Winter Break and Ginger Cookies

I never knew that Santa rode camels... but apparently here in Cairo he does!  I guess a sled would be worthless in all this sand.

Today was the last day of school before our winter break.  I made cookies for the PreK class using a recipe my daughter brought home from her cookie baking class at school. They were delicious.

3/4 C butter
1 C sugar
1/4 C. molasses
1 egg
2 C. flour
2 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
1 t. each cinnamon, cloves, and ginger

Mix butter and sugar together.  add Molasses.  Beat in egg.  Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.  Roll in small balls and bake on greased cookie sheet for 10-15 minutes in a 375 degree oven. 

Check out the teacher's gifts I made on my Worth a Knit Blog.

Cheers,
Jenn

Rudolph the red nosed pizza,

Ready for the oven

Frosty the snow pizza

Rudolph

The kids decided to get in the Christmas spirit while making pizzas for dinner the other night.  Luci likes her pizza without sauce so she made a frosty the snowman pizza. and Mina made hers into Rudolph. A good friend introduced me to ready made pizza crusts here.  I know I could make my own crust, and sometimes I do, but on busy nights these are a quick fix.  They sell them in a three pack so it is perfect for the family.  I just need a small jars of sauce, some Panda cheese (I told the girls that it was made from real Panda milk... I don't think they believed me) and some chopped up veggies and black olives and wah la dinner is served.  Each girl can decorate a pizza and I can make one with anchovies on half and jalapenos for me and the husband.  It makes a quick, fun, and economical meal on nights when we are on the run.

The delivery pizza here is pretty bad.  There is a Dominoes  and a Papa John, and I think there is a Pizza Hut as well, but I didn't like their pizza in the States and I don't like them here in Egypt either.  Some of the pizza toppings are odd too.  They don't use pork products so they substitute smoked veal, chicken peperoni, and beef sausages.  My husband told me that when he lived here in the 80s there was a restaurant that they went to that served a pizza with potato chips on it and the everything pizza had a fried egg in the middle. I haven't seen anything that weird yet, but I have seen tuna pizzas and hot dog pizzas.  There is an Italian restaurant Paul and I went to on date night recently and their pizzas looked fantastic. 

I miss the pizza from Italian Garden in San Marcos and the hand crafted beers from Brewster's Pizza in Wimberly.  I wish I could click my heels together and find myself home, but until then pizza nights with the kids is a whole lot of fun.

Cheers,
Jenn

Chicken Soup for that hole in my soul...

I haven't posted here in a LONG time... almost 9 months... Life has been keeping me busy and I have been concentrating on other things. I am writing another blog and trying to get my crochet pattern writing/ toy making business running, but I have been missing the creative aspect of this blog.  I have been missing writing about culture, food and festivities.  I considered just posting a weekly blurb about food on my worth a knit blog, but I've changed my mind. I need to start enjoying food again and writing about food and foodlore always sparks my imagination.

 I'm still living in Egypt and I have had loads of things happen that were worth a fig in my life. I need to start documenting them again.  I have found cooking in Cairo a challenge.  Finding the ingredients you need can be tricky and often the quality is lacking.  But I have created some fabulous foods here and I've even tried some new things.  Many of my posts might be about the foods I've tried, recipes I've made and fabulous trips I've taken during my 9 months of silence. I have a lot of cool things to share. I may not write on this blog as often as I did in the past, but I need to start this up again.  So here goes... a simple recipe to get things rolling again.

For dinner last night I made a wonderful chicken noodle soup.  This is a fun one to make and my older daughter loves it.  I just finished eating leftovers for lunch and I would recommend that you make plenty because it tastes great on the second day.

4 tablespoons of soy sauce

1 teaspoon sesame oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger

1.5 tablespoon sugar

4 tablespoons vinegar

1/2 teaspoon chile paste

8 cups chicken broth

12-16 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut crosswise into thin strips

4 cups chopped vegetables(I used a mix of carrots, bell peppers and onions)

6 oz rice noodles, prepared according to packing directions

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves

Directions
Mix soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, sugar, vinegar, and chile paste in a small bowl.
Heat the broth in a medium saucepan. Add the soy sauce mixture, the chicken, and the vegetables and bring to a boil. Simmer for two minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Add 1 more teaspoon of sesame oil if desired.
Pour over prepared Chinese noodles. Garnish with cilantro.

Cheers,
Jenn