Obviously this is nothing fancy. In fact, it isn't even NEW-new. I merely took a piece of a rotating storage unit (scrapbooking storage stuff from Target)  and repurposed it for homeschooling.

At the "bottom" front (6 o'clock position), there is a slew of "clicky pencils" (aka mechanical pencils) that we like as they never go dull, a few regular pencils, and some pens in the plastic cup. To the left of that are erasable colored pencils that we use for mapwork. To the right of the front are some dry erase markers (there is a small dry erase board just to the right of the organizer, out of the photo.)

At the right (3 o'clock position) is a set of Spanish flashcards (which I've had forever and never remember to use them. Thinking if I have them out and in sight, maybe they'll get used.) One deck of 6th grade Brain Quest cards (I got from a used curric. sale, which is why I only have the one deck), a FlashMagic game thingy (for continued drilling of multiplication and division facts... again, this rarely gets used anymore, but thought it might be fun to take out from time to time), and right next to that, you can barely see the tippy top of some triangle multiplication/division flashcards (you guessed right, another thing that rarely gets used. Thinking it will be nice to use these, too, for a bit as we ramp back up from our minimal schooling through the summer.)

At the top (12 o'clock position) is a set of colored pencils for various illustrations that might be needed in her science/history notebooking. Behind those, out of sight in the photograph, are two sets of oil pastels. We have big case of colored pencils that kiddo usually uses for everything, but since I already had this small box of colored pencils on hand (since forever ago!) I figured I might as well pull them out and put them to use. At least this way she won't have to track down where she last used the colored pencils when it is time to do something for school lessons.

And in the final section (9 o'clock position) is a pad of ruled post-it notes, Elmer's Glue (with a "tappy top" from her preschool days, but I just LOVE it's dispensing capabilities!), some Aleene's Tacky Glue (our tried and true go-to friend), some scotch tape, glue sticks, and a tiny dry-erase eraser (the latter items, out of sight in this photo.)

Only thing I need to add (to the 12 o'clock section) is a ruler and two pairs of scissors. We've got supplies galore upstairs in the homeschool/scrapbook room but having this little tote downstairs and handy will be great. It's a step up from our brown cooking cocoa empty container we'd used last year. LOL

It was really quick and tasted yummy! This was one ready-cut slice of firm tofu. Next time, I'll make the whole slice still, but put it into two smaller tortillas as this was a bit unruly to hold. Admittedly I was trying to eat the computer while I read today's news from my iGoogle homepage. LOL This one slice of tofu would easily make 2 servings (for my daughter and I to share, for instance. My DH, on the other hand, would most certainly eat a whole tofu slice of scramble himself.)

This was uber-easy to make... I diced up a small onion and sauteed it till it started to soften. Meanwhile I opened the tofu package, took out one of the four slices, pressed it between paper towels for a few minutes**, and diced it all up. Next, I added a spalsh of soy sauce, some garlic powder, black pepper, and a pinch of turmeric (for color) and sauteed all that until the tofu just started to brown a little bit. Scooped it up onto the tortilla, added a bit of salsa, (photographed it,) and ate it! 

You could add anything you'd normally add to scrambled eggs-- perhaps green peppers, mushrooms, etc.  I should have added a bit of nutritional yeast to it, but totally forgot about it. I will next time!



**Note: Had I known I was going to make this, I would have gotten the tofu out earlier and pressed the piece longer.

Now, lest you think this is a lot of food... my daughter turns 11 next week and is over 5 feet tall. (5'2" I think.) The kids expend a LOT of energy at camp. She usually has saved back one thing from her snack box each day to eat on the way home (about a 10 minute trip.) It all gets eaten. Drink each day is one small (laptop lunchbox size) bottle of fruit juice w/ lunch, all other drink is plain water carried in her backpack. We freeze her water bottles each night half-full of water and top off the bottle with cold water in the morning. It's worked pretty well at supplying her with cold water all day. Her backpack gets heavy to carry (thus even more energy expended. LOL) but it's worth it to have cold water all day.

And the recipe (more/less):

2 cups (spiral noodles)

Dressing:

2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
1/4 tsp. each oregano, basil, vegetable powder, sea salt and paprika
3 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar , or other vinegar
1 tsp. soy sauce
1-2 tomatoes, cored and chopped
1 cup broccoli florets, lightly steamed  (I had steamed broccoli leftover from the other day, so this was already on hand)
10 black olives, sliced or finely chopped (I had some canned, sliced black olives already on hand from a previous day of pizza making.)
1/4 cup chopped sweet onion (or red onion)

Instructions:

Prepare the pasta as normal (don't leave it on the stove and forget about it like I originally did! LOL.) While pasta is cooking, prepare the dressing and combine with the chopped veggies. Drain pasta, rinse in cold water, and set aside. Pour on dressing and toss till fully coated. Cover and store in fridge till time to eat. This will keep for several days in the fridge.

Optional Ingredients:

Sliced and/or chopped fresh mushrooms
chopped red and/or green pepper
1/2 cup lightly steamed carrot slices
finely chopped celery or 1/2 tsp celery seed
freshly ground black pepper
toasted sesame seeds sprinkled on at serving time