How to be Super Mom Italian Garlic Chicken Soup with Parmesan Croutons

Chicken soup is known as the nature’s penicillin, it is recognizable for its strong positive powers on our health. Whenever you catch a cold the first remedy you would think about is Chicken soup and in fact many conducted studies along the years have showed that it does indeed help clear clogged airways and provide us with a lot of energy.

Chicken soup recipes are numerous; each person has its own way of preparing it depending on his favorite ingredients.  When some might add noodles, carrots and potatoes others might want to make Italian style soup adding pasta, basil and a dash of Mozzarella on top.

We will give you one amazingly delicious chicken soup recipe that is definitely worth trying. Whenever it’s snowing, and the weather is cold nothing could gather a family around the table and draw a smile on their face like our delightful soup recipe.

Italian Garlic Chicken Soup with Parmesan Croutons

Besides the tremendous effect of Chicken soup on our health, Garlic is considered as the most powerful remedies of all time. This recipe is a blend of rich flavors and powerful ingredients and would surely become one of your family’s traditional meals.

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Serves 5

1-Ingredients

For the soup

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium sliced leek
25 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 medium potatoes, diced into small cubes
64 fl oz chicken stock
8 baby yellow squash, halved
3 zucchini, cut into thick slices
1 skinless boneless chicken breast (10 Oz), cut into large cubes
¼ cup lemon juice
3 tablespoons shredded fresh basil

For the parmesan croutons

2 slices white bread
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan

2-Directions

Heat the oil in a large pan, add the leek and garlic, keep stirring for 3 minutes or until golden.

Add potatoes then cook over medium heat for 12minutes before adding one quarter of the stock (16 fl. Oz). Bring to the boil then simmer for 10 minutes or until potatoes are cooked through.

Remove from heat and allow it to slightly cool before puréeing in a food processor.

Pour the rest of the chicken stock into the same pan and bring to the boil. Add the pasta, squash and zucchini, along with the purée, and simmer for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a side pan, sauté the chicken for 5 minutes allowing them to get a brownish golden color.

When the pasta is soft, add the sautéed chicken and cook for 15 minutes. Add the lemon juice and basil and season to taste with salt and ground black pepper.

Remove the crusts form the white bread, slice into ½ inch squares, mix them with olive oil and parmesan and fry them in a pan until the croutons are browned all over.  Sprinkle them over your soup and  bon appétit!

Super Mom Tips on Raising an Optimist Child

The world we are living in is chaotic, traumatic and drives us to be constantly depressed and pessimistic which is a real damaging situation to our personality and to those among us. Every super mom would love her children to be joyful, cheerful, content and optimistic about current life and the future but we often lose control over the surrounding atmosphere and begin transmitting a wrong image to our children.

These are 10 methods for every supermom to use to make sure she is educating optimist life lovers’ children.

1.      Super mom’s warmth and affection – Giving affection and love can never be a bad raising habit. Letting your child feel loved and cared for is an essential part of helping him deal with difficulties. Failures in life are easier to take when they know they are loved.

2.      Constant Compliments- Complimenting your child for his achievements is a very good idea. Give them detail about what you are praising them for, like for instance: “Good job Nour for helping your sister out” or “I am so proud that you finished you lunch and ate all your vegetables, now this will help you grow up faster and stronger”.

3.      Monitor- Be extremely aware of what your child is seeing on television, the games they play and the books they read. A supermom should always monitor her children’s activities to make sure they’re not exposed to violence and bad influence.

4.      Be an example – Children will always look up to you and take you as an example so before teaching them to be happy you have to teach yourself how to be a super happy person, an optimist and learn the secret of seeing the good in everything.

5.      Support – Support and congratulate your child whenever he expresses optimism. Instead of asking him not to be negative and indirectly emphasizing, and on a constant base, the undesired behavior, praise his positivism whenever he shows it that will push him towards focusing on the desired manners.

6.      Accentuate the positive – When something bad happens, always try to find the good side. If bad storm cancels an occasion, find something fun to do instead. Emphasize the positive by commenting how you wouldn’t have had so much fun if the event wasn’t cancelled.

7.      Thought catching – Teach children how to do thought catching to prevent negative behavior. When something bad happens ask them what thoughts they had so they’re aware of them and can capture the negativity. Kids often have black thoughts without ever realizing it.

8.      Minimize failures – Losing a championship or failing a test may seem like the end of the world, but it never is. Parents can raise optimists if they are successful at minimizing failures by putting them into perspective. Point out that life goes on and there will be endless opportunities down the road.

9.      Stimulate success – Encourage kids with age appropriate activities they are able to excel at to promote success. Having unrealistic expectations only sets children up for failure, so make sure they’re not trying to do too much.

10.  Laugh – Laughter is the key. Teach your child to be optimistic by helping him laugh at in a bad situation instead of taking everything so seriously. Laughing is the greatest method in conquering a problem.

How a Super Mom Detects Vision Problems- 10 Signs to Watch for in Your Children

You may, as an adult, recognize when you might be having vision troubles, but a child could never know that as he thinks that everything that he is experiencing is the normal thing including a blurred vision. Here comes your turn, super mom, to observe your child’s behavior to be able to catch any sign of vision problems. An early discovery is very important, so let’s go through 10 remarkable behaviors announcing that your child needs glasses:

1. Glancing – The most popular sign of vision troubles is glancing. Anyone who has trouble seeing will glance to try to focus better. If you notice that your child glances a lot take him to see an ophthalmologist.
2. Rubbing eyes – Another super obvious sign to watch for is increased eye rubbing. Most children will rub their eyes when they experience fatigue, but if this begins to happen frequently, then it could be an indication of a bigger problem. Two potential reasons a child may repeatedly rub his eyes are a subconscious reaction to blurry vision or allergies.
3. Leaning head – Supermom, is your child leaning his head a lot in order to see well? This could be caused by a muscle imbalance in their eyes that can be corrected with eyeglasses.
4. Headaches or dizziness – Vision problems can cause headaches and dizziness. If your child complains of frequent headaches in the forehead area or is cranky after reading or watching TV, he may need to see an eye doctor.
5. Sits close to TV – Does your child frequently insist on sitting in front of the television? This could be a sign of myopia that can be easily corrected with eye glasses. Myopia is identified when there is a problem with seeing things in a distance, so kids will sit closer to see well.
6. Closing one eye – If you’re child covers one of his eyes frequently while watching TV then he might be suffering from vision trouble. Taking him to an eye doctor will spare him a lot of pain.
7. Holds books close – Most children should be able to read books at a comfortable distance, so holding books up to their face is a sign they may need eyeglasses. If your child is a bookworm with her nose continually in a book, she may need a visit to the eye doctor.
8. Problems in school – Quite often children who are having problems in school are facing these issues because of undiagnosed eye trouble. If they’re having trouble seeing the blackboard or reading they can become disinterested or even disruptive. Be sure to have your child’s vision checked if he is suddenly having trouble with school.
9. Lazy eye – When kids have a weakness in one eye it will show up when they’re tired. A droopy eyelid or one eye drifting out of alignment is a sign of a lazy eye that can often be corrected with eyeglasses.
10. Finger reading – Some kids will use a finger to follow the words when they read. This isn’t a clear sign they need glasses, but if it persists, there could be a problem. They may need the finger to keep their place when reading if they have astigmatism or amblyopia.

Most of the vision complications are genetic; mainly if one of the parents need glasses then his kids are more probable to wear glasses as well. Don’t go blaming yourself, my dear supermom, if your child was diagnosed with an eye problem. You had absolutely nothing to do with it, you could have offered him carrots at every meal and still he would have to wear glasses some day because most of the vision troubles are hereditary.

Routine vision screenings at school don’t always detect uncommon eye problems, so a visit to the optometrist may be necessary. It might not be amusing to wear glasses, but not being able to see is much more annoying than a pair of spectacles. Watch for these signs to make sure your child doesn’t have a vision problem that’s left uncorrected.

Super Mom- Every Mother's Dream!

When I was pregnant with my first born, all I wanted is to become the number one mom in the world. I wanted my baby to love me and look up to me. Looking at my belly grow, all I was able to think of is how am I going to be a super mom with all the responsibilities I have? Will I ever be able to create a balance between the time spent with my kids, the time with my husband, all the house chores and of course not to forget the time for myself?

I can never give up that time where I can get some peace and quiet for at least 30 minutes. I usually spend it knitting, carving, drawing, painting, reading, crafting and when I am awfully tired to practice any of these hobbies I turn on my favorite sitcom of all times "Everybody Loves Raymond" and I watch and laugh. So, will I be able to do that when I have my baby? Is a super mom allowed to have time for herself?

All these silly questions that kept turning in my head during my pregnancy and the early post delivery days  made me realize one, single and very important reality: a supermom is a happy mom. It doesn't matter if I can do it all, it doesn't matter if I can cook everyday, it doesn't matter if I can keep my house clean everyday what it really matters is being happy to provide my kids with a happy warm house. If I am overly stressed with all this non sense that I mentioned before I will turn my home into hell, and you all know how well, us ladies, can turn your lives into living hell whenever we stress about something. My kids deserve the best and to give them the best I have to be relaxed and content. And the first thing to stop stressing about is wanting to be super mom, stop asking yourself that famous question: "How to be super mom?", who cares! No one does believe me! Your kids will love you and look up at you no matter what you do; the house could be all messed up and they could eat mac and cheese every single day and still think that you're the #1 mommy in the world.

So cheer up, get this burden off, take a breath and follow my blog. My tips till help you become a stress free super mom, will teach you how to cook everyday without killing yourself, keeping your home as clean as it could be and spending a lot of quality time with your loved ones.

Knitted Christmas Ornaments- Free Pattern Included

If you were a knitter, then this is the best project for you. These easy, low-cost ornaments will make from your tree one exceptional decoration item this year. Check out the different designs I picked out for you, from different sites, and as a gift please find a FREE pattern at the end. Enjoy surfing How to be Super Mom.

Free pattern- Knitted Christmas Hat:

Cast on 16 sts
1st row: ( right side) Purl
2nd row: Knit
3rd row: Purl
4th row cast off 1 stitch, knit
5th row: cast off 1 stitch, knit
Repeat row 5 until your left with 5 stitches on the needle.
Cast off and sew it all together.

Christmas Crafts: Wooden Ornaments

 

During Christmas, we all love to spend some quality time with our children, help them decorate for Christmas and teach them how to be creative. This project is a very simple yet very original project for the holidays. Your kids could hang those decorated sticks on their tree.

Supplies

Wooden Ice cream Sticks

Paint

Googly eyes

Fabrics for the scarves

Construction paper for the hats

Small Styropan balls for the nose.

Pipe Cleaners

Glue

Scissors

Hole puncher

Ribbons

Directions

Follow the samples on the picture, and get creative. You can draw the lines on the stick, color using the paint, then add some details using the pipe cleaners, fabrics, construction paper and googly eyes. 

Make a hole and insert a ribbon.
Your craft is now ready to be hang on the Christmas tree.

Christmas Crafts: Paper Plate Snowman

You can make this cute snowman from two or three paper plates and decorate it with construction paper.

Supplies

• Paper Plates
• Construction Paper
• Hole puncher
• Markers
• Scissors
• Googly eyes (optional)
• 3 buttons ( optional)
• Glue
• Ribbons

Directions

• On one of the plates, cut a smaller circle for the head.
• Punch a hole near the rim of both plates.
• Tie them up with ribbons or you can simply glue both plates together without punching.
• Make the hat, scarf and buttons from construction papers or use real buttons, and a small knitted scarf for the snowman.
• Glue the googly eyes together.

I bet your child will love crafting this snowman.

Christmas Recipes: German Potato Salad

 

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

5 eggs, boiled and halved

4 bacon rashers, chopped

1 kg tiny new potatoes, boiled and halved

2 pickled gherkins chopped finely

2 tbsp finely chopped parsley

Lemon Mayo Dressing

1 cup Mayonnaise

1/4 cup lemon juice

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Toss all ingredients together and serve hot.
Bon Appétit and always remember to stay open for new recipes!

Christmas Recipes: Beetroot Salad

This is an easy and fresh salad that will make an excellent new dish for Christmas.

Preparation Time: 25 minutes
Cooking Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

1 kg Beetroot, boiled and cubed.
1 kg potatoes, boiled and cubed.
1 cup fresh peas, boiled
1 small red onion, finely chopped

Lemon Mayo Dressing

1 cup mayo
1/4 cup lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Toss all ingredients together and serve chilled.

I don't like my meals to be predictable, that is why I do my best to renew the menu on every Christmas. This salad was brought by one of my best friends last Christmas and it was tasty. Hope you will try it.