Pasta with Cream and Marinara Sauce

Update: Best eaten hot...not as good warmed up. :)

Keeping with this post, I am only cooking things that I have on hand. I am allowing myself to go to the grocery store for perishable items only: meat, bread, vegetables, milk. I am not allowing myself to purchase canned goods, boxed goods, bags, etc.

Why?

Because I have a pantry full of perfectly good food and I need to use it! My thinking is that this will be cost effective and pretty much Proverbs 31 woman. (Yeah, I just thought of that last part...but it's true!) I don't need to go off a recipe where I need five or ten things when I could simply make something else for which I already have everything!

Case in point: I texted Julie on Thursday to see if she wanted to come over for some tortilla soup. It was leftovers, but we're close enough friends I was okay with that and it was a cold day so soup was definitely a good option. However, I didn't have any chips. You have to have chips with tortilla soup! So the thought of running to the store flits through my mind. "Wait! You have crackers and sliced bread. You could make toast. You do NOT need to go to the store."

Now, it turned out Julie didn't come over that night, but I did eat tortilla soup for dinner. I tore a slice of bread into little pieces and put it in my bowl of soup. It was really good!

Tonight, I made some pasta for dinner and lunches for next week.


I used green onions, bell pepper and garlic. Added some white wine, cream of mushroom and cream of celery soup. Let it simmer while the pasta was coming to a boil. Then combined it all together and added a little marinara. It was great!

Earlier today, I had washed a carton of strawberries and blackberries. I don't usually combine those fruits, but decided to do so today. I sprinkled a little sugar on top and put them back in the fridge to chill and to give the strawberries time to masticulate in their juices.

Voila! Dinner! :)

Whoo-hoo! School is out for Summer! :)

I know I haven't been great at posting regularly, but I'm officially taking the summer off. So check back in August!

:)

No Child Left Behind: Football Version

NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND - THE FOOTBALL VERSION



1. All teams must make the state playoffs and all MUST win the championship. If a team does not win the championship, they will be on probation until they are the champions. Coaches will be held accountable. If, after two years, they have not won the championship, then their footballs and equipment will be taken away UNTIL they do win the championship.

2. All kids will be expected to have the same football skills at the same time even if they do not have the same conditions or opportunities to practice on their own. NO exceptions will be made for lack of interest in football, a desire to perform athletically, or genetic abilities or disabilities of themselves or their parents. ALL KIDS WILL PLAY FOOTBALL AT A PROFICIENT LEVEL!

3. Talented players will be asked to workout on their own without instruction. This is because the coaches will be using all their instructional time with athletes who aren’t interested in football, have limited athletic ability or whose parents don’t like football.

4. Games will be played year round, but statistics will only be kept in the 4th, 8th, and 11th game. It will create a New Age of Sports where every school is expected to have the same level of talent and all teams will reach the same minimum goals. If no child gets ahead, then no child gets left behind. If parents do not like this new law, they are encouraged to vote for vouchers and support private schools that can screen out the non-athletes and prevent their children from having to go to school with bad football players.

How many people can live on a teacher's salary?

I was talking to a friend of mine today on the phone. She told me about a teacher friend of hers that had a wife and four children all living on his salary. Yes, you read that correctly. She was a stay at home wife and mother to their four, count them, one, two, three, FOUR children. He taught school, coached, and taught driver's ed. As the children were old enough, they pursued jobs around town and mom worked part time once all were in school. However, the major earnings were his and his alone.

Now let me say, that I agree with a stay at home parent if at all possible. If these two can do it, then I'm thinking just about anything is possible.

As I listened to her tell me this, I felt almost wasteful. I mean, I don't just go out spending money hand over fist, but I don't really have any left over at the end of the month either. And it's just me! They had six people living on approximately the same salary that I make.

I can't even imagine the sacrifices those parents made for those children.

I applaud them and all who make those kinds of sacrifices each day for their children.

No more TAKS!! (for this year anyway!)

TAKS is officially over! Well, okay only for this year. And only for 4th grade. But hey, it's over for me and my class! Whoo-hoo! I can actually get back to teaching! Novels, here we come!

Virginia Tech

I'm praying for the families and classmates of the victims in yesterday's attack. I'm praying for the students at Virginia Tech, that they will rally around each other, lift each other up, and not allow this to bring down their morale as a university. The United States is behind you!

TAKS DAY

Today and tomorrow are TAKS DAY! Today is Math and tomorrow is Reading. We've worked hard all year...let's hope they remember what we've taught!