My stomach can handle about ten bites of food at a time – it’s being squished by a baby. So instead of my meals today – here is what I grazed on all day long.

First Breakfast

Cinnamon toast (made with millet bread and stevia) + an orange – which had far too many seeds for it to be enjoyable.

Second Breakfast

One of Jessica’s 5 ingredient granola bars…so easy, and so delicious.

Meals three, four, and five

Apples, cliff bar, celery, carrots, grapes, sprouted grain tortilla, avocado

I love these tortillas – especially with an avocado squished onto one and sprinkled with garlic salt.

Dinner

Mama Pea’s vegan mac and cheese + roasted green beans

This was so dang good. So good that during the eight bites I managed to stuff into my tiny stomach, I forgot about my throbbing feet. I forgot about the fact that I can no longer touch my toes. And I almost forgot about the ten inches of snow we’re supposed to get tonight.

In the 3^rd grade world…

We have CSAP testing tomorrow. That’s our state’s standardized testing – required for all kiddos 3^rd – 11^th grade. (And it’s far more nerve wracking for teachers than it is for students – at least at my school.)

Being my 3^rd graders’ first experience with standardized testing, I asked them how they were feeling about it today. I got a myriad of responses.

Some thought they might puke when the test landed on their desk.

Some wanted to perform well so that I didn’t get fired for being a ‘bad teacher’.

Some thought it would be really fun because they wouldn’t have ‘regular schoolwork’.

But my favorite response…

I’m so ready to show Colorado how my brain works!

I’m on a veggie sandwich kick! This one had avocado, cucumber, red peppers, spinach, bean sprouts, and spicy mustard on toasted wheat bread.

In the 3^rd grade world…

I’m teaching this song to my kiddos, and I’ve had it stuck in my head for 3 weeks straight. I thought I would share the 50 nifty joy with you all!

Breakfast

Banana, apples, mixed berries, flax seed

Then I walked to work (in the dark..ugh) and was hungry again when I got there – so I warmed up with some tea and two baby muffins.

Sarah’s pumpkin muffins – so stinkin’ yummy.

Lunch

Baked potato, chives, bacon bits, broccoli salad, green salad – we had one of our monthly staff luncheons provided by the parents. Always a mid-week treat.

Snack

From my swag bag – so much better than I was expecting! Plus I ate an apple.

Dinner

Spinach with cole slaw on top (Kalen, thanks for the cole slaw!)

Avocado sandwich – 2 slices of bread + avocado + salt + a panini press

In the 3^rd grade world…

My tattle turtle was literally overflowing today. Here is one little tattle nugget that made me smile.

A guy in a class threw a pencil.

Now, we’ve been in school for almost 11 weeks – I’m pretty sure you can be more specific than “a guy” in “a class” – especially if you want me take action against the offender.

Topped with crunchy flax cereal.

In this bowl:

• 2 tbs. chia seeds soaked in 1 cup of water for 15 minutes
• ¼ cup vanilla almond milk
• 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
• 1 scoop sun warrior protein powder
• ¼ large avocado
• 3 ice cubes

Blended until smooth.

This is going to become a favorite breakfast, I can feel taste it.

I hope you all have fun Saturday’s ahead of you! Go Buffs!

Then breakfast.

Fruit cereal with a little extra crunch

My first time trying these little nuggets – I liked them!

1 peach, 1 banana, pecans, the above cereal and my favorite almond milk

Mmm, the bowl was so dang good. I felt like I was eating cold pie for breakfast – insanely delicious.

I also wanted to share with you guys the latest addition to my classroom…

I was so tired of being starving all day long – that I made myself a snack drawer. Dried fruit, nuts, bars, and tea. It worked perfectly. When I started getting that gnawing in-between-meal-hunger (which is usually at 10:30 and then again at 4pm) – I just reached into my snack drawer and had a little handful of food. It worked like a dream – I didn’t feel famished all day. I’m kind of sad it took me so long to think of it.

For my real lunch

Sweet potato with hummus +bbq sauce+ avocado

Sweet potatoes for lunch are perfect – they fill me up so well, but don’t ever make me too full.

On the way home, I stopped at the grocery store to pick up some basil for my dinner.

Garlicky Pesto Rice

I combined these ingredients:

• Fresh green beans (cut into 1 inch pieces)
• Canned cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 3.5 cups water
• 1 tbs. Roasted Garlic Seasoning
  
• 1 cup brown rice

And simmered until the rice was tender. Then I made a basil pesto with:

• 1 cup walnuts
• ¼ cup evoo
• 1 cup packed basil
• Salt

into the food processor. Then combined the two! It was so easy – and it made the creamiest, most flavorful rice. But warning: it was really rich. I couldn’t finish my bowl, but it was darn good.

In the 3^rd grade world…

My kiddos had Spanish today – which the teacher comes to our classrooms for. Thus, I get to hear oodles of silly songs in español, and get to listen to them butchering and stumbling through all sorts of Spanish words/phrases. It’s really cute.

Today, when the Spanish teacher was leaving, she told the class: Hasta Luego! (which means “until later” or “see you later”) and one little boy in my class proudly waved his hand and shouted:

Ocho Nueve!! (which means “Eight Nine”) – it was precious.

A freckled smoothie – ½ banana, 1 peach, ½ cup vanilla soy milk, ½ cup water, ice, 1 scoop protein powder

And then after my shower, I had breakfast part 2.

Coffee and a millet bread + avocado sandwich

After this, I was on the move again! As I mentioned on Tuesday, my co-worker Steve hurt his back, and is having trouble lifting his little boy. So I went over to his house to help out during the day while his wife was at work.

Dark hair and bright blue eyes – this kid hid the gene pool jackpot.

He is too adorable for words.

I came home for lunch and threw together the most delicious salad for lunch.

Zucchini, carrots, edamame, celery, avocado and hum-cue-vay (hummus + bbq sauce + soy vay teriyaki)

And…

after some dark chocolate fuel, I went back to Steve’s house to help out with the little nugget after lunch, and then home again for a snack.

Raw zucchini + carrots + cilantro spring rolls – dipped in peanut sauce (peanut butter + soy sauce + water)

Meeker has to work late tonight, and I didn’t want to eat dinner (or just sit around) without him, so after my snack I took Punky to the dog park for about an hour. The weather was a little cool, but the sky was blue, everything was fresh and gorgeous from all the rain we have been getting, and I got a chance to chat with my grandma on the phone. I was in heaven, and so was the Punkster.

Now I’ve got some broccoli roasting in the oven, and some burgers ready to go on the grill –I’m just waiting for the hub to get home from work…hurry Meek!!

What’s your favorite snack? I always draw a blank when it comes to snacktime – sometimes it takes me 30 minutes just to DECIDE on something to eat. Suggestions, please!

The first go-around with the rice paper was a major fail. The directions said to soak the rice paper wrappers TOGETHER to in boiling water for 15 minutes. Overkill. I checked on the soaking papers after about 5 minutes and they had already turned into a bowl of mush. So, I threw those out, and decided to soak the next batch individually in warm water. After about 30 seconds – they were the perfect texture to work with…

Zucchini, carrots, avocado, and basil

Rollin’…

Done!

Not perfect, but they stayed together, and they were scrumptious!

Served with a peanut dipping sauce:

• ¼ cup peanut butter
• 1 tbs. soy sauce
• Juice of one lime
• A few splashes of water

Make these! The whole process only took about 20 minutes (and that includes the silly rice paper catastrophe). So summery and yummery. Yes, yummery.

Ever had a cooking disaster? Do tell…

Before I left, I had a homemade energy bar.

When I came home, I had leftover falafel salad.

Lettuce, corn, carrots, celery, falafel, mustard + red wine vinegar dressing

I was still hungry after this beast, so I mixed up some trail mix. Love.

Walnuts, carob chips, almonds, dried cranberries

Throughout the afternoon I had milk, watermelon, about a gallon of water and some more almonds. Like I said, spinning left me with a monster appetite. When Meeker got home, I made him a broccoli + spinach + mushroom quiche…he devoured the the.whole.thing.

Crust made out of crunched cheerios and almond meal + sautéed onions, spinach, broccoli, and mushrooms

3 eggs + ¼ cup cottage cheese poured over and then baked for 10 minutes at 425* – I can’t attest to its success because I didn’t have any, but like I said, Meeker ate it all – which means it was probably edible. No guarantees, though. That boy will eat whatever I set in front of him.

For my din din, I wanted another salad. It was too hot for anything else…plus you all got me thinking with your taco salad toppings from last night.

Spinach, ground turkey, tortilla chips, avocado, kidney beans, salsa

And I finished off the night with a few bites of this….

This stuff has the best texture…it’s kind of chewy, which sounds weird, but is really heavenly.

Whee! Tomorrow is the best day of the week, and I’m off to watch So You Think You Can Dance. I definitely don’t think I can dance, but I like watching that show and pretending.

• Yogurt
• Walnuts
• Chia seeds
• Coconut granola
• Peanut butter

Yum city.

I had a bar mid-morning, and then ran home for a salad at lunchtime

Lettuce, avocado, steamed cauliflower, hummus

I also had a string cheese in the car on the way back to school. Dinner was another Rachel Ray creation, Sausage and Broccoli Rabe Stoup. But instead of the broccoli rabe, I used regular old broccoli.

I had this mug x2 and it was delicious! I can’t even remember the last time I ate meat, and this tasted especially good tonight.

In the 3^rd grade world…

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day (and those mischievous little leprechauns!), I played a trick on my kiddos today. When they went to PE this afternoon, I TRASHED the classroom: knocked over desks, TPed everything in sight, hung green streamers from the ceiling, threw pencils on the ground, scrawled “leprechaun notes” on the board, etc. When the kid’s returned from PE, I told them the leprechauns did it – and if they cleaned it up, they would get a little cookie and an extra recess.

To say they were thrilled would be an understatement. Teachers down the hall heard the screams and stopped by to make sure everything was okay. It was so uplifting to share in their excitement. I couldn’t stop smiling for the rest of the day; their enthusiasm was contagious.

Because of the chilly weather – we had a one hour school delay, which means nothing for teachers because we have to be there on time anyway – but I did get an extra hour of plan time chatting with other teachers.

Before all that, I did about 40 minutes with Dave Farmar and then ate something weird (at least for me) – I claim to not like bananas, but have been loving them lately, especially with sun butter.

And when I got to work – I found chocolate chip banana bread in the lounge (thanks Kalen!)

It was heaven eaten along with my Wednesday coffee…

Thank you, thank you, thank you Tona…you are so kind.

Lunch was thebesthingever.

A sweet potato (cooked last night) with hummus and avocado on top. Oh my word – deliciousness.

At my after school job
(I just sit in the office and answer the phones) – I ate the most crispy, delicious apple of all time.

I set the real apple on top of a picture of an apple…so clever!

Upon returning home, I baked tofu and cooked some spinach.

The whole wonderful mess was doused in the best bbq sauce of all time

Dessert was two unbelievably good cookies…

And something I have been drinking a ton of lately…

Cinnamon tea with vanilla soy milk.

Keep your fingers crossed for outdoor recess tomorrow!