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 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 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.