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Thursday, September 11, 2014

Ms. Bear’s Kitchen: Make-your-own pizza

As the summer winds down, so are we! So, we decided to make a simple dinner the other night. We felt like pizza, but wanted something a little healthier than the store-bought or take-out kind. Melissa and I were talking about how when she was young, we would make a Chef Boyardee pizza kit. All four of us would make our own little pizza with our favorite toppings. Then we would all take our food into the living room, get comfy and watch ER, which we had taped (remember those old things called VHS tapes?!?!?) and saved for the weekend. Good times!

Here’s how we made the pizza this time. You need…

*Green pepper, onions, roma tomatoes…chop them all up
*Turkey pepperoni
*Mozzarella cheese, shredded
*Jiffy pizza crust mix
*Pizza sauce (I used the Chef Boyardee canned sauce, for old times sake!)
*Green salad ingredients and raspberries to round out the meal

All you have to do is follow the directions on the Jiffy box and assemble your pizza however you like! Enjoy! Watch an old TV show when you eat and talk about old times. You’ll be glad you did!

Ms. Bear’s Kitchen will be back around the holidays for more Blake family recipes! Thanks for reading all summer. It’s been fun!!!

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5 Comments Filed Under: comfort food, family, family photos, food, food series, holidays, motherhood, Ms. Bear's Kitchen, Ms. Bear's Kitchen series, Photographs, recipes, recipes series, summer 2014, summer pleasures, Uncategorized

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Ms. Bear’s Kitchen: Summer’s final hurrah…

Summer is winding down, school has started again and believe it or not, Labor Day is right around the corner! So, in the spirit of one last hurrah for summer, we just had a fun meal today! It was easy, quick and delicious.
We heated up some turkey smoked sausage and put it in a warm bun.

We topped it with chopped onions and tomatoes. Add some fun summer sides like corn on the cob and potato salad and enjoy a final salute to summer!!!! Enjoy!

P.S. Don’t forget to enter this year’s BIC Back-To-School giveaway — lots of great office goodies await one lucky winner!

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1 Comment Filed Under: comfort food, family, family photos, food, food series, holidays, motherhood, Ms. Bear's Kitchen, Ms. Bear's Kitchen series, Photographs, recipes, recipes series, summer 2014, summer pleasures, Uncategorized

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Ms. Bear’s Kitchen: DIY chopped salad

Hello to Melissa’s blog readers! We have a winning recipe today…we all liked it the best of anything so far! Of course, there is yet another funny story to go along with this one. Weird things are always happening to us!

I decided that I had enjoyed my NYC chopped salad so much that I would make something similar for this week’s Ms. Bear’s Kitchen. So, Janelle and I set out for our afternoon jaunt to the Y and it was a beautiful, sunny day. We came out and went to the grocery store. When we were in the store, I heard a funny sound that sounded like rain. I knew it was sunny when we went in, so, being such an optimist, I told myself that they must have turned on the fans or something. Not! I was soooo wet when I finally got in the car. After unloading all the groceries, I shook myself off and water sprayed off me into the radio. Now the radio doesn’t work!!! It was quite funny!

Anyway, here is the recipe for chopped salad!

*1 bag Romaine lettuce
*1 can corn — drained
*1 can black beans — drained
*Assorted chopped veggies…whatever you like. I used green pepper, cucumbers, onions and Roma tomatoes
*1 can rotel lime and cilantro tomatoes
*Chicken breast/cheese/olives/Parmesan

It was so easy. I just put the lettuce into a big bowl, chopped all the veggies, added the corn and beans (just add as many as you think you want) and anything else you want. I used the rotel tomatoes as my dressing…leaving the liquid on them. Spicy! Melissa just used regular dressing, as she is wimpy about spicy food (sorry, Melissa, but you know it’s true!).

Mix everything up and serve with some fruit and bread for a great dinner! And for dessert, I made a delicious lemon blueberry cake. Here’s what you’ll need…

*1/3 cup melted butter
*1 cup sugar
*3 tablespoons lemon juice
*2 eggs
*1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
*1 teaspoon baking powder
*1 teaspoon salt
*1/2 cup milk
*2 tablespoons grated lemon zest
*1/2 cup chopped walnuts optional
*1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

And to make the most delicious glaze EVER…

*2 tablespoons lemon juice
*1 tablespoon butter melted
*1 cup confectioners sugar

In a mixing bowl, beat together butter, 1 cup sugar, juice and eggs. Combine flour, baking powder and salt; stir into egg mixture alternately with milk. Fold in lemon zest, nuts, and blueberries. Pour batter into greased loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 60 to 70 minutes. Combine all ingredients mix well. Drizzle over bread.

Until next time, readers…..go do some cooking!!!!!

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4 Comments Filed Under: comfort food, family, family photos, food, food series, motherhood, Ms. Bear's Kitchen, Ms. Bear's Kitchen series, New York City, NYC, recipes, recipes series, summer 2014, Uncategorized

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Ms. Bear’s Kitchen: Red beans and rice cheesy burritos

This week’s Ms. Bear’s Kitchen coincided with our church’s night to cook for the homeless, so it worked out that I only had to think of one thing to make! I was telling Melissa that I need to branch out more and try some new recipes, but Melissa told me that part of this column should focus on not just the food, but the memories that go along with it. So, we started talking about our favorite trips and the food that goes along with them, and we both thought of New Orleans at the same time!!! We had such wonderful trips to the Big Easy and always enjoyed the food immensely. I made a weird concoction this week, but we all agreed that it was really good. I hope you enjoy it! I also have included my mother’s fruit salad recipe, which really hit the spot after the spicy red beans and rice burritos — we joked that this is a fusion meal, between the Cajun and the Mexican parts of the meal! Fusion cuisine is all the rage now, you know!

Red beans and rice cheesy burritos (weird, but true!)….be sure to crank up the Cajun or Zydeco music as you make this. We were all toe tapping as we cooked. I got so into it that I didn’t realize Janelle had helped Melissa with her bath and washed my swimsuit while I was cooking!!!! Here’s what you need to make this delicious dish…

*1 box Zatarains Red Beans and Rice
*1 can chili starter tomato sauce
*1 can chili ready tomatoes
*1 can corn
*1 package shredded cheddar cheese
*1 package Southwestern chicken pieces or smoked sausage
*Flour tortillas
*1 onion
*1 green pepper

Chop the onion and green pepper and let it simmer with the tomato sauce and drained tomatoes. Add corn too if you want. Cook the red beans and rice according to directions. When it’s done, add beans and rice to a tortilla, add the tomato/veggie mix, top with cheese and either sausage or chicken — or both! Roll up the tortillas and put them in an ovenproof dish. Cover with some of the tomato/veggie mix and top with shredded cheese. Bake at 350 degrees until bubbly and hot. These were even better the second day!

Elenore Erlandson’s Pudding/Fruit Salad — so easy and so refreshing after a spicy meal!

*1 box of Jello instant vanilla pudding (size depends on how much fruit you put in)
*1 can pineapple tidbits
*1 can sliced peaches
*2 cans Mandarin oranges
*Other fruit that you might like….grapes, strawberries, cherries, etc.

Drain and mix the fruits together. Save the juice from the Mandarin oranges! Add the dry pudding mix to the Mandarin orange juice in a covered Tupperware. Shake until thoroughly mixed. Pour over the fruit mixture and stir. Then chill until it’s cool and serve. It’s really good! For a low-calorie fruit salad, you can leave off the pudding, but you should at least try it once the way my mother used to make it!!!! Everything is better the way your mom used to make it!

If you want the full Cajun experience, you will want to eat this on a Monday because that is the official day to eat red beans and rice down in N’Orleans! And, go to Pandora and search for Zydeco music, turn it up and as the French say… “Bon Appetite!!!”

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4 Comments Filed Under: comfort food, dream vacation, family, family photos, food, food series, holidays, motherhood, Ms. Bear's Kitchen, Ms. Bear's Kitchen series, recipes, recipes series, summer 2014, summer pleasures, summer wish list, Uncategorized

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Ms. Bear’s Kitchen: Taco soup!

Hello again for another installment of Ms. Bear’s Kitchen!! As usual, I couldn’t decide what to make, so I did some browsing online and found a couple really neat new recipes. We all agreed that this may be our favorite meal yet. Plus, it was fast…after I mixed up the soup and muffins, we had time to play our nightly game of Scattergories — and, there is inevitably another funny story about Melissa to be told. So, we are playing the game and the letter was F, which means that all the answers had to start with F. So, we are all sharing all our answers and Melissa’s answers all started with G…we laughed and laughed as our dinner cooked, and a happy memory was made! And, to be honest, we made fun of her a little too!!!! But it all worked to my and Janelle’s advantage since we were able to rack up some major points without having to compete with Melissa — she usually beats both of us! It must be the writer in her!

Anyway, today’s dinner consisted of taco soup (yes, I never heard of it either!), peanut butter chocolate chip muffins (yes, those two things don’t really seem to go together, but we enjoyed them!) and a special red, white and blue fruit medley for the Fourth of July! Here’s what you need…

Taco soup — I modified it a bit, as they called for a slow cooker soup, and as usual, I didn’t have time to do it in the morning. So I just made it on the stove (this is just half the recipe, and we still got enough soup for two nights!)…

*1/2-pound hamburger, cooked
*1/2 white onion
*1 can tomatoes
*8-oz can of tomato sauce
*1 can chili beans (I used 1/2 can kidney beans and 1/2 can chili beans)
*1/2 can corn
*1/2 package taco seasoning mix
*1/2 can Rotel tomatoes with green chili (I only used a couple tablespoons because they are so spicy)
*1 cup water

Cook the hamburger and mix all the ingredients in a pan. Heat for an hour or so to make the flavors come out.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffins — Stir together 2 cups flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, 1 Tablespoon baking powder and 1 cup chocolate chips in a bowl and set aside.
Mix 1 cup milk, 2 large eggs, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 cup peanut butter, and 1/3 cup oil in a separate bowl. Combine the two bowls and mix until just moistened. Add a few chocolate chips on the top and bake for 14 minutes at 375 degrees. They are like a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup in a muffin tin!

Patriotic Fruit Cup — easy and fun! On Tuesday, we had a Fourth of July parade in summer school (that’s where the hat came from…), so the dessert just came together. Mix strawberries and blueberries in a bowl. Top with Cool Whip and enjoy! Red, white and blue, just in time for the Fourth!

And, speaking of the Fourth of July, have a happy one from all of us here at Ms. Blake’s Kitchen! Until next time…..

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1 Comment Filed Under: comfort food, family, family photos, food, food series, holidays, motherhood, Ms. Bear's Kitchen, Ms. Bear's Kitchen series, recipes, recipes series, summer 2014, summer pleasures, summer wish list, Uncategorized

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So About What I Said is a daily blog that covers relationships, disabilities, lifestyle and pop culture. I love to laugh and have been known to overshare. I also have an unabashed obsession with pop music, polo shirts, and PEZ dispensers. Read more...

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