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Superbowl Countdown – Fitzpatrick Irish Nachos

January 28, 2011 By Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner 26 Comments

How do you make nachos Fitz style?

With potatoes of course!

appetizers Superbowl Countdown Fitzpatrick Irish Nachos

2 russet potatoes, washed and dried

1/2 T olive oil

S&P

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 lb bacon bits, cooked and drained on paper towels

scallions, chopped

jalapenos, sliced (optional)

sour cream

I like to think of this as a healthier version of potato skins, since you bake them and not fry them, but round these parts we just like to call them good!  Here’s how you make Fitzpatrick Irish Nachos….

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Slice your potatoes into either round disks or long planks depending on what your favorite shape is.  Just make sure the slices are about 1/4-1/2 an inch thick.

Put the slices on a sheet pan and douse with olive oil, and S&P.  Mix with your hands to coat well.

Bake for 25 minutes.

Remove from oven and top with shredded cheese.

Bake for an additional 3-5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Top with bacon, scallions, jalapenos, and sour cream.

Enjoy at kick off!

appetizers Superbowl Countdown Fitzpatrick Irish Nachos

These are soooo easy and sooo good!

Filed Under: Appetizer Recipes For Kids, Featured, Healthy Side Dish Recipes For Kids, Kid Favorite Recipes, Snacks Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Very Good Tomatoes

October 8, 2010 By Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner 24 Comments

If you haven’t noticed yet, my boys LOVE tomatoes.

Let me rephrase that…

THEY LOVE TOMATOES.

And sadly they all have sensitive skin so lots and lots of tomato in any fashion be it raw, sliced, sauce, etc. cause their little faces to get all kinds of red.

Don’t even ask what it did to their diapers.

Anyway, back to something more appetizing.

I got a recipe in my inbox from Allrecipes and it was for something I had never heard of…

Vera Cruz Tomatoes

So I made my own OCD version and now I call ‘em…

Very Good Tomatoes

appetizers Very Good Tomatoes

Check ‘em out…

4 large beefsteak tomatoes
4 slices thick cut bacon diced
1 small onion diced
2 cloves garlic chopped
2 cups baby spinach
4 ounces softened cream cheese
1/2 cup shredded pepper jack
4 dashes hot sauce
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
S&P

appetizers Very Good TomatoesPreheat your oven to 375 degrees. Cut the tops off the tomatoes and scoop out the insides leaving a nice sturdy cup for you filling. Place the tomato shells into a greased baking dish. Set aside.

In a medium skillet cook bacon until crispy. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Pour off all but 1 1/2 T of the bacon fat. Add in your onions and cook until soft, about 8 minutes. Toss in your garlic and cook for an additional minute. Toss in your spinach and cook until slightly wilted. Remove from heat. Stir in you cream cheese, jack cheese, hot sauce and season with S&P. Stir. Scoop into tomato shells. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes. Take out of oven and top with cheddar cheese. Return to oven for an additional 5 minutes.

Delish!

And don’t forget, whenever possible…

BUY LOCAL!appetizers Very Good Tomatoes

Filed Under: Appetizer Recipes For Kids, Fruit Recipes For Kids, Healthy Side Dish Recipes For Kids, Recipes For Kids, Vegetable Recipes For Kids Tagged With: , , , , ,

Our New York Minutes

September 20, 2010 By Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner 11 Comments

If you Don’t live in the New York area don’t fret…you can still check us out on New York Nonstop’s Moms and the City and a Dad named David.

Check out our NY debut here…

View more news videos at: http://www.nbcnewyork.com/video.

Stay tuned tomorrow for the Connecticut Style piece.

Filed Under: Ma's Memoirs, Mommyville, Press Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Cheesy Macaroni Surprise

August 27, 2010 By Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner 23 Comments

dinner Cheesy Macaroni Surprise

Yes I’ve been on a casserole kick.

I can’t help it.

I just love the fact that they can be made in advance!

And with school starting and activities heating up I just like to know that a yummy dinner the boys will like can get on the table fast.

There is nothing not to like in this dish.

I toss in some protein and veggies to make it a complete meal in one.

Not to mention the fact the boys like all the stirring help they get to do.

Now let’s get to the good stuff!!

Cheesy Macaroni Surprise

Serves: 8  Prep Time:  10 minutes  Cook time: 35 minutes

1 lb wagon wheel pasta

3 T  butter unsalted

3 T all purpose flour

3 cups whole milk

1/2  t fresh grated nutmeg

2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1 cup shredded swiss cheese

1/2 kielbasa link, diced

1 10 oz box frozen peas

S&P

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Set a large pot of water over high heat to boil.  In a large saucepan melt butter over medium high heat.  Whisk in flour and cook for 1 minute.  dinner Cheesy Macaroni SurpriseSlowly whisk in milk, and bring to a gentle boil, stirring constantly.  Once the milk has thickened add in nutmeg and season with S&P.  Reduce to medium low heat and melt in cheddar and swiss cheeses.  Allow to cook on low for a few minutes.

When water is boiling season water with salt and add pasta.  Note package cooking time and reduce by 2 minutes, the macaroni will continue cooking in the oven later.  Once pasta is cooked, drain and return to pot.

Add your peas and sliced kielbasa to your cheese sauce and pour over the pasta.  Mix well.  dinner Cheesy Macaroni SurpriseTransfer to a greased 13×9 baking  dish and top with additional cheese if desired.  Bake in a 375 degree oven for 30 minutes.

dinner Cheesy Macaroni Surprise

dinner Cheesy Macaroni Surprise

dinner Cheesy Macaroni Surprise

dinner Cheesy Macaroni Surprise

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

Stick to your ribs Steak Tacos

August 6, 2010 By Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner 27 Comments

Last weekend we had some of my old college girlfriends up with their families for a BBQ.

It was the first time we had gotten our families together.

I can’t believe that between us we have 9 kids.

Oh, how times have changed!

Instead of planning after hours parties and heading to the cafeteria to eat away a hangover…

We were discussing what kind of bottles we thought worked best and how many soccer practices a week a 5 year old should have.

Oh how the mighty have fallen…

Well, before the party the hubs freaked out and didn’t think we had enough food.

Really, honey?

Have you met me?

Of course we have enough food.

Yet, off he went to the store to purchase more and he came home with meat…lots and lots of meat.  Needless to say I have about 7 extra steaks in the fridge to use up this week.  Get ready for some steak leftover recipes guys!  Grill a lot of it this weekend…you’ll be glad you did.

dinner Stick to your ribs Steak Tacos

Serves 4  Prep Time: 1o minutes  Cook Time:  15 minutes

1 T canola oil

2 large leftover steaks (you know the one your hubs thought you needed)  If you are a vegetarian you could use portobello mushrooms instead

1 large onion, sliced

1 red pepper, sliced

1 yellow pepper, sliced

1 t garlic powder

1/2 t dried oregano

1/2 T ground cumin

1/2 T ground corriander

1/2 T chili powder

1/2 cayenne pepper

S&P

tortillas

shredded cheese

guacamole

sour cream

hot sauce, this is optional, but I like it spicy!

dinner Stick to your ribs Steak TacosIn a large cast iron skillet heat your oil over medium high heat.  When the oil is hot add your onion and peppers.  Saute for about 5 minutes until they are softened, season with S&P.  Toss in your leftover steak and season with the remaining spices and additional S&P.  Cook until heated through, about another 5 minutes.

Build your taco by laying your steak taco mixture in the middle of your tortilla.  Top with cheese, sour cream, quacamole, and hot sauce.  Need some good guacamole recipes?  Here are two of my favorites…

Tyler Florence’s Guacamoledinner Stick to your ribs Steak Tacos

Barefoot Contessa’s Guacamole

My guacamole is kind of a combo of these.  I’ve made a lot of guac in my day and I’d swear by these two.  YUMMY!!!

dinner Stick to your ribs Steak Tacos

Happy Friday Follow all! Please leave me a note to say you were here and I’ll get ya back over the weekend!

dinner Stick to your ribs Steak Tacos

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

Mommie Cooks’s Mexicali Rice

July 2, 2010 By Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner 29 Comments
TGIF!  I can’t believe it’s Friday already and you may have arrived here via the Friday follows.  Welcome welcome, come on in, get comfy.  I hope you have a little looksie and be sure to let me know you were here so I can come back and return the love.

side dishes Mommie Cooks’s Mexicali Rice

side dishes Mommie Cooks’s Mexicali Rice

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, it’s my guest post part deux over at Mommie Cooks.  Today I’m slinging some drinks old school style perfect for your Friday afternoon cocktails.   Go over and visit Julie’s blog for my refreshing little pick me up.

side dishes Mommie Cooks’s Mexicali Rice

Once again, in honor of my girl Julie, I’m showing the love by sharing with you a fantastic side dish to go along with the chicken we served up yesterday.  She calls this Mexicali Rice, I call it delicious.
side dishes Mommie Cooks’s Mexicali Rice
1 Cup of Jasmine Rice
2 Cups of Chicken/Veggie Broth
1/2 Cup of Evaporated Milk
1/4 Cup of Sour Cream
1 Cup of Corn
1 Small Handful of Cilantro, Chopped
2 Adobo Peppers, Chopped
1 7 Oz. Can of Diced Green Chiles
1 Cup of Diced Tomatoes
1/2 Cup of Shredded Cheddar Cheese
1/2 tsp of Chili Powder
1/2 tsp of Cumin
S&P
1 lime, zested and juiced

Once again, anything I added is in italics…I have recipe OCD.

side dishes Mommie Cooks’s Mexicali RicePlace your broth in a pot on the stove and get it boiling.  Add in your jasmine rice, turn it down to low, cover it up and let it cook for 20 minutes or until cooked through.  Now add in your chopped green chiles, corn, and cilantro.  Stir it up and then add in your sour cream, milk and cheese.  Mix it up well and let your cheese take a few minutes to melt.   Now stir in your adobo peppers and spices; the cumin and chili powder.  Stir it up good.  Finally, add in your diced tomatoes and give it a minute to heat up.  Season with S&P, lime zest and lime juice.

FYI – My hubs is one of those people out there who HATES cilantro, I apologize to all the cilantro growers out there.  He freaks out if it’s in anything and can spot it from miles away, so I just substitute parsley for his and all the more cilantro for the rest of us.  Apparantly though it’s true, there is a large number of the population that hate it because it tastes like soap to them.  I saw that on Oprah or something.  And that is hysterical because that is what he always told me.  I tell him he’s ridiculous and that it tastes nothing like soap.  He claims that I clearly never talked back to my Momma and never had to have the Ivory Sandwich.  Not this girl…can you hand me back that halo please????
What about you?  Do you have strong cilantro feelings?

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