A Post In Which I Deviate From My Normal "Foody-ness" and Vent a Bit About Education...

You guys asked for it. :)

Jamie said...
Hey, I know this may be a touchy subject for you (my mother-in-law is a special-ed teacher, too), but I would love to see a post with your thoughts on the no-child-left-behind act and it's impact on your work. I understand that the challenges this legislation has brought on special needs kids are even more imposing than in the other school areas.

Melody Polakow said...
I am interested in your thoughts on Jamie's question here too... also, your thoughts on mainstreaming? (hehe, and this is a food blog?)I really feel for you... I think teachers, especially special education teachers, are so under appreciated.. I could NEVER do what any teacher does, day in and day out. I simply do not have that emotional reserve...

Hmmm... Well, yes, this IS a food blog, but I appreciate the questions and comments. Thank You for recognising that I do have a life outside food (though sometimes you might not believe that!).

Being that some people I work with may know about this blog, I've probably already been more opinionated than I should - not that that shuts me up - but just know I'll probably keep my comments a bit on the conservative side...

OK. (Deep breath)...Few of us would argue with the intentions of the NCLB act, I think the original concept was good. We do need standards and accountability.

But... NCLB tries to be "one-size-fits-all" (and as we plus-sized women know - one size NEVER fits all!!) The Act has expectations that are difficult for ANY teachers and students to conform to; But far, far more so for those of us in Special Education. Children learn at different rates,and to dictate that students with Special Needs must show a year's growth at the same rate as the general population is totally unrealistic. The students I work with are working as hard as they can. Yes, they are showing growth, but if they could show the growth expected of ALL students, they wouldn't need Special Ed. Whatever happened to the bell curve? Eh, just venting there...

One of the big problems, I feel, is conflict between the two federal mandates affecting special ed. - NCLB and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act. IDEIA calls for individualized curriculum and assessments that determine success based on growth and improvement each year. An Individualized Education Plan -or IEP.

NCLB, in contrast, measures all students by the same markers, which are based not on individual improvement but by proficiency in math and reading. We're being asked to do two very different things. Not only that, but if scores in a certain group/classroom/school are consistently low, teachers are asked to re-evaluate and re-assign students to more self contained special-education environments. All in the name of keeping those test scores within the margins...

Of course, this also puts pressure on schools to remove special education students from general education classrooms, undoing the years of progress we've made toward inclusion in mainstream schooling. We're right back where we started. My thoughts? Grrr... NCLB is doing my kids no favors.

Of course, the thoughts I rambled on here are fairly wide-spread - not specific to my district alone. The students in MY class specifically, are not students who would fit the criteria for"mainstreaming". I have mixed feelings about that label, but that's what it is. It's been determined - by who? I don't know. Our class focus is on learning life-skills. We practice every day things - skills you and I take for granted: feeding and grooming and hygiene. Watering the plants, opening a soda can, and keeping the tone of our voice even, crossing the street, learning our phone-number, brushing our teeth, folding laundry, turning pages in a book, giving bus fare, running the microwave and flushing the toilet.

Unfortunately, NCLB requires that I test my students for proficiency in reading and math. Only reading and math. No federal Education mandate bothers to measure whether they know what to do when a "Don't Walk" light flashes or a fire alarm sounds. There's no proficiency standards for tying your shoes, blowing your nose or sorting the recyclables. And sadly, teachers ability isn't judged by how much they care...

Jim Horn is an Educator who has the BEST blog about issues in Public Education. He advocates for a commitment to, and a re-examination of, the democratic purposes of schools. Love his blog. But I
digress.

He JUST posted a great post: "NCLB: What IS Left Behind?" A great read if this an area of interest to you! My favorite quote in the essay: "Most troubling, however, of all that has been left behind is the teacher’s nurturing care, the teacher whose advocacy for and sensitivity to every child’s fragile humanity has been a trademark of what it means to be the teacher of children."
~Jim Horn, Blog: 'Schools Matter; What IS Left Behind?"

Education is ultimately supposed to prepare all students for life. My fellow teachers and I simply do the best balancing act we possibly can.

Oh My Gosh, Where Did The Summer Go?

Whew! Life has turned insanely busy with the whole kids-back-to-school and me-back-to-work Season...

The Unnamed School District I work for, in their infinite wisdom, moved me to a brand-new Special Ed. classroom this year. Which they neglected to tell me was (under)staffed with unqualified, crazy people who had no business or experience working with Special Needs students - which I guess worked out OK, they all quit or were scared off after a couple days.

I kid you not - 3 weeks into the school year we have gone through, let me count... 3 Lead teachers, 4 assistants and 6 Classroom Support Teachers have come and gone (Yes, even the die-hard Support Teachers like me! Except I haven't quit!).

Oh, and did I mention the Administration's belated "apology" for placing the children with the highest needs (serious behavioural issues!!) here in my classroom when they "realized some staff might not be the best fit..."(Absolutely true story. But that's the short version. Ah... really, it's a story better left for another time.)

I'm not here to vent. I swear. It will get better. It WILL.

I'm here to share the little "Field Trip" the kids, dog and I took to my Mom's garden. She somehow lives out of the cool zone that we're in, and her little green acre is still producing enough for a small country.

We hung out for the day playing in the garden, visiting Grandma and picking veggies. The dog couldn't believe all the wide open space. He was happy, happy, happy. Only, when we pitched rotten tomatoes to the sidelines, he somehow thought they were tennis balls that he needed to chase, poor thing.

My daughter found her very own 8-lb baby zucchini that for reasons unbeknownst to me, she HAD to name Marge. It'll be great for zucchini bread anyway. Sorry Marge.

I thought the praying Mantis I found among the beets was far more interesting, but my bug-phobic offspring weren't so thrilled...

Then there's this great shot of my Mom and her ten-foot tall sunflowers! She's so proud of them! The pic doesn't do them justice however. They (flowers AND my Mommy) are WAY more gorgeous up close, of course!

We came home with boxes of produce; tomatoes, giagantous beets, peppers, turnips, corn, squash, parsnips, cabbage, greens and potatoes... (again, crappy picture - my BUG pictures are better than the veggies lately - what's up with that!?!) that I happily froze, canned, and cooked up into all sorts of garden yumminess. I feel like I'm ready to hibernate and face the winter with my pantry (and freezer) well stocked.

Happy Monday.

Yay! I've got mail!

Or a package, rather.

You may remember my post a few weeks back (or not, it wasn't all that exciting...) It seems the good people at Gardenburger MYSPACE chose me as their "Gardenburger MySpace Friend of the Month" or something to that effect...(sorry, I don't do the whole Myspace thing a lot, I can't even remember exactly what it was...). Gotta LOVE the reeeeeally old picture they used too! I need to update my "Myspace"!

So anyway, then the Gardenburger Myspace people asked for my address. "What? My address?"

They said to "send a small gift".

And of course, Fairly Odd Mom that I am, I got all paranoid - this was MYSPACE after all, home of the Child Stalkers and Internet Evil... Should I give the supposed "Gardenburger" people my address? What if "Gardenburger" was actually a burger-eating scammer who preyed on helpless single, vegan Moms...

Not to fear, I contacted Gardenburger headquarters and they said that yes, they did indeed have a Myspace and yes, they did send out a care package to those who participated in their Myspace "event". Event? I participated? Cool. Whatever.

So, still being cautious, I only gave them my post-office box address - (which I never use) just to be safe. And I figured I wouldn't hear anything more from them.

But today - SURPRISE - there was the nicest package waiting for me, filled with all sorts of fun goodies! I was excited as my kids - it was sorta like Christmas!

Check out the pic.

• A cool tee-shirt that says "Meatless with Mojo"...how fun is THAT?
• Also, several "freebie" coupons for Gardenburger products.
• A cloth tote/grocery bag with the Gardenburger logo (of course).
• Blue Gardenburger wristbands.
• Some pins that say Gardenburger (and one that just says "Vegan", of course I LOVE that too!)
• ...and my kids' favorite, a ball-point-pen shaped like a giant pea-pod, heh!
  

So yeah. Thank You kind Gardenburger people of Myspace whoever you are...What a nice way to end my day. Oh, and we had Gardenburger "Riblets" for supper to celebrate, of course!

Good-Bye to the Garden.

:Sigh:
It was just last week that I took these bright, cheerful, green garden pictures.
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But looking out today, I sadly realize "gardening" is probably, officially over for the season, (save for the kale we'll be able to harvest all winter long).
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I love my garden and the vegetables we harvest; the work and time we invest, the weeds we pull.
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It's very much a part of our summer routine even though my kids aren't always huge fans of weeding in the hot sun or picking slugs off the tomatoes. (Secretly they love it. They do. I swear...)
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Regardless of my kids' opinions, I for one am sad to see it all tired and wilt-y, with powdery-mildew taking over the last bits of zucchini and squash.
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We didn't do a whole lot of variety this year, I regret, now, that time got away from me this spring.

But as always, I have bigger, better plans for next year.
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Who knows what the new season will bring!?!

OK, Um...Don't Eat Here...

Sorry, sorry, sorry for my departure into the world of complete and utter tastelessness... but I couldn't resist.

Don't ask me. I have NO idea where the picture's from, it's probably not even a real place. But someone just sent it to me in one of those amazing forwarded e-mails thats sent to three thousand people. (Why me?) No,seriously, what could I do but warn others?

Besides, I didn't have anything more exciting to blog. I'm betting right now, you're really hoping I find something better for tomorrow. I promise, I promise, I'll try. I mean, I love Indian Food, but.... yeah.

Happy Thursday.

Sourdough Bread!

I am so proud of the way this loaf turned out, I can't even tell you!! I never have good luck with ANYTHING baked, so this is truly an exciting moment for me!

The time had come to use my sourdough starter again, so I looked over the 'net and combined oh...three or four ideas into one recipe that worked for the time and ingredients I had. (Quite possibly why most other baking adventures DON'T turn out!)
Even though I wrote out lots of instructions (I'm long-winded that way), this was really simple! Yay!

Sourdough Bread
1 cup sourdough starter, room temperature
3/4 cup lukewarm soymilk (most recipes say about 110 degrees)
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3 cups bread flour or unbleached all-purpose flour*
Cornmeal

* If you think the dough is too moist, add additional flour (a tablespoon at a time). The same is true if the dough is looking dry - add warm water (a tablespoon at a time).
In a large bowl or in the bowl of a 5 quart stand mixer, combine starter, water, salt, baking soda, and bread flour.
Using dough hook, mix everything together into a uniform dough.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until elastic, about 15 minutes.
Place the dough in a lightly oiled large bowl.
Place a damp towel over the bowl and then cover with plastic wrap (the humidity in the bowl helps in the rising process).
Let rise until it doubles in volume, approximately 4 to 8 hours (depending on the temperature and the starter used, the rising time can vary as much as 2 hours).
Sourdough rises more slowly than yeast bread; Always remember, the longer the rise time, the more sourdough flavor. I actually forgot mine all afternoon, it raised about 6 hours...
After dough has risen, remove from bowl, and place on a lightly floured board. Knead in flour to feed it one more time before baking.
Shape dough into a loaf shape or round ball, and place on a cookie sheet that is dusted with cornmeal.
Cover with oiled plastic wrap and place in a warm spot to rise until doubled in size, approximately 1 to 3 hours.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
After rising, slash the bread with a bread razor or a very sharp knife making three 1/2-inch deep diagonal slashes.
Brush or spray the top of the bread with cold water and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until nicely browned.
Remove from oven and place the bread on a wire rack to cool. Let baked loaf cool for 30 minutes.

Contest Entry - VEGGIE-BOARDS "Iron Chef - Battle RICE"

My fellow blogger-friends; You can ignore the following post if you want, it's my contest entry in the "Iron Chef - Battle Rice" Challenge being hosted on my favorite forum "VEGGIEBOARDS".

You can go HERE to read more about it if you're interested.

And if you're a member there, well, of course you can vote for me too!

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Recipe #1.

Patty-Pan Squash Stuffed with Black-Bean and Green Chile Rice

Cut the tops off two large (baseball-size) patty-pan squash.

Scoop insides out leaving 1/2 inch "shell".

Fill with rice filling. (Recipe below).

-- 1 cup cooked brown rice

-- 1/2 cup drained black beans

-- 1/4 cup chopped, roasted green chiles

-- 1/4 cup chopped onion

-- 1/4 cup chopped tomato

-- 3 cloves garlic, pressed

-- 2 Tbsp. fresh minced cilantro

-- 2 Tbsp. your favorite salsa

-- 1/2 Tbsp oil

-- salt, pepper, cumin, garlic powder to taste

-- vegan "cheese" as garnish

Saute chiles, onions and garlic in oil until onions are soft. Add tomatoes, salsa, black beans and seasonings. Simmer until tomatoes soften. Add rice and stir until heated thru.

Check seasonings and adjust if needed.

Season inside of squashes with salt, pepper and red pepper as desired. Pack filling into hollowed out squashes. Set squash in baking dish. Top with vegan cheese if desired.

Bake for 45 min. at 375 degrees or until squash is soft - put broiler on for a moment if "cheese' isn't melted. Sprinkle with red pepper and chives to garnish.

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Recipe #2.

Hot-and-Sour Soup with Rice Noodles

This isn't exactly the "traditional" recipe but it suits our family, because I usually have the ingredients on hand.

My kids love lots of "slurpy" noodles. There are many kinds of "rice noodles" in the Asian markets but I like the fresh-packaged "Pho" style rice-stick ones best.

Use whatever you can find easily.

-- 4 cups vegetable broth
-- couple cloves garlic, pressed
-- 1-inch galangal or ginger, grated

-- 1/2 a 8 oz. package Pho-style rice-stick noodles, cooked until barely done

-- 2 Tbsp. soy sauce or tamari

-- 1 Tbsp. sugar
-- 1 Tbsp. rice vinegar
-- 1 Tbsp. lime juice
-- 1 cup cubed extra firm or Nigari tofu, fried in hot peanut oil until crispy and drained. (I used already-fried tofu from the Asian market, but any firm water-pack tofu will work)
-- handful chopped fresh or dried shiitake mushrooms (if dried, soak them in hot water for several hours) *optional. These are "traditional" but I didn't have them this time, I usually do though, so thought I'd include them in the recipe.
-- handful bean sprouts

-- handful frozen peas

-- 1/2 cup or so cubed zucchini (and/or whatever vegetables you like, or have on hand: cabbage, carrots, spinach, etc.)

2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

Heat broth in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the cooked rice noodles. Add garlic, ginger, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar and lime. Bring to a boil, then reduce to medium heat and allow to simmer while you add tofu and the vegetables.
Cook 3 - 5 minutes or until veggies are tender-crisp, add cilantro. Do a taste test, adding more soy sauce, lime juice or cilantro (or whatever you like). Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with fresh cilantro and lime.

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Recipe #3.

Mushroom, Rice and "Cheese" Burgers

This is my favorite way to use leftovers! Don't we all have a couple old-ish mushrooms sitting around and a cup or two of rice from Chinese take out?

In food processor, grind 5 large mushrooms, 1/4 an onion, 1 clove garlic, 1 tsp. soy sauce and a thumb-size chunk vegan "cheese" (or a couple slices or a scoop tofutti cream "cheese").

It should be thick and sticky after blending together. (The "cheese" works as a binder and keeps the end result from being too crumbly).

Add 1/4 cup chopped pecans from Froggy's Grandma's pecan tree (or sunflower seeds, cooked lentils or black beans or whatever you like) and blend just enough to chop coarsely and mix into mushroom "paste".

Scrape mixture into a bowl and mix in enough cooked rice (about 2+ cups) to make a firm "dough" to be shaped into patties or burgers.

Season to taste with salt, pepper, garlic salt, and sage.

Form into manageable palm-sized patties and fry over med. heat in non-stick skillet. (If they stick, use a couple drops oil).

Brown on both sides and serve like a burger with lettuce, pickles, onions, etc.

Yum!

Ruby Roasted Veggies

I've had a vegetable crisper full of odd veggies that needed to be used yesterday or hopefully before they became science experiments in mold growth.


I don't use a lot of turnips or sweet potatoes in everyday cooking, even though I like them a lot, I guess I just haven't been feeling too inspired lately.


So, I took the veggies, cleaned them, cut into odd pieces and threw in a roasting pan with some olive oil, lemon pepper, minced garlic and herbs from the garden. Poured about 1/2 cup veggie broth and 1/2 cup white wine over everything, covered with foil and baked at 400 degrees.


45 minutes later I removed the foil, then baked another 20 min or so...


I had a luscious pan of oven-roasted veggies, all stained brilliant magenta from the beets.

Everything mellowed and tasted toasty-sweet and the flavors blended wonderfully.

I was surprised. My kids LOVED the veggies and seriously licked the pan clean!

Birthday (again!) and Sauerkraut.

I went to my Parent's for birthday dinner last night!
<<-- This is me with my 3rd youngest sister. (Clearly I'm the small-boned one of the bunch).
There was plenty of "accidently vegan" yumminess for me too! Tons of fresh garden produce, salad and stuffed mushrooms. Yum!

Later, as is our family "tradition", we watched/helped/offered profound advice as several of my sisters made sauerkraut on the back porch. (I'm sure they'll be happy that I've posted a view of their backsides all over the Interwebnetworld)

We do this every year (make kraut, that is) - our whole family LOVES the stuff! Wow. My folks grow some HUGE cabbages!

See the flat board with the big blade thingy? Kind of like a huge mandoline slicer. They shred the cabbage with this - being careful not to slice fingers of course! (That would make very un-vegan sauerkraut, after all!)

After we're done shredding/slicing and everyone has offered an opinion, the cabbage is packed into a huge pickling crock.

Can you see the dog? He kept eating the cabbage that dropped.

OK. Then the fun part! We stomp the cabbage down in the crock (with very clean bare feet, seriously!!) until it gets very juicy.

The only way to get "genuine" German kraut my Dad always says. I personally don't do the "stomping" part any more. I leave that for the younger folks. I just sit on the porch and offer advice like the old fart that I'm turning into...

All the leftover cabbage leaves are then ceremoniously fed to the neighbor's cows. This is as much a tradition for all of us as the actual sauerkraut-making, I swear. The cows LOVE the cabbage.

The smashed, stomped cabbage is then packed with salt and covered in the crock and allowed to sit for .... well... I don't know how long.... a long time, until it turns into sauerkraut. Then it's packed into quart jars and distributed to all of us girls.

Not to fear, there's so much salt, I doubt any foot germs are going to hang around. Can't wait for Vegan Reuben sammies and sauerkraut soup later this winter...

Birthday/Labor Day/Long Weekend

Happy Labor Day Weekend.

And Happy Birthday To Me!
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.So this weekend, in honor of my Birthday, my bestest friend Froggy came all the way from from New Mexico to hang out in Seattle and visit me!
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It's always fun to share a long weekend with friends, and we'd both been needing some vacation time.

We had fun. We always do. I can't believe we were so excited getting pictures of food and stores and things, we didn't get many "people" pictures at all!
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Over the weekend, we explored and re-visited some of our favorite vegan destinations in Seattle, including the famous and heavenly all-vegan doughnuts at "Mighty-O" Doughnuts".


SO much to choose from... we picked up a box of minis for my daughter at school, and a mixed dozen of the larger ones for us to enjoy at home... chocolate coconut, apple-cinnamon with nuts, chocolate and nuts, glazed raspberry, ....oh man, I can't even remember what all. Aren't they lovely?

I promise you, we didn't eat the whole box by ourselves either!

Another day we had an incredible lunch (and WAY more than we could eat) at "Teapot Vegetarian House", this great little all-vegan restaurant on Capitol Hill.


After lunch, we wandered over to the little store "Sidecar" for some hard-to find vegan goodies...

Cool and funky place, Sidecar is. All vegan, and all money goes to Pigs Peace Sanctuary.

Hey, shopping's even better when it's a good cause, right?!

While at Sidecar, I discovered these jars of peanut butter from Peanutbutter & Co. in New York. I'd read about the company before, and, of course, peanutbutter fiend that I am...drooled...

But I'm also cheap, and never want to pay shipping-and-handling fees and all that nonsense... but here they are.
Check it out! "Dark Chocolate Dreams" peanutbutter, and a spicy one "The Heat Is On".

YUM! My own personal B-Day gifts to myself. How fun!!

The next day we stopped by Marlene's Market and Deli for Blackened Tofu Sandwiches and vegan Nanaimo Bars, which are this insane (and usually VERY un-vegan) concoction of butter, peanutbutter cream, chocolate, rice krispies, nuts, and chocolate ganache. But these babies? All vegan.

(Have I said "vegan" enough in this post? Can you tell I'm a wee bit obsessed?)

OK, OK... long story short, we had SO much fun...

And I swear we did more than eat goodies and shop all weekend. Froggy fixed my computer for one, and got me a new CD/DVD-R (since the one in my laptop broke), how sweet is THAT?!?


We did a lot of relaxing, reading, drinking wine, watching TV, taking it easy (it was a HOLIDAY, after all, remember?)... and we actually cooked several memorable meals too.

I'll post pix and recipes of those another time.


Have a great week.