Turkey Burger Sliders

My dad LOVES making Turkey burgers. It has pretty much replaced regular burgers in our home and I'm okay with it. I think they are just as delicious! Luke on the other hand is a red meat lover and a skeptic regarding turkey burgers. Grocery shopping this weekend, we were trying to figure out what we should have for dinner on Saturday. Luke received a grill for his birthday this summer so we had to make sure we used it this weekend. I don't know how I did it...but I convinced him we needed to make turkey burgers! You know what? He LOVED them!

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground turkey meat
• Salt, pepper, chili powder, garlic powder
• 1 tomato
• 1 onion
• 1/2 avocado
• 2 tbsp mayo
• cheddar cheese
• 4 mini-ciabatta rolls (or any kind of slider roll)

Directions:

1. Add seasoning to turkey meat...season to taste
2. Form ground turkey into slider-sized patties
3. Slice 1/2 onion and saute until tender and brown
4. Dice 1/2 tomato and onion for pico-style topping
5. Combine 1/2 avocado and mayo and mix together
6. Have boyfriend grill up sliders and add cheese when almost finished
7. Toast ciabatta rolls until warm
8. Spread avocado mixture on bottom bun
9. Add tomato-onion mixture on top
10. Add burger and top with sautéed onions

I think we definitely underestimated how delicious these sliders were going to be. I had a 3rd one but we ran out of sautéed onions and it just wasn't the same without them. These were seriously so good! Move over Dad, we can make turkey burgers too!

Chicken Corn Tortilla Soup

Second week of Soup Sunday is underway! This week Luke and I decided to try something with a Mexican flair! We decided on chicken corn tortilla! The thing we are discovering about soup is that it is SO EASY! It is really hard to mess up, and really easy to make. We both agreed that this week's soup beat the chowder from last week... and that was delicious!

Ingredients:

• 3 chicken breasts
• 1 diced onion
• 1 chopped green pepper
• 1 can whole kernel corn, drained
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 cans chicken broth
• 1 1/2 cups medium thick and chunky salsa
• 1/2 tbsp minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp butter
• 3 corn tortillas cut into strips

Directions:

1. Bake chicken breasts
2. Fry tortilla strips in hot vegetable oil until crispy...add salt!
3. Cook onion, garlic, green pepper, and cumin in butter until tender
4. Add broth, beans, corn, and salsa and bring mixture to boil
5. Add chicken when ready and simmer a little longer

Notes:

• We topped our soup with cheddar cheese, sour cream, pico, avocado, and tortilla strips...definitely a must!!
• We didn't really keep track of cook time because it didn't take long at all! Once the onions and green peppers are tender the rest is all about warming everything else up!

Again...so simple and so delicious!

Chicken Corn Chowder

Luke and I are starting a new tradition....Soup Sunday!! We are going to try to find and create a new soup recipe each weekend. The first we tried was chicken corn chowder!

Ingredients:

• 5 small potatoes peeled and diced
• 1 can cream corn
• 4 ears of fresh corn cut off the cob
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 diced onion
• 3 chicken breasts
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 cups half and half

Directions:

1. Bake chicken breast
2. Add potatoes, corn, broth, chicken, and onion in a large pot
3. Cook on low for about an hour
4. Add butter and half and half
5. Simmer for an additional 30 minutes
6. Add salt and pepper to taste

This turned out delicious! We served it up with some toasted and buttered Italian bread...yummy! Next time we will definitely add BACON! It needed an extra salty element. But honestly, bacon just makes everything better. This can also easily be done in a crock pot, but we were so hungry we wanted to to be done sooner!

Classroom Tour

Front of my classroom with self made "Welcome to Sixth Grade!" pendant sign!

Classroom Library...books are organized by Lexile levels. My wonderful classroom librarian (classroom economy job) has been keeping this organized!

This is my guided reading level where I meet with small groups.

 One of the very first concepts we study in reading is genre. My genre posters are up and ready to go!

  Our district uses the Learning Focused model for curriculum and lesson planning. This is my Math unit map ready to go! On the reverse side of the yellow cards are each lesson essential question.

 I spotted a homework corner on Pinterest that looked a lot like this. I wanted to recreate one for my classroom as well. Space is a little limited, but it makes me more aware if the amount of work I am assigning my kiddos each night! It's also nice to see the whole week at a glance.

 This is my Learning map for our first Reading unit. Again, behind each white card is our lesson essential questions.

  One of my favorite additions to our classroom this year is the student center! Each mailbox is labeled with student names. I have also posted our daily specials rotations to the left for students. The bulletin board is home to our monthly calendar and special announcements.

  I am loving our motivational and inspiring posters in the back of our classroom. Can you tell I was going for a black background/colorful words theme?

I had a lot more time this summer to make my classroom exactly how I wanted it. There is a lot more room for improvement and growth, but that will all fall into place when the students add to it throughout the year. After all, this classroom is for them...not me!