About This Episode

It’s our very first cooking episode! That’s right we’re diving in and cooking on the set of Mommy In Chief  to celebrate Moms on Mother’s Day. Instead of taking Mom out to a fancy restaurant this Mother’s Day, we’re demonstrating how to prepare a tasty brunch for her right at home. Chef Mark McLean of Remarkable Cuisine  is showing us all how to make Cereal Crusted French Toast. 

About Chef Mark McLean

Mark McLean is a personal chef and owner of Remarkable Cuisine, LLC.  Remarkable Cuisine is the culmination of Chef Marks 4 years of private chef services and experience in catering over 200  events. Through Remarkable Cuisine, Chef Mark displays his skill set and passion in the kitchen.  ”I am not here to present a standard or ordinary fare that is “good” or a “decent option”. I attack an ingredient, menu, and dish like the rest of things in my life — with a strong knowledge base and hard work that will make that dish shine,” as quoted by Chef Mark on his company’s website.  Chef Mark is committed to creating a unique and tasty experience in all his dishes, so you’re definitely in for a treat with his Cereal Crusted French Toast.

Cereal Crusted French Toast With Berry Compote

Ingredients:

1 Loaf French bread

3 cups cereal, crushed fine

3 dashes cinnamon

3 cups raspberries (or another berry) fresh or frozen

1 cup sugar

2 tbsp. butter

2 eggs

1 cup cream (light if available)

2 cups milk

2 cups water

1 teaspoon lemon juice

4 tbsp. vegetable oil

Berry Compote

In a medium saucepan, add half the water and bring to a boil. Stir in the raspberries and sugar and reduce heat. Simmer until berries break and release their juices, about 7 minutes or so. Taste. Stir in lemon juice and remove from heat, taste again and cover to keep warm.

French Toast
In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs, and add the cream and milk. Mix well, and then sprinkle in the cinnamon.  Add egg/cream mixture to a shallow dish. In another shallow dish, add the ground cereal. Slice load bread on a bias in half inch to inch pieces.

Let’s cook:
Place a sauté pan over medium heat. Add half tbsp. butter and a tbsp. of oil.

Place a slice of bread in the egg mixture, saturating both sides, then in the ground cereal, then to the pan.
Repeat with another piece, but be careful not to crowd the pan. Cook on one side until golden brown,
about 3 minutes, then flip and repeat with the other side. Remove from pan to paper towel lined plate and
place in oven on warm until remaining pieces are finished.

Serve French toast with berry compote drizzled on top and whip cream. Take a picture and enjoy.

About Karyn Parsons

source: shutterstock

There will always be debates on how to show a man you’re worthy of him keeping you around by doing certain things. I’m not too sure what works and what doesn’t work in terms of making a man stick around and showing him you’re not just wifey material but should be his wife. What I do know is,  you should’t knock it until you try it and do what you feel is appropriate because every man– and woman — is different. Check out some of the most notable “make him keep you” advice around. What’s worked for you and what hasn’t?

Shutterstock

Unless it’s a liquid, 3 oz. or 2 tsp. of anything is impossible to measure. You almost feel offended when you’re reading a cookbook and you’re told to put 2 cups of raw spaghetti in the pot. As if you’re supposed to know what that looks like without sticking that spaghetti in a blender first! Here are tangible, visual ways to understand common cooking measurements.

A man and woman are sitting to dinner on their first date. He’s chosen a gorgeous restaurant and has an amazing smile. She looks absolutely fly in her new little black dress and he’s told her so once or twice already. SCORE! Flirtatious small talk has ranged from his athleticism to her impossibly deep dimples. Surface stuff? Yes. But it’s setting a cool, comfortable atmosphere and both parties are feeling each other.

Then comes the “Kiss of Death” question which SHOULD allow both people to assess where the friendship/relationship has the potential to go (or not) but more often than not it leads to even thicker masks being painted on.

“So… what do you look for/like in a man/woman?”

Time after time this one seemingly harmless question changes a person’s demeanor and behavior unbeknownst to them.

He says he enjoys women who have a good head on their shoulders, give great conversation, have eclectic taste in music, work out and are into football. As he speaks she’s working her way down her self-check list, mentally checking things off with a smile until the “works out” and “is into football” leaves his lips.

What the what? She’s naturally petite, doesn’t do much more than Pilates and rarely watches football, aside from movies that have something to do with the sport. She hates football. But she doesn’t want to lose this awesome guy. Quick! What does she say?

“I’m really getting into football lately! Go Steelers!” Then she pulls any and every football tidbit she’s ever heard her brothers talk about and tries to arrange them all in a semi-literate way, praying he doesn’t ask too many questions until she can get home and Google everything she can on the sport.

Or the other way around, he asks what she looks for in a man and she gushes about men who enjoy traveling and know their way around the kitchen. He freaks. What can he cook? A bowl of cereal. But what does he say, mesmerized by the gorgeous smile of this woman sitting before him?

“Yeah, I enjoy watching the Food Network to get ideas for new recipes.”

“Oh, you cook?” She asks him with eyes bright.

“I’m somethin’ like a black Emeril Lagasse,” he brags, as he frantically makes a mental note to ask his sister for cooking advice.

We have all done it at some point. So focused on maintaining the interest of the person in front of us that we throw complete honesty out the window. We want to impress. We want to be wanted because, well, we want them; Feigning interest in things we could really care less about and pretending to be pros with things we are total failures at or have never even tried. Then, IF a relationship materializes, we wonder why things start to unravel sooner than later.

I don’t suggest baring your soul from the first conversation, but it is important to remember who you are and to be honest about it from the jump. We forget that some aspects of what we find attractive in others often morph and grow and change as we grow and experience life.

You would be surprised at how often my open disdain for things has created a larger air of interest on behalf of the guy. Instead of shying away because we didn’t share one or two of the same interests, it was now his opportunity to teach me something which could turn itself into a successful second or third date, and who knows after that?

Nowadays I try to avoid asking such a cornered question as “What do you like in a man/woman?” Instead, I just engage. I engage in conversation about any range of topics. I engage in small silly behaviors like singing off-key to a favorite song. I engage in being me in front of him and honestly, even if a relationship never materializes, more often than not, I’ve had some great dates and secured awesome friends. I would rather be my random self than to try to stuff myself into an uncomfortable mold. Because, let’s be honest, many men have no real clue what they “like” until they meet her. Forget what he “likes.” Be you. Whether a relationship materializes or not, he’ll respect it and you’ll know that you’re being appreciated for what YOU actually bring to the table.

La Truly is a late-blooming Aries whose writing is powered by a lifetime of anecdotal proof that awkward can transform to awesome and fear can cast its crown before courage. La seeks to encourage thought, discussion and change among young women. Her blog: www.hersoulinc.com and Twitter: @AshleyLaTruly.

http://www.clutchmagonline.com

I did not learn to enjoy my own company until I relocated to start my career. Moving from my home state to one of the biggest metropolitan areas in the world with little to no friends or acquaintances or family, loneliness began to set in. After almost a year stuck in the same bubble of insecurity and isolation, I begin to search for ways to adapt to my new lifestyle. Learning to accept the fact that I have more time to myself than I was used to back in my hometown, I began to enjoy everyday things solo, like going out to try a new restaurant or coming home to an empty apartment. Just because I was alone, didn’t necessarily mean I had to feel lonely.

There’s a certain type of self-assurance when it comes to doing (and enjoying) things alone. It comes along with time, self-confidence and being aware of what you need as a person, and primarily, as a woman. Some of us need alone time to escape the stresses of the day. Others might need their alone time to do something selfish every once in a while. Whatever the case may be, being alone should not automatically mean feeling lonely; it is the perfect time to put your guard down and enjoy the most important person in your life: yourself.

Read the rest of this entry »

hellobeautiful.com

I remember as a young girl watching my great grandmother do so many things around the house. She’d cook, clean, sew and iron. She always seemed busy doing what my Poppop called “women’s work.” I thought to myself, “There has to be more to being a woman than knowing how to do domestic things” – but have times changed that much from when I was a child? While traditionally there are some tasks that are gender specific, I can’t help but think women nowadays are forging their own traditions with a “roll-up-your-sleeves and get-the-job-done” type of attitude. Yes, you should be able to cook a great meal, keep your house clean enough to keep the vermin away and iron your clothes well enough to be presentable at work. That’s a given. But we can do better than that in 2012.

Here are 10 things I think all women should know how to do – we go to work!

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Our favorite southern belle chef Paula Deen has been recently diagnosed with Diabetes.

Ironically the southern TV cook who once proclaimed that she could not live without butter and a deep-fat-fryer will soon have to change her tune and begin a healthier lifestyle and brand.  For nearly a year the plus-size mother-of-two has been the target of rumors that she has encouraged her fans to eat her high-fat, sugary meals, while secretly hiding her Type 2 diabetes diagnosis.

NBC released a statement that Paula will be exclusively addressing the issue on the Today show on Tuesday morning. The interview with presenter Al Roker will come just days before the Georgia native turns 65.

Read full story here…

I try not to harbor too many chauvinist ideas. At least not intentionally, according to some of the uber-feminist women I’ve dated who believe that a man is being sexist just by breathing the wrong way. Yet I have to say, I’m absolutely a fan of the current setup in my house: my lady does nearly all of the cooking (*insert big smile*).

It’s not that I can’t cook: I lived alone for years, and was forced to turn around quite a few bachelor-esque recipes through trial and error thanks to parents who never insisted I watch and learn anything they did in the kitchen. But according to my lady’s, umm, “elevated” culinary sensibilities, I don’t know for sh** my way around a kitchen. Indeed, it was my practice to throw as many ingredients and spices together on some slab of meat or fish and see what sticks, but what do you know, it worked sometimes (ask about my famous buffalo “waings”!) When I was still dating, I’d cook for women who very well may have simply been polite about what I put on their plate, because what looked good to me could have tasted like leather.

But as far as my lady is concerned, I am not good for much in the kitchen but chopping up the occasional pepper and onion, and even then I get castigated for leaving in seeds, core pieces and unnecessary stuff like that. The trade-off? I better not ever, ever slam any meals of hers. Not even if it looks like a blind man prepared it and smells like it was cooked in the toilet. She said the women in her family don’t tolerate such transgressions from men. Maybe it’s a Puerto Rican thing? She tried her hand at a tricky salmon dish the other day, an undertaking that resulted in lots of screaming and melted butter on the floor. I joked quite innocuously that she might need to take lessons from my dad in the kitchen.

And of course, that comment was received with lots of yelling. And swearing.

Fortunately, I enjoy the meals she cooks, and for the most part she doesn’t make disastrously unhealthy food. And, to do my part and contribute a little something, I pay for most of our groceries and I personally clean every dish and surface after every cooked meal.

In 2011, the era of the liberated, I-make-more-money-than-your-black-a** woman, this is an awesome arrangement to have. For you male readers who can’t do much past a bag of instant noodles, I pray you find a similar hook-up.

More on Madame Noire!

Once It’s Gone It’s Gone: Can You Ever Really Reclaim Virginity?

ANTM Winner Launches Plus-Size Dating Site: Is It Necessary?

“OOoo I Just Want to Play In Your Hair”: 7 Celeb Men with Luscious Locks

How To Take Things Slow Without Losing His Interest

7 Things That Are Awesome About Breakups

Young Love: Our Celebrity Crushes From Back in the Day That Fell Off… Hard

In A League Of Their Own: Miss Black Americas

The average person more than doubles their daily calorie intake to 4,000-5,000 calories during Thanksgiving, and with Christmas around the corner, food keeps coming. For that reason, we are notorious for packing on pounds during the holiday season.

With all of the yummy sweet potato pies and juicy fried turkey floating around, it seems a bit unreasonable to restrict one’s self to the usual diet. So, to make up for that second scoop of cornbread dressing and gravy, I recommend increasing physical activity. There are plenty of fun ways to do it without doing the traditional, boring mess:

So you want to smash some of your mother’s turkey that she slaved over, and get seconds and thirds of your uncle’s greens, but you know that if you don’t contribute, you shouldn’t be eating. You’re not a kid anymore who can’t tell the difference between measuring cups. There’s only one problem: you don’t know how to cook. But that’s cool, because we didn’t all come out of the womb with an expertise on making pasta and frying chicken, so it’s not too late for you to contribute something to the big day. Just don’t go for the most important things: stuffing, turkey (of course), ham, etc. We’ve got a few dishes and things you can bring to the table that will get you some props, and another plate of those greens. Besides, something is better than nothing, right?

Note: a lot of these recipes are expected to come from the can…