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Buffalo Chicken Pasta

January 19, 2012 By Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner 1 Comment

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

dinner 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!!! dinner Buffalo Chicken Pasta

Filed Under: Dinner Recipes For Kids, Kid Favorite Recipes, Recipes For Kids Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Tasty Tidbit – Stale Bread

March 1, 2011 By Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner 8 Comments

Have some bread that starting to go stale on you?

Want to restore it’s freshness and taste?

cooking tips Tasty Tidbit Stale Bread

Toss a stalk of celery in the bag and close it back up.

If you put the celery in the bag when you bring it home from the store it will keep it from going stale even longer!

Miracle worker!

Filed Under: Cooking Tips Tagged With: , , , , ,

Tasty Tidbit – Celery

December 7, 2010 By Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner 10 Comments

Want to know how to keep celery fresh in your fridge for weeks????

cooking tips Tasty Tidbit CeleryWrap it in aluminum foil!

Yup, that’s it.

No more wimpy wilty celery!

EVER!

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Creepy Crudite

October 27, 2010 By Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner 24 Comments

appetizers Creepy Crudite

I am a big fan of appetizers and finger food.  I feel very strongly it is a great way to get kids to try new foods.  Kids, especially young ones, are by nature grazers.  Apps create an opportunity to get your kids to try new things in a non threatening manner.  Parties or small get togethers are an excellent place to get started.

Thus, we have the crudite plate.  It’s a fixture at every dinner at our house with more than just the family involved.  Since it’s Halloween we’re doing the creepy crudite plate.  Let’s get ‘er done…

Creepy Crudite

Toothpicks

1 green pepper, ribs cleaned out, top plus 3 slices cut off, reserve slices to use as legs.

carrots

celery

radishes

mini peppers

broccoli

cauliflower

cucumbers

olives

cherry tomatoes

All of the above should be cut into bite sized pieces and arranged artfully on a plate.

The key to a good crudite is the dip.  The veggies are a merely a vehicle to get the dip from the plate to your kids mouth, but in the meantime they do manage to get a carrot or two in there.  My favorite party dip ever is Barefoot Contessa’s Pan Fried Onion Dip.  It’s amazing.  But feel free to pick up a packet of ranch or onion dip at the store and mix it up with some Low-Fat sour cream or even greek yogurt.  Be sure to chill it in advance and get busy making your creepy pepper to store it in.

Take your hollowed out pepper and stand him in the middle of your platter.  Using a sharp knife cut 3 small holes in each side.  Cut each slice into 2 pieces and stick one side of each slice into the holes you just made.  Next slice one of your olives in half.  Using your toothpick stick the olives to the pepper to create eyes.  Do the same for the nose.  Fill your pepper with dip and have at it.  Eating veggies was never so fun or spooky!

Filed Under: Appetizer Recipes For Kids, Healthy Recipes For Kids, Healthy Side Dish Recipes For Kids, Holidays, Recipes For Kids, Snacks, Vegetable Recipes For Kids, Vegetarian Recipes For Kids Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Quick and Light Herb Salad

July 22, 2010 By Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner 17 Comments

This is a take off on a salad that I once saw Rachael Ray make and thought, that is the strangest looking salad I’ve ever heard of, but I made hers and loved it!  I ate it every day for a month.  Then I started to give it a bit of a makeover and ended up with this little delight.  My kids eat around the mushrooms but gobble up the rest of it…

healthy eating for kids Quick and Light Herb Salad

1 bunch washed baby arugula

8 oz package of baby bella mushrooms sliced

3 stalks celery sliced thin

10 basil leaves julienned

handful of italian parsley chopped

parmesan cheese

1 lemon

1 T olive oil

S&P

In a large bowl toss in your arugula, mushrooms, celery, basil, and parsley.  Grate long slices of parmesan cheese on top.  Sprinkle with S&P.  Squeeze the juice of one half of your lemon on top of your salad.  Toss gently.  Season again with S&P if necessary.  Sprinkle with olive oil and toss again.  Serve it up with some crusty bread or alongside your dinner.  SOOOOO GOOD!!!

*Disclaimer I put ranch dressing on the boys version of this.  They just love their ranch!  But if they’re eating salad, who cares?  A lot of you out there have said that you can’t get your kids to eat salad.  My youngest two boys have always loved salad, Keegan, the oldest, not so much.  You know how I got him to eat it????  It’s so easy!!!  You’re not going to believe it!!!  CROUTONS!!!  That’s all it took, croutons!!!  Now the kid eats salad?!?  Go figure.

Filed Under: Healthy Recipes For Kids, Healthy Salad Recipes For Kids, Healthy Side Dish Recipes For Kids, Recipes For Kids Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Clean out the fridge chicken pot pie

May 13, 2010 By Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner 11 Comments

What do you do when you have a bunch of stuff clogging up your fridge and freezer drawers?  Toss them in a pot, stir ‘em up and cover them with some straight from the freezer pastry dough!  My Ma used to make stew, I make a creamy version then cover it and bake it till it bubbly good and the hubs and kids are in hog heaven.  Give this one a try.

dinner Clean out the fridge chicken pot pie

1 thawed sheet of pastry dough

3 large chicken breasts

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 T butter

4 cups chicken stock

2 yellow onions, chopped

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup heavy cream

1 cup medium-diced carrots

1 10 oz package frozen peas

1 10 oz package frozen corn

1 zucchini, diced

2 celery stalks, diced

S&P

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the chicken breasts on a baking sheet and rub them with 1 T olive oil. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Roast for 30 minutes, or until cooked through. Cut the chicken into large dice.  Turn up the oven to 375 degrees.

dinner Clean out the fridge chicken pot pieIn a large pot or Dutch oven, melt the butter and remaining oil and saute the onions over medium low heat until soft, about 10 minutes. Toss in carrots, zucchini, and celery and  cook for two more minutes.  Add the flour and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Add the chicken stock to the sauce. Simmer over low heat for 1 more minute, stirring, until thick. Add S&P and heavy cream. Add the cubed chicken, peas and corn. Mix well.  Pour into a 13×9 baking dish.  Cover with pastry dough.  Cut a few slits into the dough to allow steam to escape.  I like to sprinkle the top with a bit of fleur de sel (or any other course salt) but you can use whatever you like.  Bake at 375 for 1 hour.  Serve with a side salad.  I dare you not to lick the plate!

Filed Under: Dinner Recipes For Kids, Kid Favorite Recipes, Recipes For Kids, Vegetable Recipes For Kids Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,
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