Dinner on a dime-flatbread pizza time

Well, I've started watching my calories a little closer trying to loose a few pounds. Tonight I was inspired by a pizza craving but wishing it was healthy. Voila, enter the flatbread pizza! It started with white flatbread. I wanted wheat but all the store carried was white. Next I added a quarter cup of Contadina pizza sauce. On top of that went Kraft fat free mozerella cheese. Tonight's toppings were black olives ( delicious and only 25 calories!), and Jennie-O's turkey sausage. Each pizza got a whole sausage cut up on top of it.  The sausages were cooked on my George Foreman for an even healthier topping! I put the pizzas in the oven at 350 and crossed my fingers! Ten minutes later, voila, yummy and delicious cheap, easy, and healthy( under 500 calories), pizzas!!! Until next time!! 

Dinner on dime-quesadilla time!

Well it's the night before school starts and we needed something yummy and quick, bring on the quesadilla maker! This was our first attempt with this wonderful machine but I'm sure there will be more recipes using it, stay tuned! Tonight's meal cost about $5 for the two of us. 

Ingredients:

Chicken ( strips that have been pre cooked or a can of chicken-near the tuna)

Mexican cheese ( I didn't have any on hand so I mixed cheddar with taco seasoning)

Taco shells

Any other ingredients you like such as : black olives, peppers, onions...

Put one shell down on the maker, add chicken, any extra ingredients, and cheese. Place another taco shell on top. Close lid, ready in four to five minutes! 

Enjoy!!!

Dinner on a dime-chicken kabob time!

Tonight we decided to fire up the grill and  I thought I'd try my hand at kabobs. As a side I made campfire tators. This meal is healthy, cheap, and delicious!!

Ingredients:

Boneless skinless chicken breasts

Peppers (any color)

Onions

Mushrooms

Italian dressing

Baked potatoes

Butter

Start by cutting up the chicken, trimming the fat, and cutting it into cubes. Then put it in a container, pour the dressing over it, mix, and let soak while you're getting everything else ready.

I soak my skewers in water while I'm preparing to help prevent them from burning.

Wash veggies and cut into chunks. Leave mushrooms whole but remove stems.

Wash the potatoes and cut into thin pieces but not all the way through. In between the slices put cut green pepper and onions and top with butter. Roll up in foil and tuck ends in on the top.

With the skewers layer the marinated chicken and veggies as you like (as you can tell from the pictures some don't have mushrooms). 

Now you're ready to grill! Put down foil and grill on medium rotating until down. The potatoes will cook next to the kabobs. Enjoy! 

Kabobs before the grill.

Potatoes before the grill.

On the grill.

Yum, kabob time!

The finished potatoes. 

Enjoy!!!!

Dinner on a dime- pumpkin cupcake time!

Maybe it's the fact tomorrow teachers report for work, but I was in the mood for a favorite fall treat, pumpkin pie. I then remembered a recipe for pumpkin cupcakes and decided to try to make them, with my own twist of course. They came out heavenly, in the shape of a cupcake but with a very moist brownie consitency! Here they are and here's the recipe, enjoy!!

This recipe makes about 16 cupcakes. 

Combine 15 oz can of pumpkin purée, 3/4 cup evaporated milk, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract ( I didn't use imitation), and 1/4 cup packed brown sugar. Mix well

Now add 2/3 cup all purpose flour, 1/4 salt, 1/4 baking powder, 1/4 baking soda and spices. The recipe called for two teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice but instead I used 1 and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon ginger and 1/4 teaspoon allspice ( or you could use cloves). Mix together well. 

Pour into a sprayed muffin tin about 3/4 full. Bake for 30 minutes at 350. Let cool 20 minutes and then put in fridge to cool. 

I then served them with whipped cream sprinkled with cinnamon... Omg fantastic!!!

Dinner on a dime-chicken, tators, and glazed carrots

Tonight's dinner was going to be pork chops, until I learned the bf doesn't like pork chops!! Plan B: breaded chicken! To make the chicken I cut the fat, dipped the pieces in egg and then in an Italian bread crumb/ onion seasoning mixture and put it in a pan with some olive oil to fry. Cook until not pink in the middle.  The carrots were drained and put in a pan with a little butter and a few tablespoons of honey. The gravy was made by first cutting up some Bella mushrooms, frying them in a little olive oil, and then adding canned gravy. About twenty minutes after starting, viola, a yummy, fast, and semi nutritious meal! Enjoy :)

Dinner on a dime- panini time!

I don't know where tonight's idea came from, but I'm glad I got it, dinner was delicious!! Tonight we enjoyed chicken, bacon, ranch paninis, here's the how! 

The bread is garlic bread, baked at 425 for 7 minutes. While it was baking I grilled the chicken and fried the bacon. Once the chicken was done I cut it in strips and mixed in ranch. I layered Swiss cheese, bacon, and the chicken mixture. I then put it on the George foreman and a few seconds later, viola!! Yummy paninis, cheap, easy, and delicious!! Enjoy

Bathroom re-do, bathroom up-do

Unfortunately we had an incident in the bathroom. Well, when life hands you lemons it's the perfect time to make lemonade! We took the opportunity to make the room look better, bigger, and did it for pennies on the dollar! We started with the floor, here's a before and after....

That's the night dad and I started ripping up the linoleum floor, easy we thought... Not so much. Thankfully my boyfriend, his dad and a friend came to my rescue! The floor is the only place I spent extra money, I figured it would be a good investment and went with porcelain tiles. Below is the progress over several days...

While the boys were doing the floor the bf's mom and I gave the room a fresh coat of paint and gave the cabinet a facelift of white paint. 

I bought a new accessory set and because the light fixture didn't match ( and I was running out of money) I painted over the gold with some paint. 

 I finished up by printing some vacation photos to add a dash of color. Below is the final product!! Thanks to my awesome bf and both our families for the help! 

This awesome organizer my mom bought me at Bed, Bath, and Beyond, now I can be organized!! 

Ready, set.....

The calendar is edging towards the end of August and that can only mean one thing, back to school! I went in last week and attempted to start preparing my room for a new class of fourth grade leaders:) Thankfully my mom was gracious enough to come in and help so we were able to accomplish quite a bit. You might notice a few things about my room: it has a jungle theme, a leader in me emphasis, and reading is key!! Here's a sneak peak, enjoy!!

One of my leader in me boards. The board on the left is interactive. Students will be assigned their own color/style pushpin. When they read a book that takes them to a new place, they put their pin on the map.

My books are organized by subject, genre, series, and favorite authors.

I made this bench my third year of teaching and its held up since! 

I'm using this organizer this year outside my class door. There is a spot for each days work for absent students, newsletters, permission slips, spelling words, and study guides. 

This handy book spinner came from a local card shop that was going out of business. It's perfect for my picture books:) 

This will be used for each students portfolio. We will add to it together and review their work quarterly and at conferences. 

Dinner on a dime-pizza night

Tonight was pizza night! My mom taught me how to make this when I was a kid and I've made this as a special treat with kids in my class. It's cheap, easy to make, and everyone gets to personalize to their liking! To make this yummy recipe  I use a can of the big biscuits, pillsbury is my favorite, and spread them out on a cookie sheet. Pull at the edges as you put them on. Next I add pizza sauce, found in the pizza section of your grocery store, and then mozzarella cheese. Finally everyone gets to add their own toppings. About 20 minutes at 350 and viola, delicious dinner on a dime, pizza style! 

Dinner on a Dime

So after a long day at work and a night of peeling wallpaper, I needed an easy, cheap (thanks to the money I dropped last night at Lowe's), and delicious dinner!
Easy (check), delicious (check) and two servings cost $5.00!  Bonus: Healthy!!

First I cut up little yellow tators (Yukon Gold) and little red tators.  I took a gallon zip-lock bag and added olive oil and bacon and chive mix (bought at Blocks market).  Then to the bag I added the tators and carrots and shook well.  Those were then put in a glass dish, covered with foil, and baked at 450 for about 30-45 minutes. 
To the pan I added some olive oil, the rest of the mix that didn't get on the veggies, and some bacon bits to the chicken.  I cooked on both sides until done.
The cornbread muffin was a quick mix with a little extra sugar.

Best Websites for Teachers

It's that time of the year, our district's Tech n' More a.k.a. days spent on summer vacation learning about the newest and greatest things in educational technology.  I've presented almost every year since I started teaching.  This year my three hour workshop was entitled Best Websites for the Elementary Teacher.  I've saved you the three hours of sitting in an uncomfortable student chair and added the link to my sqworl (yes, I spelled that right)! For those of you unfamiliar with Sqworl, it's a cool website that allows you to organize other websites all in one spot.  I have two Sqworls, one for teachers and one for parents and students, I'll attach that one too, lucky you!!  If you have a question about any of the sites please feel free to shoot me an email, I'd be happy to try to help!

 

http://sqworl.com/torlou -the site for teachers

http://sqworl.com/mihvia- the site for parents and students

I hope you enjoy,
xoxo,
Michelle Lynn

Welcome

Welcome!

This is my first ever post!! Whoo hoo, I'm hot stuff now :)  To introduce myself I am currently working on surviving my 12th year of teaching elementary school.  I love to be creative, working on crafts and in the kitchen.  Both my home and class are organized chaos.  This blog will be dedicated to showing you cool teaching tips and delicious treats.  I hope you enjoy!