Well, the start of the school year was yesterday! I really meant to post this yesterday, but life took over. I am entering my seventh year teaching! Didn't I just graduate? I was feeling a bit unmotivated at first, but the teaching bug has returned. I'm sad to see the summer end, but the kids have really energized me.
I'm excited for:
- Teaching and meeting a new group of kids!
- Taking my Varsity group to new goals and reaching new levels of musicality.
- Helping foster some "self-belief" with kids who don't think they can sing.
- Working with my co-workers, and my fellow music people.
- Having a classroom that is a place where my kids can really be themselves.
- Being Region chair-elect! It's a new job for me, and I'm proud that my colleagues have faith in me to do a good job!
Not so excited for:
- Teaching 230 kids by myself....truthfully, I'm trying not to dwell on this, but I'm feeling anxious about keeping up our current level of success without help.
- Using more technology in my un-technological class. Choir just doesn't lend itself as easily to using technology, but our district has rolled out a technology project, and I'm determined!
- not seeing my family or Jeff very often because I'm so busy during the school year.
Great news is, I know that I can bathe this year in prayer! I know it will be another great year, and I'm looking forward to seeing where God takes me.
I wanted to post this recipe because it's exactly the kind of thing I would have avoided before. French name = difficult to cook. This kind of thing seemed daunting before, probably because there are several steps to this meal. Don't let that slow you down!
This has a typical french-style of food preparation. Brown meat is some kind of fat (oil, bacon grease, etc), remove meat, brown veggies, remove veggies, deglaze pan, add everything, slow cook until done. EASY! The same technique could be used for a pot roast, etc.
Ingredients:- 1 whole fryer chicken
- Bacon - 4-5 slices
- 1 medium sweet onion
- 3-4 large carrots
- 3-4 celery stalks
- 4-5 cloves of garlic
- 2 cups red wine
- 2 cups chicken broth
- Thyme - 8-10 sprigs
- 2 medium sized bay leafs
- Egg noodles
- Flour
- Butter
- Salt and pepper
Keep these things in mind:- You don't need to use a whole chicken if you don't want to, although it's the cheaper way to go. Buying a whole chicken is always cheaper than buying just a section of the bird. Ask your butcher to cut up the pieces for you if you don't want to handle the bird itself.
- You can choose white meat or dark meat, or both, but whatever you do, make sure you use skin-on bone-in pieces.
- Only cook with a wine that you would actually drink.
- Egg noodles are the traditional choice, but this would be good with new potatoes, or any other sides you want.
- Mushrooms are almost always included in this dish. I don't like mushrooms, so I've left them out. If you like them and want to include them, brown 2 cups of mushrooms after browning your other vegetables, remove the mushrooms, and then proceed with the rest of the recipe.
Preheat your oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit.Start by cutting up 4-5 slices of bacon. Toss into your dutch oven over medium-heat, and cook until crispy and the bacon fat has all been rendered. Remove bacon and set aside. Salt and pepper both sides of your chicken.
Place chicken into the bacon grease over medium-high heat, browning both sides of the chicken.
Pull chicken out, and set aside. Meanwhile, chop up a medium sized sweet onion, 3-4 celery stalks, and 3-4 large carrots. (Use more or less depending on what you like!)
Place chopped vegetables into dutch oven, and cook for a few minutes until starting to tender and onions are beginning to be translucent. Then add 4-5 cloves of chopped garlic to the vegetables and cook another minute, or until garlic is fragrant. Salt and pepper generously.Before:
After:
Remove vegetable mixture from dutch oven, and add to chicken and bacon. Your pan will probably look like this:
No worries- all that mess is about to be scraped off the pan, and will add so much flavor to the final product! Plus, it won't be so hard to clean.
Pour red wine into pan, and using a whisk or wooden spoon (my preference) deglaze the pan, scraping up all the browned bits. Add the chicken broth, and toss in all the other ingredients (bacon, chicken, veggies, and mushrooms if you used them), making sure the chicken is covered. If not, add a little more chicken broth. Add salt, pepper, bay leafs, and thyme sprigs right into the liquid. Cover tightly, and cook in a 250 degree oven for 2 - 2 1/2 hours, until chicken is done.
Remove bay leafs and thyme. Strain meat and vegetables, keeping the broth. Return vegetables and chicken to the dutch oven and cover to keep warm. Place broth into a pan over medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons of butter and 2-3 tablespoons of flour. Whisk while the sauce simmers until sauce thickens to more of a gravy consistency. Add more flour if necessary.
So delicious! Serve over egg noodles with gravy, and enjoy. This is an extremely fragrant and flavorful dinner that would be great year-round! The chicken will literally fall off the bone. A sprinkle of chopped parsley would be wonderful right on top, but I was all out.
YUM!
Today would have been the 100th birthday of Lucille Ball. I Love Lucy has been a love of mine for probably 20 years now. I own all of the seasons, and have even collected some memorabilia, and my teenage room was painted and decorated completely with I Love Lucy. She proved that "funny" can be clean and simple. Some people don't realize that the way modern sitcoms are taped, written, and the use of live audiences, came completely from Lucy and Desi Arnaz. I hope her legacy lasts a really long time! Although every episode is really worthy, here are my 3 favorite I Love Lucy moments.
#3 - stomping the grapes, which happens to be Lucille Ball's personal favorite:
#2 - Lucy and Ethel in the chocolate factory
#! - Vitameatavegimen
Well folks, the summer is coming to a close. August is here, with is 110+ temps, and with it's arrival, the school year is just around the corner. As much as I'm trying to ignore it, that's the truth. I love teaching, don't get me wrong, but every year I dread the beginning of a new school year. This year will be particularly busy as I have 250 kids and no assistant...ugh. That's another story for another day, but this school year is going to be particularly difficult. That got me thinking what a wonderful summer it's been, and the things I'll miss!
- Spending time with my husband as a "wife". What a blessing that has been! I didn't anticipate loving married life as much as I do. After so many years together, it's been wonderful to see how God is continuing to mold us and shape us as we have joined our lives together. Sometimes the learning curve has been difficult, but oh so worth it.
- NYC! We had such a good time. Neither of us has taken a real vacation in so long, and it was nice to start our married life together. We loved every second of our trip, and are already planning our first anniversary trip! Ideas?
- P-Dub's Vietnamese Iced Coffee. What a lovely, and sinful treat this summer. But, it's so much cheaper than Starbucks, although I'm sure it's just as bad in calories. Recipe here. While I'm sure her regular iced coffee is divine, I just couldn't bring myself to go through all those steps when the Vietnamese version (near the bottom of the post) is terrific!
- Speaking of Pioneer Woman, I have cooked a million of her recipes this summer, and I have never been let-down. That woman can COOK!
- Time with my sister. She's my very best friend, and I am so sad she's moving to Houston. We get each others humor perfectly and I love the feeling of a friendship where there's absolutely no secrets between us. Complete and total honesty is a rarity. Oh, and those sweet kids are the perfect bonus!
- Lunch/movie dates with my mom. We haven't had near as many as I'd like, but I've got a pretty spectacular mom. Lunch dates never happen during the school year, so the few times we've spent together have been nice. I actually really miss wedding planning, mainly because it meant that I had lots of time with my mom.
- Summer weddings! Congrats to a very dear friend from way-back, Justin Kouba, Jeff's cousin Madeline, and my friend from college Sarah Council (Boswell). I have enjoyed celebrating with you!
- SLEEP. Nuff said.
- HP 7.2. Went and saw this at midnight with my good friend Bethany, which then made me pull out those Harry Potter books and read through them. Great ending to a wonderful series!
- Cooking! With all of my new wedding gift additions in my kitchen, cooking has been so enjoyable! My hubby says I've reached a "new level" - you will have to come eat dinner with us to see!
- Time with my puppies. Until Jeff and I start a family (which I hope is soon!) our dogs are a major joy in our lives. Baylor has finally calmed down and behaves (a major milestone) and Ben is...well, he's just Ben. He's older and crankier, but such a good dog.
- Seeing old friends. It's rare to see all of my sweet friends since we all live so far apart, but the summer makes that easier because we all have time to travel. My wedding was made all the more sweet by their attendance. Whether it's bunco night or a dinner date, I've just really enjoyed seeing them.
I hope your summer was wonderful, and filled with all the things you love to do. Mine has been filled with all kinds of blessings - I'm so thankful and grateful.
