jar. Close jar tightly and cover with fabric and ribbon. Affix with the following instructions.

1 jar cookies for breakfast gift mix
½ c butter room temperature
2 eggs beaten

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In the bowl of an electric mixer beat together butter and eggs until smooth. Add ingredients in jar. Mix until well combined.
With your hands form batter into large golf ball sized balls and place on a greased cookie sheet. Press down on each ball with a spoon to flatten it slightly. Place cookies in the oven and bake for 12 – 15 minutes. Let stand 1 minute then transfer to cooling rack. Enjoy these warm with a glass of milk or leave out for Santa. Happy Holidays!