Ma What's For Dinner? » garlic

MAma Mia Meatballs!!!!

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 11:00:33 +0000

I don’t know what they’re thinking as it’s blazing hot outside but the boys were dying for some meatballs!!!! Ma? Can we have meatballs? Ma? I want spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. Maaaaa????? Are we having meatballs? MAMA MIA, YES!!! For the love of all that is holy we will have some meatballs for dinner, and as you’ll see later this week for leftovers since in this heat and humidity if you put your time in slaving in front of the oven you’ve earned yourself a leftover meal! Mangia, mangia!

1 1/2 lb ground beef, veal, pork mix (also known as meatloaf mix)

3 T milk

2 cloves chopped garlic

1 small onion grated

¾ c bread crumbs

1 egg

¼ c parmesan cheese

2 T chopped italian parsley

S&P

1/4 cup olive oil

flour for sprinkling

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Set a large skillet over medium high heat. While your olive oil gets hot make your meatballs. In a large bowl combine the first 9 ingredients. With clean hands work the ingredients until they are incorporated then form into golf sized balls. Dust the meatballs with flour. Working in batches brown each meatball on all sides in your hot olive oil. Place the browned meatballs in a casserole dish and bake at 375 for 25 minutes until cooked through.

Serve with pasta and marinara sauce.

Farmer’s Market mash up

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 11:00:46 +0000

A few weeks back I told you all how I took the boys down to our fair little town’s pathetic excuse for a farmers market. Well after visiting the 3, yes just 3 tiny itty bitty, stands we went across the street to play on the river walk. But there is a silver lining. While we were there I picked up a bunch of dandelion leaves. Now I’ve never eaten dandelion leaves, let alone cooked with them, but grabbed a bunch and decided to give them a shot. I am so glad I did. Give these a go, so quick, so easy, so healthy, and soooooooo delicious!

Disclaimer…Dandelion leaves are kind of bitter, a bit like chard. The hubs and I LOVED this dish, the kids, uh well, not so much. They tried it, but my suspicion is that the dogs ended up with most of it…I’m just saying.

1 T olive oil

1 T butter

1 small white onion chopped

2 cloves garlic minced

1 zucchini sliced

1 bunch dandelion leaves chopped

1 T sherry vinegar

S&P

In a a large saute pan heat the olive oil and butter over medium high heat. When the pan is hot toss in your onions and zucchini, and season with S&P. Once your veggies have softens a bit (about 5-7 minutes) add in your garlic and continue to cook for a minute or two. Toss in your dandelion leaves and give them a toss with the veggies and oil and garlic. Cook for a few minutes and season with S&P and toss in your vinegar. Allow to cook for an additional minute or two and viola. A yummy healthy veggie dish.

Truth be told, I got distracted cooking this one because Keegan hit Brady with the Wii controller and then Brady tripped over the dog and landed on Cooper and it was a big ol’ disaster. So it got a little crispy (or overcooked) but you know what???? It was amazing that way, so go ahead and let all hell break loose in your house and you’ll end up with an amazing dish to serve to your family, and the dogs. :)

MMMashed Potatoes

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 11:00:21 +0000

We love love love our potatoes in this house. We like ‘em baked, roasted, grilled and especially mashed! I threw a bunch of stuff from the fridge together for these babies and all anyone could say was MMMMMMM. So here they are, MMMMMMahsed Potatoes!

Serves 6 Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook time: 20 minutes

1 1/2 lbs baby red potatoes

3 cloves garlic, peeled

S&P

splash of cream

1/4 cup chicken stock

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

2 T butter

Cut your potatoes into quarters and toss them in a medium sized pot with the garlic cloves. Fill with cold water. Set over high heat and bring to a boil. Once the water is boiling season the water with salt. Cook until fork tender about 8-10 minutes. Drain well and transfer to a bowl. Toss in remaining ingredients and mix with hand mixer or smash with a potato smasher. Serve with a bit of sauce from chicken marsala.

Oh oh oh, guess what? I’m guest posting today over at my girl Katie’s at Sassy Silly Spunky Momma She is just awesome and you should go on over and check her out.

Zippy Zucchini

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 11:00:21 +0000

Sometimes you just have to dress up the veggies you know what I mean? If I don’t want the kids to dunk them in ranch dressing or even worse, BBQ sauce then I have to get a bit creative. These are the best zucchini I have ever had, I mean if you don’t count when I bread ‘em and deep fry them of course…I’m just saying. Not only do they taste good they are a great way to start introducing fresh herbs to your kids.

1 T olive oil

2 large zucchini sliced thin

1/2 onion sliced thin

2 garlic cloves, chopped fine

1 t crushed red pepper flakes

5 large basil leaves chopped

10 mint leaves chopped fine

S&P

In a large skillet heat olive oil over medium high heat. When warm add zucchini. Toss to coat and sprinkle with S&P. Toss in onions and mix again. Season with red pepper and garlic. Cook until veggies begin to soften, about 5-7 minutes. Toss in your fresh herbs and allow to cook for an additional minute or so. Serve and enjoy!!!

Two side notes today. I may be slower than usual returning comments today. I’m off to see a first cut of our pilot episode of Ma, What’s For Dinner. Keep your fingers crossed it’s fantastic.

Secondly I’d like to say a huge welcome to all our new followers. I’m so glad you’re all here!

Apricot Cedar Roasted Salmon

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 11:04:06 +0000

Some of you are new here so let me just get this out in the open…I am a Food Network freak. All three of my kids grew up on it (ha, grew up like they’re 20 or something, Keegan is only 5) but they all love it too. I think that Keegan’s first word was not mama, but Rachael. It’s always on in the background and I’ve pretty much seen every episode they’ve produced in the last 5 years. That’s honestly why I don’t watch as much anymore…there are only so many times you can watch Paula make shrimp and grits.

People always ask me where I get my recipes. Many are dishes I’ve seen on the Food Network then put my own spin on. You know me, I can’t follow a recipe to save my life! I get the general gist of how something is made then I’m off and running, experimenting, tinkering, and embellishing…it’s sort of like scrapbooking, with food!

Anyway I was always curious as to what those cedar planks were all about in the grocery store and then I saw Guy Fieri whip up a salmon dish with them. This is my take on his Johnny Garlic’s cedar salmon. It’s easy, delicious, and fast. Make it for company, they’ll think you’re a 5 star chef. It’s got a big, TA-DA factor!

2 T canola oil

2 jalapenos, sliced into rings

1 onion sliced thin

1 T garlic, minced

1/2 cup tequila

1/4 cup whole-grain mustard

1 cup apricot preserves

1 lime zested

1 large cedar plank

1 large salmon fillet

S&P

Parchment paper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a small saute pan over medium heat, heat oil. When hot, add jalapenos and onions and saute until soft. Add garlic, and saute for an additional minute or so. Deglaze with tequila. Next add mustard and apricot preserves and bring to a simmer. Simmer over low heat for 20 minutes and let completely cool.

Place parchment paper on plank, add salmon, season with S&P. Heap cooled apricot mixture on top of salmon. Place cedar plank on gas burner. When plank has begun to smoke, place into preheated oven. Slide a baking sheet onto the rack below cedar plank in case the apricot mixture drips…it’s tough to clean off your oven!!

Cook salmon until medium-rare; remove from oven and let sit for 2 to 3 minutes until serving. Garnish with lime zest.

I apologize for the ugly pictures. My camera is acting up and this is the only shot that came out. Ugly plating and all…but it was still mighty tasty!

Summertime Pasta

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 11:05:20 +0000

Welcome to our kitchen! If you’re here from Follow Me Back Tuesday please come in, take a look around, leave us a comment so we know you were here! Ok, now back to our show…

I don’t know why I equate italian sausages with summer but, well, I do. It makes me think of firing up the grill, or going to a ball game, or hitting the food stands at the town fair. I love me some sausage, so does the fam, but sometimes I need to find a different way of making it then the good ol’ grilled standby.

Enter the Summertime Pasta. It’s a one dish meal and it’s so so good. I just threw a whole bunch of stuff in the fridge into the pan and viola, a delicious dinner is on the table. Enjoy.

1 lb penne pasta

1 T olive oil

1 lb bulk italian turkey sausage (hot or mild)

2 cloves garlic chopped

1 onion sliced thin

8 0z mushrooms, sliced

1/2 T red pepper flakes

1 t dried oregano

2-3 T dry vermouth (or you could use white wine)

1 cup chicken stock

S&P

parmesan cheese

1 bunch baby arugula

Set a large pot of water on to boil for your pasta. When it’s hot season the water with salt, add pasta and cook until al dente.

In a large pot heat your olive oil over medium high heat. Crumble in your sausage and cook until well browned. Once browned (about 8 minutes or so) add in your onions, mushrooms, and zucchini. Allow veggies to soften a bit, about 5 minutes then add in your garlic and cook for an additional minutes. Season with red pepper flakes, oregano, and S&P. Deglaze with vermouth and allow to cook out for a minute or so. Add in your chicken stock and bring down the heat and allow to simmer while your pasta finishes cooking.

Drain your pasta and add to the sausage sauce. Mix well and then serve on a small plate. Top with arugula and shaved parmesan cheese then sprinkle with a bit of extra virgin olive oil. Mmmm good!

Cowboy Up Burgers

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 11:00:18 +0000

Ok seriously…what is up with all the gloomy weather here in the Northeast? I feel like I haven’t seen the sun for more than a 5 minutes stint in almost 2 weeks. Where the heck did we move? Seattle? So what do I do when I get depressed and need a little summer lovin’? Crack open the coronas and fire up the grill. You all know how I love to get my burger on so I whipped up some Cowboy Burgers, or Cowboy Up Burgers as we in Red Sox Nation like to refer to them…

There are opposite sides taken in the battle of the burger wars. It’s sort of like Color War Week at camp. There are those who believe you should only gussy up what goes on top of the burger, and those who believe you should work on the actual burger itself. I’m sort of split. So for this one, I did both. I dress up the burger’s interior and toss some good stuff on top. I like it when the burger is flavored through and through, but then I felt like it looked a little naked there on the bun so I felt bad for him and slapped on some grilled onions and mushrooms….the choice is yours, but what makes this a cowboy burger is what is on the inside. Take a looksie…

2 lbs ground beef, 85/15

4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

1 jalapeno, seeded and diced

1/4 large red onion diced

2 T worcestshire sauce

1 clove garlic finely chopped

1 big T montreal steak seasoning

1/4 cup beer

3/4 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Combine all your ingredients into a large bowl. Toss to combine with your hands just enough to incorporate all the burgers. Form patties, I usually get about 6 big burgers. Sprinkle with some olive oil and grill to desired doneness. We like ‘em medium-rare to medium. The nice thing about these burgers is that the all the ingredients help to keep them nice and moist so even if you leave them on the grill a little longer they are still nice and juicy! We just had friends over to BBQ, uh in the rain mind you, and they said these were the best grilled burgers they’d ever had. Yes they are! Giddy up, Cowboys!

Welcome to all the Tuesday Tag Alongs. I can’t wait to come back and visit your sites. I love making new bloggie pals.

Let’s Celebrate – Lobster Anyone?

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 12:40:09 +0000

Did ya miss me? I missed you. But I so enjoyed showing off my girls to you. Oh that sounded a bit dirty didn’t it? I hope you guys loved reading our guest posts last week from the amazing Julie at Mommie Cooks, the divine Ms. Anne at Annie Bakes, and the one and only, Shell, at Things I Cant Say. Thanks a bunch for helping me out gals. I loved reading your posts. Ok, ok, so I’m sure you’re wondering how it went…

It was great fun! Totally overwhelming and exhilarating, exciting and exhausting, intimidating and intriguing. We all had a blast and I learned a ton. I’m so glad to be home and can’t wait to do it again. Keep your fingers crossed, I’ve got pretty much everything crossed, and I’ll keep you posted on when and where you’ll be able to check us out. For now I can tell you that we shot 4 segments comprised of 6 recipes for a half hour show. 4 recipes from our cookbook and 2 new ones. It was crazy, and I loved every second…stay tuned!

So we got back home to a beautiful weekend and I felt like celebrating! What do you do in New England on a gorgeous weekend when you want to celebrate? Buy a lobstah! Uh, that’s lobster for those of you who don’t speak New Englandese. The boys and I piled into the car, went on down to the fish mahket, uh market, and picked out some good ones. They were on sale to boot! Bonus!

Now here’s a tip for ya, don’t let your kids name their lobsters. The one phrase that I remember my mom saying over and over when I was a kid was, “Ah, ah, ah, there’s going to be tears…” Now granted that usually proceeded my brother landing a round house kick upside my head, but pretty much, she was always right on! Anyway, that was was playing through my head as the boys named their new pals and they went to the pot. Mom was right, there is definitely going to be tears…

4 1 – 1 1/2 lb lobsters

1 T butter

8 small red potatoes

2 onions quartered

4 garlic cloves

2 sprigs fresh thyme

S&P

8 cups water

1 stick butter, melted

In a large lobstah pot, heat butter over medium high heat. Toss in onion, garlic, potatoes, and season with S&P. Toss in your thyme sprigs and let everything soften a bit, about 4 minutes or so. Pour in some water and bring to a boil. When the water is boiling toss in your lobsters and cover. Cook 8 minutes. Remove lobsters from water and serve with drawn butter, a bib, and plenty of napkins!!!

Stay tuned tomorrow when I make the leftovers into lobster salad!

Italian Shepherd’s Pie aka Pastore Pasticcio

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Fri, 28 May 2010 11:40:39 +0000

I can’t believe it! What a great day! I’ve been tickled!

Holly over there at 504 Main has chosen me for the amazing honor to kick off her awesome Tickled Pink!

I’m thrilled, I’m touched, I’m quite simply…

TICKLED PINK!

Thanks, Holly I love ya girl.

You’ve got to to check out her blog, she rocks!

So this is a recipe that tickles me, you’ve seen it before, but it’s a winner….

If you’ve been following along you know that I am a sucker for a good shepherd’s pie, or cottage pie as my mum (you know she’s a Brit right?) would insist as it’s only a shepherd’s pie if it’s ground lamb, yadda yadda yadda. Anyway, I’m flipping through this magazine that someone left at my house, it had food on the cover so you know I’m gonna read it, and this guy had made an italian sausage version of one of my fave pies. Well his was sort of boring so I took it on, embellished it a bit and came up with this all new amazing dish! You’re going to love it.

Serves: 8 Prep Time: 20 minutes Bake time: 1 hour 20 minutes

1 unbaked store bought pie crust

1 lb bulk italian sausage

1/2 lb ground beef

1 onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, diced

1 8 oz can tomato sauce

1 T worcestshire sauce

2 cups leftover mashed potatoes

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup cottage cheese

1/2 cup cream cheese

2 T melted butter

1/4 cup sour cream

1 T dried oregano, divided

1/2 t dried parsley

1/2 t dried basil

1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese

1/2 t garlic powder

S&P

1 cup shredded cheddar and mozzarella cheese combined

cherry tomatoes, halved

1/2 cup fresh basil, shredded

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Lay the pie crust into a pie plate and cover with heavy duty tin foil. Bake at 450 for 7 minutes. Remove from oven, remove foil and set aside. Reduce the oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium skillet, brown the sausage and beef over medium high heat. When browned, add in your onions, garlic, and 1/2 T oregano. Allow the onions to soften, about 5-7 minutes. Stir in worcestshire sauce, tomato sauce, and season with S&P. Allow to simmer on low while you prepare the potatoes.

In a large bowl combine potato with egg, cream cheese, cottage cheese, melted butter, sour cream, oregano, parsley, basil, garlic powder, and parmesan cheese. Season with S&P.

Transfer the sausage mixture into the bottom of the pie crust. Top with potato mixture. Bake at 375 for 50 minutes. Remove and sprinkle with cheese and return to oven for 10 minutes. Remove from oven. Arrange tomatoes around the sides of the pie and add basil to the middle. Serve with salad. It’s amazing.

I saw a version of this in a magazine and thought, what a great idea. I embellished it a bit and came up with this amazing dish! You’re going to love it!

Supreme Upside Down Pizza

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 16:13:55 +0000

In the mood for something quick hearty and satisfying? Put down that phone and save yourself the delivery charge…no, I’m not talking DiGiorno, I’m talking about a homemade delight that will have your kids (and you) jumping for joy.

Serves: 6-8 Prep time: 10 minutes Cook time: 30 minutes

1 lb ground beef

3/4 bulk italian sausage

1 c mushrooms, sliced

1 small onion, chopped

1 t dried oregano

2 cloves garlic, chopped

S&P

1 28 oz can chopped tomatoes

1 8 0z can tomato sauce

1 ½ c shredded mozzarella cheese

1 tube refrigerated pizza dough

1 8 oz container fresh mozzarella cheese

In a large skillet brown ground beef and sausage over medium high heat. Once browned add in mushrooms, onions, and garlic. Season with oregano and S&P and stir to combine. Cook for 5 minutes or until veggie start to soften. Stir in tomato sauce. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a low simmer. Cover and let cook for 10 minutes on low heat.

Pour meat mixture into a 13×9 baking dish. Top with shredded cheese. Open up pizza dough tube, unroll and top cheese with it. Bake for 15-17 minutes. Top with dollops of fresh mozzarella and bake for an additional 5 minutes or until cheese is melted. Serve with a side salad and your kids will stand on their heads for this one time and time again.