What do you eat? Pancake edition!

I've been meaning to try this for a while and opportunity presented itself when Stewart took the boys swimming with some friends this morning.

We're trying to save some money for next month (Thanksgiving, and some welcome family guests) so I have us eating from the pantry this past week and this coming week. Found a box of Bisquick and decided to veganize some pancakes for lunch today.

 Disclaimer: I honestly haven't read the Bisquick box to see if there are any animal products in the standard mix. There may be some milk powder or something.

 To make the panckes with the Bisquick mix, I used Bob's Egg Replacer mix (1 tbsp mix + 3 tbsp water = 1 egg) and one cup of almond milk instead of regular mix. Cooked them in Earth Balance margarine and used regular pancake syrup that we bought when we were missing maple syrup (I can't find it anywhere here!). Served with homemade hummus and carrots and bell peppers.

 

 I thought they were great. Stewart says they were a "tad" cakey but he only said that when I told him they were vegan. :-) Before that, he was "mmmmm...."ing so I'm calling vegan-bias on his cakey complaint. Kids downed them happily. Will make the rest for a cheap lunch tomorrow!

Panama!

Dinner tonight was summer rolls again; used up all the leftover supplies from yesterday and added some sauteed green beans to the fillings. So I decided to write about our big move instead; food isn't the only thing going on with us.

This is the text of the email I sent to friends and family when we had been here a few weeks. Sorry for the repetition but it covered all the things I wanted to cover, and sweet Jack has a fever, so it saved me some work!

 Hi everyone! I'm sorry to take so long to be in touch but the last few weeks have been a little crazy. We arrived in Panama last Tuesday and were able to move straight into our house (sometimes the house isn't ready or vacated yet, but we were really lucky). It's really fantastic. I've attached some photos. It's the first time I haven't had to share a bathroom with the kids and I have to admit it's pretty nice. The kitchen is really good, and the driveway / garage is still my favorite part. The backyard is big enough for the kids to run around in and we keep some squirt guns and toys back there for them to use at will. They have a little playroom and there's just enough space.

 

 Our "stuff" arrived this past Tuesday and I think I'm mostly unpacked and fairly well organized. There are closets EVERYWHERE so it makes it a lot easier to fit things in than it did in DC! It was nice to have traveled light, though - the movers said I brought about half the amount of stuff that most families do.

 The reception has been so nice - people really understand being displaced and take care of newcomers. There are at least 8 other Embassy families in our little gated neighborhood (about 100 houses altogether) and most of the kids are under 10. All but 2 kids are also going to the school I picked out for the boys, so it's a real neighborhood feel. The kids went to one week of day camp this past week and by day 2 they both had kids asking to sit with them on the bus.


Oh, the bus! Would you believe they come to each kid's door and pick them up and drop them off outside of our house?! So looking forward to not driving back and forth to school every day!!

On Friday evenings, one family will order pizza and put out some chips and everyone comes over and the kids ride bikes and scooters in the street while the parents drink beer and chat. It's really lovely. There's a little 1970's playground right next to our house - old-school teeter-totters and a "carousel." The kids meet up there or at the park down the street that has more stuff to play on. The freedom here is new for the boys - riding bikes in the street, and even letting Nate go to the playground next door by himself. It's a breath of fresh air.

 

 The Embassy is about a half-mile up the road and we head up there every third day or so to take advantage of their pool. I'm arranging for a swim teacher to come meet us there once a week to give the boys swimming lessons. Gymnastics here is really popular which is great for the boys, and it's the only thing (besides the housekeeper) which is cheap compared to home - $30/month for a class that meets 3 times a week!! Silver Stars was busting the budget at $100/month for once a week.

 We went for a hike in the jungle today and saw real banana trees, birds of paradise growing like weeds, and crazy-big spiders. Another benefit here is that I lose weight just standing still and sweating. :-) I've applied for a part-time "as needed" position with the embassy and hope to hear something soon. They've had me in for my language testing but no official interview yet. Our housekeeper Celia starts on August 15th and will be taking care of laundry, cleaning, making beds, and she'll watch Jack every day from 1-4 (when Nate will arrive home). It's ridiculously luxurious just to think about. She's fluent in English which is a huge blessing because there really is very little English here. I have some basic Spanish and it's getting a workout! There's a little store a few blocks from the house, kinda like our 7-11 on the corner of Q and Rhode Island. But it has liquor too. :-)

It rains every afternoon around 1, and stays cloudy most of the rest of the day. I love it. We sit in the backyard under the canopy and listen to it pour. Jack gets naked and runs around.

 

 We finally got Internet a few days ago, and cable. Now I just need a phone! After our car arrives this week, we'll have more opportunity to travel around. So far we've mostly stuck to home but we'll start branching out soon. The kids seem to be handling the move just fine. They miss their Grandparents and mention their friends, but they seem to be very adaptable. School starts on August 16th which will be great for getting them even more involved with friends and sports and whatnot. They sleep like the dead here (the heat and activities wear them out); Jack fell out of bed the other night and just kept sleeping on the tile floor. :-) I really like it here, but I miss my family and friends. Please stay in touch and let me know how you all are doing. Everyone says that January - April is absolutely gorgeous here. Buy your tickets now!!!

 Love, Leah

What do you eat? Summer roll edition

Since we're eating from the pantry this week (trying to use up the random things I have around and keep the weekly grocery bill low), we're getting fancy with a package of rice paper and some rice noodles, tofu, a Panamanian avocado, cilantro, and my favorite peanut sauce.



 The peanut sauce comes from an Epicurious recipe and we all love it enough to drink it straight. I quadruple the recipe each time I make it and freeze the other 3 portions for use on linguini (we'll probably have that next week). I obviously use veggie stock instead of chicken stock, but otherwise follow the recipe verbatim.



 Nate was my sous chef tonight; he got the rice paper wet, I filled it, and then he rolled it up. But when a friend stopped by to chat for a few, Nate took over completely and made 6 rolls entirely on his own! Go little chef!

 

 The kids still don't love avocado so their rolls were just noodles, sauce, cilantro, and tofu that I'd marinated in Soyaki. Grown-up ones were sans tofu, plus avocado. Yum. If I'd had green onions, I would have gladly used them. The nice thing about summer rolls is you can fill them with anything you darn well please! I've even seen people make them without noodles, just sautee'd veggies. This isn't a particularly healthy dinner, but it's not too bad and it's fun to eat. The verdicts?

 

What do you eat? Lentil edition

When people find out that our house is mostly free of animal-products (no meat, eggs, dairy, cheese, etc.), they inevitably ask at some point: "So what do you guys eat?!?!"

Somehow, despite getting dinner on the table most nights, I really never know what to tell them. Since I'm living the life of luxury here in Panama with a full-time maid to help out, I'm able to enjoy cooking again and do homemade most nights. So I thought I'd document dinners, include some recipes, and let the kids give a Thumbs-Up-Medium-or-Down on the meal.

 Tonight we had Lentil Night, one of Nate's favorite. I was introduced to the sauce by Stewart's cousin Colleen who uses it as her brisket recipe. I tried it for my once-a-year-meat-at-Chanukah brisket several years ago and it was a HUGE hit. A big enough hit that my mother put me in charge of the yearly brisket. Anyone who knows Jewish Mothers knows that's saying a lot. I give all the credit to Colleen. 

About a year ago, I had the idea to try the sauce on lentils, sort of a "sweet and sour sloppy joe lentil stew." It was a big success and we eat it once every week or two. Besides being delicious and nutritious (mostly), it's cheap and filling! This recipe makes enough for dinner for us 4, several days of lunches for Stewart, and another dinner for us 4 later on in the week. I never ever cook for just one night - I'm far too lazy for that! If you want to make a normal sized amount, just cut everything in half and use one bag of lentils (with no extra beans) - it will be a little less saucy than we like but still great.



Recipe:

Cook one pound of lentils (I just boil in water) and when they're done, drain and add two cans of cooked beans (I used one can white and one can black beans tonight but any are fine). Set aside.

In a large-sided pot or pan (I use the same one I cooked the lentils in), sauté any veggies you have in the fridge, along with a couple of onions, in whatever oil you want. Tonight it was red peppers, garlic, onions, and some tomatoes in canola oil. When the veggies are soft and starting to brown, add the lentils back into the pot.

Make the sauce by adding to the pot of lentils: two jars of Heinz chili sauce (or generic version), two cans of beer, a bunch of brown sugar (I used about a half pound tonight), and some soy sauce (I used about 6 tbsp tonight). That's it! Stir the sauce it into the lentils and let simmer for a half hour or so, serve over brown rice or on hamburger buns for "sloppy lentils" or over pasta! It's pretty sweet with a lot of tang and I would expect most kids to really like it. Let me know if you try it!

The verdict at our house:

Ramblings of a mad husband

So laying in bed with Jack a few weeks ago (he likes me to lay down with him for 5-10 minutes after lights out. Actually he wants to sleep with me every night, but this is our compromise...) I asked him if he thought he would get married. He said yes. To a boy or a girl? A girl. Tell me about her...

* She has flat hair the same color as mine
* And blue eyes
* And pink shoes
* And ponytails here, here, here, and here (pointing all over his head)
* And a flat thing on her head (headband, I think)
* And her socks have stars on them

I can't wait to meet her!

Boys on a fort

A Day in the Life, 2012

We've got things rolling along right now, so before we move to Panama and screw it all up, I thought I'd write it all out so we can remember.

 Weekdays: I snooze the alarm from 6:50 - 7:20 and stumble out of bed. I sneak into the kid's room and wake Nate up as sneakily and stealthily as I can. He staggers out of the room and we head downstairs where he huddles under a blanket and gets himself dressed. I make him his granola (yes to dried strawberries, no to bananas these days, almond milk). He eats, packs his backpack, puts his shoes on, then we sit outside together on the stoop and wait for his ride to arrive at 8.

Jack usually gets up right about when Nate leaves and we spend some time snuggling on the recliner. Then he eats his breakfast granola (dried strawberries AND banana, almond milk) and clears his plate. Sometimes I take a shower and Jack hangs out in the bathroom playing with his bath toys. Then we get dressed, brush teeth and hair.

99% of the time we walk the two blocks up the street to his co-op school and leave Jack with his "friends." If it's Monday, I pick Jack up at noon when school ends and we hit Trader Joes for our weekly grocery shop. Tuesdays Miss Tara (or "big" Tara as the kids call her) picks up Jack, Mia and Milo and takes them back to Mia's house until 4. Wednesdays I pick Jack up a bit early at 11:30 and we go to minjastics (aka: gymnastics) at Silver Stars - open gym from 12 - 1. Thursdays is Miss Tara again. Fridays I get to "teach" at co-op, then we rush home and eat lunch and leave to pick Nate and Charlotte up at 1 pm (early let-out on Fridays). 

After the boys and I get home from school-pick-up at 4, it's usually homework, the kids fighting, and me cooking dinner. Thursdays Nate has t-ball practice. We occasionally meet friends at Stead or Westminster park, or hit the library. Dinner is at 6, then the kids and Stewart clear the table and roughhouse until 7 ish. Shower / bath (whoever's "day" it is gets to pick - Nate has odd days (born on the 7th) and Jack has even days (born on the 20th). Then a show (again, whoever's "day" it is gets to pick) and then upstairs for stories and lights out around 8:30.

The end.