And more party!

So a few people asked me about last year's birthday party which was Adventure Around the World themed, and I decided to post a few pics and tips on how I did it.
First of all I made the invitations, I usually do this since I like something unique and I am all about DIY. For this particular invitation I used my cricut and I cut some cards, I used a rectangular one and it had the open flap already done. I wanted to do a suitcase so I cut little "handles" and I pasted them onto one side of the "suitcase". On one side of the invitation I made a frame out of travel themed paper and I added a photo of the kids on the other side the flap "suitcase" opened and you found the info. I grabbed a travel image and used it as background and printed my info there. So the invitation had a few layers, I also decided to do board passes, I used the same papers and I printed the name of each child on them so they had to bring them to the party in order to board the plane for the adventure. Here are the pics.

 Here are the boarding passes .

 

 

As the kids arrived I gave them explorer hats, plastic binoculars, water cans and passports, all bought at oriental trading. Once they gave me their boarding passes, we "boarded" the plane. I was the pilot and we were ready for an adventure around the world.

We stopped in a few countries. We had China, France, Italy, Australia and Mexico. I enlisted the help of my teen daughter and her friends, my mom and the kids' dad. At each country we had to collect a trinket and they got their passports stamped. I used the stickers that came with the passports as stamps and for the countries I didn't have stickersfor, I bought a stamp online.

 After our trip we were so hungry!!! We even brought the italian chef with us and she made us pizza!

After we collected all the trinkets, we traded them for the big prize, which was a world decorated pinata, I just got a smiley face pinata at Zurchers and then I decorated it myself. We had a blast!

 The costumes I had before hand , and I tried to use the countries I had stuff for, or were easy to shop for.I also had the girls read some fun facts about each country so we learned a bit while we "traveled".

So that's all folks!! I hope you enjoyed and if you have any questions shoot me a message on my facebook page.

Cheers!!

Feeling like supermom on a weekday 2 ( Indian style)

Soooo it has been a long while. Projects are still going here, I just haven't had time to post.
Today though, was the day. And here I am.
I got home from work and I was craving some naan or indian bread. I follow a cool videoblog on youtube called Majulaskitchen and she makes awesome food.
So as I was mixing a batch of naan I thought, why not make some rice and a dish to go with it?
So Manjula has a very yummy yellow rice recipe, so I made that and then I googled a few recipes on one of my favorite Indian dishes, Saag Aloo, which basically means spinach and potatoes.
I always have spinach in my fridge and of course potatoes, I skipped the chilies on these recipes because my body type does not do well with spicy foods.
So here are a few pics and the links to Manjula's videos which are awesome.
Naan
Naan recipe by Manjula
Fried yellow rice
Fried Yello Rice by Manjula

And for the Saag Aloo I used

3 tbsp sunflower oil
1 onion chopped
1 garlic clove chopped
1 tbsp grated ginger
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp turmeric
Salt to taste
2 lbs fresh spinach chopped or baby spinach
4 potatoes cubed and previously boiled for 5 minutes.
2 tbsp cream or plain yogurt
Some people use chilies and lemon but I skipped both.

Fry the onions, garlic and ginger until onions look clear, add spices and cook until fragrant, add a bit of water if spices stick to the pan. Add spinach gradually letting it wilt to add more, cover and cook for 10 minutes, add potatoes and simmer for 10 more minutes. Add cream stir and serve with rice.

Valentina rolling out the naan, she was trying to make funny faces but I made her laugh.

Tadaaaaaaa!
That's all folks!!
Cheers and happy summer.

Valentines...

Today was a bit of a crazy day here, got up and got the kids off to school.
I really, really tried to get started on my couch but it did not happen. I put the fabric down and layed the old pieces on and marked them, now I need to cut it. Ughh this couch has been totally neglected and I really want to get it done.
Cleaned the house and did a ton of laundry ( l love how I choose to do all my bulk work on days like this one).
We have a tradition for Valentines, we always make gnocchi with the kids, and they love it.
Today though I had an appointment for Brenna, to go see the eye doctor at 4:00 PM since she had been complaining of headaches. Bad day for this with all the traffic and crazy people in love.
Well, $250 and 2 hours later, I was running so late!. The place where I take my kids for glasses is right next to my favorite market, so I had to stop there to get some goodies. I ran in and grabbed some Portobello mushrooms ( My biggest pet peeve is when I see it spelled PortAbellA eeekk!!!) and some other stuff I needed.
By now, I am speeding back home, to hungry kids and a pot full of potatoes to mash.
Onto the gnocchi now, if you have never had this, you need to try it now!
Gnocchi is an italian dumpling type of pasta, made out of potatoes and flour.
I learned how to make gnocchi when I was pregnant with my first child and I had a bad craving. My mom, always hated cooking, so she would not make them for me, so I tried and tried until I got them right. And now I make them for my kiddos.
Finally back home, we got our hands dirty and made our traditional dinner.
I made tomato sauce for them and some yummy creamy stuff with the portobellos I got at the market.
It was worth the work, the mess and the running.
Here is the recipe for the gnocchi if you ever want to try it.

Potato gnocchi

4 lbs russet potatoes ( other kind will be too watery)
4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder ( I use this, because the flour in the US sucks)
Salt

Peel the potatoes and place them in a steaming dish, steam for about 40 minutes or until tender.
If you prefer to boil them, do not peel them or they will absorb too much water and the dough will be  mushy.
Once the potatoes are done put them through a food mill to get a fine puree, do not blend or use a food processor, because these machines brake the starches and you will end up with a gummy mess.
You want a nice, fine puree.
Once you have done this add the flour and the baking powder, start working with a spoon, keep adding flour until you can handle the dough with your hands.
Dump it on the counter and start working it adding more flour until it is smooth and does not stick to your hands anymore.
I usually go by how it feels here , if the potatoes were too moist you will need more flour.
Dust some flour on the counter and cut the dough in smaller pieces and start rolling into small cilinders, about the thickness of your thumb.
Cut them into small bite size pieces. You can give them their traditional shape by rolling them between your thumb and a fork, they will look like a small rolled shell.
I usually skip this step since it's just aesthetics and they taste the same with out the extra work.
Bring a pot of salted water to a rolling boil and add the gnocchi, in about 2 minutes they will start to float, let them cook for about 30 seconds more and then skim them out with a slotted spoon.
Serve with your favorite sauce.

Pics!

Working it.

1- The gnocchi ready to be cooked
2- When they float they are ready
3- The sauce I was throwing together while I was cooking batches.
4- My sauce, I used 1/2 onion, 1 Portobello mushroom chopped,  handful of fresh parsley chopped, and one pint of cream. Salt and pepper to taste.

The result! My gnocchi doesn't look like the pictures you see out there because I do not  roll it against the fork, so they just look like regular dumplings. They taste the same though.

I am so glad this day is over!
Hopefully I can get started on my couch tomorrow!
Happy Valentines Day!
Cheers

Ahhh Mondays

Mondays are crazy, at least here. I tried to start on my couch but I didn't get far.
Dallin had spotlight at school for his "half birthday" and Valentina got her new dress in the mail, I cannot believe she is going to a school dance, wow time flies.
Dinner was a "lookinthefridgeandworkit" kind of thing and this is how it went.
I had one head of couliflower and an eggplant and I always have pasta, so vermicelli it was.
I roasted the veggies in the oven with some salt, pepper, onion powder and italian herbs. Cooked the pasta and added some olive oil to it, mixed in the veggies and voila, dinner was served.
Two of my kids even ate it, woot!, the other two had noodles with cheese... oh well, I keep trying.
Here is the result, it was great!

Since we are close to Valentines we had FHE on Love one another, and decorated heart shaped cookies for the activity/treat.
They loved it! I didn't love the mess but oh well...I learned to pick my battles.
Happy kiddos...

Tomorrow hopefully I get to work on my couch, since I do not have to volunteer at the school. Wish me luck.

I whip my man back and forth.

So this morning it's cold and we have freezing rain, lovely.
As the kids were getting ready for school , Brandon was the usually slow poke. He is just not a morning person.
When you see Brenna, my 7 year old, you see a very quiet and shy child. But wait until you see her or hear her in action. She is very outspoken and speaks her mind no matter what , unless I am around, then she resumes her quiet persona . I guess she takes on my role when I am not there lol.
As we were going out to the car, Brandon gets in and shuts the door, Brenna gets in and she waits ...
finally after a few seconds she yells, Brandon!!! Don't you know you are supposed to close the door for me??? Geez! learn how to treat women!.
Hhahaha I almost died laughing, leave it to my girls to whip men back into shape!!

Is Mom sick?

So last weekend I was sick. Mind you I NEVER get sick with the regular stuff ( flu, stomach flu or any of those lovely viruses out there). But I caught it bad and OMG it was not fun.
Friday night we had a poker night with my sister in law and her family, I made pizza, she made chicken tostadas for the kids, anyways. We had fun.
Saturday morning I woke up at 7 with a bad headache and very nauseous. I thought it was another of my "liver attacks" ( yes me and my liver go a long ways, maybe some day I'll share the details).
But no, this felt a lot like morning sickness, which I was lucky enough to have with only ONE of my pregnancies. So off I go to the bathroom and started my morning with a lovely deposit of bile in my toilet.
You always feel so much better after you throw up, so I went back to bed and slept until 9, which by then my kids are getting worried , where is mom???
Dallin, my 5 year old comes into my room...Mom? , so I tell him I am sick. He brings me water and tucks me in ( yes he is my sweetheart), the other 2 poke their faces in and my teen doesn't even find out until noon.
I get up and drink a boldo tea which is good for the digestive system, yes I am very anti medicine and I won't take any OTC stuff or prescribed, 3 teaspoons later I am at the toilet again...ahhh this is lovely, while I am there spewing my guts out I can feel a bad turmoil in my belly , uh oh the stomach bug is not done with me ... as I continue to make another bile deposit in my toilet, the "force" makes me poop my pants in a not very Jedi manner, yep you read right, I pooped my pants! . Dallin comes in the bathroom again and with a scared face asks me ... Mom are you ok?? , no dear, I am not ok, Mommy is sick, can you go get me a pair of pajama pants from the closet?. Dallin: why?, Me :I just pooped my pants. He runs out of the bathroom ... GUYS!!!! MOM POOPED IN HER PANTS!!!....Got to love it. So now I am mommy poopy pants. The joy of motherhood.
The nasty bug did not let me drink water or have any food for 30 long hours.
Meanwhile, today I am still recovering from the mountain of laundry that did not get done this weekend due to my sickness, which lasted about 2 days. And I am telling my kids not to tell anyone about my little accident , but I am sure it will slip...oh well.
Of all the days I can get sick it has to be a Saturday, which is the day I always do everything I don't during the week, laundry, extra cleaning, shopping, and I even had my latest project of upholstering a chair ready to go...well the chair is still sitting in my living room, bare and the fabric is all over the room , ughhh. I need a house elf.