Green-Bean, Almond, and Feta-Cheese Salad, and Summer Holidays!

The Teachers Jumped Out of the Windows

    

 (Sing to the tune of "My Bonnie") 

We're all childlike in the summer, aren't we?

The teachers jumped out of the windows.
The principal ran for the door.
The nurse and librarian bolted.
They’re not coming back anymore.

The counselor, hollering madly,
escaped out the door of the gym.
The coach and custodian shouted
and ran out the door after him.

Chorus
Oh my! Goodbye!
They’re not coming back anymore, no more.
How fun! They’ve run!
They’re not coming back anymore.

The lunch ladies threw up their ladles,
then fled from the kitchen in haste,
and all of the students looked puzzled
as staff members scurried and raced.

We’d never seen anything like it.
But still, it was pretty darned cool
to see all the staff so excited
to leave on the last day of school.

Chorus

By Kenn Nesbitt  (Gratefully used with permission)

www.poetry4kids.com

Found these great mittens on summer holidays in PEI !

Next week, my teaching buddies are coming over for lunch; we’re celebrating the beginning of our SUMMER HOLIDAYS!

Even though I’ve been retired for a couple of years, during the school year I still occasionally do some substitute teaching, but not in July and August; I, too, am free again! We’re all ready to let loose and enjoy the blue sky days of Alberta, or wherever we find ourselves over the next two months.

An easy-peasy way to stay healthy and happy is by nurturing relationships with friends and close colleagues. They're our support system when we're having a rough go; they're our cheerleaders when we accomplish that goal for which we've been striving; most of all, we share with them a common history - they're some of the eyewitnesses of our life journey.

So, while my friends and I re-tell old stories, drop our jaws at new tales, and laugh until we hurt, I’m going to serve up a crustless salmon and roasted red pepper quiche; a crunchy, delicious salad made with fresh, plump green beans I saw at the  market, sprinkled with lightly toasted almonds, a touch of red onion, goat feta cheese, and dressed with a ‘just-picked from my garden mint' vinaigrette. 

The recipe for the salad comes from my favourite cookbook, Back Roads and Country Cooking by Sara Waxman. I’m still using the imperial measurements in this 1985 publication. I’ve made a couple of minor alterations to the original recipe; here is my version of:

Green-Bean, Almond, and Feta-Cheese Salad

1 ½ lbs. fresh green beans

1 cup sliced toasted almonds

1 cup crumbled feta cheese

½  cup thinly sliced red onion

¼  cup + 2 tbsp. olive oil

¼ cup packed fresh mint leaves, chopped

2 tbsp. white wine vinegar

¼  tsp. salt

¼  tsp. minced garlic

a generous pinch of freshly ground pepper

A sprig of mint leaves for garnish.

Trim the ends of beans and cut the beans into bite-size pieces. In boiling salted water, cook the beans just until crisp but done (about 3-5minutes after the water comes to a boil after adding the beans). Drain the beans, and immediately plunge them into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. Drain, and lay on a clean tea towel, or paper towel to dry. (I often do this ahead of time, wrap them in the paper towel, and put them in the fridge crisper until it’s time to assemble the salad.

In a blender, combine the olive oil, mint leaves, vinegar, salt, garlic and pepper. Blend until the leaves have been thoroughly crushed and the dressing is thick. I do this in my little coffee grinding machine that has a small blender attachment.

Put the beans into a bowl – pour the dressing over the beans and mix together to coat the beans. Place the dressed beans on a shallow glass serving platter. Sprinkle with the red onions, the feta cheese, and the almonds. Garnish with the sprig of mint leaves.

Serves 6 as an appetizer salad.

This dish is a hit at potlucks, parties, wherever and whenever you want to make a great impression. It truly is a dish of kindness, if only for the delight of discovering the melding of these varied flavours.

In the meantime, if you think you might like to plant mint in your garden, or your flower bed as is mine, don’t. As fragrant and tasty as mint might be, it’s invasive – let me spell that again for you; i-n-v-a-s-i-v-e. Put the plant into a very large container, or somewhere in the back forty, or somewhere with garden edging more than a foot or two deep. If you live in Calgary, come and help yourself to some of mine - please!

Warmly,

Wendy