Crazy Delicious Casserole

• 1/2 packet leftover rosemary ham
• 1/3 loaf slightly stale corn-rye bread, cubed, 1/3 cup crumbs reserved
• 1 container TJ's asparagus, nuked and cooled, then chopped
• 1 cup leeks, washed, chopped, and sauteed in olive oil
• 6 eggs
• 1 cup half and half
• 1 cup lowfat milk
• 1 teaspoon dijon mustard

Grease a 9 x15 baking dish. Put the ham, asparagus, and leeks in the dish and mix to distribute ingredients evenly.

Beat the eggs, then add the milk, half and half, and mustard. Beat well to combine. Pour custard mixture over other ingredients. Top with crumbs. Bake in a 350 oven until top is brown and custard is set.

Fennel Soup

• 1 fennel bulb (bulb, stalks, and greens), chopped
• 1 large Granny Smith apple, cored and chopped
• 1 onion (roughly the same amount of onion as apple), chopped
• olive oil
• salt
• pepper
• 1 cup (or so) of half and half

Heat some olive oil in a pan and saute the onion, apple, and fennel until the vegetables are tender but not browned.

Transfer vegetables to crock pot, add 1/4 tsp salt, and enough water to cover the vegetables. Cook on low until the vegetables are soft (about 3 hours). 

Puree the vegetables, stir in the cream, and season with pepper.

Lofty Goals for Winter Break

Ah, the first minutes of freedom, when anything seems possible:

• clean the house
• decorate the tree
• actually see friends and family (if anyone remembers who I am at this point)
• weekly reports
• design data tracking form
• math planning
• confine work to a max of 2 days
• clean out work binder so I can actually find stuff
• stock the freezer with muffins and entrees
• resolve cell phone issue
• update Ravelry and Flickr
• refine report to business meeting 
• committee notes
• nametag schedule
• read! Meet my goal of 74 books read by 12/31
• snuggle up with the cat, watch movies, and knit

Last Day Before Break

Highlights of the day:

• watching two of my struggling readers do victory dances when they got their reading improvement awards
  
• real food party: spaghetti and "lasagna" (really penne with meat sauce and cheese), LOTS of fruit, mac and ham salad, tuna salad, hot cider, frozen bananas with chocolate and coconut, cupcakes
  
• Watching the K teachers lead 60 kindergarteners through "It Must Be Santa"
  
• Sending home the last of those darn crayfish
  
• 80% of my students improved on their English Language Arts exams as compared to the first test this year
• All 6 of my reading intervention students made significant progress
• the Sunshine committee's fantastic breakfast for the staff