UltimateMama and her girls can’t resist thinking back to their trip to Spain a few years ago and longing for the excitement of Barcelona.  Since flying to Europe was out of the question last weekend, UltimateMama decided to do the next best thing–make paella with her girls for Friday night dinner. Using a brilliant Matiz paella rice recipe, the girls made an out of this world seafood paella! The one catch–make sure you have saffron on hand–expensive but worth it.

Matiz Seafood Paella recipe:

Heat 8 cups of fish or chicken broth with 1 teaspoon of saffron (we used a bit more) in a pot.  In a separate (very) large pan, heat 1/2 cup of olive oil over medium heat.  Add 1-2 medium sized diced onions to the oil and fry until translucent (6 minutes, approximately). Add 1 chopped red bell pepper and 1 chopped orange-yellow bell pepper and cook for about 5 minutes. Add 16 oz diced artichokes (canned), 28 oz diced tomatoes (canned), and 4 cloves of diced garlic — simmer for 5 minutes.  Pour in 4 cups of Matiz Paella rice and stir until the rice is fully covered with the sofrito tomato mixture.

Carefully add the broth to the paella. Gently move the rice mixture around until evenly distributed. Do not “stir” the rice after this part.

After 10 minutes place your fresh seafood (white fish, uncooked shrimp without the shells, mussels, clams, etc.) into the mixture one by one and evenly distribute the seafood. After about 10 minutes add piquillo pepper to garnish and add color. In another 15 minutes or so the water should be completely absorbed and you can remove from heat. Cover with foil and let sit for 10 minutes before serving. You can serve it directly from the pan (add wedges of lemon or lime if you want to impress).

UltimateMama loves quick and easy dinner choices for kids on busy nights. Rather than ordering take out or grabbing fast food, UltimateMama prefers to do a little pre-planning at the beginning of the week to ensure the appropriate groceries are purchased and ready in a pinch!

UltimateMama’s girls are big fans of grilled sourdough cheese sandwiches with pre-made tomato basil soup.  An ideal meal for any time of year.  For an extra protein kick just add ham or honey turkey to the sandwiches.  Add some carrot sticks, sliced cucumbers or tomatoes, and red grapes to complete your quick and easy meal. All you need is the following:

-Sourdough bread (Bread Alone for example)

-Medium cheddar cheese (buy pre-sliced for convenience)

-Butter (for stovetop grilling)

-Your favorite soup (like Tomato Basil)

UltimateMama’s two little ones surprised her with a clever breakfast in bed funny face that put a smile on her face! Their secret ingredients:

-turkey bacon hair

-blueberry and strawberry eyes

-corn muffin nose

-scrambled egg mouth

Delicious and nutritious!

UltimateMama and her family have lots of visitors all summer long.  As hosts it is always the goal to make a great impression, however, we all want to enjoy the day too!  A quick and easy dessert that looks fancy but takes no time at all is the classic sundae. Sundaes look a bit more decadent compared to ice cream cones but basically have all the components.  Best of all, they can be made ahead of time and stored in your freezer.  Here’s what you need:

Waffle Bowls (Joy makes good ones)

Sprinkles (Betty Crocker never disappoints)

Chocolate Sauce (love anything by Ghiradelli)

Ice Cream (Breyers is consistently good)

For those who don’t want to waffle bowl experience UltimateMama and her girls love making sundaes in depression glass sherbet desert bowls (blue bowls are our favorite color for summer fun)!

UltimateMama’s children get tempted each and every time they walk past a donut shop.  The smell of the sweet, greasy treat just fills their hearts with joy.  Not wanting them to miss out, UltimateMama purchased the Babycakes nonstick coated donut maker and the kids have been creating all sorts of sweet and somewhat healthy, not fried donut varieties.

Many donut recipes can be found online or in cookbooks, however, UltimateMama has cut down on time by using pancake mix, waffle mix, muffin mix, cake mix, and even splurged recently with a mix from Sur La Table.

UltimateMama’s children created an incredibly easy and delicious dessert this weekend using 3 ingredients:  marshmallows, one chocolate bar (milk or dark), colored sprinkles!  To do:

Melt the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl in 10 second intervals

Put sprinkles in a shallow dish

Take a marshmallow and dip it in the melted chocolate then quickly dip it in the sprinkles.

Set on a plate and enjoy!

UltimateMama relaxes by teaching her children to cook.  A simple, easy, yummy, and favorite recipe makes for a fun afternoon.  These zucchini lemon muffins are great on their own or can be turned into dessert muffins by adding chocolate chips or broken pieces of a chocolate bar.  With or without the chocolate, UltimateMama’s kids could not believe a whole zucchini was in the muffins!

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup shredded zucchini (in food processor–can even be in puree format)

1 egg

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tsp lemon juice

Optional

1/4 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips or chunks if you want to make a “sweeter” version of this recipe.

To do:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. This recipe makes 12 muffins to line your muffin pan with a dozen paper baking cups.

In a large bowl use a wooden spoon to mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda.

In a small bowl use a wooden spoon to mix the zucchini, egg, olive oil, and lemon juice.

Add the ingredients from the small bowl to the larger bowl and stir.

Fill the 12 baking cups equally and bake for approximately 20 minutes (give or take depending on your oven).

Test doneness with a toothpick.

Remove from oven.

Cool or eat a bit warm!

UltimateMama and her kids had a fun time berry picking at 7 Ponds Farm in Water Mill, NY last week!  With so many berries we brainstormed recipe ideas but ultimately came up with one of our own.  A quick and easy Three Berry Pie that pleases everyone – recipe as follows:

2 Deep dish pie shells (approximately 9 inches each)

For the filling:

2 Cups of blueberries

2 Cups of blackberries

2 Cups of raspberries

2/3 Cups of sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla

3 Tablespoons cornstarch

For the topping:

1 Cup brown sugar

1/2 Cup of white flour

1 Cup of oats (we used old fashioned oatmeal)

1/2 cup melted, unsalted butter

Instructions

Preheat oven to 370

Use a big mixing bowl and a wooden spoon and mix all the topping ingredients together.

On the stove top in a medium to large pot cook all the filling ingredients on medium heat.

Pour filling into the 2 pie crusts.

Use a wooden spoon and gently put the topping on top of the filling in the pies.

Bake in the oven on the middle rack for approximately 35 minutes.

Cool or serve warm.

Store in refrigerator.

UltimateMama and her children love making Ultimate Star Scones!  It is a quick and easy way to incorporate MATH (measuring) skills into your daily routine — not to mention fun and delicious.  It is as easy as this:

Ingredients

2 cups of all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon of baking powder

2 teaspoons of granulated pure cane sugar (plus another teaspoon for the topping)

3/4 cup of dried raspberries

1 cup of heavy cream (plus another teaspoon for topping)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and sugar (2 teaspoons).

Next, add the dried raspberries.

Then, add the heavy cream (1 cup).

Form the dough into a large ball with your hands.

Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface (use a rolling pin).  Dough should be about 3/4 inch thick.

Using a star shaped cookie cutter (or any other shape you fancy) cut the shapes in dough and place them on an ungreased cookie sheet.

When you have used all the dough up it is time for the topping.

For the topping use a pastry brush and paint the tops of the star shaped scones with the heavy cream.  Use your fingers and sprinkle sugar on top of each scone.

Put the stars in the oven to bake (about 8-11 minutes).

Serve warm (or at room temperature) either plain, with raspberry jam, or whipped cream.

Enjoy!

Depending on the size of your cookie cutter it makes around 10-12 scones.

UltimateMama is known for her big weekend breakfasts.  Many times the meals consist of eggs (various styles), turkey bacon (or chicken sausage), and pancakes.  While UltimateMama loves making meals from scratch, sometimes, due to timing, she needs to take a few shortcuts on the pancake front and calls Williams-Sonoma to the rescue.  The pancake or waffle mixes at Williams-Sonoma can be pricey at approximately $11 per tin(1 lb 8 oz), however, post holidays many of these mixes are 50% off (watch the expiration dates).

This weekend UltimateMama tried the Williams-Sonoma Spiced Pecan Pancake & Waffle Mix and it received rave reviews.  Purchased in early-January for $4.99 it was definitely a fine after holiday treat for all.