I literally cannot say the words “back to school” without thinking of Adam Sandler in “Billy Madison”.

I didn’t pack a lunch, I didn’t wear boots & certainly didn’t get in a fight but I DID have my first class of the semester today.

The day didn’t exactly start out like I had hoped it would. I wanted to get up nice & early to allow myself time for a good breakfast before heading off to class, followed by a few hours at work.

I slept in.

I didn’t have any makings for a good breakfast. No eggs, no fruit, no veggies.

I stopped to get gas on my way to school. While pumping gas, it occurred to me that I had neglected to put on deodorant.

I stopped at Panera for an iced Chai.

I entered the parking ramp at school incorrectly (aka, into the section for handicapped & private parking, with no access to general parking), had to take a right onto a one way & wasn’t able to get back into the ramp the right way. I parked on the street. While plugging the meter, I dropped my Chai.

Sweet, creamy, cold Chai poured out of my now damaged cup & onto the street.

I walked into class 2 minutes late. I had to sit in the very center of the classroom. I walked to that oh-so-undesirable seat with every eye in the classroom on me.

The instructor was going through roll call: “Are you, by chance, Sally Smith?”

Me: “Nope, I’m just late.” I got a few chuckles at least.

The rest of class went fine and the day started looking up.

I trained a new girl at work & then headed to the grocery store. Yesterday was dreary & rainy. It had me in the mood for soup. We let Chili’s do the work in the form of baked potato soup to-go last night but I needed to make soup today, despite the 90 degree weather & sunshine.

It was fantastic. I decided to retire to the couch for the evening after dinner so I could be sure to end the day on a good note. I even let hubby wash the dishes. Didn’t want to take the chance of breaking anything, ya know?

I started with roasting three ears of sweet corn and a red pepper.

Admittedly, I did not roast these long enough. The tassels on the corn started on fire, I got scared, & took it all off of the grill.

Because I didn’t roast the pepper long enough, the skin didn’t “just peel right off” like it does in the cooking shows. I left it on.

I took craptastic photos. But believe me, this stuff is G-double O-D good (yep yep yep).

Chicken & Corn Chowder
adapted from Cooking Light

Ingredients:
2 tbsp butter
1/2 chopped yellow onion
8oz. pkg. sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup flour
4 cups milk (I used half 2%, half skim, because that’s what I had on hand)
2 cans chicken broth
1 large red potato, chopped
1 sweet red pepper
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
3 ears fresh sweet corn + 1 cup frozen sweet corn (obviously you could just increase the fresh corn here, I just felt the 3 ears wasn’t enough & added frozen later)
2-3 cups cooked, shredded chicken (I used a rotisserie chicken)
3 tbsp green onion, chopped

Directions:
1. Roast corn & pepper. Cut corn off cob, dice pepper. Chop onion & potato.
2. Melt butter in large stock pot over medium heat. Add onion, allow to cook for 2-3 minutes. Add mushrooms. Allow to cook for 2-3 minutes more, stirring occasionally.
3. Stir in flour. Gradually add milk & broth, whisking to combine flour with liquid.
4. Add potato, pepper, corn & seasoning and bring to a boil.
5. Stir in chicken & green onion. Cover, reduce heat & allow to simmer for 15 minutes.
6. Garnish with more green onion & enjoy!

Here’s hoping my next day of class goes a little more smoothly or it could be a loooong semester.

Do you ever have a day where everything just seems to go a little wrong? I know things could have gone way worse today, but I couldn’t help but chuckle at my little “issues” all day.