Winners!!!

Silver Lily Jewelry Giveaway

And the winner is sf!!

Little Einsteins Giveaway

Picked by my 4 year old – Koonj!!

15 Easy to cook, healthy, kid-friendly meals

My main cooking strategy is to keep preparation time to under half an hour and cook time to less than an hour and a half, and trying not to use any processed foods. There are a few vegetables that I will always try to have in the fridge (preferably not going bad ) – spinach is really great to have because it’s easy to chop and add into most dishes without changing the taste of the dish, I also always love to have baby carrots and broccolis, mainly because my kids like them, but generally it is a good idea to always have the veggies that your kids prefer, I love bell peppers and so does my husband, and recently I added zucchinis to this list – I find that zucchinis are pretty versatile and I can add them to many meals without offending the kids!

When it comes to meats, I tend to use chicken mainly, but I will get lamb, goat and beef occasionally, and of course sea foods (not the canned versions). I tend to get a few 1lb bags of minced chicken because I’ve discovered that it’s the easiest thing to use in a dish – I take out the small bag in the morning and by the afternoon when I am ready to cook, it’s thawed, and cooking time is minimal because minced chicken cooks very fast. Ordinarily I have no idea what I will be cooking for dinner when I take out the meat to thaw in the morning – I just know dinner has to be cooked and I have to do it! Generally, I don’t stress about it, instead I just check out what’s in the fridge and throw something together – I’m creative like that!

Here are a few of my recipes that were really popular with my kids.

Fun Tacos

The secret to this dish is that I get my kids involved in a lot of the preparation, my kids are young so for now they help by getting colorful bowls for the toppings and putting everything on the dinner table. We also all eat is colorful plastic plates, you know, just for fun!
recipe for fun tacos

Simple Beef Pasta

This is great on those days when you’re just about out of every type of vegetable, or if you have some leftover meat. Also great for those days when you really need to minimize preparation times!
recipe for simple beef pasta

Beef and Spinach Rolls

Very simple to make and because the beef slices are thin and then wrapped, once cooked, they are quite tender.
recipe for beef and spinach rolls

Easy Quesadillas

I really have no idea how to make Quesadillas, but I had flat pita bread and cheese, and some leftover chicken, so it was actually a great little dinner. I made it in a small sandwich maker that I have, but I think even a flat frying pan would work!
recipe for easy quesadillas

Chicken and Fried Rice

When it comes to food that my kids will eat no matter what – fried rice is number one! Every single time that I’ve served fried rice so far, each kid, including the baby, not only finished all of it but finished it without any fuss, and without need for encouragement!
recipe for chicken and fried rice

Creamy Lamb

I have discovered that a lot of people are scared to cook lamb – it’s really simple though, and this is one of the simplest dishes that I have ever made. Chopped lamp and a can of cream soup – very easy and also very tasty! The kids loved it because the lamb was very tender and easy to eat.
recipe for creamy lamb

Egg Fried Rice

Excellent for leftover rice! And also excellent on sick days, busy days, or maybe just lazy days.
recipe for egg fried rice

Fish and Sweet Chips

My kids really enjoy fish, I don’t think it matters how it’s cook, they just really love the taste. But even for picky kids, I think this breaded version will still be yummy. This meal is not as simple as some of the others but it’s really worth it if you have a little extra time.
recipe for fish and sweet chips

Inverted Cabbage Rolls

If you’re too lazy to make real cabbage rolls, this is the perfect substitute. None of the hard work, and yet all of the yumminess! This was a huge hit with the kids… Try it!
recipe for inverted cabbage rolls

Jerk Chicken and Avocado Salad

I never actually had real jerk chicken, seriously, I just bought the jerk seasoning at the supermarket and tried it at home – it was awesome and not too spicy, and I never looked back since!
recipe for jerk chicken and avocado salad

Kebabwiches

I am pretty anti-processed-foods, so I had to come up with a good substitute for hot dogs, and since I usually have minced chicken, I thought these kebabs made a great and easy hot dog.
recipe for kebabwiches

Noodles with Chicken and Baby Bok Choi

Baby bok choi is one of my most favorite vegetables, because it’s just really yummy and compliments pretty much any dish! I finely chopped it up for the noodles and just shredded some leftover chicken and added it to frozen noodles – about 10 minutes of work!
recipe for noodles with chicken and baby bok choi

Roasted Chicken and Veggies

Another exceptionally quick to prepare meal, and you can use pretty much anything that you have in the fridge. I served it with rice and salad.
recipe for roasted chicken and veggies

Shrimp and Corn Pasta

Sometimes when I am cooking pasta, I will crush it slightly before boiling it, just so to make it a little easier for the kids to handle. My kids did not really like the snow peas or mushrooms that the grown-up version had, so I added some corn to theirs.
recipe for shrimp and corn pasta

Spaghetti and Mini Chicken Balls

Again I broke the spaghetti into small pieces before cooking it, because I’ve noticed that my kids tend to gag a bit when the spaghetti is too long. I added more cheese than pasta sauce because I think my kids prefer it that way.
recipe for spaghetti and mini chicken balls

Use your word

Just like plain jane mom, my kids also have their own language, except that I have not been as good figuring out what some of their words actually mean.

“Anordita” is a pretty good one to use – if you ever meet my kids, say this word to them – I have no idea what it means, but it makes them laugh like there is no tomorrow! “M-O-Dodopee” is another good one, but it’s a pretty old one and is not really in use anymore. “Wowbawowya” also induces great amounts of laughter, but I do know how this one originated, and my 4 year old is very proud of it!

So, yesterday as they were playing, I heard them screaming “o-r-g-y, o-r-g-y”! (obviously without the dashes, but umm, I don’t want that kind of traffic to my site) I have no idea what it means, but I really hope they don’t start using that one in public!

Momtrepreneur report card

I recently started my adventure as a work at home mom type, and there have been moments when I felt like a complete failure, moments when I thought I was quite clearly losing my mind, and moments when I was apparently ‘not behaving good at all’ and had to be reprimanded by my 4 year old son – “mommy, you are using too many bad words today, too many! You have to stop it now!”

But as challenging as it is to work at home while caring for 3 small kids, it is not impossible, and can even be rewarding. Everyday I try to find the secret formula that would make this initiative ‘easy’, or less hard at least, I have a hunch though that there’s really no secret, instead we have to make do with some mommy-hacking and a few great strategies for working at home.

There are days when I literally just cry over the client deadlines, screaming kids, needy husband, and the complete disaster that is our house, and days when I just am so exhausted it’s almost impossible to even function, but then there are days when I create an entire website in only a few early morning hours and the client totally adores it, days when the house is clean, dinner is cooked, and I still have time for a dvd with my hubby, and days when I can drop everything and head out for a kiddie-sized adventure – and then I know that it’s all worth it.

If I had to pick one thing that I missed the most about a ‘real’ job, it would be having a team, or just people to interact with and talk to on a daily basis, people to share my ideas with and to get feedback from, but at least I do have my darling husband, who, ummm, at least tries to be supportive with his “it looks good, what else do you want me to say? I told you that all websites look the same to me!” standard response each time I solicit his opinion on one of my creations.

My almost-daily haunts are invaluable in inspiring and motivating, or just in making me feel connected, you know, like Chris – what can I say, the woman has 7 kids, and of course, Wendy – she must be like the queen of working at home! Jen talks about motherhood and wifey-hood in a way that I can really relate to, Randa is my example of a successful webby mom, to keep up with the single peeps, I love Organic’s little home in the blogisphere, and there are so many more of you, too many to list here, but I will have a list of my reads out soon.

After much trepidation, I finally began to publicize my portfolio, and gained some really lovely clients, I launched 2 free themes – Sakeena for WordPress and Life for Textpattern, and I taught a web development course, which started off great and slowly waned due to mid-summer-madness-syndrome affecting my students – I postponed the class until September.

It’s funny that some days I lament over my life, or lack of a ‘life’, and I know that there are working moms wishing to be able to stay at home, and stay at home moms longing to work – sometimes it just feels like a no-win kind of situation – but such is the nature of motherhood, it’s our ability to do what we believe is best for ourselves and our families that will help us find peace and fulfillment. My most important lessons – find time for some mom escapes, don’t panic, avoid the parent trap , and enjoy life!!

Now, the contest!!

One of my clients, Silver Lily, who has a really wonderful collection of beautiful handmade jewelry, has generously donated this lovely necklace and earring set – {a gorgeous glamorous sterling silver necklace with sparkling jet stones and a delicate filigree pendant hangs with high cut citrine briolettes. Matching earrings .approx length of necklace 15”.7mm.Earrings hang approx2.5”}

All you need to do is subscribe to this blog, either through your feed reader or email (if you’re already subscribed, thanks! and of course you’re also welcome to enter) and leave a comment here – I am doing a random draw on August 21st. Good Luck!!

Talk to me & anonymous blogging

Although this blog is a true reflection of me, it’s perhaps not a complete reflection of me, it’s mostly the “un-rantish” me, the me that’s inspiring (I hope!), the me that ponders, the me that likes to share.

I don’t know how many people that know me actually read this blog, I know that my mom thinks that no good can come of it and has decided to pretend it does not exist, I know that my husband, the blog adict, reads it, and I know that occasionally my siblings and cousins wander over, but most importantly, I know that my clients could potentially be reading it.

It’s an interesting situation to openly write about one’s life, I have found it to be an awesome experience, both personally and professionally. The connections that I’ve made with my readers and other bloggers have been nothing short of amazing, and I am pretty confident that I would have gone completely un-noticed as a web developer, if I had not been a blogger, but as I sit 6th on a search for ‘shazia’, I am wondering how much is too much personal sharing.

On one occasion I unintentionally offended someone I knew and I honestly could not believe that my words could have been taking so completely out of context, and since then I’ve tried not to write about anyone besides my immediate family. Although I do feel that my blog is my space and I do have the right to write about whatever I want, I am not as comfortable, for example, sharing thoughts about the mighty wind as certain others. And there are times I really would like to discuss, for example, topics like spending time with the man, but it’s not a conversation I would have with a client or many other people that may or may not stumble upon my blog, and as such, I feel compelled to refrain from such subjects.

I think that I would like to have an anonymous blog, I imagine that it must be pretty liberating to say anything that comes to mind, to just blog without thinking of the repercussions, I mean, I know that many bloggers already blog about pretty much anything and are respected because of it, but publicly sharing my most personal thoughts and rants is perhaps not something that I am extremely comfortable doing.

Are you blogging anonymously and loving it? Do you think that I should do it?

ps. I did a tiny bit of blog-rearranging!