Tomato Mozzarella Panini

I would say this is a far cry from my healthy veggie pasta I made last week, but it sure is delicious! For those who know me well, or have gone out to many meals with me, you probably know that if something has tomato, basil, mozzarella, or sundried tomato listed in the ingredients I will pretty much always order it. There is something about those ingredients that I just cannot stay away from! I'm not sure why I hadn't attempted this before because it is SO easy, but tonight I made myself a panini with tomato, basil, mozzarella, and a sundried tomato pesto. Of course I loved this, I order something very similar often at restaurants. As inexpensive and simple as this was, I think I will be making it far more often haha YUM!

Let me just share with you the amusing story about how I came to have this panini pan. About 2 years ago I was hanging out with Darren, John, and Bridget in Austin and Darren mentioned to us that there was this "amazing deal" going on at Linens n Things (or maybe Bed Bath and Beyond, same difference haha) and they had these cooking sets on sale for only $9.99. Each set was for a different purpose and had 20 pieces in the box including cooking utensils like spatulas, tongs, etc and some type of pot or pan. There were something like 10 different sets for purposes such as cookies, cupcakes, paninis, pizzas etc.

So the four of us truck out to the store so Darren can check out this "amazing deal". In his defense, it was a good deal, and Bridget and I each bought a set (this would be where this panini pan came from, that I hadn't used in 2 years haha). Well, Darren being Darren, decided that since it was a good deal, he had to buy them all. Seriously, hundreds of dollars on these random cooking sets! We tried so hard to talk him out of them because seriously, the boy has never even used a microwave lol! He kept saying that in a year he would be moving out and wouldn't have all of John's cookware anymore and he needed those things. I'm not sure what he needed them for, since he doesn't cook and I'm quite certain I witnessed him trying to cook fajita meat in a pot one time haha. He especially seemed to think that he needed the tongs! It was so ridiculous, and as hard as we tried, we couldn't talk him out of it.

Days later, he retuned them all. If that wasn't an "I told you so" moment, I don't know what is. Oh Darren and his good deals. Just can't pass up a good deal. haha!

cute things kids say

Kids can say the cutest things sometimes! Today I was walking the bus riders out to their bus while talking to a little girl I had in my class last year. She told me she had kind of a rough day and I asked her why.

"because, I had the hicumups all day long!"

hic-u-mups. too darn cute!

Second Grade Writing

I have literally been living under a mountain of papers that need to be graded or checked. It is unbelievable how quickly I get behind in grading! I am incredibly bad about checking any papers the day the kids do them, and the result is a very large mound of papers by the weekend. If I don't get them all done over the weekend, that just adds to the pile for the next week, and so on and so forth.

Today I decided I needed to tackle some of this paper mountain. My living room floor had basically become inaccessible, so it was time. I was grading some of my kids' writing and I came across this paper. This student speaks English as a second language. Just tell me this is not the cutest writing ever (spelling corrected to increase the readability for non teachers):

"My dad is a China people and me too. We just have a little money because we are new to this world. We speak Chinese. Some people are english and some people are chinese peoples."

Too cute!

Something else I really love about kids is when they get words wrong, but don't know it. Today one of my kids called me over and we had this conversation:

student: how to you spell "jippy"

me: I don't think jippy is a word, can you use it in a sentence?

student: you know, they got here in a "jippy"

me: oh, you mean jiffy? They got here in a jiffy.

student: no, not jiffy. jippy. really fast; in a jippy!

They continued to argue with me back and forth for a few minutes. They were convinced that the word was "jippy". Oh I love kids!

Coconut Cupcakes

It's Sunday, and you know what that means ...

CUPCAKE TIME!

I know I'll have sort of a limited audience with these, because it's one of those flavors you either love or you hate, but these coconut cupcakes are delicious and SO moist! The batter itself was delicious (trust me, I could have just had that with a spoon and been a happy camper), and the frosting is the same light meringue type frosting I made for the snickerdoodle cupcakes, but it has some coconut extract added in. And of course, as you can see, they are sprinkled with shredded coconut. YUM! If you like coconut, you HAVE to try these! I promise, you won't be disappointed!

It has come to my attention that some of you may want the recipes to some of these cupcakes, so I'll start posting them. If you wanted the recipe for one I already made, just leave a comment and I can get that recipe to you as well.

Coconut Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup packed sweetened shredded coconut

6 oz (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 1/3 cups sugar

2 large eggs plus 2 large egg whites

3/4 cup unsweetened coconut milk

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk dry ingredients in a large bowl. Cream butter and sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition.

Reduce speed to low. Mix remaining wet ingredients in a bowl. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture in 3 additions, alternating with wet ingredients and ending with dry. Scrape sides of bowl. Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full.

Bake cupcakes until testers inserted into centers come out clean, about 16 minutes. Let cool in tins on wire racks.

Frosting Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar

2/3 cup water

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

6 large egg whites

1/2 teaspoon coconut extract

Frosting Directions:

Combine 1 1/2 cups sugar with the water and corn syrup in a small saucepan. Clip a candy thermometer to side of pan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar dissolves. Continue boiling, without stirring, until syrup reaches 230 degrees.

Meanwhile, in a bowl, whisk egg whites on medium-high speed until soft peaks form. With mixer running add remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar, beating to combine.

As soon as the sugar syrup reaches 230 degrees, remove from heat. With mixer on medium-low speed, pour syrup down side of bowl in a slow, steady stream. Raise speed to medium-high; whisk until mixture is completely cool and stiff peaks form, about 7 minutes. Add coconut extract, mixing to combine.

Answered Prayers

I believe that God answers prayers. Sometimes prayers aren't always answered in the way that we want them to be, but that doesn't mean that they go unnoticed. It took me a long time, but I finally figured out that the point is not to pray for the things you want, it's praying for God to help you along the path He has set out for you. It's praying for HIS purposes, not yours. Since I really began praying this way, with a heart for God, rather than selfishly, I have noticed a lot more answered prayers. And rather than be upset about prayers are I feel are unanswered, or answered in a way that I don't care for, I feel a sense of peace (that I guarantee is not from me) and am starting to be able to see the greater good in the way those prayers are answered. Be it big things or small things I trust that God is listening to me. When I pray for something that aligns with His purpose for my life, it is always answered.

Last weekend I met up with an old friend on Saturday night and stayed out too late. When I got home I had trouble falling asleep because even though it was so late, I was still wound up from being out. I knew I had church in the morning at 8am. I knew that if I set my alarm to get up to go to church I was going to get 5 hours of sleep tops (and that was assuming I fell asleep immediately when I laid down, which never happens). I decided I couldn't do it. I knew that alarm was going to go off, I was going to be mad at it, and I would just reset it to make sure I was up in time for 11am Sunday School. So I didn't set my alarm for 7, I set it for 10 instead. It wasn't that I didn't want to go to church, I just knew there was no way I was going to make it. Before I went to sleep though, I prayed. I prayed that if He wanted me there, that He would wake me up. I told Him I really did want to go, I just didn't think I could do it on my own. I asked Him to wake me.

The next morning, as I was dreaming, I distinctly heard a voice calling me to wake up. I opened my eyes and looked at the clock. It was 7:00 on the dot. The exact time I needed to set my alarm for in order to get up for early church. And guess what? I didn't feel tired; I wasn't dragging; I felt extremely well rested and energized. 4 1/2 hours of sleep and I was ready to face the day as though I had 8 or more hours. And when I got to church, I found that the messages in both the service and my ABF group were EXACTLY what I had been needing to hear given the way things had been going in my life.

It may be a small thing, but there is not a doubt in my mind that God answered that prayer for me. I didn't wake up on my own, randomly early in the morning, to then go to church to hear a message that was specifically tailored for me. That was all Him.

God answers prayers. That may be a small thing, but knowing that he listens my small prayers gives me faith that he listens to the big ones as well.

veggie "pasta"

I've started a number of different posts this past week, yet none of them have been finished or posted yet. I blame it on a lack of time, and the fact that when I do have ANY time at all that I'm not doing school stuff all I want to do is nap. Hopefully I'll get a few of those finished in the next few days and you will have some things to read.

In the meantime I thought I would share with you what I made for dinner tonight. If you like vegetables, this was fresh, yummy, filling, and extremely healthy. It's a whole recipe made out of only vegetables, AND you don't even use any oil or butter to cook it! Seriously, how can you go wrong here?!? So here is my veggie "pasta":

You could have used any pasta you wanted for this and just made the veggie sauce to go on top, but to make it healthier you can substitute thin zucchini strips for the pasta (which is obviously what I did).

I didn't really follow a recipe exactly, I just went with a basic idea I found and made up my own quantities. All you have to do is put some chopped onion in a sauce pan with a few tablespoons of water, and cook until it starts to brown. Then add chopped eggplant and cook for about 8 minutes until the eggplant is almost cooked. Add some chopped up yellow squash, red bell pepper, and garlic, and cook about 2-3 more minutes. Add some canned fire roasted tomatoes, a little pepper, and some fresh basil. Cover and let simmer on low for about 10 minutes so the flavors can blend together. While that is simmering, julienne cut some zucchini. Place the zucchini on a plate, add some sauce on top, and eat! yum! :)

"love" letters from students

Thursday after school I was flipping through the kids' homework from the night before to check over it, when I came across this:

It's from a kid that I'm pretty sure DOES in fact like me, so it was more funny than anything. I totally showed it off to another lady on my team, and called Missy to tell her about it after school.

Well, yesterday I decided that I would call this child up to my desk and ask them to read it to me. I was wondering if they would read it as is, get uncomfortable, or just read it straight out. So I call the kid up to my desk and ask them to read this note to which they reply very enthusiastically, "Dear Ms. McCormack, I don't like you!!!". I sort of paused for a moment to see if it would sink in to this child what they had just said to me, but no, it def did not. I honestly had to control the laughter, I was quite amused. I asked why they would write something mean like that on their homework to which they replied, "because I just hate it when you give me homework. I don't like homework!" haha. Just as I suspected, this kid clearly likes me, I get hugs and stories all the time; they just don't like homework! hahaha