Tag Archives: jaymmy

Mdardara – vegan lebanese lentil and rice pilaf

Posted on March 2, 2016 | 8 comments

This superfood goes beyond having health benefits to amaze you with its delicious taste. It’s only rice and lentils but surprisingly it is so tasty. Another vegan Lebanese traditional dish, fast and easy, to enjoy during lent season and all the time.

To prepare this dish you will need:(4 servings)

1 cup brown lentil, rinsed
3/4 cup rice soaked for 10 minutes and drained
2 medium onion coarsely chopped
3 tbsp olive oil
5 cups of water
salt to taste
4-5 onions cut a la julienne and fried for garnish

Boil the lentil in 3 cups of water until tender, but firm. Set aside.

Cook the onion in olive oil, until tender and fragrant, add the rice with 2 cups of water and cook. Add the lentils in the last 5 minutes to cook all together. Add salt to your taste.

Fry 4-5 medium onion cut a la julienne until caramelized to top the mdardara before serving. I believe this caramelized onion takes the dish to the next level and adds the deep flavor that makes the difference!

The best way to eat mdardara is with Lebanese bread, as you may know it’s a staple on every Lebanese table; we eat bread with almost everything. Serve it with a green salad or vegetables such as radish, tomato, cucumber, spring onion… Some people serve it with yogurt.

If you like this post give it some likes and shares to spread the joy. Don’t forget to like marmite et ponpon facebook page and follow on twitter. More interesting posts are yet to come.

8 Comments

Posted in main dish

Tagged healthy, jaymmy, lebanese traditional food, lentil and rice pilaf, marmite et ponpon, mdardara, recipe, vegan

How to reward instead of punishing your kids

Posted on February 29, 2016 | 2 comments

I know how hard to always act calmly, not to yell and keep a positive and wise attitude around kids, especially when they provoke you with an unacceptable behavior.

All parents see their kids as perfect as they wish them to be. It’s so frustrating when they start acting stubborn or refuse to eat or do their homework…. there are many behaviors that make you disappointed to a point you might loose it on them. Here comes the easiest solution: punishment!

Have you ever tried to reward and praise instead of penalizing? Because our kids learn better with love, punishment was never the ultimate solution. In contrary, punishments push your kids to be more stubborn and aggressive. Instead of telling your kid: “if you don’t finish your plate the ball will be confiscated for 3 days” get closer to give a hug and kiss and tell him”my big boy, if you finish your plate you will stay up one extra hour watching your favorite program”.

Rewards help to keep children motivated. You give them a choice and let them be the decision makers. You develop their logic and reason to know how to choose what’s best for them and push them to be responsible for their choices.

But between reward and blackmail there is a thin line. You should be careful not to let your kids manipulate you and put conditions to do things. For example he could tell you, if you buy me this toy i do my homework! This is the trap that you might fall in. To keep the game on the safe side, It’s the other way round; you suggest and not the kids. You explain that this is a reward and nice gesture from you to appreciate the efforts and not a condition to do their duties.

For that reason i came up with a way to reward Nady showing love and appreciation without opening his eyes to the blackmailing thing. We cut out together colorful hearts and stars (made with a homemade salt dough) and told him that each time i see that he deserves a gesture of kindness i will offer a heart/star, he will collect them and by the end of the week, we count how many he has to replace them with a reward. The more he has the bigger the reward is.

Rewards can be privileges, things or activities;

Going to the park
crafting together
going for a bicycle ride
going out for ice cream
extra tv hour
sleeping an hour late
buying a toy of his choice

You know what your kids fancy and make them look forward to! But don’t forget along with the rewards should offer hugs and kisses to remind them how dear and precious they are, and no matter what they will remain the biggest love.

Actually i am thinking to give my son some hearts and stars and ask him to reward me too when he thinks i deserve it. I like this game 🙂

If you like this post give it some likes and shares to spread the joy. Don’t forget to like marmite et ponpon facebook page and follow on twitter. More interesting posts are yet to come.

2 Comments

Posted in way to play

Tagged gesture of love, hearts and stars, jaymmy, love rules, marmite et ponpon, praise your kids, raise a healthy child, reward, salt dough, say no to punishment, way to play

Pencil control improvement – High res printables

Posted on February 25, 2016 | Leave a comment

A fun tracing activity for your 2-4 years toddlers to help them develop pencil control and promote writing readiness. I’ve included 3 sheets, starting with horizontal lines. I will be posting later additional sheets for vertical lines. As your kids show improvement you can move gradually to more complicated shapes as zigzag, curves, circles….

Click on horizontal lines practice sheets, to download the high resolution files. Your kids will love these fun exercises, you will help them improve their pencil control to be ready for writing at a later stage. This exercise also helps in developing your kids concentration and improves their eye hand coordination. Teach them the right way to hold the pencil while having fun. It’s always good to work at home in parallel with the school. It’s a matter of 10-15 mns that will help a lot.

They can first start by tracing the lines, and later on do it without following the dots.

You can laminate the sheets for many times usage. Write with a marker and wipes it off when done and use it again and again!

If you like this post give it some likes and shares to spread the joy. Don’t forget to like marmite et ponpon facebook page and follow on twitter. More interesting posts are yet to come.

My baby’s first sensory play – ziploc paint

Posted on February 24, 2016 | 3 comments

Sensory play includes any activity that stimulates your baby’s senses: touch, smell, taste, sight and hearing. When babies first interact with the world, they don’t have words to describe what they encounter, but they do absorb information through their senses.

Newborns begin to hear sounds in the womb and recognize their mother’s voice from other voices at birth. They distinguish sweet and sour taste, gravitate toward pleasant smells, and are soothed by warmth and a soft touch.

Babies may be limited by their mobility and dexterity, but not their ability to interact with the world. I was hesitating if i do this play with my 6 1/2 months baby, but knowing that he will be amused touching the smooth bag with his tiny fingers and discovering many vibrant colors encouraged me to do so. At the end your babies will grow to be toddlers, so don’t be afraid of giving them sensory experience for a cognitive growth and later a fine motor skills.

This sensory play is mess free and safe. All you need to do is put some paint in a ziploc, close it and hand it to your baby to play and discover. I recommend edible paint, because your baby will engage all his senses during the process and might try to taste it as well. There is a small chance he can tear the bag if he already have a tooth.

While babies may not have the words to describe their experiences, sensory play can help babies build vocabulary and understand language. It’s your turn now to articulate his sensory experience by using words to explain your baby’s experience. For example; Touch: “oh Joud touch this bag of paint, it is so soft, do you feel it ?” or you can add warm water with the paint to tell him “touch it it’s warm…” Sight:“do you see the yellow color, wow it’s shiny, i see also the red color here…” Using descriptive words such as cold, warm, soft, shiny, smooth… in the context will help solidify the meanings of these words in a young child’s mind.

Kids at this age loose focus so quickly. After mixing the colors, Joud was trying to taste the paint but couldn’t obviously, he was insisting but at the end he lost patience. Such activities won’t last for long, it’s a matter of 10-15 minutes. As they grow you can extend the play duration by adding more elements to stimulate other senses.

It was a success, looking forward for our next activity. Happy playing!

If you like this post give it some likes and shares to spread the joy. Don’t forget to like marmite et ponpon facebook page and follow on twitter. More interesting posts are yet to come.

3 Comments

Posted in way to play

Tagged 6 months activity, baby sensory play, cognitive growth, jaymmy, marmite et ponpon

kibbet batata (lebanese vegan potato kibbe)

Posted on February 23, 2016 | 3 comments

It’s one of the most popular Lebanese vegetarian dishes during lent. A versatile dish, with open ended versions, associated to each village customs.

Basically it’s mashed potato with bulgur (cracked wheat) and the additions or the presentation are various. My version calls for:

500g potato boiled and mashed
2 tbsp bulgur (cracked wheat)
1 tbsp dried mint
a handful chopped walnut plus 4-5 whole walnuts for garnish
2 big onion cut a la julienne
5 tbsp olive oil divided
salt to taste

Fry the onion in 2 tbsp olive oil until golden brown and set aside.

Boil the potato in salty water, drain and mash. While still hot add the bulgur and mix well. Then add the dried mint and salt and combine. Fold in 3 tbsp olive oil and finally add the chopped walnut.

Spread the potato dough in a plate or shape it as balls or cylinder. Sprinkle the fried onions on top and garnish with whole walnut.

Most of vegetarian dishes (side dish or mezza) are eaten with lebanese bread. You can serve it with vegetables (tomato, cucumber, radish, mint…) and olives. But if you want to have a complete filling meal, present this kibbet potato with the famous adas bhamoud soup, they really pair well.

It’s a delicious and wholesome dish, we also make it at home at least twice a month even when it’s not lent, and none of us is vegetarian 🙂 I pair it also with hard boiled eggs.

If you like this post give it some likes and shares to spread the joy. Don’t forget to like marmite et ponpon facebook page and follow on twitter. More interesting posts are yet to come.