Peanut butter cookies and a little hockey

So I have been away from blogger world for a little while. Been busy...been saving up so I could do one good post instead of a bunch of "meh" posts.

So before I get to these....

A quick recap of some hockey!

Allen and I went to the Vancouver- Montreal hockey game the other weekend with friends. The Canucks lost- boo...but it was still a good time!

Just checking out our hotel room. Gotta love King size beds!!

The tickets! :)

Now I know you are itching for the cookies...but hold your horses! I need to show you something that I am giddy with excitement over...

SPRING!!! It is almost here! I pulled some weeds today...still too wet and gross to do some major gardening, but I can tell Spring is coming!!!!

Now onto the cookies!

Allen and I made these delicious cookies last night. I swear I haven't made cookies in ages!

Butter/Oil Free Peanut Butter Cookies were just what I wanted!!

I found them through pinterest so you can find me on there and check out my Delightful Treats board... or just click the link :)

I copied the recipe...only thing I changed was I did half a cup Kraft Smooth Peanut and half a cup of natural chunky peanut butter.

They made 12 good cookies (especially since Allen and I dipped into the batter...seriously amazing batter folks!).

Anyways I am off to go do some errands... I see some sun popping out! Yahoo!

B

Amazing off leash trail

This past weekend my mom and I met for a walk. I searched for some good off leash parks so that I could bring Emma and hopefully tire her out! I lucked out! We took her to a off leash dog trail. Perfect place for Emma. It was a network of trails and all the poochies were off leash. Emma did wonderful! She listened and got some time to play with other dogs. My mom and I got to get a good walk in as well!

I had such a great day with my mom and Emma. Allen and I will be heading to the trail once he is home!

In other news, today was a first for me. I had to picket for the first time in my short career as a teacher. It was great for a couple of reasons. It felt good getting out there to stand up to George Abbott and Bill 22. It was great to spend two hours with Miss Amanda!

Not so good part...seeing that not everyone supports teachers. I know its part of being in a union, but it was really disheartening to see people showing their displeasure with teachers...

Something I need to get used to I guess!

B

Delicious salad

Happy Saturday!

Before I go into my delicious salad...a recap of the week!

I managed to fit in two classes at the gym this week as well as one workout of my own. Thursday is was Combo Express. Won't be returning to this class. I felt like it was a senior citizens workout class...

I left feeling like I could probably have worked out again. Oh well..

Friday morning I went to my usual workout class, Bender Ball. It was awesome.

After the class, I realized how much I need to work on push ups.

I CANNOT DO THEM!!

Anyways my arms have been sore since my workout on Wednesday.. and now my a** hurts from yesterday.

I love feeling sore.

Today I went to a Bridal Fair with my friend Chelsea. She is getting married in September and she thought I might want to join her.

I will never go to a Bridal Show again unless I am engaged. It was annoying being asked if I am a Bride-to-be. No I am here for friend that is getting married... please stop asking!!! :P

Anyways I was going to post you a
recipe for Banana Bread; however I have lost the recipe!?!?!? I don't know where it went!

I will leave you with this recipe creation though...

Please ignore the crap photo. I realized halfway through the dish that I should blog about it!

So I call this recipe Salmon and Yam Salad!

Ingredients:

1 yam (roasted or in my case microwaved)

Leftover salmon

Feta cheese

Spinach

Red wine and olive oil dressing

Combine and enjoy! I must say I didn't know how the yam was going to taste in this salad...it was delicious!

Any good salad combos?

B

 

Take a stand to bullying!

Before I get into the issue of bullys...here is a quick photo recap from Emma and I's Saturday afternoon at the beach!

I have to say...I LOVE INSTAGRAM!

So in regards to bullys....

BC teachers are withdrawing services as of Monday. We will be walking out....

We are taking a stand against the Government to try to get students needs met.

This is my first time going through a strike as an actual teacher. Its interesting to see people take to facebook, twitter and youtube to discuss the issue. It makes me so angry when people assume that the reason teachers are striking is just so we can get a raise.

THIS IS NOT THE CASE!! 

People need to take the time to educate themselves about the issues that todays classrooms are facing.

My hope for this strike is that George Abbott and Christy Clark will get a mediator and will come to the table ready to negotiate...not just say "no". Something needs to be done for our students.

The Government is trying to bully teachers into rolling over. We will not roll over...we will take a stand to make sure students demands are being met as well as ours.

Two things to leave you with...

Support BC Teachers

This girl is amazing. She is so well spoken! Please take the time to have a listen.

And a fantastic quote...

"Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength of the nation."

-John F. Kennedy

Coming soon...

Amazing Banana Bread!

B

Teaching update

Things were busy for me this week!

I was lucky to be in the same Grade 1 class all week!

Here are a couple of pictures from the week:

Our Paper Bag Houses:

My Body:

Please ignore my horrible body drawing!

I got to do lots of planning. I even got to spend some quality learning time with the class as I had 5-8 kids away each day. Wow...it would be amazing to have small class sizes! Speaking of class sizes... there has been alot of chatter in the staff room about the government and our strike stuff...

Here are a couple of things to leave with you...

"What if teachers adopted "net zero"?"

Just a little thing on whats going to happen if the government gives teacher net zero.

Hope you are having a great Saturday!

I will be back soon!

B

Tone it Up

Happy Monday! I am pretty happy right now because.....

ITS SUNNY OUTSIDE!!

I just went for a little jog, walk...and I am going to head off to the gym here pretty quick.

Recently I have come across the Tone It Up website and youtube videos.

The creators of this program have videos, meal plans, tips, etc.

Here are two videos that I am going to take some inspiration from for my gym workout today!

#1 Valentines Day work out

#2 Bikini Strap Workout

If only I had the hot summer weather so I could go workout on the beach too!

Anyways hope you enjoy these!

If you have a chance check out their website

Tone It up

B

Freezer turkey meatloaf

Before I go into the great recipe... a couple of photos that I took early in the week when the weather was trying to be nice...

I have bulbs that are starting to grow! Yahoo!!

Emma has been going through a weird stage this week...maybe more than a week. I am meeting with a doggy behavior consultant after work on Sunday to work on some new strategies to use with her.

Thursday and Friday I managed to fit two exercise classes in. I tried Cardio Combo at my gym with my coworker on Thursday and yesterday I went to Bender Ball with my neighbor and a lady from the firehall. It kicked my butt!

My lower back has been really sore from last weeks class, so I went to a massage therapist yesterday. She was super knowledgable and did wonders; however I AM SOOOO SORE TODAY!!!! No pain, no gain right (Allen loves this saying :P)

Last night I missed out on a special birthday dinner so I just wanted to give a shout out to Miss Courtney!

HAPPPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Thanks to pinterest I found another great recipe

I gave this recipe for Freezer Turkey Meatloaf a try a couple of nights ago. It was pretty tasty (for turkey :P). I find ground turkey can be pretty bland and I never seem to add enough flavor.

So since I changed the recipe a bit, I will give you my directions.

Mini Turkey Meatloaves (adapted from Sweet Potato Chronicles)

Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/3 cup of onion, diced on the fine side
1/3 cup of carrot, peeled and diced small
1/3 cup of red pepper, diced small
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 cup rolled oats
2 containers of ground turkey (from Costco) *I didn't weigh the meat so I don't know exactly how much turkey I used :S
1/4 cup ketchup
1 egg, whisked
1/4 cup parm cheese, grated

2 tbsp ketchup
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Warm olive oil in pan over medium heat. Add vegetables, red pepper flakes, and garlic and allow  them to soften, about 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool a bit.
In a large bowl, combine meat, oats, ketchup, vegetable mixture, cheese and egg. Combine with your hands or a spoon.

Measure 1/3 cup of mixture into muffin tins. In a small bowl combine 2 tbsp of ketchup and 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce. Use a small spoon to smear over the tops of the loaves.
Bake for 40 minutes.
Yield: 12
*If you would like to freeze some of the loaves, don't let them cool before freezing. The recipe I got from Sweet Potato Chronicles, said that letting them cool then freezing can cause bacteria to grow? 
I popped the loaves that were being frozen out of the muffin tin right away and put them in tupperware and got them into the freezer right away. They should keep fine in the freezer for 2 to 3 months.
For reheating, you can pop them (unthawed) into a 375 degrees for 20 minutes.

Just before you pop them in the oven!

I think the next time I make these I may play around with the spices and flavors a bit more, but overall pretty tasty.

One last recipe to leave you with...
At the beginning of the week I cooked up a whole bunch of quinoa. I used it for a greek salad...as well as this Strawberry Spinach Salad.

I just combined strawberries, spinach, quinoa and candied almonds then dressed it with a red onion salad dressing that I had. Super delicious and satisfying!

Anyways better go get ready for work!
Have a good weekend,
B

Whole Wheat English Muffins

Don't these look like store bought English Muffins???

My mom and I made this on the weekend, and they were pretty good for homemade.

These english muffins had some interesting ingredients including nonfat powdered milk..... and some interesting tools like canning jar rings...

I would give the website a look through and give these english muffins a try for something different.

Some comments on the recipe:

The only thing my mom and I changed was the flour...we used whole wheat flour.
Make sure to make the english muffins 1/4 cup or smaller otherwise they take longer to cook through. Also keep the temperature on low when cooking the muffins in a frying pan.

On Monday, I went to a professional development day workshop. Our keynote speaker, Dean Shareski, was fantastic. He talked about integrating technology into the classroom. One thing that was particularly AMAZING was that he decided to teach himself how to play the guitar. He ended up posting his own videos, then students from a school in the states gave him video feedback and tutorials! SO AMAZING to see these high school students teaching him what they know about music.

He also talked alot about the education system and how its not really working...teachers are over worked...we aren't connecting or sharing as teachers...

Anyways I thought I would share a couple of things from the workshop........

first...a funny video..

this is his house....

One last thing that I will leave you with is something he said about using technology...

"How can technology make us more human?"

How can we use technology to connect and share with people rather than just "looking something up"?

I feel like I have these comments stuck in my head whenever I am on the computer now...

How can I connect with people via the technology??

Thankfully...blogging is my first step to connecting with more people!!!

B

Weekend and a couple of recipes

Happy Sunday!

This past weekend, I headed out to my grandparents to house sit for them with my mom. We felt that we wanted a nice weekend of relaxing together. It was great. Yesterday we went shopping...

I managed to find 2 pairs of boots, one pair of jeans, one pair of dress pants and a wonderful wooly sweater. The boots and dress pants were all 50% off!! They were great finds.

After shopping we went and got some groceries to cook a nice dinner.

My next couple of posts will be about our dinner and breakfast recipes...

here is a sneak peak:

A delicious chicken recipe and ENGLISH MUFFIN RECIPE are to come!!!

Anyways here are some photos from our weekend:

How did you guys spend your weekend???

B

Amazing read

Sorry for being m.i.a the last little bit. Work has been incredibly busy!!!

It was great for the work; however didn't get much time with Allen as he was only home for a week. Such is life!!

Anyways while he was home, we got to meet our friends' new baby Taylor..such a cute little boy!!

I got to visit with some lovely ladies, did some rearranging of rooms and finished painting my bathroom!!

This photo doesn't really look that great, but I am super pleased with the bathroom. I am glad I was brave and tried a new color besides neutrals!

The other day I got a $10 egift card from Lush because of some shopping I did online at christmas.

I was super excited to receive this!

Check out what I ordered:

No Drought Dry Shampoo!

I can't wait to get this to try out!!! Apparently it is great for dark haired peeps!

So on to the book review. I just finished the last book in The Hunger Games trilology.

I AM IN LOVE WITH THESE BOOKS! I am sad they are over, but SO excited for the movies!!

If you haven't read the books yet...you must do it!

I will be back with a recipe soon!!

B

Things I am grateful for....

I spent today with some lovely peeps.

I got to have breaky with my "flock". My flock consists of my closest girls... Allen coined the term after he decided to call Emma and I his wolf pack. He decided that my girls are my flock!

After breaky I spent a couple hours shopping with my mom!

After my day today I was feeling pretty sentimental about how lucky I am.

A few things I am grateful for:

An amazing boyfriend.

I am so lucky to have such an amazing man as my best friend and "life partner"! :)

The best family a girl could as for. I would not be the person I am without my parents, brother, grandparents and extended family!

Amazing friends! I love that we can be ourselves. We are all so different but yet get along perfectly!

A crazy, hurricane dog! While she can drive me nuts sometimes, I am so truly lucky to have such a loveable, affectionate and beautiful dog.

A roof over my head. I am thankful to have such a nice house in a great neighborhood. I am so lucky to have a warm place to go home to every night.

I could go on and on for everything I am grateful for. This is just a snippet of what I love about my life.

What are you grateful for?

B

Energy Bites

The snow is starting to melt... I should say..the snow is washing away into a wet, slushy mess!! I was super happy that our street finally got plowed after three days of waiting...Im even more happy that the plow driver stopped right in front of our house with the massive pile of snow...NOT!!!

The end of my driveway is looking alot like a lake right now!

I am hoping for Spring...Summer and flip flops!!!

Anyways today I tried making these No-Bake Energy Bites. They were super easy and delicious.

I adapted the recipe a bit.

Ingredients:

1 cup oatmeal

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/3 cup honey

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup chocolate chips

3/4 cup coconut flakes

1/2-3/4 cup cheerios (sorta crushed a bit)

Combine all the ingredients into a bowl. Mix well then refridgerate for 1 hour. Once chilled roll into balls. Will keep for 1 week in the fridge.

I would totally recommend trying these. The recipe calls for ground flaxseed, but I only had whole flax, so once I grind up a bunch of flaxseed I will add it into the mix.

These are a perfect snack to keep me going throughout the day!!

I am pretty excited about tomorrow. I am meeting some lovely ladies for breaky, then going to do some shopping with my mom!!

Only a few more days till Allen is home from camp, too! WOOHOO!

B



Snow!!!

I had hoped that it would snow yesterday so that it would have been a snow day YESTERDAY...

Well the snow didn't come...

Usually when I think its going to snow I jump out of bed in the morning to check out the window.

This morning I didn't...but then I got a big surprise when I came down the stairs this morning!!

Check out whats happening out our front door:

I have a love/hate relationship with snow.

I love how it makes these seem so cozy and romantic. It can slow everything down...I love the sound of a fresh snow fall...

I hate driving in the snow..

I hate shoveling snow..

I hate the cold..

Right now I am loving it... I will report back in a hour after I go do my errands around town!!

B

Cheesy Quinoa Bites

I am still trying to figure out the perfect quinoa bites/burgers recipe.

I have tried two recipes now and have decided on some adaptations I am going to try again.

I may even try making them again this week.

Last night I tried Quinoa Risotto Bites from So Very Blessed

This recipe had you make a quinoa risotto that you baked in muffin tins.

I will let you pop over to So Very Blessed to get the recipe.

Here are some of my adapations that I will try next time.

*Add green onions into the mixture. I would add these when you add the cream cheese.

*I didn't include red peppers as I wasn't in the mood for them. I am happy that I didn't include them as I really liked the flavor of the bites as is.

*I added red pepper flakes and dried parsley

*Try using herb and garlic cream cheese instead of original cream cheese

*After combining all the ingredients, I will try rolling them into meat balls or mini pancakes and bake them is a dish or on a baking dish instead of doing it in a muffin tin. Even though I greased the tin, they didn't want to come out until they were cold.

*I may cut the amount of chicken broth I use down to half. I may make 3 cups of liquid with chicken broth AND water. I found the chicken broth added a salty taste, even though it was low sodium.

Thats all my changes for now. I will keep you posted on how it goes next time I try it out!!

B

Weekend update

I was really excited to show off a new recipe today...but the recipe wasn't that great so I won't bother you with it. I made Ranch Chicken Wings....they weren't too impressive.

Anyways here is a recap of my weekend..

Friday was a bust. I was sick..well not sick just incredibly dizzy. It was really freaky. Anyways I spent the day on the couch watching Modern Family. Hilarious show by the way!!

 

Emma is missing Allen I think...

After work on Saturday I took Emma to the beach for some playtime..

It was gorgeous out!

*Note the treat on the ground in front of her...she was being very patient!

Last night I hung out with Miss Emma and did some major reading.

I finished Nineteen Minutes this morning. It is about a school shooting and is written from the point of view of a number of characters from the story.

It was sad...terrifying but good all the same.
Not sure what book I am going to start next. I have a few choices :)

This morning I met Amanda for coffee and a good catch up!

After coffee I decided to go check out VV to see if I could find any good second hand finds.

I sure did!!!

My kitchen colors are olive green, brown and mustard yellow...

Look what I found:

I managed to get a set of 4 plates and 3 bowls (: all for 6 bucks!

They are the perfect color!

I was so happy with my purchase...even if its a bowl short!

Anyways tonight I am going to try making Cheesy quinoa bites! I am going to serve them with a poached egg...thanks pinterest for the ideas!!!
B

Pinterest, fitness, books... oh my!!

I feel like I constantly reference pinterest in my blog posts now, but I gotta say I love the website. I spend...waste alot of time looking on pinterest for recipes, fashion, DIY ideas and teaching ideas.

Usually I just test out recipes, but I finally got to test out some of my teaching ideas. I found some great ideas for some of my special ed. students and decided to actually make the resources and use them.

This resource was super easy to make and I am pleased with how it worked.

I simply divided a plate up into sixths. I then labeled each piece with a letter.

On clothespins I wrote sight words (highly used words) and key words that my student has been struggling with.

When I went to tutoring, I had my student read the word then find the corresponding first letter on the plate. Working on his fine motor he had to clasp the clothespin and attach it to the plate.

I am pretty stoked with how this went!!

In other news, sadly Allen went back to camp today :(

He will be home in 2 weeks.

I think the next 2 weeks may go by slow... as I get used to him being away again.

We started a competition before he went though.

We are going to see who can go to the gym, or go for a run the most in the next 2 weeks.

The loser has to buy dinner for the winner!!

Totally going to win!!!

I started things off today.

I worked my ass off at the gym today :)

I did 20 minutes on the elliptical (kinda died a bit)...the rest of the time I spent doing abs...abs...abs...squats...push ups..triceps...

I can already feel it...in good ways and bad ways.

I love the feeling of a good work out...however I did an oopsy and kinda tweaked my neck while doing some situps.

I am going to have a real hot bath here pretty quick to help relax it...and read my book!!

I just finished Blood, Bones and Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton on my kobo.

I was really looking forward to reading this book.

I was let down.

Didn't love it.

I just started reading 19 minutes by Jodi Picoult...after that here are my choices:

Catching Fire (second book of Hunger Games)

Night Circus

Water for Elephants

Reading anything good right now??

B

Quinoa Salad and Muffins

I have managed to try a couple of new recipes this week. I am super pleased with the results of these recipes!

I always have a large amount of frozen bananas, taking up space in our freezer. I usually make banana bread or banana chocolate chip muffins, but I have been trying to cut down on the chocolate. I found this lovely recipe on pinterest for whole wheat banana nut muffins.

They were delicious and perfect for an afternoon snack! I am super pleased with another muffin recipe especially when they have no chocolate in them!!!

Another recipe I am tried this weekend was Quinoa Salad.

I found a recipe for Quinoa salad with pears, baby spinach, and chickpeas in a maple vinaigrette on pinterest and I instantly wanted to check it out.

I did adapt the recipe a bit.

Quinoa Salad

Ingredients:

Quinoa

Spinach or mixed greens

1 pear

1 apple

Walnuts or pecans

Dressing:

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

3 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp pure maple syrup

Combine the ingredients in a bowl. Combine dressing ingredients in small bowl. Then toss salad with dressing. Serve and enjoy!

If you are wanting to use this as leftovers or preparing ahead of time, hold off on dressing the salad. Also hold back the nuts and fruit until you are ready to eat.

Allen and I had this salad for dinner with a few perogies the other night, then last night I took the leftovers for dinner at work. It was delicious with the apples and pears!

I would definately try this recipe. I just played around with this salad to make it work for us!

Any good recipes you have tried lately?

B





Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Squares

I have never really made cheesecake before...and Allen is a huge cheesecake fan. Allen and I went to a friends for dinner last night and I was in charge of dessert so I decided to give cheesecake a try for it.

I found this cheesecake recipe from Annie's Eats.

Check out my finished product!

I was so nervous the whole time I was making the dessert, worrying that I was going to screw it up somehow. Overall the recipe was pretty helpful. I did have to bake the crust longer than suggested, but otherwise it was pretty simple.

This would be a great recipe to try during the summer when blueberries are in abundance!

Check out Annie's Eats for the recipe. I won't bother retyping it out as I didn't change her recipe besides the crust baking time.

Check out the recipes I am going to try this week:

Cheesy Quinoa Bites

Quinoa Salad

Whole Wheat Banana Nut Muffins

Photos and reviews to come!

B