Our annual Christmas card and letter

An entire 7 months without a post....but here it is....our 2011 Christmas card and letter. Click on the images to view a larger image.

Merry Christmas!

Swimming and appetite

If anybody is looking for a sure fire way to increase their kids' appetite: 1 hour swimming lessons. I could NOT get enough food into my children today, especially Saige, who has been an eating machine for a few months now. Normally the lessons are 45 minutes, but we had 15 minutes to make up for today. Here is what the menu was today:

- Soy/rice milk upon waking
- 2 crepes for breakfast
- they each shared a leftover crepe an hour before swim lessons
- I gave them pretzels and apples for a snack on the drive to swim lessons (which falls at lunch time, 11:30 -12:30)
- I gave them a whole carrot to munch on the drive home from lessons
- I made them a smoothie with banana, strawberries, protein powder, avocado, laban (yogurt drink) and flax seed when we got home, plus a carrot muffin
- pumpkin seeds and pears for a snack.
- a small bowl of Cheetos for watching a movie I promised them this afternoon
- They whined the entire first half of the movie that they were still hungry...so I rushed and made dinner (chicken/egg noodles stir fry with carrots and cabbage) at 4:30! I usually feed them at 5:30 or 6.
- Granola and milk before bed

All to be repeated tomorrow. They will come home from school and snack all afternoon until dinner. I have noticed a slight weight gain in them, so it IS going somewhere other than the hollow leg :)

I am thankful for not having boys when it will eventually come to feeding the teenage years.

Did you know?

Did you know that my comsumption of Pringles is directly related to having them on hand in the house?

We have movie night occasionally. With Robb being gone on a business trip, I anticipate one or two movie nights this week. So, while shopping for groceries, I planned ahead and bought a tube of Pringles (our movie snack of choice, lately). BAD IDEA. I know they are there. I cannot help myself. I LOVE them. We have a small store literally across the road that sells them. If they were not in the house, I really wouldn't think to go out and cross the road to buy them. But they are here, but not for long. I am not sure if there is enough left for movie night. I may have to finish them, hide the evidence, then go across to the store that sells them to re-stock. But...I will wait for movie night, to lessen the temptation. :)

Muffins!!

With the LONG 2 week spring break drawing to a close, I decided to fill the freezer with pancakes and muffins for easy, grab and go breakfasts once school is back in. The pancakes crisp up nice in the toaster, add a side of banana or apple, and breakfast is done! Same as the muffins, I either pop one frozen in the lunch box, or thaw overnight for a yummy breakfast for the kids. We have one happy morning person (Jessie) and two not so keen to be out of bed (Saige and Me), so the less hassle to get food in the morning, the better!
The first batch of muffins were Banana Oatmeal - I was hesistant to stray from the traditional Banana Muffin recipe I have used for years...but this is YUMMY and slightly healthier? I don't know where the orignal recipe came from, so here is my adapted version:

1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup oats - fine grind
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp.baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3 mashed bananas
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Mix the dry stuff....add the rest, stir till moist. 350F for 20 mins - makes 12 muffins (muffin cups save alot of time!)
And....here they are!

The second batch of muffins I made were Carrot Muffins from the Joy of Baking. I won't re-type the recipe, but I did make a few adaptations. I used 1/2 the sugar, used whole whaet flour, and added 1/4 cup date syrup. I used 1/2 the oil, and used 1/2 the amount as applesauce.

They are good, but I may keep searching for another great breakfast muffin.

And, finally, the pancake recipe at Epiciurious.com: Whole Wheat Oatmeal Pancakes.
Makes about 15 toaster sized, freezable pancakes.

Pea Soup

I have an abundance of beans and other dried lentils to use up. I know the end of June, when we travel back to Canada for the summer, seems far away now, I know it will sneak up. I don't want to be caught with a bunch of unused food in the freezer and cupboards. So, to use up some of the dried peas, and continue on the path of better eating, I found a vegetarian Pea Soup recipe (because of the lack of ham available here, and I don't think any other meat would suffice!). Adapted from The Delicious Truth recipe.



From: The Delicious Truth

 I added 2 cloves of garlic, and I didn't use Bay Leaf or hot sauce, and used veggie broth instead of water. Robb said it was the best soup yet! Which, I had to agree. Thick, and the cumin added a nice taste. I see myself using up a few more beans with another round of this recipe....even though it doesn't feel like soup weather anymore!

Swimming Lessons!

I FINALLY got around to getting the girls in swimming lessons. I pulled them out of dance class in January to make room for the swim lessons, but wasn't thinking that most pools are outdoors, so now we finally get to hit the water.
They have only had one lesson so far, as the last one was cancelled due to a sandstorm and the remnants of the desert in the bottom of the pool :). Saige had lessons briefly as a toddler, and Jessie has not had any. It went well, Saige was happy to please her teacher. Jessie got cold near the end, and will take a few lessons to get comfortable with the concept of putting her head in the water.



Tomato soup

I bought some basil the other day to make pesto, but then didn't. I also had some tomatoes in the fridge I needed to use up. I did a quick search for tomato basil soup, and ended up doing my own thing. I have to say, it rivals Le Madeleine. Tomatos here are in season and cheap ($1.20 for a bag of 10 medium ones!), so I bought more today and made a larger batch to have leftovers. Here is my made-up version:

1 large onion, diced
1 tbsp butter
4 cloves garlic, minced
3.5 cups veggie broth
1 tsp sugar
8-10 medium tomatoes, diced
1/4 cup basil leaves, chopped
heavy cream

Brown the onion in butter in a large saucepan. Add garlic and fry for a minute. Add broth, sugar, tomatoes and basil. Bring to boil, then simmer about 20-25 minutes. Allow to cool slightly, then puree in batches in a blender.
When ready to serve, re-heat, then add a few tablespoons of heavy cream before serving.
Tastes great with grilled cheese sandwiches.

Recipes

It has been suggested that I post some of my favorite recipes on here. I like to try new things, and see what the kids like. The new favorite is crepes. Not rocket science, but a new taste that we have been missing out on:

‎1c. flour

1 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 Tbl. melted butter
3 eggs
2c. Milk

Pour a little bit (~1/4c.) into a pan and then tilt the pan around to evenly distribute the batter over the bottom of the pan. When the edges start to pull away from the pan, flip the crepe.
 
Our favorite fillings are:
Turkey and cheese
Cream cheese and jam
Nutella and banana
Peanut butter and jam or banana (or both!)

The Kuwait 15

Similar to the Freshman 15 (pounds gained by new college students living away from home) - the Kuwait 15 is a local phenomenon. It can happen easily...there isn't much to do here in terms of an outdoor lifestyle, so there is alot of eating as entertainment. Socializing, as with everywhere else in the world, also revolves around eating, and there is a doughnut or ice cream store on every corner, not to mention the discovery of great little places to taste local and intenational cuisine from everywhere. Gotta try it at least once, right? Or twice? Anyway, you get the idea.
I was well on my way to the Kuwait 15, I was at about 5 or 6, and needed to do something about it. It was just after Christmas, and all the extra eating that goes along with it. I have always preferred to eat and exercise rather than not exercise and not eat. So, as soon as I heard there was a 1/2 marathon and 10 K in Kuwait in March, I was all for it. I started training for the 10k race (as I am not a distance runner) and looked online for an 8 week training session. Found it with Hal Higdon 10K training schedule. I tweaked it to fit my personal schedule, and to date, have only had to miss 3 training days for varous reasons. I am looking forward to March 19, so I can get off the treadmill and do something different. I would hate to waste the effort of training by not doing anything afterwards, so I plan on doing more strength training and maybe look into some sprint triathlons in Canada for when we are home for the summer. There is a kids fun run on the 18th, and Saige and Jessie have been diligently 'training' by doing laps around our pool deck. They love it.
You KNOW there will be pics posted of both events :)

We survived the weekend

This weekend was a big one for celebrating in Kuwait. It marked the 50th anniversary of independence, 20 years since the Iraqi invasion, and 5 years if the current Emir's rule. With that, I bought groceries early, had activities planned, and made a pact to stay home! I am not one for large crowds and late nights with the kids anyway, and I wasn't keen on fighting the crowds. I have seen pictures of the events, and we saw the decorating that started last week, they went all out. A country with too much money, it was lit up like the 4th of July - for 4 whole days.
Robb and his dad (who has been visiting for a week and 1/2) took off to Dubai to sight see, so I took the opportunity to make play dates with friends to pass the time. So far, so good. The girls were out of school since February 17th, as that marked the Prophet's birthday. I guess they knew people may be traveling and partying the next week, so why not just shut down school for 12 days? I am looking forward to the return of routine - and time to study!!

Happy Independence, Kuwait!

Happy New Year!

We had a short and sweet visit to Canada for Christmas. Jet lag seems to be affecting us more than usual, so I am happy we have a few days back in Kuwait to get over it before work and school starts. I am anxious to get back to my studies, and the girls are excited to head back to school, Jessie gets to meet new friends in the Hippos class.
I am not a fan of New Years Resolutions, as I know the typical 'eat better, exercise' thing is always on my mind, and with this nutrition course I am taking, I am hoping that it will all fall into place, as I 'practice what I preach'. I do have a few goals...
1. Get rid off all the plastic-ware the kids use and have them use regular cutlery at the table. In will bend the rules for sippy cups in the vehicle.
2. Keep on top of the clutter, especially the toy room. Now that we have a fresh stock of new toys and activities from Christmas, I plan, with the girls help, to weed out the items we don't use and donate them. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people and places in need of our un-needed and excess items. Happy to help them, clean the house, and teach a lesson at the same time.
3. Spend more time doing crafts and activities with the kids. I don't like going out much here, so the extra time at home can be better spent with activity books than shopping tom' kill time'. Jessie's increasing attention span should help this goal...

So, these are all easy to attain goals. I hope everyone has a great start to 2011!