Dynamite Dinner
Posted: September 22, 2010 Filed under: Delish Dinners | Tags: couscous, egg, mustard, soy sauce, veggies 24 Comments »This dinner kind of happened by accident when I came home tonight. I started with just the cous-cous, but then realized some veggies would be nice. When I had finished that, I envisioned an egg on top of the whole mess – and voila, a dynamite dinner.
Oh yeah, I put a spicy mustard + soy sauce mix over the top.
Not too shabby.
In the 3rd grade world…
I was listening to one of my students read aloud today when we came across the name “Al” – as in short for “Albert”. But when my student came to this name, he said “A.1.” – as in the steak sauce. I let it slide, and figured he was just hungry. But when he did it a 2nd time, I stopped him and said…
What is the character’s name?
He again replied, A.1.
I asked, Have you ever heard anyone called by that name in real life?
And he replied, Yeah, my neighbor’s name is A.1.
Google It Up
Posted: May 17, 2010 Filed under: Breakfast, Delish Dinners, dessert, Mid-Day Yummies | Tags: almonds, banana, chicken, chocolate, coffee, egg, hummus, milk, salad, salsa, zucchini 25 Comments »I started this morning with a lot of moving. At 5:00am I walked the dog. At 6:00am I did some weight lifting, and at 7:00am I walked to school. The morning was so pleasant that I just didn’t want to stop enjoying it. However, lots of moving leads to lots of hunger.
One egg, salsa, two slices of ww bread
I love my milk frother. This was an old leftover starbucks cup with ¾ coffee and ¼ steamed milk. I packed the sandwich in foil, put a lid on the coffee and hoofed it to school. The breakfast sandwich was enjoyed while checking email at my desk. 6 days, 6 days, 6 days…
At lunchtime I was beyond hungry. My lunch did very little to stop the grumbling.
Leftover chicken and zucchini
Cheese and crackers
a mini packet of M&Ms given to by a student
The day was so nice and warm that I took both of my afternoon classes outside to write poetry in the sunshine. I just strolled around listening to 8 year-old wisdom and soaking up the rays. It was glorious. After school, I headed to my after-school job in the office and had some homemade cheerio trail mix.
Cheerios, chocolate chips, almonds, pepitas
I left just after 6:00pm and walked home in the warm sunshine. I can’t even express how much I love the longer daylight hours of summer. Upon entering the door, I quickly made a taco salad.
Lettuce, shredded carrot, ground turkey, salsa, hummus, crumbled chips
The salad was so voluminous that I had to transfer it to a mixing bowl in order to eat it. Don’t believe me?
Proof.
For dessert, I made an insanely simple, delicious and healthy ice cream.
Just like a frosty. Into my food processor I put: one frozen banana, 1 scoop vanilla protein powder, 1 tablespoon cocoa powder, splash of milk
In the 3rd grade world…
My students have taken to using the phrase “google it up” – and I fear that I’m to blame. I don’t remember ever saying this, but it sounds like something I would glibly say in response to a question. For example…
Mrs. Unger, do you know what the alternative name for Orion’s Nebula is?
No, I don’t Timmy…I’ll have to google that up later.
Like I said, I don’t recall ever using that phrase, but I sometimes feel so comfortable with my students that I slip into the habit of using tremendously casual speech. I wouldn’t put it past myself. Either way, some of my students now think that “google it up” is a perfectly legitimate term for “doing research”
I would correct them, but honestly, I think it’s hilarious.
If all I had to do was teach…
Posted: May 4, 2010 Filed under: Breakfast, Delish Dinners, Mid-Day Yummies | Tags: chicken, cinnamon, edameme, egg, hummus, mango, nutritional yeast, salsa, sweet potato 33 Comments »Ahh!! I’m up to my eyeballs in end of the year things. Wrapping up the school year means two things: crazy kids and assessments. And those two things don’t really get along. I’ve got RTI and MAPS scores to figure out, ILPs to update, DRAs to grade and enter, IEP kiddos to worry about….all on top of an ENORMOUS project for my induction program and teaching crowd-control for the next 3 weeks. I know I shouldn’t complain…at least I GET a summer, but honestly, I’m about to pull my hair out. Any fellow teachers out there feel my pain??
Also, eight hours of sleep sucks. It is actually stressing me out more because I have less time to do things at night. I am going to continue for this week, BUT, after that, 8 hours is a no-go. Just plain silly.
Yikes, I just complained for 150 words…let’s turn things around, shall we?
I woke up early and had a fantastic 5 mile speed workout. I felt very accomplished afterwards. Then I had breakfast while in the car.
Corn, peas, edamame, salsa, egg, nutritional yeast
Lunch was quick because I had recess duty. I inhaled this wrap.
Flatout wrap, hummus, chicken, cilantro
Cinnamon roll lara bar…delicious!
Snack – a gift from a student.
A mini mango and a poem about how I am as tan as the sand. How cute is that?
Dinner couldn’t come soon enough. I forgot that I had to work late tonight, and I didn’t pack NEAR enough food. But I survived, I always do. When I got home, I microwaved a sweet potato for a few minutes and then threw it on the grill.
Topped with cinnamon and stevia. So yum.
Now I’m catching up on Gossip Girl and waiting for my scuzzband to get home!
In the 3rd grade world…
After that rant on my job, I feel a little guilty saying that this week is Teacher Appreciation Week and my students each brought me a flowers today.
Gorgeous. I have no right complain about my job.
Three Breakfasts Deep
Posted: April 5, 2010 Filed under: Breakfast, Delish Dinners, Mid-Day Yummies | Tags: apple, avovado, bagel, chili, cottage cheese, egg, green monster, hummus, POM, sweet potato 39 Comments »I had three breakfasts this morning.
5:00am - Sliced apple
6:30am – green monster
½ avocado, ¾ cup frozen spinach, 2 strawberries, 1 cup rice milk
7:10 – Eggy/bagel sandwich with avocado
I’m always ravenous in the morning, especially when I work out. So my three-course breakfast barely filled my rumbling belly. But I had a very nice morning getting things checked off of my to-do list and before I knew it, it was 11:30.
Sweet potato with cottage cheese/hummus. Third time I’ve had this lunch. Yum-diddy.
Afternoon snack was an incredible treat from…you’ll never believe it…TONA! Even though her daughter is no longer in my class (or at my school), it hasn’t stopped her from spoiling me with yummies. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Tona!!
Yes, I want gluten-free carrot cake. This was hands-down the best carrot cake I’ve ever had. This took her FIVE HOURS to make, and let me tell you, it tasted like 5 hours of work. It was perfection.
I got home, went for a nice un-winding walk, and discovered this guy on my front porch.
I won this box of POM from dear Katie’s giveaway a few weeks ago – and I am THRILLED to put these little POM babies to good use. Any suggestions??!
After stashing my drinks in the fridge, I hunkered down for a bowl of chili.
Ground bison, black beans, corn, tomatoes – in the crock pot all day.
In the 3rd grade world…
A few days ago, I had my kiddos write a paragraph responding to the prompt: What is something weird or funny that adults do? I got some fantastic, hilarious, creative responses, many of them worth sharing. One particularly insightful student wrote a paragraph that really made me laugh:
Adults can talk really funny and weird. To begin, they use their tone to make you want to do stuff. Their tone is nice, but serious. It also sounds demanding. It almost always works! Next, adults talk about weird adult stuff, like politics. They talk about presidents and the economy. Why do they care about the election? Last, they baby talk to you. This is freaky. It is also extremely weird. It is embarrassing, too. Sometimes it can be funny though. Certainly, even though adults talk weird, most of them are very kind. They give you candy. Adults are very, very nice.
Springtime in the Rockies
Posted: March 24, 2010 Filed under: Breakfast, Delish Dinners, Mid-Day Yummies | Tags: coffee, egg, green monster, salad, snow, sweet potato, toast 28 Comments »In October, the first snow of the season is always exciting. Even the snow through January is enjoyable. However, come March (or April, or May…) the snow gets old. Snow during spring break is a very typical occurrence in Colorado. While it makes me want to curl up in bed and dream of warm beaches, after 25 years (um, am I really 25 years old??!) I’ve found that the best way to deal with a storm is to get out in it. The heavy snows seem less daunting if you can brave your way outside.
That’s exactly what I did this morning (after coffee and a green/brown monster).
The monster: spinach, kabocha squash (roasted), an orange, a handful of frozen berries, water
And I swear, there is no better workout thank shoveling a driveway full of heavy, wet, spring snow
Ahh, springtime in the Rockies. All that work really revved up my appetite!
Lunch – salad and toast
Lettuce, roasted cabbage, steamed cauliflower, crumbled bison burger, hummus, balsamic vinegar, nutritional yeast
I ended up picking out a lot of the bison and giving it to Punky. I just wasn’t feeling it, and Punky loved me for it. Other than that, it was delicious. But the toast was the MVP.
A friend (whom I call Mother Mary) baked this bread for me, she used hand ground millet – it’s insanely good. Meeker and I have polished off half the loaf that I brought home on Sunday.
The rest of the afternoon was spent grading, planning for next school week, and snacking on trail mix.
When dinner rolled around, I thought I would try a new breakfast dish…sweet potato hash brown. First, I shredded the ‘taters in the food processor, and set them on the counter to dry out a bit (this makes them nice and crispy…or so I’ve read)
Then I cooked them in olive oil on high heat, and topped with an egg and more toast.
Absolutely delicious. The hash browns were SO sweet.
Weeee! Meeker just walked in the door with a Dairy Queen Sundae to share. Love that boy.
Wasabi Monday
Posted: March 8, 2010 Filed under: Breakfast | Tags: coffee, egg, peas, spinach, wasabi 16 Comments »I just got wasabi in my eye. Why I thought it was smart to grab a handful of wasabi peas at 5am before putting in my contacts is a mystery to me – but lesson learned.
After flushing my eye with water, I cooked up a nice breakfast for this rainy Monday morning. First, I sautéed dried onion, spinach, and peas.
Then, I added one egg and two egg whites.
Once the egg had set around the edges, I sprinkled it with nutritional yeast, and popped it in a 375* oven for 8 minutes and drank my coffee while it cooked.
Voilà! Served up with a little nub of homemade French bread.
I hope it’s not rainy/snowy where you are and that you have a happy Monday!
Finally, some cake.
Posted: January 28, 2010 Filed under: Breakfast, dessert | Tags: applesauce, cake, cheese, egg, hummus, salsa, savory oats, siracha 26 Comments »Let’s hear it for Thursday. It’s my favorite day of the week because the weekend is just around the corner. Everyone is anticipating Friday, and the day just seems so manageable.
Especially when you start it off with a breakfast like this.
Savory Oats – ½ cup oats, cheddar cheese, salsa, hummus, siracha, an egg.
This filled my belly almost all day, which is highly unusual for me. I snacked on some applesauce and cottage cheese around lunchtime, but otherwise…that heck-of-a-breakfast really held me over.
Dinner, my friends, was cake. Because I do what I want.
Meeker is fond of pointing out that I have a blog dedicated to
cake, but rarely make it. (I don’t know why he cares, he doesn’t even like sweets) Well, tonight I decided that there would be cake. And after two pieces of this messy applesauce cake – I decided that I couldn’t be bothered to fix a real dinner. What better way to celebrate a Thursday?
The cake didn’t come out of the pan as easily as I had anticipated. In fact, I pretty much had to rip it out of the pan – in two pieces. Next time I will be sure to line the bottom with parchment paper – but until next time, I’m enjoying this delicious mess topped with a powdered sugar glaze.
Did I eat any vegetables today? Not one. Could I have made the cake healthier? Yup. Did I love it just the way it was? You betcha. There are plenty of days when I all I want to eat is broccoli, so I don’t feel the slightest bit guilty for wanting cake for a meal. It’s all about balance in my book.
The Best of Breakfast
Posted: January 16, 2010 Filed under: Breakfast | Tags: banana, chickpeas, egg, granola, oatmeal, peanut butter, salsa, spinach, yogurt mess 17 Comments »For the last two days, I’ve totally abandoned traditional meals, and pretty much stuck with breakfast. It’s the best meal of the day anyway.
Here are some breakfast gems that have been filling my belly for the last couple of days.
Blended banana oatmeal
Inspired by this recipe – I mixed:
- ½ cup cooked oats
- 1 banana
- ½ cup puffed rice
- ½ cup vanilla soy milk
Into the blender for a minute or so, then I topped it with cashews and blueberry flax granola and cinnamon. Holy yum.
Yogurt Mess
- 3/4 cup plain yogurt
- 1 banana
- Peanut butter
- Pumpkin butter
- Blueberry flax granola
Mini Pancakes
Again, based off of this recipe (I think Katie is a genius) – I tweaked it (incidentally making it non-vegan because I didn’t have some of the ingredients. Sorry Katie.)
- 3 tbs. rolled oats
- 3 tbs. flour
- Sprinkle of cinnamon
- 1 egg white
- Drizzle of agave
- Pinch of salt
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- ¼ cup vanilla soy milk
Cooked about 2 minutes per side, then dipped in peanut butter and fig spread (side note: I’ve had a few questions about fig spread. I use this kind and its killer –they sell it at Whole Foods.)
Spinach Mess
Chickpeas, spinach, cheese, salsa and an egg.
Hope you all are having fantastic Saturdays!
Please End
Posted: January 8, 2010 Filed under: Breakfast, Mid-Day Yummies | Tags: Amy's soup, egg, hummus, siracha, sunbutter, Z Bar 12 Comments »Can this week be over already?
I’m going to make this short and sweet because I’m exhausted. I’m actually still at work – doing my second job – which is answering phones in the office. A little more pay tacked on to a teacher’s salary is always a good thing, but on a Friday night, it doesn’t seem worth it…on Monday, though – it’s an easy extra two hours of plan time and $30 bucks. Amazing what a difference a few days makes, no?
Breakfast – inhaled on the way out the door.
One whole egg, one egg white, hummus, siracha and a small tortilla.
Lazy Lunch.
Canned soup from my win- this variety was delicious. Had a sweet quality to it, which I loved. I also had a tortilla with hummus on the side (can you tell I just got a big package of tortillas that I’m trying to eat up?)
Snacking.
Love these bars – it’s essentially a big cookie. I ate this while sipping green tea out of the green mug in the background.
I also ate some sunbutter from these cute little sample packages.
1.5 ounces of creamy fat, spooned straight into my mouth. A fantastic Friday snack.
And due to popular demand…
Highlight from the 3rd grade world…
- I had a student clean out his insanely messy desk today, and he found a slice of rotten banana bread, months old, lots of mold, lots of nastiness mashed into all of his late/missing worksheets. It really bothers me that I didn’t make him do this sooner.
I can leave in 5 minutes…I must start packing my things!
Happy Friday Night!
When I grow up…
Posted: January 7, 2010 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Amy's soup, apple, artichoke hearts, banana, cinnamon, egg, hummus, peas, risotto, siracha, sun butter, tortilla, veggies, yogurt 28 Comments »First of all, thank you all so much for your incredibly kind comments about the student who transferred out of my class on Tuesday. I can’t tell you how much they meant to me. It sure has been a crazy couple of days.
Last night, I came home and literally fell into bed, and slept until this morning – when I woke up and took Punky for a brisk walk. It was negative 16 degrees at that point – what a wakeup call.
Like my life, my eats have been rushed…but rest assured, I am still well-fed. That won’t ever cease.
Yesterday’s breakfast – eaten at school.
Bottom to top: plain yogurt, banana slices sunbutter, puffed rice, fig spread and cinnamon.
Lunch was an exciting can of soup (no, it really was exciting because I won it in a giveaway!
Yes. I’m so happy I won these soups – I had the red can – it was southwestern veggie, and for canned soup, it was fantastic.
Dinner was non-existent because, like I said…I came home and fell into bed.
After my chilly walk this morning, I came home to make an egg sandwich.
Toast, hummus, siracha, one whole egg, one egg white. Halfway though this deliciousness, I remembered that I was going to participate in Vegan Thursday – whoops!
Luckily, I had already (unintentionally) packed a vegan lunch.
Steamed broccoli, carrots and cauliflower – doused in balsamic vinegar and hummus. Small tortilla on the side. Wait, are tortillas vegan? Hope so.
Even better was the bowl I ate it out of
(Cait, is this the same bowl you have?!)
Mid-afternoon I snacked on a perfectly crunchy apple and trail mix brought to me by a student.
Sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, craisins, dried blueberries.
Dinner tonight was a new recipe – Artichoke Heart Risotto.
Risotto + artichoke hearts + peas + half a piece of Dempsey chicken. – Again, not vegan…I guess I’ll start next week!
Highlights from the 3rd grade world…
- Yesterday, a little boy asked me: “Can I be gay when I grow up?”
- Today, a little girl handed me a piece of paper on which she had written: “Elvis’ birthday is tomorrow and in 1958, he was drafted into the Army” – how’s that for a fun fact?
- I am teaching my kiddos to write instructions and so I had them write recipes for PB&J sandwiches yesterday. There was a lot of creativity, but one little boy included bacon in his sandwich (which he spelled samwich)
When you were young and someone asked you: “What do you want to be when you grow up?“…what was your response?
What do you think of bacon in a pb&j…disgusting or genius?
