I'll have the house special with side of joy, please

Food. Teaching. Joy.

During the week, I get a hot lunch at school. It's pretty good, if sometimes very child-oriented (fruit and meat cut up into tiny pieces, for example), and it refuels me for the afternoon. I'm not so keen on the Spanish snacks, though...

i just can't bring myself to eat this

I don't want being too tired from work to enjoy my hobbies to make me resent my job, and I don't want to resent having to cook, either. On weekends I spend some time batch-cooking. Batches of healthy muffins or cookies for snack time, and huge pots of stew or slow-cooker recipes for dinners, because, let's face it - 3-year olds are tiring! Sometimes I need a nap when I come home and can't think straight enough to make a good dinner, so it's best to have something on hand that just has to be heated up. 

Last week I made these Chatelaine chocolate cupcakes, which are one of my favourites, and packed them into containers (I have one that says "work" and one that says "home", so my husband doesn't inadvertently gobble up my work snacks!). I didn't frost them and I used honey instead of agave. I also used two teaspoons each of baking soda and powder to help lift the honey, which tends to weigh down baked goods, and whole eggs instead of egg whites to increase the liquid, because agave is runnier than honey.

Break time was a real treat with these on hand!

I also made this chicken pot "pie" and my grandma's lasagna casserole in the slow cooker. It's great to come home from a long, satisfying day at work to an already-made home-cooked meal!