...nutty rants from a camel lover...: May 2006

Grilled Pastrami-Style Salmon

I brought this to house-church. Big hit. yum yum. (again...more pictures of food. hahah!)

Grilled Pastrami-Style Salmon (from Cooking Light)

The classic seasonings associated with beef pastrami taste fantastic on this grilled salmon. Allspice is a fairly strong spice, so if you're sensitive to its "burn," use the lesser amount. Purchase a whole center-cut salmon fillet so that it will cook more evenly than a cut that contains the thinner tail end.

1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1 (1 1/2-pound) center-cut salmon fillet
1/2 teaspoon olive oil
Cooking spray

Prepare grill.

Combine first 7 ingredients. Place salmon fillet, skin side down, on a cutting board or work surface; brush evenly with olive oil. Sprinkle spice mixture evenly over salmon; gently rub mixture into fish. Cover lightly with plastic wrap, and chill 15 minutes.

Place fish, skin side down, on a grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 10 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork.

...more May flowers...

...from those April showers....

...First official spring bouquet...

...from my garden. This one has daisies, windflowers (aneomes), sweet peas, and rannuculas.

...more pictures of food...

Last night, I made salsa with avocados for house church. Yah Cinco de Mayo...

Mix the following ingredients:
2 15 oz cans of tomato sauce
1 8 oz can of jalepenos, chopped
2 med tomatoes, chopped
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
1 white onion, chopped
4 ripe avocados, chopped

I made some stuffed bell peppers with rice, corn, tomatoes and nasturtium.

Then I made Berry Bars with blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries.

...iheartteaching...

I love teaching. I deal with some 65 CRAZY middle school students everyday...fight attitudes, no name papers, and ritual detentions every Friday. BUT I LOVE IT. What's amazing is a few years back in college, I hated the idea of being a teacher. I seriously prayed that God would "take me out of this profession" on a regular basis. He didn't. Then I had my first year of teaching and I thought I was going to die. Maybe it's just being in my second year and I'm still naive...but I LOVE what I do.

My students are testing this week...very stressful time. Here are pictures of some banners my students made to pep them up. They're so cute (my students)!

oh...one really neat blessings today...I prayed with my principal today. She came in for an inpromptu evaluation today and long story short, we talked about our faith, our students, and our desire to really see our campus change for His glory. I cannot tell you how encouraged I am to find strong believers in public schools!