Chicken Burrito Bowls

I love cooking Mexican food, because it is generally very easy to make a yummy dish. I also love Mexican food, because it involves cheese. The recipe that I am sharing today is my interpretation of Moe's burrito bowls. There is not a Moe's in Gadsden, so I like to invent recipes that taste similar to their dishes. Sometimes I fail, but I think this recipe turned out quite delicious. Enjoy!

Ingredients: 

2 cups of corn (frozen or canned)

1 can of black beans rinsed and drained

1 cup of chunky salsa divided (my favorite salsa is On the Border) 

1 clove of garlic (or garlic powder works just as well)

1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin

4 boneless skinless chicken breast 

1 package (8 oz) of cream cheese, cubed

Hot cooked rice

Shredded cheddar cheese

Directions: 

Combine corn, beans, 1/2 cup salsa, garlic and cumin in the crock pot. Arrange the chicken breasts on top and pour the remaining salsa over the chicken. Cook on high for 2 to 3 hours or on low for for 4 to 6 hours. Make sure that the chicken is cooked and tender. Remove chicken and shread/cube. Return the chicken to the crock pot along with the cubed cream cheese. Cook on high until the cream cheese is melted. Spoon the chicken and mixture over rice and top of cheese! 

You're a Poet and Didn't Know It

Writing poetry is one of the hardest concepts to teach in the high school classroom. Many of my students are intimidated by the idea of creating a poem that has meaning and doesn't involve "roses are red, violets are blue." A few years ago, I stumbled across the classic "I Am" poetry template that can be easily adapted for any secondary grade. I began using this template at the beginning of the school year by having my students write the poem about themselves. I would then keep the poem until the end of the year and return it to them so that they can see how much they grow in character and maturity over the course of the school year. 

After using this poem for a simple creative writing idea, I decided to take it one step further and use it as a form of character analysis. I have my students select one character from the novel/short story that we are reading. They use the "I Am" template to create a poem from the perspective of the character of their choice. The students usually blow me away with this activity, because they begin synthesizing character actions and development. I really enjoy using this project when teaching To Kill a Mockingbird because the students get to see Scout, Jem and Dill grow up throughout the book. I have included some of my student samples below along with the "I Am" template. Happy writing! 

Putting "art" in Language Arts

I love to incorporate art in my classroom. If I had been blessed with the gift of drawing or painting, I would have chosen to teach art all day long. Unfortunately, I am not a Picasso or even a good scribbler, so I have to step aside and let my students be the real artists in my classroom. One of the activites I love to use in my classroom is a project called "Imagery Sketch." Whenever my students are reading a novel in my class, they are asked to create 3 imagery sketches. The students find passages or elements within the story and illustrate it. They have to create one for the beginning, the middle, and the end of the book. Right now, my 10th grade English classes are reading Fahrenheit 451 in conjunction with Banned Books week. Anyone who has ever read this book knows that Bradbury incorporates imagery unlike any other author. His descriptions are specific and easy to interpret. I have included some photos of my student's sketches from the first portion of the novel. I hope you enjoy! 

Monday's Menu

What a wonderful weekend! I think I have finally recovered from last week's Homecoming activities at school and I can finally resume my normal classroom routines. It was a fun week, but I am very glad that we can get back on track. In an effort to be productive, I woke up early yesterday morning and prepared our dinner for tonight before we left for church. I was in the mood for something Italian, so I jumped over to my very best friend's,Catherine, blog- the Bailey Daily's- and borrowed her recipe for stuffed shells. This is by far one of the easiest and most delicious recipes I have ever used. It makes quite a large portion, so I like to freeze some of the shells for later. It is also a great dish to share with friends that have had a baby or surgery, because it is so yummy! Happy cooking! 

Ingredients: 

1 box jumbo shells (one box makes 2 recipes, so you might want to double the rest of the ingredients)

1/2 lb ground Italian flavored sausage

1 clove of garlic

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1/2 package of a 10 oz package of frozen spinach thawed

1/2 cup ricotta cheese

1/4 cup grated parmesean cheese

1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 egg beaten

1 jar spaghetti sauce

2 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese for topping

Directions: 

Cook shells according to package directions. Drain well and rinse with cold water. Cook sausage with garlic in a large sauce pan. Be sure to break up sausage with a spoon or spatula. Remove from heat. Add mozzarella cheese, spinach, ricotta cheese, 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning, lemon juice and egg. Carefully spoon mixture into cooked shells. Place shells in a 13x9 dish. Pour spaghetti sauce over shells. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until heated throughout. Sprinkle with shredded Parmesan cheese. 

Behind on Blogging

It is Homecoming week at Sardis High School! It is also progress report week, so I have been playing catch-up every evening instead of blogging. What a slacker I am! AP Language essays and exams take me forever to grade, so my stacks of essays pile up in a short amount of time. I have to keep reminding myself that Rome wasn't built in a day, everything will be fine. The Type A personality within me fights against this laid-back approach. Because it is Homecoming week, our students are given the opportunity to participate in dress-up days, float decorating, and door decorating. My 5th period pre-AP class was responsible for my door. They decided to go with the Fahrenheit 451 theme and feature burning books on our design. They did a great job! I am going to share multiple displays! Enjoy! 

Monday Roast

Justin and I traveled to College Station, Texas this weekend to watch Alabama defeat the Aggies. It was a super fun weekend, but not a relaxing one! For the past 4 seasons, we have traveled to some amazing away games with our dear friends, Catherine and Forrest Bailey. We always have a great time and so far, we have only traveled to one game where Alabama lost (AL/LSU). This past weekend was a glorious victory, but it left all of us quite exhausted.

 As a result of my Monday fatigue, I don't want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen this evening, so I am throwing a roast in the crock pot! I have decided to plan this week's menu around this beautiful roast. Here is the recipe that I am using this morning: 

Quick and Easy Crock pot Roast: 

Ingredients: 

1 3-4lb roast (chuck, round, angus- any of these!)

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 pckg dry French onion soup mix

1 c water

Directions: 

Put all ingredients in the crock pot and cook for 6-7 hours on low. How easy is that??

Have a great Monday!! 

Quick and Easy Quesadillas!

Even though it is almost the middle of September, I still feel as though the first day of school was yesterday! I am constantly playing "catch-up" with all things school-related and I am pretty sure my daily to-do lists will never actually get finished in one day. I just have to remind myself that Rome was not built in a day. 

While I am trying to play catch-up, I am also trying to maintain an orderly home and an organized menu for each week. As I have said before, I really enjoy cooking and planning meals. Justin is quite easy to please as he eats almost everything, so I am able to experiment in my crock pot or oven frequently. Recently, I decided I wanted to try my hand at creating a Mexican crock pot recipe, so I got out some of my most favorite ingredients and put them in my magical crock pot and ta-da!! We had chicken quesadillas! Try this out: 

Crock Pot Ingredients: 

3-4 chicken breasts (Because there are only 2 of us, I usually just cook 3)

1 green bell pepper

1 red bell pepper

1/2 onion

1 can Rotel

1/2 cup of water or chicken broth

1 package of fajita or Mexican seasoning (I like using MSG free products like McCormick's seasoning)

Quesadilla Ingredients: 

Whole Wheat Tortillas

Cheese of your choice

Olive oil spray

Salsa 

Directions: 

Place chicken breasts (frozen or thawed)Slice up bell peppers and onions, place them on top of the chicken. Pour Rotel, chicken broth or water, and seasoning onto the vegetable/chicken ingredients. Cook on low for 6 hours for frozen chicken or 4 hours for thawed chicken. After everything is cooked, place in a large bowl and shred the chicken and larger pieces of bell pepper or onions using a fork. 

To make the quesadillas, you can use either a regular frying pan on the stove or a griddle. Take one tortilla and spray olive oil on each side (this allows the tortilla to be a little crunchy). Place tortilla on griddle or pan and allow it to heat for 1-2 minutes. Spread chicken/veg mixture onto the tortilla along with cheese. Fold the tortilla over and allow it to cook until the cheese is melted. 

Leftover tips: I always have a lot left over, because I am cooking for 2. I like to make as many quesadillas that I can out of this recipe and wrap them in foil and either freeze or save for lunch. I also like to take the left over mixture and use it in salads if I don't want to make just quesadillas. 

SGA all the way!

High school teachers often have to wear many different hats that carry many different responsibilities. Over the past nine years as a high school teacher, I have coordinated proms, served as cheer coach (I was never a cheerleader! I know nothing about it!), directed the Spanish club, and sponsored the Student Government Association (SGA). I have yet to coach football or the archery team, but I am just waiting for Mrs. Gibbs to make that request! All of these opportunities have taught me a multitude of lessons about character and endurance!

One of my most favorite organizations to sponsor is the Student Government Association. It is quite an honor to work with some of the brightest leaders in my school. At Sardis, I am trying to implement an SGA that does more than listen to student complaints or host school dances. I want my students to learn the importance of putting other's needs before their own. I do not ever want my SGA to become a popularity contest that results in the praise of one student's performance. 

The SGA election process can be quite tedious, because it allows me to see who the students really are. If a student really wants to be a part of SGA, he/she will have to put in a little work to even get his/her name on the ballot. Here is my SGA election process: 

Step 1: Meet with interested students and explain the goals/expectations of the SGA. 

Step 2: Interested students receive application packet that requires 3 teacher recommendations. 

Step 3: After the application packet it is turned in, students are interviewed by a teacher committee. 

Step 4: Once the students have all been interviewed, the teacher committee decides which students get to continue onto the campaign portion of the elections. 

Step 5: Students are allowed to make 3 posters to place in designated areas within the school two days prior to the elections. 

Step 6: Each student must film a 1-2 minute speech that will be shown to every English class. 

Step 7: Vote! The student body votes on their choice for each office during English classes. 

Like I stated before, it is my goal to create an SGA that serves the student body and the faculty of the school. After SGA elections, I always meet with my new governing body and set up some goals for the school year. Here are some of our goals thus far: 

1. School beautification- Sardis is a very large school building with a very large student population. We have wonderful janitors/staff that work very hard to make our school a clean environment. I know that they carry a very large burden on their shoulders, so the SGA is going to work with them to make our school even more beautiful than it already is. We are going to take charge of the outside flower beds, assist in cleaning up the lawns, and help keep the hallways nice and neat. 

2. Teacher appreciation- The SGA has many surprises in store for Teacher Appreciation Week this year! Teaching can be such a thank-less job, so spending one week out of the school year letting each teacher know how important he/she is to our student body will be quite an honor! 

3. Student needs- In every school there are students who cannot afford the basic necessities to make through a school year. While there are many great organizations in the Sardis community that work with families to provide basic things like food an clothing, basic school needs like jumpdrives and notebook dividers are forgotten in the shuffle. It is my hope that the SGA can raise money to keep basic items in our counselor's office so that students can have access to what they need each year. 

These are just a few of my SGA goals/ideas. There are so many more to come in the current school year, so I know I will be blogging about them! Because my candidates this year have done a WONDERFUL job at creating posters, I am going to share some below! Enjoy! 

Crazy Weeks Call for Easy Recipes!

The past two weeks have been nothing less than crazy at school and the Hayes' household. From getting adjusted to a new sleep schedule to having strep throat twice in a matter of twelve days, it seems like I am running 90 miles an hour every single day just to stay an inch ahead. I knew that becoming an AP Language teacher was going to be a challenge, I just didn't know that it would consume my every thought almost every day. I spend many nights and early mornings studying my AP lessons, so I often get behind on so many things in my "real" life. Because I love schedules, calendars, and lists, I hate it when my list for each day doesn't get finished and it pours over into the next day. Unfortunately, cooking and grocery shopping sometimes gets pushed to the bottom of my weekly lists. 

Cooking at least 3-4 times a week is one of my top priorities in my "real" life. I really love to cook, but I don't always have time in the evenings to cook super-involved meals. I am very blessed in that my dear husband, Justin, knows his way around the kitchen and is always willing to help with dinner, but I really enjoy being the "cook" at our house. We make it a priority to eat dinner together at minimum of four nights a week, so that we can discuss our daily lives and just enjoy each other's company. As a result of my new crazy-hectic schedule, I have been researching new and easy ways to cook a healthy and balanced dinner for us that doesn't require hours of prep or pre-planning. One of my latest finds has truly changed my cooking life! Here are a couple of recipes/tips that have revolutionized my meal planning: 

Crock Pot Baked Potatoes

I have seen numerous Pinterest pins with this idea, but have always been afraid to try it for absolutely no reason at all! I don't know if it just seemed "to-good-to-be-true" or that I just didn't want to change my potato-cooking ways. Here is how it works: 

Ingredients: 

3-4 large baking potatoes (or sweet potatoes!)

aluminum foil

kosher salt

olive oil 

Step 1: Wash and dry the potatoes

Step 2: Spray/cover in olive oil, then add a little pinch of salt to cover the potatoes

Step 3: Wrap in aluminum foil

Step 4: Place in crock pot (they can be arranged on top of one another!) 

Step 5: Cook on low for 7-8 hours

The potatoes I made last night were soooo wonderful! They were cooked just right and were easy to serve right out of the crock pot. I had put my barbecue chicken freezer meal in my other crock pot, so when I got home, all that I had to do was remove my potatoes, shred my chicken, and serve it up as a "chicken in a potato patch!" They were de-lish!

Justin's Quick and Easy Biscuits

As I said earlier, I have had strep throat twice in a matter of 12 days. Justin was not going to let me or himself go hungry, so he took over the cooking duties a couple of times last week. One night, he decided to make breakfast-for-dinner and whip up some quick and easy biscuits. They were so good! 

Ingredients: 

1/3 cup of butter (cut up)

2c self-rising flour

3/4 cup of buttermilk

1 tbsp butter melted

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 425

Place flour and cut-up butter in a bowl. Using a knife or fork, blend together butter and flour until mixture is crumbly with large chunks of butter. 

Stir in buttermilk 

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, knead several times. 

Pat or roll out to 1/2 or 3/4 inch thickness. 

Cut with a 2 1/2 inch cutter or a simple cup will do! 

Place on lightly greased baking sheet and bake for 12 to 14 minutes

Once biscuits are cooked, glaze melted butter on top 

Teacher Spotlight: Jennifer Monroe!

I have been so excited about writing this teacher spotlight! Jennifer Monroe and I became instant friends when I came to work at Sardis, because she loves spontaneous song and dance as much as I do and she is an English teacher!

Mrs. Monroe's classroom is located right across the hall from mine, so we like to use our little space at SHS to sing and to smile every morning. Jennifer is truly a talented English teacher and she is an amazing scrapbooker, too. I can't wait to feature some of her designs on my blog. She has taught me a lot about decorating our hallway doors for various and assorted events at school. She always wins our competitions!

While I like to use my blog to discuss all things education, I really wanted to feature a new change in Jennifer's life. With her permission and an interview, she has allowed me to write my post about her new diabetic lifestyle. Enjoy! 

One of the fabulous perks about being a teacher in the great state of Alabama is our annual health and wellness screenings that are sponsored by our insurance plans, PEEHIP. Once a year, a caravan of nurses arrive at each school and perform simple tests so that teachers can be aware of our cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar, weight, etc. Because Mrs. Monroe has been a teacher for over a decade, she has participated in the health and wellness screenings every year. While this is not a replacement for yearly check-ups, it does allow each teacher to follow up with her regular doctor. 

Over the past few years, Jennifer has worked really hard to lose over 60lbs through diet and moderate exercise. She credits this weight loss to her wonderful and supportive husband, Donnie. He is an amazing chef, so in order to help Jennifer achieve her goals, he decided to change up some of Jen's favorite recipes so that she could eat healthy and enjoy her favorite foods. Because Donnie began to cook more at home and change up some of the ingredients, Jennifer started bringing her lunch to school every day (much to the envy of all of her lunch buddies!). 

As she began her weight loss journey, she participated in the annual health screening only to discover that her sugar was slightly elevated. Last year, her blood sugar remained a little high, but there was not a need for her to be labeled as "diabetic." Two weeks ago, we had our health and wellness screenings at Sardis and little did Jennifer know, she had become a Type B diabetic. Even though she continued to lose weight over the past year, her body had other plans! 

The day of the health screening, the nurse performing the test was very alarmed by Mrs. Monroe's blood sugar levels. At the time of the test, her blood sugar was over 300! The nurse begged her to leave immediately and go to the doctor, but Jennifer insisted that she would go right after school. When the 3 o'clock bell rang, Jennifer left SHS and headed straight to the doctor's office. Upon her arrival, the nurses performed a blood test and later a C1C test for more accuracy. The doctor determined that Jennifer is definitely a Type B diabetic, but she will probably be able to manage her blood sugar through diet and a simple medication. 

Even though Jennifer can manage this on her own, it has still been quite an adjustment for her over the past few weeks. She has had to stop eating all "white" foods and stop drinking sweet tea (oh, the agony!). Much like myself, Jennifer loves sweet tea! Donnie has been working with her to create new ways to cook some of her favorite foods the "diabetic" way. 

Jennifer's doctor has scheduled a follow-up appointment in three months to check her progress. Between now and then, she has to incorporate exercise into her daily routine. This is easier said than done! One of the hardest parts of being a teacher is time management! Not only is Jennifer a teacher, but she is ALSO in graduate school AND the Senior class sponsor, so extra time isn't just sitting around waiting for her. 

It always amazes me to learn about the physical health of many of my co-workers. There are so many amazing teachers that always have smiles on their faces even though they might not feel well or they are trying to learn to adapt to a new lifestyle. The Jennifer Monroe's of the world inspire me to keep a smile on my face and an extra pep in my step no matter what I feel like when I walk through that school door. 

Here are some of Jennifer's favorite recipes: 

Recipes that we love:

Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Breakfast Sandwich

1 strip extra-lean turkey bacon, cut in half cross-wise

Olive oil spray

1 large egg white

1 light multigrain or whole wheat English muffin, toasted

1 (3/4 ounce) slice fat-free yellow American cheese

 

Place a small nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and add the bacon. Cook for 2-3 minutes per side, or until crisp. Remove from the pan and cover to keep warm.

Spray a 3 1/2" or 4" microwave safe bowl with the olive oil spray and add the egg white. Microwave for 30 seconds. Continue microwaving in 15-second intervals until it is just set completely.

Assemble the sandwich by placing the bottom half of the warm English muffin, inside up, on a plate. Top with cheese, the egg, then the bacon. Add the English muffin top and serve.

My husband and I usually make a week or two worth. We put them in Ziplock bags and store them in the fridge. Then we can pop them in the microwave for 20 seconds and have our breakfast on the go.

 

Jam-Packed Turkey Soft Tacos (The original recipe called for chicken. Our grocery store happened to be out that day, so we opted for the turkey.)

4 (7 1/2") low-fat, low-carb multigrain or whole wheat tortillas

Olive oil spray

1 lb. extra-lean ground turkey

1 Tbsp + 1 tsp salt-free Mexican seasoning (We use Mrs. Dash Southwest Chipotle)

8 tsp fat-free sour cream

4 ounces (2 cups) finely shredded light cheddar cheese

1 cup shredded romaine lettuce

1 cup chopped seeded tomatoes

4 Tbsp red taco sauce, or to taste

 

Cook the turkey over a medium-high heat in a pan sprayed with the olive oil spray. When warm, add the seasoning. Cook until it is no longer pink.

Warm the tortillas for a few seconds in the microwave. Assemble tacos using the remaining ingredients.

It's almost fall!

Even though the average high for this week has been around 85 degrees, I still can't help but flip through my cookbooks and find my favorite soup recipes. I love my drive to school during the fall, because I get to see all of the beautiful foliage as I make my way up the mountain to Sardis. I love it even more when I am headed home in the afternoons knowing that I have a fresh batch of soup waiting for me in my crock pot. Today, I am going to share one of my easiest soup recipes! There will be plenty more to add to my blog in the weeks to come!

White Chicken Chili  

Ingredients:

1 cup of water
1 package of chicken chili seasoning (I always by MSG free)
1 can of Rotel (my most favorite ingredient for soups!)
1 can white beans (or 2 cans if you love beans)
2 lbs of frozen chicken
1/4 cup of diced onion

Directions: Pour everything into the crock pot (yes, frozen chicken too) and cook on low for 9 hours. The chicken will thaw and cook leaving beautiful shredded pieces and yummy broth! I like to serve mine with shredded cheese and tortilla strips.

Grammar, Grammar, Grammar

Teaching high school grammar can be one of the most arduous tasks for any English teacher. I find that I easily run out of resources before my students have completely mastered a standard. While I know that many of the students have had amazing grammar teachers in the past, I still have to reteach subject-verb agreement before I can introduce parallel structure. I also have to reteach pronoun-antecedent agreement before I can explain what pronoun-special antecedent agreement means. Over the past three years, I have really studied and research different online resources for my students. I wanted/needed something fun and different to assist me in reviewing grammar concepts. I have three go-to websites that I pretty much use on a daily basis. I will share them below:

Grammar Girl: http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-girl This website includes examples, exercises, and podcasts that I can share with my students.

Chomp Chomp: www.chompchomp.com 

My students love it when I use this website. The exercises are fun and easy to understand and offer great ACT review. 

Purdue Owl: 

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/

I use this website for my AP classes when teaching MLA/APA format, as well as when I am reviewing basic paragraph structure. 

What a great weekend!

I had a super fun weekend full of football and good food. Justin and I met some of our very best friends, Jason and Molly Carter, in Atlanta to watch Alabama play Virginia Tech. We love hanging out with the Carters for a multitude of reasons, but we especially love that they enjoy eating good food. We ate at two of my favorite restaurants, Two Urban Licks (www.twourbanlicks.com) and The Buckhead Diner (www.buckheadrestaurants.com).

All four of us love to try new things, so we generally all order something different and share our meal with each other. This makes for an amazing dinner! At Two Urban  Licks, Justin ordered bacon for an appetizer....yes, bacon! It was a crowd favorite!

For my entree, I decided to try the brisket. It was fabulous, however, they served me quite a portion of food! 

I had plenty to share! The next morning, we had brunch at The Buckhead Diner. As always, it was amazing! I tried a grilled chicken on pretzel bread sandwich that was delightful! Justin had shrimp and grits, while Molly tried the cobb salad and Jason ordered the chicken and biscuit. Dessert is always my most favorite part of any meal, so I ordered the white chocolate banana cream pie that is the most famous dish at The Buckhead Diner. Molly and Jason ordered a cookies and cream milkshake that was truly the best milkshake I have ever sampled! What a wonderful weekend! 

Molly is quite the cook and always inspires me to try new things in the kitchen. She is has a marvelous blog called, "The Duchess of Fork," where she shares all kinds of amazing dishes and cooking tips (www.duchessoffork.com). Her recipes never disappoint! 

After our food-filled weekend, I spent Labor Day writing lesson plans and looking for new recipes to try in my own kitchen. I try my best not to keep cooking the same 10 dishes over and over again. I tend to get very comfortable with cooking chicken dishes, but I am married to a meat-and-potatoes kind of guy! Also, I am always looking for something that I can freeze and use again at a later date. I love to plan ahead! While I was searching for ideas on Pinterest, the Pioneer Woman's show came on tv. I just love watching her cook! She was serving up an amazing meat/pasta dish that I am definitely trying this week. I have posted her recipe below: 

Happy cooking and Roll Tide!