Tasty Tidbit – Stinky Onion and Garlic Hands?

You know how your hands can be a bit ripe after chopping lots of garlic and onions?

If you have ever tried to clean them afterwards you know that it’s super hard to get them smelling fresh again.

Here is a great way to get them clean.

Run them under some cold water and rub your hands with something made out of stainless steel.

Viola, fresh as a daisy.

memoirs from mommyville cooking tips    Tasty Tidbit   Stinky Onion and Garlic Hands?

They even make soap shaped stainless steel these days!

Hmmm, maybe a good Valentine’s gift for the cook in your life?

Just saying…

Bacon, Potato, and Onion Torte

Melissa d’Arabian makes a version of this a feel good fill your belly dinner…I added a few things to her recipe, you all know about my recipe OCD and it turned out pretty lip smacking!  Give it a try.  The kids will love it!

recipes for kids side dishes dinner    Bacon, Potato, and Onion Torte

By Melissa d’Arabian with some Fitz tweaks by me

Serves: 6   Prep Time: 45 minutes  Cook time:  1 hour 10 minutes

6 strips bacon

1 medium onion, chopped  recipes for kids side dishes dinner    Bacon, Potato, and Onion Torte

3 sprigs fresh thyme

1 cup heavy cream

2 Pie Crusts, recipe follows

3 medium baking potatoes, peeled

S&P

1 cup grated Gruyere cheese

1 egg yolk, whisked with a splash of water

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

recipes for kids side dishes dinner    Bacon, Potato, and Onion TorteIn a skillet over medium heat, cook the bacon until just crispy. Drain on paper towel lined plate and set aside. Crumble the bacon when cool to the touch.  Saute chopped onion in reserved bacon drippings over medium low heat until soft, 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, heat the thyme and cream over low heat to a bare simmer. Turn off the heat and let steep for about 5 minutes. Remove the thyme sprigs.

Remove the pie pan from the refrigerator. Slice the potatoes in half lengthwise and then finely slice the potatoes. Arrange the potato slices in the pie crust, stopping to season each layer with salt, pepper, and some  of your cheese and crumbled bacon. Continue layering until the pie pan is nearly full.recipes for kids side dishes dinner    Bacon, Potato, and Onion Torte Top with a layer of the cheese and gently pour cream around and over the entire pie, allowing it to seep down between the potato slices.

Roll out the remaining disk of refrigerated dough. Cover the pie with the dough and crimp the edges closed. Brush the top and edges of the crust with egg wash. Make a few slits in the center of the top crust, for the steam to escape, and put the pie pan on a baking sheet. Bake the torte until the crust is browned and crispy and the potatoes are cooked through, about 1 hour and 10 minutes. If the crust edges get too brown, cover them with some strips of aluminum foil. Remove the pie from the oven and let rest at least 15 minutes.  Serve with a side salad.

recipes for kids side dishes dinner    Bacon, Potato, and Onion Torte

Pie Crust:

1 cup butter (2 sticks), cubed and chilled

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

8 to 10 tablespoons ice water

Put the butter, flour, and salt in the food processor, and pulse lightly just until the mixture resembles wet sand. Add the water, 1 tablespoon at a time, pulsing briefly after each spoonful of water. Keep adding water until the dough just begins to gather into larger clumps. Transfer equal amounts of the dough into 2 resealable plastic bags and pat each into a disk. recipes for kids side dishes dinner    Bacon, Potato, and Onion TorteLet rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Remove 1 of the disks from the bag to a flour coated surface. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out to a 10-inch round. Gently fit the rolled dough into a 9-inch pie pan, and refrigerate while you prepare the torte ingredients.

Zippy Zucchini

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.

vegetarian veggies vegan recipes for kids side dishes healthy eating for kids    Zippy Zucchini

1 T olive oil

2 large zucchini sliced thin

1/2 onion sliced thinvegetarian veggies vegan recipes for kids side dishes healthy eating for kids    Zippy Zucchini

2 garlic cloves, chopped fine

1 t crushed red pepper flakes

5 large basil leaves chopped

10 mint leaves chopped fine

S&P

vegetarian veggies vegan recipes for kids side dishes healthy eating for kids    Zippy ZucchiniIn 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!

Summertime Pasta

veggies recipes for kids kid favorite recipes dinner    Summertime Pasta

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.

veggies recipes for kids kid favorite recipes dinner    Summertime Pasta

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.

veggies recipes for kids kid favorite recipes dinner    Summertime PastaDrain 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

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…

recipes for kids dinner    Cowboy Up Burgers

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!

recipes for kids dinner    Cowboy Up Burgers Welcome to all the Tuesday Tag Alongs. I can’t wait to come back and visit your sites. I love making new bloggie pals. recipes for kids dinner    Cowboy Up Burgers

Supreme Upside Down Pizza

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.


veggies recipes for kids kid favorite recipes dinner    Supreme Upside Down Pizza

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.

veggies recipes for kids kid favorite recipes dinner    Supreme Upside Down PizzaPour 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.

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