It's the Holiday Season...

Wow, I got quite a response from my last blog post even from people who did not leave a comment! I am just wondering what you all cook at your house? I just want to point out that I don't cook like that EVERY day! Sometimes it is just eggs and toast for dinner, leftovers, or whatever else I can scrounge up! Anyways, I am really not that much of a baker but during Christmas we always like to make some homemade cookies. I thought about trying the chocolate chip and chickpea recipe out of the Seinfeld book but decided to stick to my old tried and true recipes. We ended up just picking two kinds of cookies to do. We did about 80 Neiman Marcus chocolate chip and oatmeal cookies and about 50 shortbread cookies. Then we had plenty to share with neighbors. I also did a couple of the cauliflower banana breads and homemade tomato soup with ham. Yummy! Emily and Alyssa won't normally eat tomatoes but they sure will eat the soup!
In other news, we officially became the "most embarrasing parents" ever. Even more than X's parents - and "THAT is REALLY embarrasing". I guess it had something to do with singing if your happy and you know it at Cici's pizza with an 8th grade boy from school sitting in the booth behind us. Then when we were leaving I spilled water all over the floor in front their table! It's not easy being twelve I guess.
Well, we are now on Christmas break. Sixteen days of NO SCHOOL! The girls are loving it all ready!
Emily is really crafty. Not like her mother at all! The other day when we were making soup together - next thing I know she and Leanna had washed out the empty chickpea cans, taken off the outside paper, and were gluing sparkles all over the can to make a pencil holder. I asked where she got that idea and she said it just came to her. You can see a picture here of her with her can and a life sized girl holding a baby she created this morning. Alyssa also surprised me this week with her T-shirt making skills (not pictured). She and her friend bought all their own materials, cut out letters from fabric saying "Alyssa is my Bestie" and "Allie is my Bestie", and "Christmas '07" on the back. I told her plans were too ambitious in the time frame she had but she proved me wrong! Then she hand sewed green stuff around their sleeves. I was like "how did you know how to do that?" (Because she didn't learn anything of the sort from me). She was like it is just in and out and said she was "self taught".
Anyways the girls are really excited for Christmas!

What's Cooking in Kristin's Kitchen?

People always ask, What are you making for dinner tonight? I too am always curious as to what other people are eating at their house. Growing up I always loved to eat over at other peoples house to try new things and see what they eat. Basically, I just love to eat good food! Well, for breakfast we have been having either eggs, whole wheat toast, whole grain waffles, whole grain cereal or oatmeal, and/or smoothies made with berries, natural yogurt, flaxseed, and juice. Then lunch during the week is usually whatever we have for leftovers from dinner or sandwiches (turkey or ham or natural peanut butter). Healthy snacks that I try to make are homemade hummus, guacamole, pretzels, fruit, cut up vegetables, and organic snack bars. Also, I have found some great new recipes in the Seinfeld cookbook. The banana bread made with cauliflower and the peanut butter and banana muffins (also made with cauliflower) are delicious. Although my kids will eat vegetables, the recipes in the book are good just for making regular recipe's more healthy. For dinner, the book also has a good chicken nugget recipe that all me kids loved. I dipped the chicken in sweet potato puree and then breaded the chicken with flaxseed meal and breadcrumbs. We also love to eat faitja's for dinner. I started marinating vegetables such as zucchini, squash, onions, and pepper (pictured) to go with the faitja's. I also add black beans and corn to the mix then top with guacamole. I so love this that I will eat it for breakfast and lunch the next few days until it is all gone! Also, when I make taco meat now I started adding tomato sauce and carrot puree and it tastes really good. Another dinner staple in our house is spaghetti but sometimes we mix it up by having either lasagna (pictured) or mostacholi or a noodle bake with cream cheese etc. I started using organic spaghetti sauce that is low in sugar. And everyone likes it more than our regular sauce. I also have always been using 100% whole wheat pasta for a long time now without any complaints! We also try to have salmon regularly. I usually make that with a couscous mix and a salad. Grilled chicken and flank steak with veggies and salad are eaten here too. I also have been experimenting with different soups. I have found an easy chicken noodle that is popular here and then I freeze the leftover in individual servings for a quick snack. Also, white bean chicken chili happens a lot! I made a homemade chicken pot pie the other night that was way better than any frozen or bisquick recipe. O.k...so that is basically what I do with my time. I am either thinking about food, making it, or shopping for it! Let me know if you want any recipes!

Snow in Schertz Texas

O.K...I am going to tell everyone again how much I love living in Schertz Texas! It is a small town only 20 minutes away from the "big" city! The schools are all close to our house and there are sidewalks everywhere. It was recently ranked as the #40th best place to live by U.S. News and as one of the fastest growing cities by Forbes! They are building a brand new huge library, planning new parks with lots of trails, building a fitness center, and a few more new schools. And we will be able to ride our bike or walk to everything!
Schertz had their annual snow festival this weekend. It is actually pretty funny if you have grown up around snow all your life. They basically just grind up ice and throw it in a pile and make a little hill to sled down. You can see by the pictures what I am talking about! Leanna has been talking all week about touching snow and playing with snow. So when she saw the pathetic pile of snow she was SO excited! "Snow!" Well we had fun and ate free food! Yeah!
Emily had her Christmas concert this week also! That was exciting. We have two Christmas work parties to go to because Damien is taking a new job within the company so we are doing both parties! So thankful to have Alyssa to babysit! And she does a pretty good job too! Alyssa has been more difficult to photograph but I found this picture of her on the camera that she took of herself!
Well...still have LOTS of shopping to do!!