Ma What's For Dinner? » tomato

Healthy Veggie Mmmmmarinara Sauce

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 11:03:21 +0000

As you’ve all heard before we are a family of dippers. I love to dip and it seems I have passed this on to my kids. My family used to laugh at me when I was a kid because at dinner time, whether at home or at a restaurant, I was always surrounded by 7 or 8 little ramekins filled with various sauces, dressings, and all sorts of yummy dippables to dunk. My boys have taken that up as well and so we’ve devised a healthy marinara sauce for them to dunk into. It’s perfect for topping your pasta, dunking bread or bread sticks, fresh veggies, or even some fried mozzarella or zucchini. Be sure to make a lot of this one, freeze it to keep on hand! You won’t believe how good this tastes with so many veggies inside

2 T Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 cloves garlic

¼ c chopped onion

¼ c chopped red pepper

¼ c chopped carrots

¼ c chopped mushrooms

1 28 oz can san marzano chopped tomato

1 ½ T dried Italian seasoning

S&P

1 box linguine, spaghetti, whatever floats your boat

In a large pot or dutch oven heat the oil over medium high heat. When the oil is hot add onion, carrots, and mushrooms. Sautee until veggies are soft and onions are translucent, about 7-9 minutes. When your veggies are soft add the garlic to your pot. Cook for 1-2 minutes stirring often. Sprinkle in S&P and your Italian seasoning. Stir. Pour in tomatoes and stir to combine. Bring your sauce up to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes then puree your sauce so it’s smooth. You can use a hand blender, a food processor, or a stand up blender.

Be sure to make this one in large quantities. You can double or triple this recipe and keep it in the fridge for up to a week or freeze it in ziploc bags so you always have a healthy marinara sauce on hand for pasta, or veggie dipping!

If you’re here from the Tuesday Follows, welcome welcome! Be sure to leave us a note to let us know you were here so we can return the favor. Now, what can I get ya to nosh on?

Mommie Cooks’s Mexicali Rice

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 11:00:30 +0000

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.

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.

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.

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.

Place 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?

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!

The Neely’s Get Your Man Chicken

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 19:25:58 +0000

Pat & Gina Neely’s Get Your Man Chicken

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
6 chicken thighs, skinless
1 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoons pepper
1 medium onion, sliced
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup white wine
1 (14.5-ounce) can crushed tomatoes in thick puree
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 tablespoon dried rosemary
1 tablespoon lemon-pepper
Hot buttered rice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

Directions

Heat the oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat.

Pat chicken dry with a paper towel and season with salt and pepper. Brown the chicken, meat-side down first, and turning once, about 4 minutes on each side. Transfer to a plate to reserve.

Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of oil from the pan.

Add onion to the pan and saute until tender, roughly 3 minutes. Add the stock and wine and stir, scrapping any brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Turn heat to high and reduce by half, about 3 minutes. Pour in the crushed tomatoes and add the dried herbs and lemon pepper. Add the chicken thighs back into the pan.Cover and cook on medium-low heat for 40 minutes.

Remove chicken from liquid and serve on hot buttered rice. Ladle the sauce on top and garnish with fresh chopped parsley.

Sausage & Turkey Pizza Pockets

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:00:55 +0000

I was inspired by fellow blogger Me, Myself, & Pie for this recipe. She made a delicious Turkey and Basil Calzone so I whipped up a different version. Thanks so much for the great idea. Go on over and tell her a big thank you too!

Turkey & Sausage Calzone

Serves: 4 Prep Time: 30 minutes Cook Time: 15 minutes

Cooking spray

1 T olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

8 oz. sliced mushrooms

1 pound ground turkey breast (original recipe called for ground chicken)

1 T tomato paste

¼ cup red wine

1 large can crushed tomato

¼ t crushed red pepper

1 t dried oregano

S&P

1 (13.8-ounce) can refrigerated pizza crust dough

½ cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese you could also use fresh mozzarella for really super gooey fillings!

¼ cup parmesan cheese for sprinkling.

½ t garlic powder

½ t S&P

Preheat oven to 425°.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil and sausage. Allow sausage to brown, about 4 minutes. Remove sausage with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add onions and mushrooms to pan. Seaon with salt and pepper. Cook until soft, about 5 min. Add garlic,s sausage and turkey to pan and sauté 5 minutes or until turkey is no longer pink, stirring to crumble. Stir in tomato paste, cook for a minute or so. Deglaze the bottom of the pan, scraping up all the good bits, with your red wine. Stir in your tomatoes and season with red pepper, oregano, and more S&P. Reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Unroll dough onto a baking sheet coated with cooking spray; cut dough into quarters. Pat each portion into an 8 x 6–inch rectangle. Divide turkey and sausage mixture evenly among rectangles; top each serving with 2 tablespoons cheese. Working with one rectangle at a time, fold dough in half over filling, pinching edges to seal. Repeat procedure with remaining rectangles. Crimp the edges with a fork. Sprinkle the tops with S&P, garlic powder, and parmesan cheese. Bake at 425° for 12 minutes or until golden.

One Pot Fish Wonder

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 21:00:26 +0000

ONE POT FISH WONDER

Serves 6 Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook time: 25 minutes

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for garnish

1/2 pound bulk Italian hot sausage

2 large cloves garlic minced

1 medium onion sliced

1 1/2 pounds baby red or Yukon gold potatoes, thinly sliced

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup dry vermouth or dry white wine

1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

4 haddock, halibut, or cod fillets

¼ cup, chopped

1/2 lemon

Heat 1 tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil, over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and crumble while browning, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, onions and potatoes to the pan with the sausage and season with S&P, to taste. Pour in half of the vermouth or wine, cover the pan with a lid and cook 10 to 12 minutes. Remove the lid, add the tomatoes and gently stir into the potatoes. Set fillets on top of the potatoes and add the remaining vermouth or wine. Season the fish with salt and pepper, to taste. Set lid in place and cook until the fish is opaque, about 6 to 8 minutes.

Top the fish with parsley, the juice of 1/2 a lemon and garnish with a liberal drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil and serve it up!

Upside Down Pizza

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:00:37 +0000

Upside Down Pizza

Serves: 4 Prep time: 10 minutes Cook time: 30 minutes

1 lb ground beef

1 c mushrooms, sliced

1 small onion, chopped

½ c red pepper, chopped

1 t dried oregano

2 clove s garlic, chopped

S&P

1 14 oz jar tomato sauce

1 ½ c shredded mozzarella cheese

1 tube refrigerated biscuits

In a large skillet brown ground beef over medium high heat. Once browned add in mushrooms, onions, red pepper, 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 biscuit tube and top cheese with biscuits. You should be able to fit 2 rows of 4 biscuits. Bake for 15-17 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown. Serve with a side salad and your kids will stand on their heads for this one time and time again.

Meaty Morsel: The beauty of the biscuit is that once again, everyone gets their own upside down pizza (always a plus with my bickering boys). But you can always top yours with refrigerated store bought pizza dough or even frozen puff pastry crust!

Muffin Man Pizzas

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:00:24 +0000

Muffin Man Pizza

Serves: 4 Prep time: 5 minutes Cook time: 10 minutes

Brady is ready to make his pizza man

4 english muffins

½ c pizza sauce

1 c shredded mozzarella cheese

cherry tomatoes, quartered

orange bell peppers, sliced thinly

mushrooms, sliced thinly

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Split muffins in half and toast very very lightly. Once toasted place cut side up on a cutting board. Spread sauce evenly over each muffin. Top all the halves with cheese to cover.

Place two slices of mushrooms close to the top of each muffin, at about 10 and 2 if it were a face clock, then move them in a bit toward center and these will be the eyes of your muffin man. Use your bell pepper to make a mouth, a tomato quarter for the nose.

Brady's tasty masterpiece

Get creative, use olives for eyeballs and green pepper slivers for eye lashes. Have fun with this, let your kids decorate it. Make a scary face, a smiley face, an animal face. Go crazy with this one. Bake your finished muffin faces for 10 minutes until your cheese is nicely melted. Serve alongside veggie crudite and enjoy!

Veal Scallopini

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 17:00:45 +0000

Serves: 4 Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook time: 40 minutes

6 veal cutlets pounded thin

½ cup flour

S&P

1 T extra virgin olive oil

1 T butter

8 oz mushrooms, sliced

2 shallots sliced

2 cloves garlic minced

¼ cup white wine

1 14 oz can chopped tomato

1 t dried oregano

1 T capers

chopped Italian parsley

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Put a large skillet over medium high heat. While the skillet gets hot, season the veal with salt and pepper then dredge it in flour. Be sure to shake off the excess flour. When the pan is hot add 1 T of olive oil. Working in batches, add three cutlets to the pan. Allow to brown on one side (about 4 minutes) then flip and allow the other side to brown. Once browned remove from pan and put them in a 13×9 baking dish. Add another T of olive oil if necessary and brown remaining cutlets.

When the second batch of cutlets are done remove them to the baking dish and set aside. Add butter to the pan and toss in your mushrooms and shallots. Cook until soft, about 8 minutes. Toss in the garlic and cook for an additional minute. Deglaze the pan with the white wine being sure to scrap up all the good browned bits on the bottom of the pan. That’s where all your flavor gets stuck. Seaon with S&P and dried oregano. Pour in your tomato and capers. Let simmer for a few minutes then pour over the top of your veal.

Transfer to the oven and allow to cook through, for 20-25 minutes. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve.

Cauliflower Gratin

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:39:06 +0000

Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook time: 20 minutes

Makes about 1 ice cube tray worth of extra for freezing

1 head of cauliflower florets

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

4 plum tomatoes diced and seeded

1/2 T unsalted butter

Steam cauliflower until soft, 15-20 minutes, so it’s extra soft for babies. While you are waiting for you cauliflower melt butter in a small sauce pan. Add tomatoes and cook over medium heat until soft, about 5 minutes. Lower the heat and add in cheese and allow to melt, stirring often.

Once the cheese and tomato mixture is well melted and combined pour over cauliflower and mix well. Transfer to a food processor and and puree to desired consistency. Freeze the leftovers in a sterilized ice cube tray to keep for future use.