Muffin Monday in May!

I am sitting on my bedroom floor with a mug of applesauce in hand, thankful that I have time to take a deep breath, put on my slippers, listen to some Christmas music, and prepare for a new week.  

For reasons bigger than my comprehension, April was a pretty tough month for me.  The most tangible reason for this difficulty is that as school wraps up, stress and anxiety levels are high for both students and staff.   I have a lot of kiddos who don't want to leave school for the summer and they've communicated that by being very disruptive and disrespectful.   I feel like I've dealt with more behaviors in the past month than I have all school year!  In every situation I am humbly reminded that love is a choice.   When circumstances arise that make me feel like I can withhold love from certain kids because they haven't earned it or don't deserve it, I am always reminded that we love God because He first loved us and we did nothing to earn that love.   With the awareness that time is marching forward at a rapid speed, I am praying that I will bear the fruit of the Spirit despite the ugliness that sometimes rears its head in my classroom.  Ultimately I fighting for something bigger than respect or order.   I am fighting to be the kind of teacher who represents the One Teacher who cares about these kiddos more than I ever could.  

I am also thankful that we are all given moments to make love a tangible part of our day-to-day lives.   Muffin Monday continues to be one way for me to do that amongst my coworkers.   Plus, the cool, rainy temperatures helped me stay motivated to turn my oven on for these cocoa spice muffins. 

Cocoa Spice Muffins

·         1/4 cup butter melted

·         1/4 cup cocoa

·         3/4 cup applesauce

·         1 1/4 cup flour

·         1 cup sugar

·         3/4 teaspoons baking soda

·         1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

·         1 egg

·         1/2 tsp cinnamon

·         1/4 tsp salt

·         1/2 cup chopped nuts or raisins (optional)

Thoroughly combine melted butter and cocoa.

Add applesauce.

Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, spices, and salt in mixing bowl

Blend in cocoa mixture and egg until dry ingredients are moistened.

Stir in nuts/raisins

Fill 12 greased or paper lined muffins 2/3 full with batter

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.

 Glaze:

·         1 cup powdered sugar

·         1  1/2 tablespoons milk

 Blend until smooth. 

Drizzle over warm or cool muffins

Although the general consensus among those of us in the Midwest is that we would love a warmer spring, I remember when this was our first of many snow storms:

  The weather may not be warm, but the frozen tundra has thawed! 

colorfully refreshing

Spring is in the air, and as the days grow longer, so do our social calendars.  I think the hope of being able to make plans that won't be thwarted by snow cause spring to be the season of potlucks, baby showers, housewarming parties, wedding showers and picnics.  So, to kick of the season right I attended a baby shower today and offered this colorful salad in celebration.   And, yes, it does taste as good as it looks.

Red Cabbage Apple Salad 

1/2 red cabbage chopped 

2 red apples chopped or cubed 

1/2 cup craisins

1 tablespoon cinnamon 

1/2 cup walnuts chopped 

1 cup organic unsweetened apple juice

Mix and marinate in refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight.  

*Make in a glass dish to avoid staining Tupperware. 

under the sea

Remember that one time that I packed my bags full of sun screen and sun dresses and headed to the Caribbean?  Well, I thought I would finally fill you in on all of my underwater adventures via a picture update:

I love swimming so much that I went snorkeling in both Jamaica and Haiti.  It was incredible to spend so much time in such clear blue water, although I may or may not have gotten pretty sunburned on my back.  

 

One of my favorite things about snorkeling is seeing rays of sunshine cut through the water highlighting the coral on the ocean floor.  

In Haiti we took a boat ride about 30 minutes from our cruise ship but the ship was so big that we could still see it from our snorkel sight!  (that's my friend April pictures above) 

I think with a little more practice April and I could rely on snorkeling as our backup careers (you know, just in case nursing and teaching don't work out for us) 

In summary: the food was amazing, the water was great but the best part of this trip was being able to live life with a good friend instead of having to update her about the life I am living.  For me, the richness of this shared experience and the depth of our common memories are worth their weight in gold! 

creamy, crunchy cauliflower

I think all of us have pretty quirky things about us that make us unmistakeably individual.   These unique and sometimes strange things often serve as interesting conversation starters with our acquaintances, or memorable stories to share in the company of good friends.   If nothing else, our individuality helps create laughter in situations where we otherwise might not have anything to laugh about.    With that said, there are a couple of things you should know about me:
The most interesting thing I can tell you to date is that I have at least two extra bones in my body that don't otherwise belong there.   On a much less interesting note, I absolutely love soup.   In fact, I love soup so much that I usually spend most of summer bookmarking recipes in anticipation of my fall and winter soup lineup.   This past summer I was so overzealous about my recipe search that I actually found enough recipes to make a new soup every single week all winter long.   At first the task seemed kind of daunting, but then I found my groove and ended up falling in love with my early Saturday morning soup ritual.   I think Saturday soup day will remain one of my favorite things about this past winter.  

The other less interesting thing I have to share is that one of my favorite things about working is packing my lunch everyday.   Seriously.   I take so much enjoyment from the process of planning and preparing my lunches that I usually know exactly what I am having for lunch weeks in advance.   I always pray for my upcoming day as I gather my different lunch items, which has become a critical element in combating my working blues.   I also tend to remember funny things that happened to me at work while I'm unpacking my lunch bag, which helps keep my joy in check and spirits high.   Let me also note that lunch time is the only time of day that I sit in non-child-sized furniture so really my whole body thanks me when it's time for lunch.   

So, when you add my less interesting things together (Saturday soup day + packing lunches), it has the potential to result in something amazing, such as Cheesy White Chili with Cauliflower.   After a very long winter and a whole lot of dirty soup spoons, I can honestly say that this soup has made it unquestioningly into my favorites.    Without further ado, here's the recipe:

Cheesy White Chili with Cauliflower 

1 tbsp vegetable oil 

2 onions, finely chopped 

4 cloves of garlic, minced 

1-2 jalapeno peppers, minced 

1 tbsp cumin seeds 

1 tbsp diced oregano leaves 

1 tbsp chili powder 

1 tsp salt 

1/2 tsp cracked peppercorns 

1 can white kidney beans, drained and rinsed

3 cups vegetable stock 

3 cups cauliflower florets, cooked for 4 minutes in salted boiling water and drained 

1 green bell pepper cut into thin strips 

2 cups Monterey Jack cheese

1 can chopped mild green chilies 

1. In a skillet, heat oil over medium heat.   Add onions and cook until softened.   Add garlic, jalapeno pepper, cumin seeds, oregano, chili powder, salt and peppercorns and cook, stirring for 1 minute.   Transfer mixture to slow cooker stoneware.   Add beans and stock and stir to combine.  

2. Cover and cook on Low for 8 to 10 hours. 

3. Stir in cauliflower, green pepper, cheese, & chilies.  Cover and cook on high for 25 - 30 minutes, until green peppers are softened and cauliflower is heated through.   

cruising the caribbean

I think anytime you do something for the very first time, the milestones are endless.   Spring break stands as my most recent milestone because it marks months of teaching as well as significant growth personally and professionally.    Despite the numerous milestones that I have decorating the memory of this past year, the truth is that I haven't really paused long enough to celebrate any of them.   So, in order to slow my momentum, appreciate all that has been accomplished in the 12 months, and provide a much needed escape, I flew to Florida, got on a boat and didn't come back for 5 days.       

Here are some pictures documenting my journey:

I went with my good friend April.  We both really enjoyed dressing up for dinner each night.

We went to Haiti and Jamaica.  We snorkeled both places.   It was awesome.

I even got to celebrate my birthday on the ship!  

 5 days is the perfect amount of time to be at sea.   Any less and I would have just been getting started, any more and I would have started to miss land.    The food was amazing and we even got to make some new friends.   Cruising the Caribbean was a great way to spend spring break!

exhausted.

It's 9:21 on a school night and the only reason I'm still awake is because I started doing my laundry earlier, didn't have time to dry it due to a birthday gig I needed to attend and then realized that it would be at least 24 hours before I would be home again to throw my clothes in the dryer if I didn't stay up to do it tonight.  So here I am, redeeming my time before I venture to the laundry room to collect my dry clothes and turn my lights off for good. 

For the sake of time and to also avoid writing another update exclusively about my job, I've got 3 updates to share:

(And since I spend the majority of my time and energy teaching, my first update of the evening is of course, about my job)

I have been teaching for 6 1/2 months and only have 3 1/2 months to go before I wrap up my very first 'year' as a licensed teacher.   It's been ultra challenging (especially lately) but beautifully rewarding.  I am still amazed that I have the capacity to learn and teach Science.  And even after really hard days, I breath a sigh of relief when I remind myself that I am out of grad school and working.  Getting paid to do hard things is really different than paying thousands of dollars to do hard things.   Part of the sweetness of it all comes directly from how challenging it was to get here.   Difficulty breeds perspective.

Difficulty also has a way of bringing me to memorable points of surrender and causing me to be far more reliant on God than I would ever choose to be.  Part of the challenge of post-college life is the lack of Christian community that I have.  So, out of a desire to spend more time in the Word of God and to increase the positive relationships in my life, I joined a Bible study on prayer at my church.  I have been praying that God would bring some older, wiser women into my life who had the capacity and desire to speak into my life and care for me.   While I am not certain that God has answered that prayer directly just yet, I know that I am taking steps to move towards wise women.  There is something deeply important about intentionally being in fellowship with people who are also choosing to spend time in the Bible.  

There is also something deeply important about making time to rest!  As of late this is something that I have not been very good at.   In order to make time for the responsibility of my job, working out , friends, lesson preparation and life tasks, I have been sleeping way less than I should be.   Thankfully, I am approaching spring break and will be heading out of town for the week.   Normally I don't need to go anywhere to feel rested, but this time around this trip is just what the doctor ordered.   I have created a routine of such intense productivity that I don't trust myself to stay home and not feel pressured to get numerous things done each day I'm off.   I am already planning on eating lots, sleeping even more and reading as many books as time allows.   In the mean time, I am praying that I will start sleeping more and doing less so that I can make it to spring break without collapsing in tears of exhaustion.  I'll let you know how it goes :)