Let's Say Thanks

This is a great thing that I remember Xerox doing last year too--you just click, and they will send a card to our troops!

http://www.letssaythanks.com/Home1280.html

I know, not food again! We are making some Mongolian beef and Oven Chicken Parmesan today, so hopefully they'll be good enough to share!

New toys..Christmas came early!

Well, our taping for the district channel is over and I will say that I think it went really well! Hopefully we'll get an edited copy before it gets aired, and then I can decide whether I should broadcast when it will be on television:) My students did a great job, and then I had to be in it..should have guessed that I guess!

I got these new toys for my classroom yesterday. I am so excited! I was playing Vanna White and showing my students how awesome our new stuff is. I'm not sure they're as impressed, but they got a good laugh out of it I guess.. A few of them can't wait to use them!

My haul:

this mixer

it's a beauty! and a beast!

this food processor

sooo much easier to use than our old one

this blender

small but powerful! looks like a great place to make a milkshake.. I mean a salad dressing.

and FOUR of these knives

CIA knives are awesome! If you only have one knife in your kitchen, it should be a chef's knife, and these are great! So excited we have these before competition time when the kids have to demonstrate their knife skills for judges. Rather than sawing with our old knives, they can use these!

Norris, if I'm not home after school anymore, you know where I will be. Playing with my new toys!

Biscuits

I finally did it! I made non hockey-puck flaky layered biscuits!

These are like those kind you get in the can that says layers on it--except for way better!

We made homemade sausage gravy to go with them. We couldn't think of anything for dinner and were scouring the cupboards and found some sausage (in the freezer, not the cupboard..). Decided to go for breakfast for dinner--good choice! Joy of Cooking had the perfect biscuit recipe. The only difficult decision was deciding whether to put jam or gravy on them..mmm strawberry apple rhubarb jam. I definitely went for both. oops.

Flaky Rolled Biscuits

it made 8 big ones

Preheat the oven to 450°F.

Sift together into a large bowl:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder (I used a touch less)

1⁄2 teaspoon salt

Cut in, using a pastry blender or 2 knives, until the size of small peas:

6 tablespoons chilled butter or shortening, or a combination (I used unsalted butter)

Make a well in the center.

Add all at once:

3/4 cup milk

Stir just until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board.

Roll out with a lightly floured rolling pin to about 1 inch thick.

Cut with a 1 1⁄2-inch biscuit cutter dipped in very little flour, and place on an ungreased baking sheet.

If desired, brush the tops with:

(Milk or melted butter) ..helps with browning

Bake until lightly browned, 12 to 15 minutes.

Happy Veteran's Day

Thank you so much to everyone who has served. We so appreciate what we have because of you.

Here are a couple of videos of returning soldiers that I just loved...the first is soldiers surprising their kids at school, and then the others are how excited their dogs were to see them. The first will require tissues:) The others are just hilarious!

Surprising Kids

Crazy Dogs

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=147_1223108811

Thank you Veterans!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins

Well, we went from being one of two people on our portion of the street to only having one empty house! Practically the whole street moved in during the last few weeks, and the lot next to us sold, so we'll have neighbors within the next six months or so...strange! I decided since we are the "veterans" (ha!) of the street, then we should go greet them and bring them something. Annie had some yummy looking peanut butter chocolate chip muffins that seemed perfect. I was a little nervous bringing them to the family with children (I think they're one of about three houses in our whole neighborhood with kids..everybody else is our age and childless or has grown children!) because of allergy worries, but decided to go for it anyway. I doubled the recipe and it made 28.

Also, if you have it in your heart (or your schedule!), and have an extra card on hand, this was posted by a friend today:

There is a news story about a family with a 5 yr old son Noah. He is in the last stages of a 2 1/2 yr battle with Neuroblastoma Cancer. The family is celebrating Christmas next week and Noahs request is to get lots of Christmas cards. Lets get him some, please send cards to: Noah Biorkman 1141 Fountian Viewcircle South Lyon,Mi 48178 Lets see how many cards we can get to this little guy. Please pass this on.

http://www.clickondetroit.com/video/21525126/index.html

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins

from Annie's eats

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 cup brown sugar

6 tbsp butter, melted and cooled

1/2 cup peanut butter

2 large eggs

1 cup milk

3/4 cup chocolate chips (remember, I cut back, so you can add in more if you like chocolate)

Preheat oven to 375.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and brown sugar. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk together butter, peanut butter, eggs, and milk until smooth. Stir in flour mixture just until moistened. Stir in chocolate chips.

Bake 17-20 minutes. Cool in pan on wire rack for 5 minutes, then remove to cool completely.

Pumpkin Pie Bars

This is a big deviation from the past few relatively good for you meals. This is total indulgence with eggs, sugar, cake mix, the whole deal. I always loved "dump cake" when my grandma made it, and this is similar in concept but with pumpkin! Again, made for school, and all the kids really enjoyed them. They decided to put them on our "Turkey Treats" list for this year. (we make baked goods and package them up for teachers and community to order and then pass them off as their own over Thanksgiving break:)
This makes quite a few--about 26 bars.

Pumpkin Pie bars

Bottom layer:
1 can (29 oz) pumpkin
1 c milk
1 c sugar
2 eggs
1 t cinnamon
½ t nutmeg
½ t ginger
½ t salt

Top layer:
1 yellow cake mix
¾ c walnuts, chopped
1 ½ sticks butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 F.
In large bowl, mix together all ingredients for the bottom layer. Spread mixture into a glass 9x13 pan.
Pat yellow cake mix over bottom layer. Spread walnuts over dry mix. Cover dry mix with melted butter.

Bake 45-55 minutes, or until golden brown.

Chili Burgers..veggie style

You probably won't believe me, but I fed veggie burgers to teenagers and they LIKED them! Some even REALLY liked them! (as in, they are planning on making them for their friends at home!) I have had them saved for a long time after seeing them on A Year in the Kitchen and finally got a chance to make them for my students during our trial of healthy recipes. The smell even drew in the pottery teacher next door, who really liked them and he even asked for the recipe later...I'd say they were a hit!

Try these if you're looking for something a little different. We put slices of pepper jack cheese, ketchup, pickle, and mustard on a whole wheat bun. I used the food processor for the onion and carrot, and had to use a little more of the oats to be able to actually form a patty, so do that if it's too mushy to form a patty.

Chili Burgers

slightly adapted from Moosewood Restaurant Lowfat Favorites
Makes 3-4 patties (hmm...I got 5 good sized patties plus one small one)

1/2 yellow onion, minced
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 carrots, shredded
1 tsp. dark mexican chili powder
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 15 oz. can dark red kidney beans, drained
1 tbsp. dark brown mustard
2 tbsp. worchestershire sauce
2 tbsp. ketchup
1/2 c. quick cooking oats

Hamburger buns (light whole wheat)
Ketchup
Mustard
Pickles
Sprinkle of monterey jack cheese

Heat a large skillet over medium low. Spray with nonstick spray, saute onion, garlic and carrots for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
While veggies cook, drain beans, and add to a bowl. Mash with a potato masher.
Add mustard, worchestershire, ketchup, chili powder, cumin and oats.
Scrape veggies out of pan, add to bean mixture.
Mix burgers thoroughly, form into 3-4 patties.
Heat same skillet over medium-high. Spray with nonstick spray.
Drop patties into skillet, cook for 5-6 minutes per side.
After flipping, add cheese, cover to melt.
Serve on a bun with condiments.