Snickerdoodle Cookies and Gellish

I got this snickerdoodle recipe years ago (back when we lived in Katy, TX) from one of Charles’ co-workers.  She brought them to work all the time and Charles wanted me to start baking them at home.  I recently  made a couple batches and remembered how great they were and wanted to share them with you!

SNICKERDOODLE COOKIES:

• 3/4 cup shortening
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 3/4 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• **Set aside 1 tablespoon cinnamon/ 2 tablespoons sugar (mixed together)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In a large mixing bowl, mix shortening, butter, sugar and eggs thoroughly.  In a medium size mixing bowl, mix together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt.  Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients gradually while mixing.  Form dough into balls – the size of a whole walnut, just a little smaller than a golf ball.  Gently roll the dough balls into sugar and cinnamon mixture.  Place 2” apart on a baking sheet – I use silpat type liners.  Bake for 10 minutes… ‘ish’  All ovens are different and I’ve made these in 4 different houses… sometimes they take 8 minutes and sometimes 13 – it all depends on the size of the dough ball and the exactness of your oven temp… the smaller the cookie the faster it will cook (but also more likely they won’t be soft).

I have to watch these like a hawk.  If you want them soft and chewy (like I do) then you need to take them out just after they’ve cracked a bit.  They will feel extremely soft – but trust me, don’t move them until they are completely cooled… they will deflate so don’t worry if they look puffy.. however, they will be crunchy if overcooked.  I find it to be tricky because they never brown, even when they are ‘overdone’ by my taste.  So just watch these – they will be worth it, I promise!

The “COOKIE MONSTER!” He was helping me watch them…  I don’t know who likes these more – me, Audrey or him.. well maybe Charles wins…. we all devour these.. they are not too sweet, have a hint of salt.. and 100% SCRUMPTIOUS.

Ok. So if you are still wondering what Gellish is – It is the same as Shellac in the USA.  Just a different brand here.. It appears to be just like regular nail polish but it lasts for 3 weeks without chipping or smudging.  I was curious about this, but never really paint my nails a “color” however – I adore a french manicure, but getting tips here costs like $80 (US).Bananas. I thought why not try the gellish, but ask for it in french manicure.. LOVING IT! My nails look fabulous and they are actually my nails.. not tips, no heavy goop over the top that breaks or cracks.. just polish *that lasts long enough to justify the cost. Score!

- my fellow abu dhabians would recognize the background as a ramp escalator – we have these and the regular stair kind in the malls – Since the grocery stores are inside the malls and you have to go to different levels for parking with your grocery cart they have these ramps that the “trolley” (grocery cart) magnet wheels stick to.

And here is a just because pic of me and my munchkins before leaving for school today.. I love how brown Will is. 

Muah!

School: What’s working for me

Since school has started we’ve adjusted and tweaked our routine into a well oiled machine.  For the most part, there are fuss-less, stress free, and no rush mornings!  This is a big accomplishment since all of us are up, ready, fed and out the door at the same time.  We share a car here – so I drop Charles to work, the Audrey to school, then Will to Preschool (on Mon/Wed).

Clothes: I found this hanging shoe rack at IKEA that works SO WELL to organize school clothes… since Audrey is used to the system of having a ‘cubby’ at school – I thought it would make sense to pick out several outfits at the beginning of the week and place them each in their own cubby.  Just before bedtime I ask her to look at the cubbies and pick out an outfit for the next day.  She feels like she gets to choose, and I of course approve of all the choices in the cubbies.  It is a win/win!  We have not had one single problem… I was dreading the no uniform situation since we would have massive meltdowns about clothing in the past… But this is like magic!

Breakfast: I make the usual stuff, eggs, toast, pancakes, French toast, egg sandwiches etc.. but Will seems to only like the sweet stuff.  Since I’m cooking for Charles, Espy, Audrey and Will… and sometimes myself if I’m lucky…To help combat the short-order-cook syndrome: I did a batch of muffins in advance for the freezer… to use on those mornings that are a bit crunched for time. (*recipe below)

Lunches: After Audrey gets home from school, I immediately unpack her lunchbox from that day and begin packing it for the next day.  I prefer doing this in the early afternoon while the kitchen is a mess from dinner prep and most definitely not in the morning rush.  She loves it when I buy the cafeteria style rolls from the grocery store and make mini-sandwiches.  I also prep all the things needed the same day I grocery shop – I make containers of cucumber slices, wash the grapes, make small baggies of carrots etc..

After school nibble:  I often make them smoothies.  I get big bags of frozen strawberries and frozen mango….  on grocery shopping day I make individual mixed baggies of the combined fruit and include any other fruit/berries I might have on hand like blueberries, blackberries, banana’s etc..   When making the smoothies, I don’t have to take out a million things and make a big mess, I just dump the baggie into the blender and add milk, plain yogurt and a little sugar since the fruit/yogurt can be tart.  The kids love it and it is really healthy but not tooo filling. 

Dinner: my kids are starving and will try to snack us out of house and home every afternoon, so I decided to flop snack time and dinner time.  I often feed them dinner around 4:30/4:45 so they will eat dinner with their hungriest appetite and then we go out to play (when the weather is cooler)… We come in for an evening snack (if they ask for it) – like homemade ice cream (*see below for recipe) or popcorn and then bath/bed.  I find that switching it has made them better dinner eaters since I was preoccupied making dinner during the time they were snacking – I would often realize that they ate themselves full on snacks and junk and had no room for dinner.. so this just  makes better sense for us. 

School Work Organization: I found these great folders that had built in plastic sleeves, they looked like they would be good to organize stuff, so I bought a few and started using them to put keepsake artwork/schoolwork in when I empty out the backpacks.  I am certainly not a ‘keeper’ – I throw away everything, so I thought that having these small folders would be good for me to keep only the very special items in.  I have started one for Audrey and Will and I’m tempted to buy 6 more so that all of Audrey’s from elementary would match (*I did get another purple one so I can put her work from KG1 in it)… I’m neurotic like that.  Will doesn’t start school for another 2 years, I’m not crazy enough to buy 8 for him right now. ha.

I keep magazine files with all the kids color books, workbooks etc.. in a furniture piece that faces the table.. that is where I’ll keep the school work portfolio so Audrey can look at her old school work and add new stuff in.  It is also helpful when they are ‘all up in my bizness’ I can quickly grab an activity and get them working on it.

Apple Cranberry Bran Muffin Recipe: http://therealhousewife.com/blog/apple-cranberry-bran-muffins/

Ingredients:

• 4 Cups Fiber One Bran Cereal (*I used flakes- less fiber for Will)
• 1/2 Cup Low-Fat Milk
• 3 Cups Unsweetened Applesauce
• 2 tsp Vanilla
• 2 Whole Eggs
• 2 Egg Whites
• 1 1/2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour (*I didn’t have this so I used all purpose)
• 1 Cup All Purpose Flour
• 1 Cup Sugar
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• 2 Tbsp Baking Powder
• 3/4 tsp Salt
• 2 tsp Cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp Nutmeg
• 1 Cup Craisins
• 2 Apples

In large mixing bowl, combine Fiber One Cereal, Milk, Applesauce, and Vanilla. Set aside for at least 5 minutes or until cereal softens. In a separate bowl, combine Whole Wheat Flour, All Purpose Flour, Sugar, Baking Soda, Baking Powder, Salt, Cinnamon, and Nutmeg. Stir to combine.

Add 2 Whole Eggs and 2 Egg Whites to cereal mixture. Mix well to combine and break up cereal.

Peel and dice 2 Apples. Add flour mixture, Craisins, and Apples to cereal mixture. Stir with spoon until completely combined.

Scoop large portions into greased and floured (or paper lined) muffin cups. They will not rise or spread, so fill to the desired size of end product. Should fill about 18 muffin cups. Bake at 375° for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown on top.

here are some of my pictures:

 

 

The recipe made 18 muffins so I kept a few out and froze the rest.  (I just put them in a gallon-size ziploc bag).  In the morning I take out however many I need and microwave them until warm.  Will LOVES these muffins. 

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Homemade Ice Cream: from Our Best Bites

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2011/09/two-ingredient-ice-cream-no-machine-required/

2 Ingredient Ice Cream
they got the recipe from Eagle Brand

Ingredients
2 cups heavy cream (* 4 cups needed for machine version)
14 oz can Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 tablespoons vanilla extract

Instructions
Freezer Method: Omit half and half. Combine sweetened condensed milk and vanilla in large bowl. In a separate bowl, pour 2 cups heavy cream into bowl and whip until soft-medium peaks form. Slowly fold whipped cream into sweetened condensed milk mixture in 3 additions. Fold until well combined. Pour into container and freeze for at least 6 hours or until firm.

Ice Cream Machine: Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix well. Freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions and place in freezer after to set up if needed.

Add-ins may be added before freezing for both methods. Try fresh fruit, crushed cookies or candies, and different flavored extracts and spices

*we’ve made this ice cream recipe twice now and have tried crushed oreos and then honey/cinnamon/chocolate shavings. both were divine and very creamy/rich.  Since Will doesn’t drink milk or like any dairy products for that matter, this (and smoothies) are a great way to sneak in the Calcium without him knowing.

last but not least, I taped up a sign by the door of all the things Audrey needs for school each day for her to look at and double check everything (*in an effort to begin teaching her responsibility)

I found the printable here:http://printable.tipjunkie.com/get-ready-for-school-printable-free-download/

I thought I could share with you everything what works for us!

oh and when I’m done prepping, preparing and driving for school – I get to do this!:

Arabic Song

My jaw literally dropped when Audrey sang this song to me after school yesterday.  How in the world did she learn this so quickly and get all those flem-hacking-up-a-loogie-throat sounds so RIGHT?!  The sounds are extremely difficult to make correctly and there’s 3 different ones. (I think).  It is to the tune of the Barney Song, “I love you, You love me.”

Arabic class went from being her most dreaded class last year (at a different school) to her absolute favorite this year at ACS.  I met the teacher at open house night and had to tell her what a big fan Audrey was of her class.  The kids go to Arabic class every day for 40 minutes and are learning SO MUCH.

Will’s School

In true, birth order fashion, my second born has gotten little blog time with his recent start of school.  I’m sort of glad though that I procrastinated in posting this, since now I actually have more to say about his school 2 weeks in.   Will had seen his “sissy” go to school with her backpack and lunch box every day for a week, so when it was his turn he was over the moon excited.  So excited, that he carried them the whole evening before school.  As soon as I was finished packing his lunch, he would not let it leave his side… screaming mad if I even thought of putting it in the fridge.

 

He even ate his dinner with his backpack on and his lunch by his side.  The next morning, he woke up very excited and happy to get dressed and go to “my sool”

he was happy, but hates pictures, so: hence the grumpy face.

Walking in without even a hesitation or a whimper.  His first two days were like this, but  now, for some reason, he does cry at drop off – he is so dramatic.  Also on the first day, I warned the teacher that he can be a little aggressive at times and has had trouble at church getting along with other kids recently… I wished her luck and ran out the door.  ha!  At pick up I nervously asked, “How did he do?” and she said, “He was great! He is not a crier like a lot of the kids, but he doesn’t share… he wants all the toys for himself.”  This is not new news to us – but that is why we are trying to expose him to other kids more and to listen to different adults than just us.  I can already see the benefit from his time at preschool – We played with another kid today actually for over 3 hours without even one ‘tiff’. Victory!

This is the note Will’s teacher, Ms. Claudia sent home:

There is a notebook that she corresponds with us in at the end of each week to keep us updated on how the kids are doing.  Great Idea!  I love how she has hope for his lack of sharing at the end of her note.  hilarious.  I will certainly keep this book for him – for when he is older and hopefully has a little “will”..ha. I may even have to put some notes in there of my own. He can still be quite the handful, but at the same time I have to say his speech is dramatically improving (which dominoes into better behavior since he can communicate better) – every day he is coming out with new words and putting a few together to make simple short sentences.. like, “Mama, lay here.” when I put him down for a nap… and yes, I always do “lay here” when he asks, since I know that little boys don’t want their mama’s to lay by them for long.  I’m enjoying it while he lets me.

I know I’m biased, but I think he’s just so DARN cute… SO affectionate.. and SOOO YUMMY.

love this picture of him^^ I took it on Audrey’s first day of school.

there’s nothing better than when he crawls up on our laps and snuggles in.  I could eat him up! 

I made these plastic tumblers for his teachers and inside I put Rice Krispy treats (with chocolate chips).  I pretty much single-handedly ate the rest of the batch. I have no will power when it comes to Rice Krispies.

I have no idea what this picture is about – but I’m just throwing it in because I think it is precious the way espy was looking at him.

Summer 2011: Paris Part 2: Sight Seeing!

 

Ok, this is my 6th and final post about our summer! WOO WHOO! what a summer it was! It only took me a month to catch up, but I did it! (Can you believe we left the USA exactly 1 month ago today?!)

See below to find out how we felt after two days of Disney: 

We were exhausted! I failed to mention before that our hotel had no air conditioning.  Thankfully it was pretty cool, highs around 80 each day, but without that cool air blowing on you at night.. not even a fan, we just weren’t getting a great nights sleep.  The kids played musical beds all night and kept changing who they were going to sleep by which made for restless nights.  BUT, we were on vacation and we were pressing on.  It was Charles’ and My day to see the city – in a time crunched-drive-past-it-quickly sort-of-way.  We explored our options at the front desk for tours.. they had the regular, bunch of people on a bus type – but also offered a personal guide that takes you around by yourself.  It wasn’t that much more expensive, and with Audrey and Will  and all their unpredictability at this point, we played it safe – we also had much more flexibility with our personal tour since he would go where we wanted, not where we didn’t and would stop for however long we wished for eating, walking around etc.  Super. Lets Go!

 

Our first stop, Notre Dame Cathedral – I also found a cute souvenir shop right where our guide dropped us off – and bought a Christmas ornament (that is what we do on every trip.. collect an ornament from the place we visited).

The nuns leaving the Cathedral

Me and the kids, Charles and the kids.. It was a beautiful day!  We could have gone inside, but you should have seen the line!.. next stop the Eiffel Tower!  Wow!

It was amazing to see in person.. So huge and so much attention to detail.. absolutely stunning.

We hung out around here for a while and grabbed an early lunch at a café nearby

my Quiche Lorraine and salad. Delicious!

Will eating his favorite food: French Fries in France! 

such a cute ice cream trailer!

We grabbed an ice cream cone for the kids afterwards – Ariel was with Audrey the whole day – in the Eiffel tower pictures, at the lunch table, getting ice cream… too. cute. Off we go again..

Audrey took this picture of me.  I was taking many many pictures out of the car window.. she wanted a turn

Jean Claude took us all around and barely spoke english – I kept getting the giggles b/c we just couldn’t understand him.

sweet girl dozed off for a bit… notice the small toy kitty cat in her dress pocket. LOL. she cracks me up.

similar to Italy, they have public bikes for everyone’s use ^^

he wanted Chaups: “CHIPS”

sweet sleeping boy!  I am thinking I need to collage all the sleeping pictures from the summer!

We finished up sight seeing, got back to the hotel and had dinner, let the kids play a bit and then packed up since we had to leave first thing in the morning to catch our flight back to Abu Dhabi.

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Leaving Paris….

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7 hours later Landed in Abu Dhabi…(of course this day neither kids slept for a minute)

We flew Etihad Airways and man oh man was it NICE!.  we were in coach, but not your average coach! The plane was brand new with nice big screen headrest tv’s, huge blankets, constant food (GOOD food) and free flowing wine/ adult beverages.. yes free. they provided activity bags for the kids and the service was second to none.  Fly Etihad! you won’t be sorry!

I was a bit nervous to arrive back in Abu Dhabi – not sure how I’d feel after being away for 2 full months.. In a way I was dreading it and in a way I was looking forward to it.  When we got home the feeling of ‘oh I’m not sure I want to go back’ disappeared totally.  It was wonderful to be back.  My emotion caught me off guard, because it isn’t what I expected to feel at all.  It felt good, it was exciting… and we are really happy. 

Now that I’m totally caught up with our summer, I can focus on catching up on what has happened in the past few weeks.  The first two weeks we were here it was during the Muslim holidays: Ramadan and Eid.  Ramadan is a time of fasting and since this is a Muslim country, you are not allowed to eat or drink in public (Children can though).   We don’t eat out much, so I didn’t really think we would notice, but many businesses are closed as well and there just isn’t much to do since it is so hot.  We were looking forward to the week of Eid since it is a time of celebration, but I found many frustrating moments where I tried to go and do things and everything was closed.  We got creative and played at home, went swimming and even got a lot of bouncy balls and brought them to the squash courts (similar to raquet ball court).  I was getting a bit stir crazy not having anywhere to ‘go’.  But I tried to remind myself that it is the same way during Christmas season in the states.. businesses have different hours, places shut down.. etc. just deal with it. 

The next week, Audrey started school and has been LOVING it!  She is making friends and having a lot of fun.  She is the teacher’s pet kind of kid so I have nothing to worry about…it’s a good thing too b/c I think her teacher is excessively strict for a Kindergarten teacher…lets just say she runs a TIGHT ship.  I have already gotten fussed at twice. Once for sending a PB &J sandwich (*I was unaware of the nut-free policy, I promise!).  I’m sure it was in one of the billions of piles of papers we have gotten this week from the school…  and the other no-no was that I forgot to pack her a hat, so she had to sit out of recess.. sheesh.   

Meanwhile, I have been meeting lots of the other moms at the school, which I am enjoying so MUCH.  Many of them know each other from last year and have strong friendships already, which is a bit intimidating at first, but now that the momentum is picking up with school I’m finding it easier and easier to connect.   I SWORE to myself I wouldn’t over commit to extracurriculars (the school offers soooo much)– I just really don’t like the feeling of being stretched too thin, so I was really hesitant to get involved.  But now that Will is in preschool 2 mornings a week, I am finding that I need something to do with my time.   So I signed up to be the “assistant” Room Mom – I didn’t want to have all the pressure of being the Room Mom (*all the planning, coordinating and correspondence with teacher and parents.. boo!), just wanted to help out with holiday parties etc..

I also signed Audrey up for Daisy Scouts (younger girl scouts) since a couple of the moms said it is a great way for the girls to make deeper friendships outside of the classroom, and since it is all classes are mixed up for the whole grade, it helps for future school years: they will know people outside of their current class that might be in future classrooms – Also when they move back to the USA they have an immediate connection with other girls and can join the local girl scouts to help the transition go more smoothly. Ok. sounds perfect.  Apparently all the other moms also thought this would be a good thing for their girls since 17 Kindergarteners signed up.  It was double what they expected and now will have to divide into 2 groups.  The group leader sent an email out asking for mom’s to step up to lead the second group… so guess who is a troop leader.? ha ha.. yes, you guessed it. Me. And I have since put  myself on volunteering probation. LOL no really,  It will be so much fun.  I am looking forward to it!!

I always did love this movie: