Great addition to a summer salad

The Farmer's Market nestled in downtown Bozeman is quite the treat. From shaved ice, to homemade bread, to jams, to jewelry, to rock climbing, to live music...it's a gem to this quaint town and promotes buying local.

While there with some coworkers, I stumbled upon a natural health booth. The girls there work at Clearwater Healthcare in Bozeman. One subject they specialize in is nutrition. They were sampling salads and one was glazed with a delectable dressing. When she told me it had maple syrup in it, I was surprised. Usually I think of maple syrup as heavy and sugary. This dressing was light, refreshing, and the perfect balance of sweet.

She sent me the recipe and I tried it for the first time tonight. I'm a fan! Great over a salad consisting of your favorite fruits and nuts. I used romaine lettuce with green apples, strawberries, blueberries and pecans!

Vermont Maple Syrup Dressing:
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp freshly ground pepper
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
½ cup maple syrup
2/3 cup organic olive oil
1 handful freshly chopped mint

One of the experts recommended adding basil or cilantro. You can also substitute vinegars with balsamic or white wine. I didn't try it but if you do, let me know how it is!

Clearwater Healthcare fun health tips:
Garlic is anti-inflammatory, antiviral, anticarcinogenic, and great for the cardiovascular system. Apple cider vinegar is wonderful for stimulating the digestive system. Olive oil is a great source of healthy fats. Mint is antispasmotic and soothing to the digestive system.

Farewell

I wanted my students to reflect on their second grade experience this year. I thought it might be beneficial for future students to read letters of advice from the experts themselves. While I'm sure some reflecting occurred, I personally ended up getting a kick out of the answers given to various posed questions. I hope you'll enjoy them as much as I did.

June 4th, 2010

Dear 2nd grader,

Welcome to 2nd grade! You are in for a fun, great, fantastic, perfect, amazing, joyful, crazy, fabulous year.

Here are some tips you must know in order to get along with Ms. Boyer.

Never shout out in class

Have fun

Read A LOT

She gives you challenges everyday

Don’t sharpen pencils in class

Follow Ms. Boyer’s directions

Be on your best behavior

Make sure you say you like what she’s wearing because it’s always great

Turn in your field trip permission slips

Don’t argue with Ms. Boyer

The two things I did this year that made me feel the most proud were:

…making lots of new friends.

…getting smarter.

…winning the ambition award.

…reading a big book.

…learning hard math skills.

…not getting a check mark all year.

…running 26 miles.

…my pumpkin art we did at the beginning of the year.

…reading 17,936 words.

The best thing about this class is...

…learning a lot you don’t know because everything the teacher knows is what you’ll know!

…Ms. Boyer and the students because we all work together and everybody loves every single person.

…class butterflies because you get to let them go.

…no homework the last two weeks of the year.

…doing really amazing art projects because the things you use and what you do is really amazing!

Hope you have a great year!

Sincerely,

Ms. Boyer’s 2009-2010 students

Dad's Best

One evening visiting my parents, my Dad greeted me with a savory margarita (on the rocks, no salt... just how I like it!) and undoubtably, hands-down the best guacamole I've ever tasted. I'll forever refer to it as Dad's guacamole, although I'll give ehow.com credit where it's due. Dad, perhaps you should change a couple minor measurements to patten it as your own?

If you're looking for a tortilla chip companion, look no further.

Dad's Guacamole

Things You'll Need:

• 3 ripe hass avocados

• 1 roma tomato, deseeded, diced

• 1/2 cup red onion, diced

• 1/2 cup cilantro leaves, finely chopped

• 1 large clove garlic

• 1 serrano pepper, with seeds

• 1 TBSP lime juice, fresh squeezed

• 1 tsp distilled white vinegar

• 1 tsp salt

Crush garlic clove and finely mince.

Finely dice the Serrano peppers.

In a large stainless steel or glass bowl, combine garlic, Serrano peppers, lime juice, vinegar and salt.

After you have peeled and pitted the avocados, add them to the bowl. Mash with a fork until they are slightly chunky.

Mix in red onion, tomato and cilantro. Taste and add more salt or vinegar if desired.

Let me know when you're making the next batch, Dad!