They say a picture is worth a thousand words-this picture is worth at least one-BUSY. We are truly in the homestretch, and with the end in sight it seems the to-do-list grows each and everyday. Shane has been super busy with Spring Ball-so in some ways we will believe it's summer when we see it! (On a side note we just got our test scores back yesterday at school-and lets just say there was a lot of celebrating going on! What a relief-overall our grade level increased the overall mean score by 5 % from last year and we were able to make up for the regression in scores from the 8th graders to make sure our school still shows improvement in its yearly progress report-Hallelujah!!!!)
In other ways(other than work) it has been nice to cook with fresh ingredients and get a small taste of some of the things we love about summer! Last week, I had a moment of insanity as I planned the week's meals and decided to do 4 new dishes. I'm a lover of Pinterest-but I make it a point to actually use the ideas I pin and not just fantasize about recipes and home decor-too much of a waste of time! I've been meaning to try this fresh recipe for Bruschetta Chicken and it was perfect when paired with some parmesan risotto!
This chicken was brushed with balsamic vinegar and olive oil while being grilled, and then was topped off with mozzarella cheese and a fresh Roma tomato and basil salad on top.
Here is a link to the recipe: Bruschetta Grilled Chicken
We also tried a new yummy quesadilla recipe (minus the goat cheese-not a fan-but if you are I'm sure you would love this recipe!) It was a great change up from the usual-especially paired with the avocado sour cream on the side and a little spanish rice. Click here for the recipe: Spinach, Chicken, and Monterey Jack Quesadillas (It sounds boring, but once you cook the spinach in the garlic, salt, pepper, and cayenne, it packs a lot of flavor!)
Strawberries!!!!!! Ah, yes, summer! Shane and I marveled at how perfect and fake these strawberries looked. I also noted that it probably means they were bathed in pesticides and would be hazardous to our health. Nonetheless, we still enjoyed them with some homemade whipped cream : )
The next day I decided to stray from the cooking grind and enjoy some baking-I was inspired by a recipe online for carrot zucchini bars and decided to create my own gluten free version with this carrot zucchini muffin. It is not very sweet at all, but has a lot of flavor and when paired with sweet lemon cream cheese frosting it packs the perfect bite!
Shane playing his guitar with his new strings while I bake.
Haha-Okay so last week was Teacher Appreciate Week (and if you haven't seen Jimmy Kimmel's bit about this on his late night show and you are a public school teacher needing a laugh-look it up on youtube)
Some of my students were very sweet and brought me gifts as a token of their appreciation. The most practical one being the Starbucks card not pictured (though I don't drink coffee). As you can see it was a hilarious medley of things spanning from a small purse with a frog print to body wash and sudoku. I will say the little girl that brought the body wash (that I'm pretty sure she grabbed out of mom's linen closet) prefaced the gift with "Since you are allergic to wheat."(Her mom had baked cookies for the teachers). It was very sweet of her and the gifts made for great conversation each night I came home : )
COUNTDOWNS OF THE MOMENT
5 more days of school with the students
7 more days of school in total (with post planning)
13 more days til meeting up with Shane's parents in San Francisco
17 more days til Dan Newman's wedding in San Jose
19 more days til San Diego with Lauren and Linds
42 days until our 2 year anniversary!!!
45 days until Chicago with my family!
Definitely a lot to look forward to, but trying not to wish summer away too fast at the same time!
-M.W.
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