Teacher giveaway, recipes

About a month ago, I asked my teacher-readers for input and advice regarding Harry's class assignment this year. You all offered wonderful insight and I promised y'all a little thank you for your kindness. So, if you are currently a teacher, please let me know the comments. In fact, tell us parents how we can better support teachers. I will have Harry randomly pick one of you to receive your choice of either a Starbucks gift-card or a Barnes and Noble gift-card.

To update you on the situation with Harry's class. I decided to keep him in the class and I am so glad I did. His teacher is the ESL trained teacher for 3rd grade and his class is extremely diverse. In fact, Harry's best little buddy is from Israel. Harry and I have had some great discussions regarding religious and cultural differences. There is a world map in his class indicating where all the students are from and only 4 or 5 children are from the US originally. But most of the children speak English. There are a handful of children who struggle with the language. One little girl joined his class from Saudi Arabia last week and speaks no English at all. Dave taught Harry how to say hello to her (he lived in Libya as a child) and I told him to smile because that means hello in any language.

Harry's teacher is AMAZING. She is truly meeting each child where they are. Harry is being challenged and stretched. She has re-ignited his love for reading through a challenging literature circle for him. And he goes to gifted and talented class for 3 hours a week. He is an extremely good student. His report card usually has grades ranging from 95-100. But this week he earned a B on a test. This was a first. He had never earned less than an A on a test since kindergarten. He was a little upset but I was secretly glad he got a B. That told me that he was being challenged and that he would have to study a bit more. This is a good lesson to learn. I think kids need to be challenged.

We talked about his B at the dinner table...Harry said, "I got my first B today." Will quickly quipped (offering a high five), "Welcome to the club, Harry." Harry (not missing a beat) said, "yeah well my membership is temporary. This is a club I do not want to be in." My boys crack me up.

I want to share two recipes with you. I fell off my juicing wagon BIG time with Kate's surgery and the boys being so sick. And I noticed three things: a) I gained weight--my pants were tight and b) my skin did not look so good and c) I was tired and irritable. So, I am trying to get back to my daily juicing. This week, I am focusing more on fruits and have a recipe to share.

1 cup organic green grapes

2 oranges, peeled

1/2 lemon, peeled

mineral water

Juice the grapes first, then the oranges and finally the lemon. The grapes might splash out a bit. Mix with mineral water (50%). I am not a huge fan of mineral water and plain water is fine too. This has great vitamin C and A, folic acid, and calcium which I need now because Will and Kate have colds. This makes enough juice for 2-3 servings. From The complete book of Juicing.

Here is another recipe that is not really healthy but a special occasional treat. Harry was at a sleepover one night and I made this. Harry cannot eat butter or cheese so I cannot make this when he is home. Although you could substitue olive oil for the butter and it is equally as delicious!

Oregano Shrimp

1 1/2 lbs fresh large shrimp, peeled and deveined

2 tbs fresh lemon juice

1/2 cup bread crumbs (gluten free work well too)

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbs chopped fresh parsley

2 tbs freshly grated parmesan cheese

2 teaspoons minced fresh oregano

1 stick of unsalted butter, melted

1 lb of angel hair pasta, cooked al dente (we used gluten free)

Preheat the over to 325 degrees. PLace shrimp in a 9 X 13 inch baking dish. Sprinkle shrimp with lemon juice. Combine bread crumbs, garlic, parsley, parmesan and oregano in a small bowl. Sprinke bread crumb mixture over shrimp. Pour melted butter on top. Bake 10-15 minutes, or until hot and bubbly. Serve over pasta.

From Stop and Smell the Rosemary.

Hope you are all having a GREAT week. It is rainy here and I am enjoying hanging out at home and cooking cozy fall food. Oh and don't you LOVE Season Premiere Week? I laughed so hard last night watching Modern Family!