Menu Plan Monday 8/28

Another first day of school is over.  Year five is off to a good start, I think.  I have about 50% returning students, 50% new students, which is the norm when you are the only French teacher in your building.  I am teaching four classes of lower levels (1 & 2) this year and two of upper levels (3,4,5).  I have students fill out an info sheet on the first day, and it's always hilarious to read the comments of my returning students.  A few highlights: "What is your favorite snack?" Ribs. "Is there anything else you want me to know about you?" "I'm your favorite." "You love me." "Do you have any siblings? What are their names and ages?" "Princess and lil princess." Why did you take French this year?" "Uhhh because it's awesome."  That's right kiddos.  


Anyways, last week was SO crazy with teacher meetings and open house and family celebrations and such, so for once, I am going into the first week of school feeling much less stressed.  Yet my meals are still easy because well, it's the first week of school. 


Sunday: Beef & Spinach lasagna (that I froze for Grant to eat while I was in Montréal, and  he never needed), bread & salad
Monday: Chicken Cilantro Won Ton (from TJs) Soup (I boil chicken broth, add won tons & add some chopped green onion, some thinly sliced carrots... super easy), Garlic Broccoli Spears & egg rolls (from TJs)
Tuesday: Chicken Caesar Salads & pita
Wednesday: leftover lasagna
Thursday: Black Bean, Zucchini & Tomato Quesadillas, Mexican rice, chips & salsa
Friday: leftover quesadillas
Saturday: going to our very first Buckeyes game(!!) with my parents, then perhaps grilling out??


 For more menu planning ideas, go to http://orgjunkie.com/2011/08/menu-plan-monday-august-2911.html

Menu Plan Monday 8/22

Today is officially my last day of summer :-( Where am I spending it, you might ask? A doctors appointment, followed by a long day of working in my classroom, followed by my 1st afternoon Jazzercise class since the 10-11 school year... and then I'm coming home to a crockpot dinner that I am starting this morning.  We have FOUR days of in-service this year.  Ridiculous.  One of those is a teacher work day, where I get to work in my classroom, but the others are full days of meetings about this and that... therefore, my last day off must be spent preparing for the upcoming year.  We also have open house this week, and Grant & I have a few other commitments, so it will be a busy one.  So the meals this week are easy.  

Sunday: Sneaky & Sloppy Joes (have zucchini, carrots & a red pepper purée in them!), the grilled potato salad I never made last week (that I made in the oven last night)

Monday: one of my faves- CrockPot Chicken Tortilla Soup (I always use up leftover produce with this- this time it will have leftover carrots & zucchini & probably some rice in it, along with 2 cubanelle peppers from our garden), corn muffins (frozen!)

Tuesday: Toad in a hole (or Egg in a frame as I call them... and I scramble the egg), fruit

Wednesday: leftover sloppy joes & potatoes

Thursday: open house for me, chicken sandwich & veggies for Grant

Friday: off to Cleveland asap after work to celebrate Grant's grandparents' 60th anniversary!!

Nantucket Vacation: Part 1- getting there & the B&B

first view of Nantucket from the ferry

 Grant & I wanted to do a beach & big city combination vacation, sans car.  Turns out, this is rather hard to manage when your destination is the east coast. (Which is why a cruise on the Mediterranean through the Greek Isles was my first choice...).  After a bit of research and some good recommendations from friends, we realized we could visit Boston, which I loved when I was there 13 years ago and then Cape Cod (or the Cape, as the New Englanders like to call it)... except you need a car on Cape Cod... so we went further, to the island of Nantucket.  The travel was complicated- but definitely worth it. Here's how it worked: flight to Boston Logan, followed by a 1 1/2 hour bus ride to Hyannis (on Cape Cod), a less than a mile walk to the port, followed by a 2 hour ferry to Nantucket (there is a high speed ferry, but for $39/person one way, we took the slow one). Good thing I've learned to pack light. 

enjoying the ferry ride

Nantucket was surreal- so beautiful, so quaint, and so preppy. Seriously, so preppy.  And my solid-color, Gap-loving self was delighted for a few days, as I walked past the valet parkers wearing "Nantucket red" (yes, that is a color!) shorts, Sperry top-siders and white polos.  The only name-brand stores on the island (the rest being boutiques): Lilly Pulitzer, Ralph Lauren, Vineyard Vines and Jack Wills. Definitely not your typical shopping at the beach.  (But yes, there are plenty of shops where you can buy tshirts... they are just a bit pricier than your average shirt from the beach.) 

Valet guys sporting their "uniform"

 

 

 I have always considered myself to be anti-bed & breakfast.  It has to do more with the decor than the general concept.  To be honest, sleeping in an old bed with a floral bedspread in a room full of knickknacks is not my ideal setting in which I like to relax.  Well, on Nantucket, there are pretty much only B&Bs... so I looked at all of them and The Veranda House, the #2 rated  B&B on Trip Advisor was exactly my style- modern, clean and simple... and the website bragged about their amazing breakfast.  

Let's talk about this breakfast...  It WAS amazing.  A 3-course continental (only 2 B&Bs on the island are allowed to serve eggs & meat) breakfast was served to us each morning.  It started with coffee, and their own juice blend that included a little yogurt, making it taste a little like a light smoothie.  Then the bread basket appeared, with the warm muffin of the day and some other breads and crackers.  It came with five different types of spreads: unsalted butter, strawberry butter, butter with sea salt & chives, raspberry preserves and honey. Delicious.  

The second course was always two slices of fresh fruit, followed by a mini smoothie, topped with whipped cream and granola. 

 The third course was our choice: toasted bagel, granola, raisin bran or the special of the day.  We had bagels one day, and the special of the day the other two.  Here's one of the specials: 

banana crepe with raspberry & peanut butter sauces

I wish I could eat like this every morning.  Especially on a veranda, looking out at a garden, in the warm sunshine. 

Menu Plan Monday 8/15

And again I'm writing on Tuesday.  We just got back from vacation yesterday- flight got into Akron at 10:08pm Sunday night, we stayed the night at my parents' house and then drove home at 5:45 the next morning.  I spent yesterday doing laundry, grocery shopping & unpacking... and managed to squeeze in a workout.  Priorities. I ate a lot on vacation! Starting probably tomorrow I will have to head back to school... I have a lot of planning to do for the upcoming year! 

Here's what we are eating this week:

Sunday: dinner at Boston Logan Airport... yum??

Monday: BBQ Grilled Chicken, Grilled Caesar Salads (used store bought dressing), rice

Tuesday: Broccoli & Cheese Macaroni, caprese salads (yeah... thats a lot of cheese but we have a lot of tomatoes...)

Wednesday: Black Bean & Sweet Potato Burritos, Mexican Rice

Thursday: Pancakes, sausage & fruit

Friday: I'm eating dinner twice :-) Northstar with 3 of my sorority sisters who are coming to town, followed by a cookout w/ friends!

Saturday: TJ's Andouille Sausages, grilled potato salad, green beans (thanks Katie!)

Adieu King Elementary School :-(

My sister Laura & I attended King Elementary School in West Akron for Kindergarten through fifth grade.  (Emily was in private school K-8.) It was a great elementary school and I have many memories from my days there.  I went up to Akron last Sunday & Monday to visit my parents and see my sister who was in town from Chicago, and Monday morning, after a 2 mile walk in Sand Run Metro Park (many good memories there too!), my mom, sister & I headed to King School... to say goodbye :-(  They are tearing down and rebuilding many of the Akron Public Schools, many of which are beautiful, historic buildings.  I currently teach in a building that was built in 2003... so I see both sides of this issue, as there are tons of problems with old buildings and advantages to having a new one.  Still, it is sad. The building is long, so I don't have a picture that shows all of it (and the trees in West Akron are so big it blocks part of the building anyways.) Here are a few of my partial pics: 

On the Summit County Historical Society blog (Mom, did you know they have one?!?), I found out this building was built in 1922!! Crazy.  So perhaps it is time for a little updating... We were only able to visit the outside as they have already started work on the inside, doing whatever it is you do before you demolish and old building.  Here are some pics of Laura & I at our favorite recess and gym class spots: (Please keep in mind they stopped landscaping and weeding b/c there's no point anymore... it used to look much better!)

Here's the good old kickball field:

The climber... we used to be able to hang from the top with our feet dangling... yikes:

The small portion left of the playground that existed when we were students there... they have done some upgrading, but why would I want pictures of the plastic new stuff ??:

Close-up of the double monkey bars... pretty sure we used to race on these: 

 And of course the tire... we usually were UNDER it, hiding inside... but we are a little too big for that now...

The soccer/tag/tetherball/Mother May I (all-purpose??) field: 

Standing on the steps where we once took 5th grade graduation pics... Adieu King School :-( 

Pizza on the Grill

We are leaving for vacation on Monday, so I won't be posting until the following week, so I thought I'd leave you with a few posts of pictures of what we've been up to.

Last Friday night, we made pizzas on the grill, or POGS as my Dad likes to call them.  I used this recipe for the dough- it was one of those where you mix the ingredients (I did proof the yeast first), let the dough rise for an hour and then punch it down and then let it rise for another hour... time consuming, but SO SO SO worth it. 

I split the dough in half and rolled it out, brushed it with olive oil mixed with minced garlic and Grant pretty much threw it on the grill:

It puffed up pretty quickly... here's my handsome grillmaster about to remove it so I can put on the toppings (you only want to grill one side at first, and then put the toppings on the grilled side): 

We did one pizza with pepperoni, red onion and cheese, and and another with tomato & basil (from our garden!!), red onion & goat cheese. I also brushed it with more olive oil & garlic... why not?? :) Do you see the grill marks on that dough? YUM. 

After you put on your toppings, turn the heat down on the grill and let it cook until the other side of the crust is done.  It would have been nice to eat on the deck but the it was so hot out my cheese was starting to melt in the bag as I was putting on the pizza toppings... fall, I am ALMOST ready for you.  Anyways, here are our pizzas: 

Make grilled pizza before grilling season is over.  We will definitely make it again, so if you want to join us, let me know :-)

Menu Plan Monday 8/1

AUGUST. What? The dreaded month that ends summer vacation :-( We are in charge of the fifth graders at VBS at our church this week, so we are busy EVERY night... and I need to have dinner on the table when Grant gets home from work so we can get to church on time (wow I am glad that's not a normal expectation in our house!).

Here's what we're eating...quickly:

Sunday: leftovers

Monday: BLTs (tomato from our garden!!) & quinoa salad

Tuesday: Chicken Stir Fry (I'll add extra veggies, garlic, ginger & crushed red pepper), brown rice

Wednesday:whole wheat penne w/ tomato sauce, garlic bread

Thursday: french toast and melon

Friday: frozen pizza

Saturday: perhaps either the Ohio State Fair or the Dublin Irish Festival?? There are just too many events going on this weekend in Columbus!

for more menu planning ideas, go to http://orgjunkie.com/2011/08/menu-plan-monday-august-111.html