A New School Year and a Few Recipes

After working all last week and a very long day today, I am finally ready for the school year to begin. My classroom is set up - a new arrangement that I'm liking very much, we had meet the parents/kids/teacher tonight - a great first meeting with almost everyone in attendance, and plans are ready and copies are made for days 1, 2, and 3.

I love the beginning of the school year. I like the clean room and new school supplies (Mine stayed nice ALL year. Bryan had a few crayon nubs after the first month). I like the anticipation of learning new things and meeting new friends. I like a fresh start to do better and be better than the year before. I can't wait to get to know the personalities to go along with those sweet faces - oh, how they change in a year.

Now for the recipes...
I had been boycotting Annie's Eats because her over-achieverness was irritating. I mean, did you see the birthday party she had for her son? I think all Anna got in terms of decorations were some balloons, Mylar, but still. I decided to forgive Little Miss Perfect for being able to do many things presumably well on very little to no sleep (I'm guessing) and check out some recipes again. I've tried several of her recipes and enjoyed all of them, so I'm back on the bandwagon. Just don't expect a themed birthday party from me unless I can buy all the stuff at Target - already made.

These are the recipes we tried and enjoyed:

• Chicken Parmesan
• Chicken nuggets - I just do the same prep for the chicken Parmesan without the sauce and cheese.
• Pizza Dough
• Cherry Tomato Salad
• Chicken Enchiladas

Maybe you'll like them too.

Today I am thankful for:

• team lunch at Saul Good
• changes at school that I'm looking forward to
• past students that came to say 'hi'
• new students with smiles on their faces
• copy moms
• air conditioning
• talking to Anna on the phone - seriously cute
• I don't have to make my lunch for tomorrow

Tried one and liked it

So I adapted this recipe from Annie's Eats for dinner tonight, and it was mighty yummy.

For the chicken marinade I used:
the zest and juice of one lime (no lemons)
2 cloves of garlic
3 T. olive oil
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp chipotle chili pepper (for a little spice)
1/2 T sugar
1 tsp salt
couple of turns of black pepper

I also did the peppers and onions mixed with olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Anna liked her chicken (no spice), and B and I liked ours. It's a keeper.

Recipes to Try Sometime

I was perusing some blogs for recipes, and I found a few I might like to try sometime...

Annie's Eats: Chicken and Spinach Lasagna, Chicken Tortilla Soup, Garlic-Lemon Chicken Kabobs, Grilled Lime Chicken with Black Bean Sauce, Black Bean, Chicken, and Red Pepper Stew.

PW: Cajun Meatloaf and Banana Bread

Ezra Pound Cake: Kentucky Butter Cake, Grilled Spicy Lime Chicken with Black Bean Salsa

I now need to grade the huge stack of papers in my bag that I've been avoiding. Only 13 days left - I'm in shutdown mode.

Tex-Mex dinner - yummy

It's been a really nice weekend. I think the (relatively) warm weather played a big part. We took a walk today! Shelby, our dog, gets really jipped (sp?) in the winter. I do not take walks in the freezing cold, so she doesn't either. Anna and I took a walk every nice day last summer, and then we took walks as a family in the fall. She's changed so much since then. Today, she was sitting up in her stroller, really checking out her surroundings. She was babbling - I guess giving us her thoughts on the exciting things she saw!

While we took a walk, and I did a ton of work for school, our dinner was cooking in the crockpot.
Bryan made chicken tacos using the recipe below. I made salsa too. The tacos topped with the salsa made a great dinner. We decided that next time, we would add some spice to the chicken - it had good flavor, but no spice.
This recipe comes from The Everything Tex-Mex Cookbook (p. 150) by Linda Larsen. I found it at Joseph-Beth.

Shredded Chicken for Tacos
2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts (we used frozen)
2 T. chili powder
1/2 t cumin (next time we will add more than this)
1/2 t dried oregano
1 t salt
1/8 t pepper
1 onion, finely chopped
1/2 c chicken broth

1. In a small bowl, combine chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt, and pepper and mix well. Rub this mixture into the chicken breasts and place in a crockpot along with the chopped onions. Pour chicken broth over all. Cover crockpot and cook on low for 4-6 hours, until chicken is completely cooked.

2. Remove chicken from crockpot, shred with forks, and return to crockpot. Mix well and use immediately or refrigerate or freeze for later use.

I got the salsa recipe from Annie's Eats - My Favorite Salsa Ever. The recipe made a ton of salsa - almost 4 cups, so it could be cut in half. It has a little spice, but not overwhelming. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with all the salsa - bring it to work I guess.

We use Old El Paso 'Stand 'n Stuff' taco shells. Bryan won't eat any other type because the other ones fall over and the stuff falls out :(.

Well, if you decide to make the tacos, enjoy!