Easy Mexican Rice

So, this is the first meal that I am going to post on here. It is for Mexican Rice! This recipe is so yummy and can be changed any way you like to make it more hot or less hot, which is why I love this recipe! I don't like all the ingredients so I usually leave some out and it still tastes great. And, the other great thing about this recipe is that you don't have to watch it. Seriously!!! So here goes...

1 cup uncooked WHITE rice (I've tried brown rice to make it more healthy and the rice never split.

2 cups cold water

2 cloves of garlic, minced or crushed

Olive oil

1/2 an onion

Coarsley chopped small roma tomato, chopped into about 4 pieces.

Hot pepper of your choice, sliced lengthwise

Tomato sauce (Buy the small can cause you won't use but about 1/2 of a small can)

1 teaspoon cumin

1 tablespoon chicken bouillon

Salt, to taste

Put about a tablespoon of olive oil into a medium sized pot. I would recommend using a non-stick pot or yes, it may burn. Heat the olive oil to a medium temperature, add the uncooked rice, and brown in the oil. Make sure all the rice is lightly coated in oil. You do not have to stir the rice very much at first but when it starts browning more, you will want to stir more to make sure it browns evenly and doesn't burn. (This is what makes the rice split like mexican rice is supposed to.) Towards the end of the browning, add the garlic so that it gets sautéed.

Next, dump the water on the rice (This is the fun part because it will steam loudly and I think that's cool!) Add all the other ingredients too! This is where you can play with taste and add or delete the ingredients above. I will tell you later what I do! Stir well and cover with a lid that has a small air escape. Reduce the heat to medium-low to medium and let cook for 20-30 minutes! Cooking time and temp varies with each stove so check after 20 minutes to make sure it isn't burning. The fun part of this recipe is "do not peek" while the rice is cooking!

When it is ready, all the water will be absorbed, the rice will fluff, and each grain will be split open. It should be dry, not saucy.

So, here is what I do different. First, I omit the peppers and sometimes the roma tomatoes if I don't have them. Sometimes I add a little more garlic just cause I like the taste of garlic and I don't usually measure out the tomato sauce. I just pour till it seems like enough. But like I said above, you won't use more than 1/2 a small can. Also, I have found that medium low head for about 23 minutes makes my rice perfect! I hope that you enjoy making this recipe. It is soooo easy to make cause you don't have to watch it so you can focus on another dish like enchiladas! If you try it, let me know what you think and have fun!

Here is a pic of what your final product will look like! ENJOY!

Meal of Week!

The other night, I was awake at 2:30 cause I couldn't sleep and I was thinking of what I could do more of on my blog! Then I remembered that I have a ton of recipes that I could post on here. So, once a week, I am going to post a recipe that I have made before and tell you what I think about it. I am going to try and get pics of each of the dishes to post but they may not always be available! The foods are going to be anything from appetizers to desserts to main courses. If you know me, you know that I love easy! So, that means that all of these dishes will require pretty cheap ingredients and should be fairly easy to duplicate! I will start tomorrow with a recipe for mexican rice! It is super easy and super yummy! So tune in tomorrow for an awesome recipe!! YUMMY!

Classroom woes!

Well, our school got word the other day that we needed to be out of our current facility by June 30th! I know, you're thinking, "that doesn't seem very positive Valerie!" But, contrary to what you might think, I think it could turn out to be very positive! My principal is currently in the process of looking for a new facility for us for next year but more than likely, the facility will not be move in ready, which means that I will need to pack up all my stuff and store it somewhere until we get the go ahead to move into the new building! So, earlier this week, I set out to begin packing. Here is what I was up against!

Now I know it doesn't seem like much but that is just a little bit! When taking this pic, I was sitting on the floor of my room, not sure where to begin! It was very overwhelming! I began to pack. Then started to get a headache so came home and slept for about 2 hours. I asked Michael to come up to my school the next day to help me finish! He did and we finished!!! I was so excited to be done! But wait... Now what to do with all this stuff??? I decided that I am just going to have to suck it up and get a storage unit somewhere close to keep all my stuff for about a month! It shouldn't be too expensive.

Over the past year and a half, my life sure has thrown me curve balls that, at sometime, I felt actually hit me right in my gut! When I found out about us having to be out of our current building by June 30th, I wasn't too worried! First, cause our principal is AWESOME and one amazing woman! Second, cause I have learned that things always happen for a reason! Even though we may not know why it happened at the time or see a reason behind it happening cause we are hurt too bad, there is a reason. This has taken me an entire year and a half to learn and I had to go through things that I NEVER thought that I would have to go through but I learned it! If I would have been put in this current "no building" situation before all this stuff happened in my life, I would be completely freaking out right about now! Probably filling our applications and begging for interviews but instead I choose to trust! I see it as a new beginning for our tiny, new, amazing charter school! I absolutely love where I work, who I work with, and all the kids that I get to help everyday. I would and have bent over backwards for each of them! They are all truly amazing. I just can't see, through all that, how this could be a bad thing. So, as I take my new turn on positivity, I would just like to tell all my Manara friends... Don't worry, be happy! We will all be together again, happier than ever, in August! Stay positive penguins!

How to eat vegetables and like them!

So, I went to the store the other day and if you know me, you know that one of my favorite foods is mac and cheese! I love it. My favorite is velvetta shells and cheese so of course that is the one that I grabbed! But then... I stopped. I saw a kraft box that said veggie pasta. I always heard good things about veggie pasta so I decided to give it a try. So, I put my favorite back and grabbed this healthier version.

It says that it has a 1/2 cup of veggies per cup! How could I go wrong with that. Well, it took me a couple of days to make it because we just don't keep milk here at our house anymore. It ends up going bad too fast so we don't buy it unless we specifically need it. So this morning I went to the store (hungry) and bought milk, along with other things!  :)  I came home and was ready to try it. I boiled the water, threw in the veggie pasta, drained the pasta, and mixed in the milk, butter, and cheese powder! The powder is the reason that I usually don't buy this kind. I made me a bowl of the veggie mac and cheese and OOOMMMGGG! It was really good. It tasted like normal mac and cheese. I couldn't believe that there could actually be veggies somewhere in there. Here is what the final outcome was.

It looks normal and sure does taste great! So, if you have a problem with getting your kids to eat their veggies, just tell them that they are having mac and cheese for lunch and problem solved. I hope this is a positive meal for your day! If you try it, let me know if you found it as delis as I did! Good luck my positive penguins!

Schools out for Summer!

This means that I have lots of time to do a lot of nothing! Now, don't tell my husband that because he would say that I have lots to do. And... He would be correct. I began this first week of my positive summer vacation by saying that I would focus on one room of the house a day. (We live in a 900 sq. ft. apartment so it's not like it should be that hard!) Anyway, I kind of did the kitchen on Monday. Then I woke up this morning with a migraine from you know where! :) Needless to say, I did not have a good day. I took two naps today that totaled about 3 hours. It is only about 9:00pm right now and I would have no problem crawling in my bed and falling asleep right now. My head is still pounding! I have done the netti pot, tylenol, claritin and nothing!!! Still pounding. I'm sure, looking at this bright screen is doing me good! I was supposed to clean the bathroom today. I went to the store and even bought special bathroom cleaner cause I like trying out new things. It seems to motivate me to clean. So, I'm moving the bathroom to tomorrow. Then I have the daunting task of cleaning out our closet. I want to have a yard sale soon and I know we have a bunch of junk, I mean, stuff in our closet! So, I will keep this blog updated on how I do with my cleaning! I know that would be so interesting!

Onto another topic that I don't think I have talked about on here before! By beautiful dog, Hannah! She is our two year old miniature sheltie! Here she is...

She is one crazy dog! We took her to the dog park last night and there was another dog there. Hannah just barked and barked cause that dog wouldn't play with her! We have never found another dog who has as much energy as she does. It is ridiculous. The owner of the other dog just said, "Wow!" We bought her from a breeder in Ferris for an undisclosed amount of money but she has been worth every penny! If I could have every asked for a dog, she would have been it! She brings Michael and I the positivity we need in our lives! She is wonderful but crazy!

Well, I know this post is a bunch of nothing but I haven't been on in a while and needed to just talk! I think I want to they and start having actual topics! So, if you can think of specific topics that focus on positivity, let me know and I will see what I can do! Hope everyone has a positive night!