Honey Teriyaki Chicken & Peanut Lettuce Wraps

I posted this pic of my dinner this week and lots of people asked for the recipe, so here it is:

Honey Teriyaki Chicken & Peanut Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients:

2-3 Chicken breasts, cubed
2 Tablespoons EVOO (or Avocado Oil)
2 Tablespoons Onion Onion
1 - 1.5 teaspoons of ground ginger
2 Cups COOKED Quinoa
1/3 Cup Honey Teriyaki Sauce
1/4 Cup chopped carrots
1/3 Cup peanuts, chopped
Whole Lettuce Leaves

Directions:

Saute chicken in oil and with Onion Onion until chicken is no longer pink. Reduce heat.  Add ginger, quinoa, peanuts, carrots and Honey Teriyaki Sauce.  Gently stir ingredients together and heat through.  Serve chicken mixture wrapped with whole lettuce leaves and enjoy!

Terrific Taco Tuesday

If there is one meal that all of us can agree on, it is Tacos!  And with the promotion from The Lego Movie of "Taco Tuesday," I often get asked to make Tacos on Tuesdays at the White House.

This week was no exception.

But, I do not like to get into a rut when it comes to tacos.  Sometimes we do soft shells, sometimes hard shells; sometimes ground turkey other times pulled chicken!

This week was no exception.

I had forgotten to add taco shells (#fail) to the grocery list that Gary so wonderfully shopped with, but I <had> put on Multi-Grain Tortillas for him and I and we had left over Scoops from the Super Bowl (#win).  I did NOT want to make another trip to the grocery store bc I simply did not have the time or energy after school.  So, I took this as a spring board to jump onto Pinterest and find how I could get creative in the Kitchen for Taco Tuesday!

First off, I have done tacos with the kids using Scoops before.  We fill it with taco fixings and have mini taco shells fit for a Cabbage Patch.  But I didn't want Gary and I to ruin our #CleanEating by indulging in the deep fried goodness.  I found on Pinterest a way to make your own Scoops here.  But I took on my own version...

First I used only multi-grain tortillas.  I personally like the flavor of these a little more!   


I then found an object with a circle that was about 3 inches in diameter (1.5 inch radius #mathteacherwife).  I actually chose my Pampered Chef Handheld Chopper and detached it to use as a cookie cutter.

I cut out circles from the tortilla.  <<Note - next time I do this, I think I would warm them in the microwave in a moist paper towel first to make them more manageable>>

Next I brushed each circle with a new Tastefully Simple product, Avocado Oil, part of their new #TSEatWell line.  Avocado oil has many healthy benefits plus it helped to crisp up my tortillas when they baked.

Finally I gently folded and stuffed each circle into my mini muffin tin.  Some formed easier than others and I do believe if I had warmed them first, it would've been easier.

I baked the tortillas in the oven at 350 for 12 minutes.  <<Note - When I do this again, I probably will reduced the time to 10 minutes>>

I let them rest and cool for a bit and then we got to stuffing our tacos!

For our Tacos I love to make them as all natural as I can.  Luckily Tastefully Simple has this amazing #allnatural seasoning called Fiesta Party Seasoning.  It is very spicy, so just a little goes a long way.  The Tastefully Simple website has a great recipe called Taco Terrific, but I have adjusted it a bit to make it a little more healthy and to suit my family's taste buds:

Terrific Taco Tuesday:
1.5 lb Ground Turkey
1 capful Fiesta Party Seasoning (all natural!)
1/2 capful Onion Onion Seasoning (TSeatwell)
1 can Petite Diced Tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon cumin

Brown ground turkey in frying pan and drain any grease.  Reduce heat to medium.  Add remaining ingredients and cover to simmer for 10 minutes.

And to make Terrific Taco Tuesday just a little more fun, I like to put all the fixings in little bowls and let the kids get creative in how the make their tacos.  It's not unheard of that we have Taco Competitions for the best looking, most creative, and tastiest taco!  Olé!

January Randomness

I was trying to come up with a cute theme or idea for today's blog, but I guess I just have randomness to share!

Confession: I hate the holiday of New Year's.  Maybe it's because in my mind, the new year starts in September with school.  Or maybe it is because somehow I always feel let down at midnight that there was so much more I should have done.  Whatever the reason, I find myself kind of grump on New Year's Eve (just ask Gary!).  Does anyone else feel this way?

We did celebrate an early "New Year's Eve" with the kids.  They each got to toast sparkling grape juice which was a treat!  We also had a snack dinner - My favorite, although, it is time to cleanse my body with some clean eating! {More about that later!}

Evelyn had her second birthday over break.  She had her first little friend over for the big day.  She loved the idea of presents and kept saying "Mo presents?"  Just this week, her last present finally arrived in the mail.  It's a Stroller and a bike in one!  She isn't too fond of a stroller, but she LOVES this!  She can climb in all by herself and loves to put her stuffed animals in the back bucket.  Only drawback is that it does not fold up, but the long handle does come off, so we will adjust as needed!  PJ also enjoyed pushing her around :)

Speaking of PJ I have seen a side of him that is very sweet lately.  He actually played with his sister!  They went in her tent (that was handmade by a friend of mine!) and played "house" with her.  It melted my heart to see my oldest and youngest play together!

And don't worry, Isaac is around, too!  This guy cracks most people up.  He is awful smart for his britches and in those glasses can give quite the impish look!  He is loving his new XBox One Infinity game.  We do have rules set for it, though; no video games during the week.  I have to say, he is wonderful about this and doesn't complain.  Counting my lucky stars on that one!

                  




So, now as January begins, I am ready to make healthy choices, again.  I let myself go a bit and was totally fine with it, knowing I would take charge of my choices in the New Year.  On Sunday, I made 10 meals in one hour.  I did a Paleo Inspired Freezer Meal Workshop by Tastefully Simple with a Mama friend.  We drank wine and pulled together meals that are kid friendly and healthy, too!  I am so excited to start trying them next week - BECAUSE - next week I start another Advocare 24 Day Challenge.




My focus is to lose weight - specifically 7-10 pounds.  I want to cleanse my body and regain my energy level again.  I have really seen it drop lately.  I find that Advocare is a plan that works with both Gary and I as far as our eating habits and preferences.  I LOVE that I can still eat real food and lose weight!  It's all about the choices I make when I eat - High Fiber, High Protein, Low Carb (at least the bad ones!).  Keep checking back for this journey I take with Advocare and how I incorporate Tastefully Simple in it!

 

Christmas Traditions

Probably the most important part to me about Christmas are the traditions that we create as a family.  As a kid, we had traditions of which presents we opened when and where we went for dinner.  As I now have a family of my own, I feel that traditions are important to instill within my children.  It sounds silly, but I think children thrive on tradition - it creates an expectation and a sense of routine, but it also creates magic and spirit!

Some of our Christmas Traditions include...

St. Nicholas Day - This is actually a holiday that many people do not celebrate, but it is one that I brought from my childhood and carry on with my family.  I even celebrated it with my college roommates!  The way in which my family celebrates is that on the evening of December 5th, the children write their letters to Santa and place them in their stocking.  Then the children wake up on December 6th, with their stockings filled with oranges and small gifts (usually like stationary or a small nutcracker or toy).  They also learn that St. Nicholas came and is personally delivering their letters to Santa Claus.  It was something that I remember as a child being so excited for!  My children also love this feast day, too, as it generates that Christmas Spirit!

Christmas Lights - I know many people take family trips to look at lights, but we take it one step further...Usually the night of the last day of school, we all come home, get into our jammies and pile into the car.  We drive to the local Coldstone Creamery and have Ice Cream for dinner.  Yes - I know it is not your typical holiday meal, but that is what makes it exciting and extraordinary!  Then we get back into the car and drive around to look at lights.  We have a few favorite neighborhoods - including one that sells popcorn and cocoa!  Each year we find new light spectacles to add to our list, too!  Gary likes to take notes...someday...





Rudolph Monopoly - This is a tradition we started just this year!  Following Christmas Children's Mass, we all come home and enjoy an appetizer dinner while playing Rudolph Monopoly.  As the boys get older, it is fun to adjust our traditions a bit.  It used to be just an appetizer dinner, but now we have added monopoly.  It was great fun and PJ was the first annual winner!

Those are just some of our major traditions.  Of course we do the classic traditions of cutting down a Christmas Tree, decorating our home in lots of lights, attending Christmas Children's Mass on Christmas Eve, and baking Christmas cookies.  But it is always fun to do something a little different and exciting!

What traditions do you have???

Speech-Language Holiday Lesson: Christmas Cookie - Bite Sized Holiday Lessons

I just love the Christmas season!  I am firm believer in keeping the spirit of all Holidays alive in the school system.  Almost all cultures celebrate a holiday this time of year and this is why I am in love with this book; even though it has mostly Christmas undertones, it is a fabulous basis for discussion across all cultures and traditions.


I was recommended to check out Christmas Cookies: Bite Size Holiday Lessons by Amy Rosenthal by a colleague four years ago.  I immediately fell in love with it.  Ms. Rosenthal does an amazing job creating metaphors with feelings, moods, and other seasonal vocabulary.  She relates each of these words to baking Christmas Cookies.  This book transcends itself perfectly into a simple Christmas story, to a vocabulary lesson, to a social skills lesson, to a language writing lesson.  I use this book across all grade levels!  The differentiation occurs naturally with discussion.  Below I will outline how I use this book in a variety of ways with my Junior High and High School students.


Simple Christmas Story - Just reading this book as a story can reach the youngest of learners and the lowest level of learners.  Basic comprehension questions could be:

• What are they baking?
• Who is baking?
• How does she feel?
• What do they need to bake cookies?
• What season is it?
• Tell me about the weather outside...
• Where is he going?

Vocabulary Lesson - This book is rich in vocabulary.  Basic level vocabulary such as lonely, disappointed, and believe are great because children of all ages have had these feelings before.  They can compare and contrast with situations in which the have felt these ways or even with other books they have read before.  Words like prosperity, charitable, and reciprocate are higher level words that can easily be discussed in the book and transferred to grade-level material and novels.  In addition, the visual cues and situations presented with each vocabulary term allow for differentiation and improved comprehension.

Social Skills Lesson - I love to use this book with my students with Autism.  This book provides such a concrete example to some very abstract words.  Often when I use this book in social skills groups, I read it through once to practice good listening skills.  You could also work on turn-taking skills by having each child take a turn reading a page.  Then in the second read through, I will take each word and allow children to think of examples in their own life where they have had that feeling or provide examples of the term in their own life.  

For example, for selfish I provided the example of when my son took the last juice box without asking if anyone else wanted one.  I may not get through the whole book the second time.  And that is OK.  I want us to connect and discuss social situations where these words come about.  We may even take the time to role-play certain words like selfish, moderation, perseverance, or reciprocate. 

Expressive Language Writing Lesson - This is my favorite activity to do with High School students.  I always first start off whenever I am doing a children's book with High School students that although it is a children's book, often there is adult meaning in children's books.  So it is our job to understand the adult meaning.  Then I read the book to everyone (who doesn't love to be read to!).  We take a little time to think of our own example or to explain some of the vocabulary.  Then I am sure to review or teach what a metaphor is.  I explain that the author does an amazing job of writing metaphors with the vocabulary comparing each to Christmas Cookies.  And the cool thing is, they will be able to write metaphors too!

We start off by making a word web.  We put the vocabulary term in a circle on a page.  Then I ask the students to brainstorm examples in their life where they have experienced that term, what feelings do you have around that term, what does that term make you think of?  Then I ask the student to pick one situation that they brainstormed.  I show, again, how Ms. Rosenthal wrote the metaphor:

word + meaning = example & context clue

It does take some practice and we usually start with the word Tradition as most students have some type of Holiday tradition (e.g. opening presents).  Some of the writing that has come out of this lesson has been so profound!

Student Examples:

Responsible means doing my homework every night.       

Disappointed means a store doesn't have merchandise that I wanted.

Celebrating   means running off the bus on the last day of school.

Perseverance means to never give up during the hockey game.   I'm never giving up in the hockey game even though we're losing.

Anticipation means waiting for the perfect  gift to be around the Christmas tree with family.

Responsible means the day after Christmas the family starts taking down all the Christmas decorations and putting them away until next Christmas.

Hope means some children in different countries have wishes that they want for Christmas.

  I am super proud of each of my students and what a fun way to keep the Holiday Spirit alive!

What are some of your favorite Holiday Lessons within the school system?

The Monkey on my Back

Six months later...here I am.

I have this monkey on my back every once and a while.  Sometimes I mess up or forget to do something, I get so paralyzed by my anger or fear or whatever that emotion is that I feel towards myself, I keep ignoring the monkey.

The monkey gets bigger which makes me more afraid to do what I want to do.  Will others be mad at me?  I am so mad at myself.  It's almost as if I can see and feel the monkey, but in a weird way, it is almost comforting, too.  I have control of the monkey.  I choose whether or not he will get off my back.

Even though I don't like this monkey, I can calculate his every move or lack there of!  I know I should do something about it, but there he sits; mocking me, like a monkey in a circus with cymbols and a drum.

So, here I go.  Goodbye, Monkey.  C'est La Vie.  I am getting rid of you so I can start where I am.  I am sharing our families' lives in order to connect with others.  And I am forgiving myself for letting this monkey get so big.

Strawberry Fields

Yesterday evening I was able to take the kiddos on a field trip to a Strawberry Farm.  The weather was perfect; overcast, warm, but not hot.  We were lucky enough to have a private picking with the daughter of the farmer, a former student of Gary's at Sodus Central School.  She welcomed us in her cutie-pie cowgirl boots and piled us all in her truck to make the trek out to the fields.

"Look over there!  More berries!"

Searching for the "perfect berry"

Strawberry picking is one of my fondest memories as a child.  As school began to wind down, my mom would pick a date and we would travel to a strawberry farm.  I remember searching the PennySaver to find a farm that allowed "U-Pick."  We wanted to have the experience.  Of course the literal fruit of our labor was delicious, but it was about being together, finding the perfect berry, and of course the excitement of eating a berry right off the bush!

Strawberry selfie

I am so happy I have been able to continue this tradition with my kids.  Some years it is not strawberries, but perhaps cherries or apples.  We are lucky to live in an area that has an abundance of fruit farms.  PJ doesn't even like strawberries, but he enjoys the time out in the fields.  Isaac loves the taste of all fruit and berries, so he is in heaven when we pick!  And this was Evelyn's first time - as you will see, she very much enjoyed it!

Strawberries 2014

Julie teaching PJ about different types of berries

The boys learned the "perfect way to pick" from the expert!

She was smitten with her double stacked quarts!

Do you see the little hand sneaking into the quart?

Now to get busy in the kitchen with my berries...