Oh yes, another two weeks has gone by again — and very quickly! I couldn’t decide what recipe to do for the blog this time, and then it hit me! I was making green bean casserole for 40 people at the local homeless shelter, so I decided to just remind all you readers that green bean casserole does not have to be for holidays only! So, here it is….easy as pie, which you could always serve with it…lol!

Now, as you can see, I used the big, big cans of green beans. You wouldn’t want to use that big of a can at home, of course! So, just gather a couple cans of green beans. I use Del Monte, but you can use frozen too if you would rather. Get a couple cans of cream of mushroom soup (one if you don’t have a lot of beans, and two if you are going bigger). Mix the beans, condensed soup, some pepper and some milk into a pan that can go in the oven. You don’t want to add too much milk, not the whole can like you would do if you were making soup…maybe just 1/2 of it. Add some french fried onions to this mix and mix in gently. Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes until hot and bubbly, and then add some more french fried onions on the top and cook for another five minutes. Enjoy!

We also had meat loaf and mashed potatoes for dinner that night. Because, really, what goes better with green bean casserole than meat loaf and mashed potatoes? We think Elvis highly approve.

I know that the above recipe is not all that precise, but it’s easy to make and you can do it however it looks good to you! We really enjoyed having it outside the normal holiday time. I think the people at Hope Haven, our homeless shelter, enjoyed it too. Hope Haven was one of the places where Brian, my husband, loved to volunteer. After he died, a man came to church and said that he had spent some time living in the shelter. He said that Brian was a special man because most people just served the food, but Brian sat down and ate with the residents and talked to them. No wonder that man never got home from there until 10 at night! That made me so proud of him!

As I told you before, I am not all that great a cook. If you have any dishes you would like me to “attempt” for this feature, let Melissa know, and I can give it the old college (or cooking school!) try. That would be fun! See you next time in Ms. Bear’s Kitchen!

Two whole weeks have gone by since my last cooking blog post. I think Melissa thinks a bit too highly of my cooking skills (editor’s note: Don’t listen to her — she doesn’t know what she’s talking about!), but she insisted, so here goes…

Lina’s Noodle Bake

After my husband died in 2003, I was unable to eat anything for several days. On the third day, my good friend, Lina, brought me this casserole. To this day, I remember my sense of smell and taste returning as she walked it past me to the kitchen. I ate 2 really big servings! It was truly like water for someone in the desert, and I have never forgotten the meal or the kindness that went along with it! So, here’s the recipe…

*1 pound ground beef, lean.
*1 large jar pasta sauce.
*1 can diced tomatoes.
*1 green pepper, chopped.
*1 white onion, chopped.
*1 bag egg noodles (or, whatever kind of noodles you prefer).
*1 bag of shredded sharp cheddar cheese.

Brown the ground beef and add it, plus vegetables, to the sauce. Cook for awhile to soften up the veggies. Prepare the noodles according to the directions. I never cook them too soft if I am putting the casserole in the oven.

Drain the noodles. Put a little sauce in the bottom of a baking dish (if you use the whole bag of noodles, it should make a 9×13 pan, but I used an 8×8 and then made one even smaller Pyrex dish of the casserole, which I froze for another time).

Put a layer of noodles, a layer of sauce and a layer of cheese in. Repeat until you run out of ingredients (I got three layers in mine).

Bake in a 350-degree oven until hot and bubbly.I usually serve it with french bread, applesauce and green beans, but you can have whatever you prefer.

Well, that’s the recipe for this week. Hope you like it!