From the Inside Looking Out

  **recipe adapted from eMeals Ingredients: 1 lb large raw shrimp 1 tbsp olive oil 3 tbsp lemon juice 3 cloves garlic, minced 2 tbsp cajun seasoning 4 tsp soy sauce 1/8 tsp salt 1/4 tsp pepper lemon Instructions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place shrimp in a 12 x 9 baking dish. Combine oil, lemon juice, garlic, cajun seasoning, soy sauce, salt, and pepper. Pour over the shrimp and toss well to combine. Bake for 10 minutes. Serve with lemons I served my shrimp over brown rice with zucchini on the side. If you want a more keto-friendly option, you can serve it over cauliflower rice or zucchini noodles.

  **recipe adapted from eMeals Ingredients: steak (I am leaving this one up to you. The recipe calls for a brisket cooked in the crockpot all day or an instant pot for 65 minutes. You could also use a skirt steak or flank steak and slow cook it. I chose to use a fajita cut of steak so that it was already sliced thin and could be cooked quickly on the stove.) 1/2 tsp paprika 1/2 onion, chopped 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 can (14.5 oz) fire-roasted diced tomatoes 1/4 cup beef broth 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp pepper romaine lettuce leaves dill pickles (optional) sour cream (optional) shredded cheese (optional) Directions: Season the steak with paprika, salt, and pepper. If using a crockpot or instant pot, place the onion and half the garlic in the bottom. Place the steak on top and add the remaining garlic. Add the tomatoes, broth, and vinegar. Close the lid and set cook time: Instant pot (65 minutes on Manual), Crock Pot (low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours, depend

I adapted this recipe from Every Plate. ( www.everyplate.com ) Ingredients: 1 lb ground pork 1 poblano pepper 1 roma tomato 1/2 cup onion shredded cheese (I think we were out of cheddar, so I used parmesan) sour cream Mission Protein Tortilla Wraps  (you could also use lettuce or any other low carb wrap) Directions: Dice tomato, onion, and pepper. Saute the pepper in a skillet until it starts to brown and has softened. Add the ground pork and onion in skillet and cook until brown and cooked through. Build your tacos. Tip - I like to put sour cream on first so it doesn't make the wrap soggy. Enjoy!

One week ago, I was given 3 hours to go to school, clean up my room, and turn in my keys. When I walked out of the building on March 13, I had no idea that I wouldn't be returning this school year. My planbook was sitting on my table ready for the next week. My copies were in their folders waiting for Monday to arrive. The kids notebooks are sitting in their desks. It just felt like something was missing. Yes, we continued learning online for 8 weeks, but is just felt like we didn't get to finish. This school year will forever feel incomplete. I packed away all of the stuff that I care about in my closets. I tossed out all of the work that was never graded or never used. I cleaned out my desk, and only brought home a few things that I wanted to look at this summer in the event we get to start the school year off in the building. The one silver-ling, we didn't have to take down bulletin boards! Taking down bulletin boards to then just turn around and put paper and borders ri

It’s been awhile. Life. Life has been busy, hectic, and confusing. I took a few weeks off from writing to prepare and enjoy our Disney trip and then boom, a national pandemic. As someone who has anxiety, my mind and heart have been racing. As a teacher, I’ve been trying to be that comfort zone. That place of safety in a scary, unknown world. As a mom, I’ve tried to continue our day to day lives and shelter them from the fear of the unknown. It’s scary out there. At first, I tried to downplay it all. This wasn’t a big deal, we will be fine. Then as more and more information comes out it really starts to make more sense and made me realize it is ok worry. I have quite a few family members above 60 years old. I fear for them. I fear for my son who already has respiratory issues. When schools shut down for 2 weeks I didn’t know how to feel. Sad? Scared? Happy? What I do know is that I’m going to enjoy this 2 weeks (at least) with my children and husband. I’m going to make

It's a brand new year which means that for many people it is time for a fresh start and new beginnings. Unless you are a teacher. January brings about a lot of feelings for teachers. We are feeling refreshed after winter break and excited that we are about to hit the halfway point in the school year. But January also brings about a time of anxiety and stress. Because we are about halfway through the year, the time comes when it seems like all we do is test, test, and more tests. I can speak for my current school I work in, we got back from break and our students took a mid-year reading assessment. Students who are considered ESOL begin taking their WIDA assessment which consists of multiple parts and multiple days of testing. We will be giving a Math Benchmark assessment and a mid year science assessment. Our students will also begin taking the SLO post-assessments, which are given in each subject area and used to assess the teacher. All of this testing occurs on top of still bei

This year has made me notice the desperate times we have in the eduction world. I am experiencing first hand how important it is that we figure out a way to support new teachers. The education world already has a bad rap. We don’t get paid enough. It’s a demanding job that just seems to be piling more on teachers. We deal with challenging kids.  And yet people are still going to school to become teachers. So why is it that when these teachers finally make it to their first classroom we throw them in there like we are feeding them to a pack of wild dogs?? If we had some sort of support system in place for EVERY new teacher (not just the ones who show they need it), I bet the retention rate of new teachers would soar. This support system can’t be after school sessions that they can attend, because let’s be honest we are all exhausted at the end of the day. It can’t be extra professional development that takes them out of the classroom because the classroom is where they ne