Ms. Bear’s Kitchen: Summer sloppy joes!

As usual, I just couldn’t decide what I should make for Ms. Bear’s Kitchen this week. But, as always happens, it just came to me in a serendipitous way. I started thinking about it on my anniversary, which got me thinking about what my mom had made for dinner before my wedding. It was my favorite — sloppy joes! Then, I realized that I was cooking the entree for the homeless shelter on my mom’s birthday, so it all just came together. SO! I made sloppy joes in memory of my anniversary and my mom! And, even better, they turned out great! And, the people at the homeless shelter and my family had a great dinner too!

Here is what you need for this week’s dinner…

*1 pound of lean ground beef
*1 can of Manwich Bold
*1 package hamburger buns

Follow the Manwich directions and serve with potato salad, macaroni salad, baked beans and some chips. Of course, we also had our usual canned fruit compote, which we are addicted to (peaches and Mandarin oranges mixed together). Add some fresh veggies for extra health! Serve a light dessert…we each had a small piece of bakery cake.

Yee Haw…enjoy your easy and delicious barbecue!!!!

Ms. Bear’s Kitchen: DIY burrito bowl

Another two weeks have zipped by! I only have seven more school days, so I am on the countdown to summer! Summer school will seem like a breeze after this last month with the 7th graders 🙂

For today, Melissa and I are sharing a new favorite of ours: A burrito bowl. I had mentioned a couple of columns back about my “addiction” to Chipotle Burrito Bowls. The good news is I have managed to give up the chips and salsa, but I sure do like the burrito bowls! Now, here is a bit of gossip about Melissa — she is sooooo stubborn about trying new things. I have been trying to get her to try Chipotle, literally, for years! Well, since the Qdoba Mexican Grill closed here, she finally tried Chipotle, and, you guessed it, she loved it! So, we have started making our own version of the burrito bowls at home. They are healthy, cheap and fast! Here’s the recipe….remember, you can put anything you want in there! Here’s how we’ve been doing it…

*Brown Rice — on weeknights, I use the microwaveable kind
*Black beans
*Mexican-style beans
*Corn
*Spicy tomatoes
*Spicy chili starter tomato sauce
*Cut up white onion
*Cut up plum tomatoes
*Fajita-flavored chicken strips (but this time, I used spicy turkey bratwurst!)
*Tortilla chips

Then you just put what you would like, in the amounts you would like, in a bowl and heat it up!

We also had a cool and refreshing fruit medley to counteract the hot spices! That’s it…filling and delicious and it took me under 20 minutes, with lots of leftovers too! And, under $15 with leftovers!

Eso es caliente (that’s spicy!!!). Enjoy!

Ms. Bear’s Kitchen: Summer chicken pasta salad

Hello to Melissa’s blog subscribers! Here’s a funny story to start out this week’s column: About two weeks ago, I told Melissa that I was going to make something early for Ms. Bear’s Kitchen. So I did; it turned out great, and I instantly forgot about it. Today Melissa reminded me that I never wrote up this recipe and asked me to do it. Thank goodness for the iPhone, where I had my pictures because I honestly couldn’t remember what I had made!!!! The end of the school year is like a big race, and I feel I am coming in last…LOL!

Anyway, this week’s recipe is Chicken Pasta Salad! It turned out well, with two meals of leftovers!

Ingredients…

*Some type of pasta noodles
*Italian dressing
*Shredded cheese and Parmesan cheese
*Chicken (I use my standby of rotisserie chicken)
*Your choice of veggies…I used onions, tomatoes, green pepper, cucumbers olives and bacon bits

As you know, the directions to any of my recipes are very simple….just cook the noodles, add the other stuff and enjoy! I served this with a whole wheat baguette and our “famous” fruit compote — peaches and mandarins mixed together!

Any requests for my next dinner? Try it. I bet you’ll like it!!!!!

Ms. Bear’s Kitchen: Sloppy tots!

Sloppy Tots?? What the heck was that, we wondered?

We stumbled upon this week’s recipe in a flyer from our local Hy-Vee grocery store. It’s also been going kind of viral on Facebook lately, so we figured we’d better give it a try.

Here’s the actual recipe…

But I was in a hurry and modified it by using just the tater tots, onion, hamburger and a can of Manwich. I also cut the recipe way down and put it in an 8×8 pan, and we still have enough for another night!

Sloppy joes have always been a favorite of mine; in fact, we had them at lunch before my wedding. This is an interesting take on the typical sloppy joe, that’s for sure!

We had them with a salad, veggies, green beans and some mixed fruit. We also had a cookie for dessert….we had a few of my mom’s classic almond cookies left over from a dessert auction at church. She would have been so proud because two boxes of my cookies brought in $195 for our fund-raising gala at church! Fun weekend.

And of course, to complete the meal, we watched our new favorite show! Patty Hewes, anyone??

Enjoy them, but don’t be sloppy when you eat them!!!! Until next time…..

Ms. Bear’s Kitchen: Breakfast…it’s what’s for dinner!

What’s that, you say? Ms. Bear has made something she has never made before? Will wonders never cease?

Ask anyone who knows me: I have several staples that I make all the time — toast and deli meat, fruit compote, sloppy joes, pasta salad, chicken from the deli and rice and beans. Hence, when Melissa asked me to do this column, I was rather shocked. But, the good news is she has made me branch out a bit, so I don’t look incompetent with what I make!

Today’s recipe is called Farmer’s Casserole. Ironically enough, I had just taken one of those silly Facebook quizzes that Melissa and I are addicted to. The quiz was about the occupation I would have had in a previous life, and guess what? I got farmer! Right after that is when I saw the recipe, so I figured it was meant to be. And, we have been wanting to have a breakfast-for-dinner night, so here we are!!! Here’s the recipe…the only thing I changed was I used leftover spiral ham instead of ham chunks, and I added some green pepper…

*3 cups frozen hash browns
*3/4 cup shredded pepperjack cheese
*1 cup cooked ham, diced
*1/4 cup chopped green onions
*4 eggs, beaten
*1 can, 12 oz., evaporated milk
*1/4 t. pepper
*1/8 t. salt

Grease a 2 qt. baking dish. Put in the hash browns, evenly, and add the cheese, ham and green onions, and peppers if you are using them. In a medium bowl, mix the eggs, evaporated milk, pepper and salt. Pour the egg mixture over the potato mixture. You can cover and refrigerate the dish if you want for a few hours or overnight.

I just stuck it in the oven for 45 minutes….if you are baking it chilled, you bake for around an hour, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Serve with whole grain English muffins and strawberries for a nice breakfast-for-dinner treat! Yee-haw….enjoy!!!!!