A Journey to a Simple Happy Life

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

I want to thank of all of you for your kind words and concern for my health. I read every single one and it left me so grateful to have you all in my life.

For us today it all started with cooking chicken and while it was cooking we dyed some eggs.

It was so nice outside but I still don't feel good enough to go for a walk so we did the next best thing: crafting.

I used food colorings to dye some eggs and the boys used a wax crayon (it works with a white crayon or a candle) to draw on the egg. It was fun and I survived.

You see I have a dirty little secrets: crafting with my children makes me nervous. It's more the cleaning involved that scares me. Pathetic ;o)

While we were doing this the chicken was in the oven. I used one of my favorite chicken recipes. I'm a decent cook not a great one. I don't make fancy meals and invent complicated combination but I can cook a nice dinner and get compliments from my guest. Or maybe they're just afraid of the person holding the carving knife...

My cooking credo is keep it simple, good and fast. I will have plenty of time later when the kids are older to cook up fancy recipes. Today I thought I could share one of my basic chicken recipe, it takes a couple of minutes to prepare and always tastes good. The trickiest part of cooking chicken is mastering the cooking time, too long and it's dry too little... you get the picture. But with this recipe even if your chicken is a bit overcooked it won't be an issue.

Easy peasy chicken:

• 1 whole cut-up chicken, chicken thighs or breasts (any type of chicken you have in the house)
• 1 cup of sour cream (or 1 cup of plain yogurt or Greek style yogurt)
• 3 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1/4 tsp Thyme (optional)
• Pepper, salt

1. Pre-heat your oven to 350 F.
2. Mix the sour cream, mustard, thyme, pepper and salt in the baking dish.
3. Add the chicken making sure it's well covered by the mixture.
4. Put the chicken in the oven. Cooking time will depend on the weight of the chicken, the rule of thumb is 20 min per pound. Or my husband's way: Wait until you can smell it without opening the oven door...I wouldn't trust it either.

I hope you will enjoy it!

Simple Living: Keeping eating simple

 

A couple of days ago I had a conversation with one of my friends about food. How did simple living apply to the kitchen, how did I choose ingredients and recipes. Honestly I don't think I ever thought about it before that. While talking about our food choices and what books/recipes I use a common thread emerged.

Michael Pollan sums up our philosophy about food : "Eat food. Mostly Plants. Not too much"

Why has eating become so confusing? Eating satisfies one of our primary needs just as breathing and sleeping. Why is it that it has become such a cause of concern? I believe that the large amount of choices available to us and the emergence of so many “food experts” are at the heart of this confusion.

Eat carbs, Don't eat carbs, ban red meat, no dairies, no sugar... Trends come and go and it becomes very confusing to know what is good for our health. I am not speaking of the restrictive diets imposed by a doctor, some conditions call for a restrictive diet but for most of us I believe the key word is portion control.

While living in Paris, I used to wonder how my friends ate the way they did and never put on weight. I am talking about eating butter, cream, chocolate and all sorts of pastry. Well they were careful about portion control, no processed foods and had a diversified diet. This article calls it the French paradox.

So how to simplify eating?

• Planning: I have a basic meal plan for every week (Soup, vegetarian, chicken, fish,red meat, ethnic and left-over night). I look for recipes, take stock of my pantry and make a shopping list. I'm not a big fan of grocery stores so I try to plan for two weeks worth of meals. I only go again if we need milk, eggs or produce but that's a quick trip. I found it to be an excellent way to eat better and spend less.
  
• Shopping: Simply by eating real food. Real foods are in, or very close, to their natural state. Foods grows and dies, it is not created in a factory. Food doesn’t need an ingredient label. Food doesn’t make health statements. Food rots, if it stays on a shelf for months on end it is not food. This simplifies tremendously your shopping.
• Cooking: I find the term  “cooking from scratch” or calling this a cooking show hilarious. I never knew of any other way to cook than from scratch. Cooking doesn’t need to take hours nor require expert talents. We can all cook if we concentrate on using simple and tasty recipes. I learned cooking by watching my mom and grandma cooking. The fun of learning to eat right is getting in the kitchen and seeing what new flavor combinations work. My family can tell you about some crazy recipes I tried growing up, well they survived and my fear subsided.
• Recipes: My cooking books collection is not very large. My favorites are a traditional Algerian cooking book my mom gave me years ago, Everyday Food (I love that it is organized by season), The Art of Simple Food (Basic fool proof recipes and tips for organizing your kitchen and pantry), Love Soups  and my latest purchase Feeding the Whole Family. On my wish list I have these two titles. I try to keep my collection to a minimum and borrow many titles from the library. I sometimes go here and here to find inspiration.
• Tools: I used to believe that buying the right kind of kitchen equipment would make me a good cook. Once I started down the path of simplification and de-cluttering, a necessary stop was my kitchen cupboards. Not that I had a lot of things but still I thought too many utensils were there and hardly ever used. I put most of them in a box and stored it in the basement. After a while and noticing that I never went looking for tools,I donated it to the goodwill store. Once I read this, I was able to reduce even more.
  

As in all other areas of our lives, simplifying our eating comes with reclaiming our rights to eat simple, healthy and in reasonable quantities.

Birthday Party

 

Yes I did it!! I baked the cake and it was actually pretty good…well a bit lopsided, Salim nicknamed it the Pisa tower but I was really happy it worked out fine.

It didn’t come without some frustration and a bit of swearing but I am proud that Samy got his wish that Mama makes his birthday cake. I used this simple recipe with this frosting and fresh strawberries in between. So much for buying in season fruits and veggies but the birthday boy insisted.

The home baking was one of the steps I decided to take to make a simple birthday party. At home, surrounded with friends, entertained by me (until Papa has fully mastered his magic tricks). I had a ton of ideas fueled by this book and this one. But decided against implementing everything at once to avoid mommy burnout. I am well known for starting huge projects and finishing them with frayed nerves and exhausted. So this time I am taking it one step at a time.

We also used a birthday ring for the first time. We lit up the candles and explained the symbolism of each decoration and then sang happy birthday. I plan on writing a story to incorporate in our next celebrations.

 

Another new tradition is the birthday crown. I wanted to make one ever since I saw it on Soulemama’s blog. I used wool felt that I bought here. I didn’t know the difference between the wool felt and the polyester stuff but you need only to hold in your hands to know it is worth the money. It is so soft and the colors are so beautiful.

I downloaded the pattern from Skip to My Lou but mainly followed the step by step instructions of Nicole at Frontier Dreams.

Here’s about the details of the birthday making. For the rest the children enjoyed playing a pin-the-tail on the donkey game, red light-green light and most of all the bouncy house. We bought a bouncy house 2 years ago and it has become one of our favorite games if the weather gets really bad and the boys need to burn some energy.

These past weeks have been fun between Christmas, the New Year and Samy’s birthday but I am looking forward to a return to our normal rhythm and a day without deadlines.

WIP Wednesday: This and that and other things

With Christmas fast approaching, I’ve been working on finishing my homemade gifts. My plan is to make one hat for Papa and each of the little ones.

 Samy’s hat is well under way. I’m not too happy about the look of my stitches but that is my fault I have been knitting continental style on some rows and then with my right hand on others. Don’t ask… I love the red color and Melange by Blue Sky Alpaca is one my favorite yarns right now. It is so soft to the touch and so agreeable to work with.

For Layla, I’m planning on making a Baby Cap. It’s been on my queue for a while now. I was just waiting to find a nice yarn to work with and I think the Koigu KPPPM might be it.

For Tarek I will be making an ear-flap hat with some Debbie Bliss Aran in Denim Blue. To keep those little ear toasty.

And Papa…That was a hard one. I spent two hours on Ravelry yesterday trying to find a pattern that worked with the yarn I had. Ended up finding this beautiful hat by Kirsten Kapur. There was just one problem, for me at least, it’s knitted from the top down. So I had to cast on 4 stitches  on DPN, let’s put it this way I was ready to call it quit until I found this great video.  She demonstrates the Emily Ocker's Cast On as explained on Elizabeth Zimmermann’s book.

That made me realize the the way I was doing things didn’t work for. Let me explain…I fall in love with a type of yarn or a color and then I drive myself crazy looking for a pattern that will work. So I decided I had to really learn knitting, not just the purl and knit stitches and other technical aspects. I have to be comfortable enough to knit a sweater in any size and yarn of my choosing. To be able to knit using a hand spun yarn. And I knew I had to go back to EZ for that. So as of now I am back in Knitting School with the master itself.If you’re like me there is one other book you might want to consider by Jacqueline Fee.

I am still working on my ornament for Kelly and the boys are making one too. I explained to Samy that I was making it for a sick friend to make her feel better and he wanted to help too. If you want to make something for Kelly, you'll find all the details here.

On a different subject, I feel stuck in cooking rut lately. Any ideas on how to inspire me again?

Just like home

 

This weekend is a double celebration weekend for us. First thanksgiving and then Aid El Adha. During this day we celebrate our love and devotion to god by celebrating Abraham’s sacrifice.

I remember my parents coming into our room to wake us up and greet us. Growing up I used to wear my finest clothes and go visit my family.During our visit we would be given some money by the adults. We would share a meal prepared by my grand-mother and later my mother.

But since I moved away this tradition has lost some of it’s luster. For one thing most times I was working on that day or there was no one I could celebrate with. Since we got married and started a family we haven’t been very diligent too.

This year I decided that family, traditions and celebrations would be a cornerstone of our lives. That we would celebrate our native holidays and also those of our adoptive country.

So this morning I started making a couscous for our dinner tonight. I could see my hands working and remembered my grand-mothers and the way they made this meal for their families. I never really learned cooking from my mom, not in a formal way. I mainly watched her doing it for years and now it’s my turn.

My sister was making the same dish miles away in Paris and we talked about our memories and the little tricks to make a tastier meal. Not two families make this recipe the exact same way and it may lead to hilarious conversations. I can still remember my mother and mother-in-law discussing “the couscous” recipe during family gatherings.

 

So even if we’re not with our families on this day, our home smelled just like home.

20 hours later...

I couldn't resist telling you about the results of my bread making. As soon as Salim walked in I made him taste it. He is pretty honest when it comes to my cooking (sometimes maybe too much) and he said it's as good as bread from "Paul". I was happy because Paul is one of our favorite bakeries in Paris.

Looks good and tastes good...

I am still amazed at how easy the whole process was. And for me to succeed in baking this means it's really idiot proof. I am a good cook (if anyone ate at my house, now is your chance to comment) but baking...I always had terrible results. I even stopped trying, I am not very good at following directions. Even when I cook I like adding my personal twist to the recipe but that doesn't work when you bake.

I feel my creative juices back maybe I will start cooking interesting things again.

And here are some links for this weekend:

:: Vintage Swaps hosted by Heather @Shivaya Naturals is still open for new participants until 9/26. It promises to be a lot of fun. I am already meeting some really wonderful people and discovering great blogs.

:: Gypsy Forest has a very nice Yogurt recipe. The great thing about it is that you don't need one of those fancy machines to make them. Just a nice basic thermometer.

:: Amanda @ Soulemama is sharing her broccoli soup. Sure to please my broccoli lovers.

:: And if you need craft ideas to keep your little one busy be sure to bookmark Frugal Family Fun Blog. Valerie is very creative and resourceful.

Have a nice weekend.

Patience

Saying I am a patient person is like saying that pigs fly or that the sky is pink, chicken have teeth...you get the idea. That said having children has made me more patient than I was and I try to be even more. And today I did something that is really trying my patience... baking bread using this recipe. It needs 21 hours to be ready... But I couldn't resist the idea of having some nice fresh bread on our table tomorrow.

The bread machine doesn't satisfy my longing for some nice crust. I might even get some good cheese and wine for our scrapbooking night tomorrow. And if you don't hear about the bread anymore... you can then guess the outcome.

On a totally different subject now, I couldn't resist sharing this with you today:

- I read this post by Benita @ChezLarsson today .Great ideas on how to use your baby's crib once your child moves to a big bed. Pure genius.

- If your kids puzzles drive you crazy. Please tell me I am not alone. Then Deena @imakestuff has a perfect solution for you. Those bags are on my to-do list.

- If you are wandering what to cook then I have a look at this yummy soup by Jennifer @JCasahandmade.

Ikea here I come

If you knew me you would know that IKEA is one of my favorite furniture stores. It's a very affordable option if you like clean modern lines . I can go in there pick furniture and turn any messy space into an organized peaceful heaven (maybe I should try to be more modest).

When we moved from Paris to New Jersey 6 years ago, the transition was tough. Any shopping trip was a headache: trying to figure out what store sold what, the brands, the size of food packaging... My first grocery story even ended in tears. Then one morning we went to IKEA for a dining room table and chairs. It felt like home, the layout is exactly the same anywhere in the world. Even the prices were the same except for the currency.

So six years later I still love going to IKEA but usually it's a weekend trip with Salim. Never alone. Never with three kids...

But today I had to go, I couldn't live with this anymore:

We've had this high chair since Samy's birth. I asked the sales person to recommend one and she pointed this one. I was very high on pregnancy hormones and overwhelmed by the amount of stuff you were supposed to buy for a baby. Anyway I got this one. 

It was a good choice until Samy started feeding himself and then... This thing is anyone's worst cleaning nightmare. It's full of nook and crannies, the food gets stuck there and it takes me 15 minutes to clean it each time. I have been wanting to change it forever but I couldn't make myself buy a new one and spend another hundred or so.

But yesterday night was it.. this thing had to go. I will clean it, donate it and if no one wants it I will burn it (not very earth friendly). It had to go!

So that was the reason to drag my three wee ones to IKEA for this one instead

Poor picture quality but you get the idea. This one takes less space, is a cinch to clean and I love the modern lines. And the coolest part is that it only cost $25. Maman is so happy!!!

And while I was there I found this beautiful play kitchen. It's gonna make it to the top of my list for this christmas.

If you stay away from IKEA because you don't like mass produced items, you can always customize them (Salim just read my post and he says to use "pimp my ride" ah guys..) . Here's a list of my favorite websites/blogs:

• Ikea Hacker is good start for ideas.
• Grippicks has cool decorative accents you can use to customize dressers, bookcases..
• JCaroline Home has very fancy colorful slipcovers and pillows.
• Bemz has the largest selection of fabrics for chairs, sofas and ottomans slipcovers.

And if you're wondering how it went. Perfectly well!! except that I had to bribe them a little bit: another plush animal for Tarek and some train tracks for Samy. Very reasonable price considering the payout.

French Toast

Yummy way of using old bread. I have been baking bread twice a week and everyone loves it. Sometimes though I have a couple of slices left and I just hate throwing food away.

So this morning with a little help from my favorite Chef Samy (he loves cooking) we made some french toast. I didn't really follow any recipe, just mixed two eggs with some milk, sugar and a hint of vanilla. Et voila du Pain Perdu (lost bread - that's how it's called in french).

Do you have a favorite recipe that you make with your kids?