Christmas Countdown

At this point, December 10th, I would say we are officially in "Countdown mode" in our house.  Especially since everyone (except for me) is off for a two week Christmas Break as of this coming Friday.  So they are all walking around the house, counting down, "5 more days"..."5 more days"!
   Argh!  Five more days and they are all off and then I am tripping over them for full week while still getting ready for Christmas.  Not sure why the school district couldn't have kept them in until the 23rd.  That would give us a week to recover, after the holidays, before sending them back to school.  Maybe next year.

Rather than wasting any more precious time complaining, it is time to get on with the list!  There is still so much to be done, and I am really hoping there might be someone else interested in doing it...I have enough to do.   The Dance show (finally!) is today, but there are still skating practices, the Bethlehem walk, a skating Christmas party, Christmas cards for school and skating friends, Teacher presents, Family Christmas cards (and I discovered this past week I have misplaced the kids' school pictures)...Oh well, I still have next weekend to get things in order.....No, I don't...Somehow Grandma's Christmas party got left off the calendar.  So, that means there are officially no weekends left before Christmas to get things done...Okay, Rob, get ready, your list is gonna be long!  Typically, he gets the Costco Run and the Seafood Market Run and the Liquor store run...I think there just might be some Christmas Card writing on that list, as well as at least a dozen other things I cannot remember at this very moment...
   In the midst of all this chaos that is approaching, we still need to eat!  I have to say, this is where the Freezer comes in handy!

• Sunday: This is Dance show day...I am really hoping we are going out for dinner!
• Monday: Cheese tortellini and spaghetti sauce(all from the freezer!) with spinach salad
• Tuesday: Vegetable Soup and sandwiches before heading off to the Bethlehem Walk
• Wednesday: Ginger Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry (except for the little kids, who will be having hot dogs at the skating club Christmas party!)...such a great and easy recipe, I had to share
• Thursday: Slow cooker Chili and salad
• Friday: Sushi, Pizza and Brownies (the only homemade item on the menu) and the first sleepover of the Holidays!  Welcome, Tracy and Hailey!
• Saturday: Skating show day...do we get to go out two nights in one week? 

However, the last week of school before the Christmas holidays deserves some fun lunches...

• Monday: Turkey, spinach and cream cheese pinwheels , with fruit salad.
• Tuesday: Spaghetti sauce Shepherd's pie
• Wednesday: Eyeball soup (because my 10 year old asked) Your favourite meatballs in any clear soup, but its fun to use Udon noodles or rice noodles that are really long as it makes the meatballs look like they are "peering" out of the bowl.
• Thursday: Buffalo Chicken wraps with lettuce and ranch dressing (instead of blue cheese)...This is an Eating Well recipe, and the only change I make to it, to make it more kid friendly is replacing the cayenne pepper with Chili powder and a tbsp of brown sugar.
• Friday: Appetizer Lunch (what we used to call "bits and pieces"), inlcuding veggies and dip, rice cakes and salsa and perogies.

Turkey and Cream Cheese pinwheels are kind of fun... Basically a roll up, but because they are cut, they look "different" and somehow with kids, when things look different, they taste different.  If your kids don't like spinach, you could use regular leaf lettuce.

• 1/2 of 1 package (3 ounce) cream cheese
•  1 teaspoon cream-style horseradish 
• 1 teaspoon mayonnaise
• 1 green onion sliced lengthwise and then chopped fine
• 1/2  cup spinach leaves
• 3 (8 inch) whole wheat tortillas
• 6 slices Oven Roasted Turkey Breast

1. Combine cream cheese, mayonnaise, green onion and  horseradish in a small bowl.  Mix well. Spread cream cheese mixture onto tortillas.
2. Cover each with 2 turkey slices. Spread the spinach leaves on top. Roll up jelly-roll fashion. Refrigerate 2 hours or until serving time.
3. Slice each tortilla into 8 pieces.
   
   This makes enough for 3 lunches.
   
   Happy Packing!
   
   Kim
   

E is for ...Eating Well...

   And no, I am not referring to the magazine (or the website), but rather just that, "Eating Well".  Eating healthy is only one part, one needs to eat well as part of eating healthy.  Life, to which eating is rather important, is too short to live on carrot sticks, celery and plain yogurt.  Well, at least my life is too short to live on that.  It is also how you eat...do you sit in front of the TV to eat?  Or do you gather your loved ones or your housemates and share a meal around the table?  Growing up, we almost always ate together at suppertime.  And when I think back to my fondest memories, so many of them are of the table.  In my family, folks have been known to sit down to Sunday dinner at 6:30 or 7pm and still be there at midnight.  Not necessarily still eating, (although you get the occasional person who goes back for that second piece of dessert while the argument gets a little too heated, or they are feeling like they have been sitting too long).  And it didn't matter whose house you were at, my Auntie's , my grandparents, my Dad's or my Mum's.  The party was at the table and in the kitchen.  I remember when my sister and I were young (likely 3 and 6 or maybe 4 and 7), and of course, we had been excused from the table to go and play.  We found "Aunty Hilda" in the kitchen (my grandmother's sister).  I guess she had excused herself to the kitchen for a bit.  I don't remember what we had done or said, but she thought that it was so funny.  She started to laugh, and she laughed and laughed and then she started to snort.  Well, all three of us thought that was just hilarious!  The more we laughed, the more she laughed, and the more she laughed, the more she snorted.  I have tears in my eyes right now, just thinking about it.  And, of course, we were able to enjoy this little exchange, because everyone else was engrossed in whatever was going on at the table.  I remember the loud din of the voices at the long table in the dining room right next to the kitchen.  How every so often one or two voices would rise above the others, when someone was trying to get their point across.  There was so much to learn around that table.  Sometimes what you learned was when was a good time to be quiet .  As I got older, I learned that if I was quiet, I would get to stay at the table long after I would have normally been excused.  This would lend itself to listening in on all sorts of grown up conversation.
   Gathering around the table for a meal helps children to eat well.  The conversation and connecting with family after a day away from each other keeps everyone at the table, and if you are sitting at the table and everyone else is eating what is in front of them, why not eat some too?  I has been my experience with my own children when they were very young (as they are only 7 and 9 now) that once they could join in the conversation at the table, the eating slowly ceased to be a battleground.  And one day, I realised that we had gotten through a meal of chicken curry and rice and salad,  and the food was gone, and no one had been excused from the table early for their behaviour and I didn't have indigestion.  Peace!  Of course, not every meal was like that, and it still isn't, but we are getting there. 

Here are some nutrition experts' thoughts and suggestions on helping your children to eat well: Today's Parent
 
Good food brings people to the table, and eating well, involves more than just the food.  The sharing of the preparation of the meal, and then the eating of it, and of course, the people sharing the food and themselves with each other.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Packing!

Another A to Z blog challenge link: The Eagle's Aerial Perspective