Back to School "Snobby Joes"

It's the first Friday of the school year! If we're Facebook friends, you've been subjected to countless status updates about how much I love my job. I try not to talk about work on here, but I will say that this new gig is freaking amazing. I never thought I would like teaching junior high but, although it's still pretty early to tell for sure, I might be a convert. These kids rock.

How cute is my classroom?

Another thing I think I've converted to? AM workouts. I know, it was not that long ago that I begged anyone to explain how in the world you manage to function, let along exercise, before the 6 o'clock hour. However, yesterday when my alarm went off at 5am, I somehow managed to drag myself down to the treadmill and, after 3 miles, felt pretty awesome. I then proceeded to feel pretty awesome all day long, which is saying a lot because by 3pm on Wednesday I felt like I was dying.

To celebrate all these good things, I made an Ellis favorite last night - Snobby Joes.

We can't get enough of these and if you aren't making them regularly, I do not hesitate to say that you are totally missing out. I enjoy mine open-faced on whole wheat toast with yellow mustard, pickles, and heirloom tomatoes from the farm.

We also made some lackluster potato wedges with leftover potatoes from B's first day of school candle eating demo. I really thought I'd be able to find a YouTube video of a science teacher doing this demo, but I came up empty handed. Sorry. It's pretty cool.

My weekend plans include running my first half marathon! No big deal.






Snobby Joes
from Happy Foody

Ingredients

• 1 cup uncooked lentils
• 4 cups water
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced small
• 1 green pepper, diced small
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 Tablespoons chili powder
• 1 1/2  teaspoons oregano
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 8 oz can tomato sauce
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1-2 tablespoons wet yellow mustard
• 4 to 6 kaiser rolls or sesame buns (we just use whole wheat toast or sandwich thins)

Method

1. Put the lentils in a small sauce pot and pour in 4 cups water. Cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, lower heat and simmer for about 20 minutes, until lentils are soft. Drain and set aside.
2. About 10 minutes before the lentils are done boiling, preheat a medium soup pot over medium heat. Saute the onion and pepper in the oil for about 7 minutes, until softened. Add the garlic and saute a minute more.
3. Add the cooked lentils, the chili powder, oregano and salt and mix. Add the tomato sauce and tomato paste. Cook for about 10 minutes. Add the maple syrup and mustard and heat through.
4. Turn the heat off and let sit for about 10 minutes, so that the flavors can meld.