Meatballs, Author's PIE, and Ivan

The week before any holiday is always extra busy... and this year wasn't any different.  Wrapping up a novel, adding in a little PIE, and celebrating with my school buddies for a Friends-giving made this week a success.  

I love this simple recipe for crockpot meatballs.  It's super easy - literally just throw the ingredients into a crockpot, and let it cook on low for 4 hours.  The students didn't even realize they were cooking over in the corner of the room.  It was my addition to our Friends-giving lunch potluck.  A bag of original meatballs, and equal parts of chili sauce and grape jelly.  That's it.  

I also love to do this PIE activity with my kids right before Thanksgiving.  In past years I used 2 paper plates - which meant cutting it and then stapling.  This year I simplified it and just used one plate - the top was turned into a pie (their choice of filling and coloring in a crust), then the kids used sharpie to divide it into 4 pieces and writing Authors, P, I, E.  Behind each piece the kids had to write a definition and an example of each type.  Super easy, but it was a great assessment tool.  

As for real pie, we had that too - the kids brought in donations of pumpkin pie for our Thanksgiving feast.  I split it up and served it with whipped cream as we watched a short Thanksgiving movie.  I LOVE Thanksgiving in the classroom!

We also finished up reading Ivan before break, so we created Ivan using 2 shades of gray paper, and then wrote opinion paragraphs on his belly.  An art project always seems to make finishing a beloved novel a little easier.  Directions for this craft are over on one of my old posts.  :)  

Hope you had a great day!

Christmas at Home

Hi Everyone!  I hope you are having a fabulous break.  Goodness knows, we NEED it!  I wanted to share a few pictures of what my Christmas has consisted of so far... I love this time with my family.  

 My boys have kept me busy.  Hubby had to work a lot last week, so I had my boys help tackle all those before Christmas projects... We hosted the big family meal (which meant a lot of extra cleaning since my parents and inlaws would be coming over - ha ha), so to keep the boys busy I had them make the place cards and decorations for the table.  These little trees were wooden doll bodies that they painted in different shades of green, and then decorated with puffy paint.  I had these little star/snowflake stickers that they attached to toothpicks, and placed in the top hole of the tree.  All in all they were so cute and helped make our table festive.  

I had to go to the grocery store on Christmas Eve for fresh bread and ended up finding three of these five drawer units too.  It's a wonder what the grocery store carries... Now, my boys didn't know it at the time, but they were getting new "big kid" desks and I wanted everything organized... no more pencil boxes upon pencil boxes of art supplies.  I ended up taking rainbow color stickers to help them sort their supplies and they fit perfectly on the shelves of their new desks.  

My older boys have been using folding tables as desks for the past 2 school years, so between their excitement over a real desk, and my kindergartener's excitement over having a big boy desk - well it made for a happy, functional Christmas present.  

We hosted the big (both sides of the family) dinner on Christmas.  It's a family favorite to have Party Chicken so I wanted to share the recipe with you.  :)  It's a flattened chicken breast, with a chunk of swiss cheese and a piece of ham tucked in the middle... then rolled up within a slice of bacon, and held together with one or two toothpicks.  Yes, it was delicious... then the sauce is cream of mushroom with sour cream (equal parts), and optional to add a little cream of sherry.  Bake for 3 hours at 275...  We had this and lobster tails, Napa Cabbage Salad, Baked Mac and Cheese (since the kids aren't adventurous), and Roasted Green Beans.  So good...

Hope your holiday was fabulous!  

Back to School Meals

I have learned a thing or two over the past 15 years of teaching... I know that August and September will mean I have a hard time throwing decent meals together after a full day at school.  Just on Mondays alone (staff meeting days), I tend to come home with a headache, and no amount of coaxing will get me in the kitchen to do serious cooking.  

So instead of cooking, I prep beforehand. Before school even starts I fill up my freezer with meals to keep my family of 5 nourished when I come home and just want to sleep.  :)  That's what I've "made" this past week - tons of future meals.  

Taco Soup is a favorite.  My dad's recipe makes double, so when I cook it up we automatically have 2 meals worth.  Just brown some ground beef in a pot, add onions, then dump in a can of corn, pinto beans, kidney beans, stewed tomatoes, salsa, a package of Hidden Valley Ranch dry mix, a package of Taco Seasoning, and some chicken stock.  It's so easy that even I can't mess it up!  It simmers for at least an hour, then we serve it with cheddar cheese, tortilla chips, and sour cream.  YUM!  Can you tell we're having it for dinner tonight?!

I LOVE using my crockpot too at least once a week during this stressful season.  I get tons of recipe from the Six Sisters Stuff website and mix up the "sauce" that will be poured on top of the meat.  I stick it in my plastic containers, and store them in my freezer for one of those crazy mornings.  In the morning I coat the crockpot with Pam, load in the frozen meat or chicken, and dump the frozen liquid sauce on top.  Then after school it's just a matter of throwing some noodles in a pot, or making up Minute Rice or Instant Mashed Potatoes as a side dish.  My family uses those steamable veggies that we stick in the microwave too.  It's great for a fast dinner.     

Some of our favorites are:

Sweet Teriyaki

Brown Sugar Garlic Chicken

Tangy Pork

Parmesan Honey Pork

and we're going to try out Sweet and Sour Chicken (I'm hoping it's good too).

During the big stock up for school grocery trip, I grab quite a few packages of chicken and meat for the freezer, and stick them in single meal pouches so it's so easy to just grab when it's time.

When all else fails, we have a go to Lasagna in the freezer.  :)

Linking this up with Tara's Monday Made It!

What are your fast family friendly meals for those busy nights?  

Monday Made It: Recipe, Home Improvement, Backyard Decor

What a busy week!  Linking up with Tara to share what I've been making!  

This week I made up my Dad's meatballs - it was super hot and I didn't want to cook.  It's the easiest recipe, but it's so yummy that my boys eat 2+ servings at a sitting.  3 ingredients thrown in the crockpot...  frozen meatballs and equal parts of chili sauce and grape jelly.  Just put on low for a few hours and it becomes bubbly and delicious!  

My sister bought her first town home this past week.  I am so proud of her!  It was built in the late 1980's and some of the decorating choices weren't exactly what she wanted.  :)  I helped out at her house all week long... cleaning, organizing, moving boxes, unpacking boxes, installing new flooring in her pantry, new corkboard on her shelves, contact paper in drawers, making trips to Home Depot for new toilet seats, etc... The flooring above is actually peel and stick heavy tiles.  It could have been grouted, but we decided to just put it directly next to each other.  What a difference it made!   

My home made it is actually for my backyard.  I saw an idea on Pinterest, and wanted to make something that meant something for my family.  All in all the project was super cheap - just little stakes, some outdoor paint, and a stencil.  When it was all done, I decided I wanted to hang it up, so I used a staple gun with garden wire to make a loop at the top - stapling each stake twice - one on each side.  The Pinterest idea had them nailed into a board to stick in the ground, but I was afraid the nails would split the stakes so I went with the staple gun.    

3,2,1 and Collaboration Cuties Giveaway

Guess who I met last night?  Collaboration Cuties is having a meet and greet over at their brand new blog with this amazing TPT giveaway.  All you have to do is comment and tell them what product from their store you would like that is $5 or below.  I personally chose the Reading Genres Mini Book, but they have a ton to choose from.      Now onto my goals...it is Sunday you know... 3 goals...
Last week I didn't get around to wrapping gifts like I had hoped.  I need to get going on that, though I guess there is still time.
Personal goal:  Get better!  I feel like I just got better from the last cold and as of Friday I was back to coughing up a storm.  I'm pretty disappointed with my immune system.  It has been known to handle a lot, and this year it's letting me down.  Maybe I should sleep more... 
Home goal:  Organize as I go through the week, so come Friday afternoon when vacation starts the house doesn't look like a tornado visited.
School goal:  Make it through this week.  5 days left of school... 5 days... 5 days and have huge things each day to tackle... Here's my to do list.
*Monday is finishing up our Tradition books so I can bind them.  Yes, I know I said I was going to stick them into sheet protectors, but that was before I found out that there was a binding machine in the back of our library and the spirals/supplies are FREE for teachers (it's a little known secret).
*Tuesday is celebrating the Rock Cycle.  I bring in Oreos for Sedimentary rock, Magic Shell for Igneous Rock, and pancake batter with mini chocolate chips (and griddle) for Metamorphic Rock.  I'll take pictures and share later.    *Wednesday is an art party with our Reading Buddies.  My big kids are helping her little kids create cute little wooden snowmen.  We also need to create our parent gifts and wrap up our Traditions books. They are going to decorate their own tile for their parents - since it was such a hit on Friday night.  
*Thursday is Owl Pellet Dissection Day in the morning.  I know, I know... we finished Food Chain and Webs a long time ago, but at that time I had convinced myself that we were never going to raise the money we needed... but they did.  So I invited parents to come in and dissect with us.  My little darlings will also be taking their story test first thing that morning... my gift to them.  :)  In the afternoon, I'm heading to my toddler's IEP... wish us luck!
*Friday - oh Friday!  I can't wait until Friday!!  Friday we have a lot going on.  We are having donuts and hot chocolate first thing in the morning, and then grade level centers from recess to lunch. My plan is to do Christmas Boggle during the rotations since they loved it at Halloween (and it gives me time to prep last minute stuff before vacation).  After lunch it gets a little messy with making Sugar Cube Missions (my version of a Gingerbread House), and then having our White Elephant Book Exchange.  The kids are bringing in a wrapped book to add to the pile, and then we will start picking and switching... it's always fun!  Sometime in there I need to exchange gifts with my kiddos - I hope they like the book, hot chocolate, and the ornament bookmark... 
Then add to the week having to do a story, spelling test, finish up Factors, finish up our Mission Books, assign a mission for their reports, writing about finding Santa playing video games, have a lock down drill, passing out gifts to my coworkers and parent helpers... My week will be well rounded. 
2 things I'm looking forward to...
*I'm on the Sunshine Team (we plan fun things for the staff) - and tomorrow is our Dessert and Yumminess time.  The staff signed up for stuff to bring in and we get to have those snacks at our staff meeting.  I signed up to bring an appetizer - making my crockpot Chili Sauce and Grape Jelly Meatballs.
*I'm also looking forward to playing Secret Santa this coming week.  I get to surprise my person each day with little trinkets in their mailbox.  Today though I have to go shopping to get it all prepped... that organization thing you know...
1 thing I want to try... I found this picture on Pinterest and I love my sweet potatoes.  I'm always wanting to find new ways to eat them and these look delicious!  The picture will take you to the Rufus' Food and Spirits Guide in case you want the recipe too.
Okay people... I can't say it enough... 5 days... 5 days... I think I can, I think I can...
Have a great day!