Meat Lasagna: Italian Comfort Food

Meat Lasagna A La Nadine 

My meat lasagna is a staple in our monthly food rotation. It is one of those dishes that my family and friends often request when I ask them if there is anything I could bring with me. It can feed a family of four for 2 days or the entire extended family. I also have devised a sequence of cooking that would generate the least amount of dishes to wash. Efficiency all the way around. I used to make the tomato sauce from scratch. Click here to read how I make my tomato sauce. I tried one time to use canned tomato sauce, and frankly, it was equally delicious. So now I embrace this shortcut with no guilt. I also grind my own lean meat and freeze it. Click here to see how I do it. 

Book Review: Bakbook, The Peacock that Has No Color

Peacocks everywhere

Marhaba,
My daughter Alya loves peacocks so much and she spends many hours drawing and painting them. I even got her little peacocks ornaments to hang in her room. In fact, the word Peacock "Tawoos" is the first Arabic word she wrote on her own. Peacocks are beautiful birds that are often associated with vanity. This Arabic book "Bakbook: The Peacock that Has No Color" tackles this topic among others.  I "virtually" met May Tartoussy the author of this book by chance via a common friend and when I saw that her book was about a peacock and in Arabic, I just felt that I had to read it and explore the journey of Bakbook. May graciously gave me a copy of the book to read and review and she even signed and addressed it to Alya. I am now on a quest to collect fantastic autographed Arabic children books. 

Dandelions Done Right: Hendbeh

Cooked Dandelion Recipe

Marhaba, yes dandelions are the star of my dish. Cooked Dandelions is on my top 10 favorite dishes list. This dish will surprise you because in your mind, dandelions are weeds, a nuisance and not a dish to savor. Traditional Lebanese food is essentially vegetarian because it is built on making use of the crops in different ways and extending their lives beyond one season. Meat, poultry and fish were consumed sparingly and were considered an expression of wealth. The majority of the Levantine region such as Lebanon, Syria, Palestine share similar cooking habits and traditions.

Writing Arabic with Kids

Marhaba,

Over the past two months, I showed you how to use the Seasons flashcards and Playdough mat. I am going to sound like a broken record, but please do not underestimate the power of play and exposure when learning a language. You can teach your child at any age and today I will show you how you can use the flashcards and play dough mats to teach them how to write.

We reviewed the flashcards, I made sure that we talked about beginning letter and sounds and ending letters sand sounds. Then I showed her the picture of the squirrel and she was able to name it, I showed her the word, she was able to name it in English, which meant that she understood the concept.

Msabaha: Arabic Healthy Vegan Fast Food

Msabaha Arabic Vegan Chickpeas in Tahini

Msabaha! Arabic Healthy Vegan Fast Food Under 10 Minutes! This blog post is not a scam, this blog post is not a click bait where I use a clever title to make you click on the post about Msabaha Arabic Healthy Vegan Fast Food and you discover that the content has nothing to do with the title. This is real folk! As I was working on a special project (shhh, I can not tell you yet); I was thinking about what to make for my daughter for lunch. Contrary to what some of you think, I, just like you, sometimes look for shortcuts when I am busy or when I am just not in the mood for cooking. I stopped working for a moment and I checked my instagram account! yes I recently joined IG, I am @reinventingnadine Click here to follow me socially and then it happened,

Using Fine Motor Skills in Arabic Learning

Alya using Arabic Playground Seasons Play dough mat

Marhaba 

Are you enjoying my weekly posts about teaching kids the Arabic Language? This week I will show you how to use Arabic Playground Seasons Play dough mats while using fine motor skills. Your child will also learn writing and reading. The best part of using these mats is that they are so versatile and especially when laminated. If you want to know how to laminate the print out and give them a professional look, you can click here. These mats are a great way to revise what the child learned using the "Seasons Flashcards", click here to read about the Seasons Flashcards.

Seasons Flashcards in Arabic With Arabic Playground

Marhaba! yes, this is hello in Arabic. Did you enjoy my last posts in collaboration with Arabic Playground? If so, please leave a comment on my blog and their page and let us know what do you think? What do you need? Are you using the products? Finally share this information with people who might benefit from it. It took me a long time to find reliable modern products and I really want to spread the news about them because they simply work.

Now that we have covered the colors, it is time to talk about seasons and again this is a useful topic that can enrich the vocabulary of your child. Remember that learning a language is an accumulative process and that you have to keep on using it and exposing your child as much as you can. What a better way than learning about the seasons? The season flashcards are available as a bundle (psst it is on sale now).

How to Give your Arabic Playground Flashcards a Professional Look

So you hopped on the Arabic Playground bandwagon! Ahlan wa Sahlan! Welcome! The best thing about downloadable flashcard is unfortunately the exact worst thing. Yes they are downloadable files that you can easily print but they are still easily damaged from constant use. (Yes, once you discover all the fun ways to use them you will end up including them in your daily schedule and you will notice the tear and wear damage). early on, I decided to properly preserve the flashcards by giving them a professional look.

Colors in Arabic: Teaching Your Kids At Any Age

If you read my previous post, you already know that I am going to blog about some products from Arabic Playground that I use to teach my daughter Arabic language. I will give you my honest opinion because I had a very hard time finding good products and when I do, I love to share this information with other parents who are committed to teaching their kids Arabic Language. It is hard enough finding the time to teach them Arabic and convincing to be on board, who really needs useless products that would put halt to "Arabic Learning"operation. 

I will start with the Arabic Playground Colors Flashcards. The Flashcards cover 11 most used colors: red, yellow, blue, black, white, pink, purple, orange, green, brown and grey.

The flashcards are divided into 3 main categories. Each category focuses on a skill that the child will master by the end of each set. Arabic Playground follows the same teaching/learning methodology in all their flashcards and it is one of my favorite feature about Arabic Playground. Each category focuses on one of the following skills:

10 Things I love About Arabic Playground

My search for resources to teach my daughter Arabic language is an ongoing process and can frankly become obsessive. I have to admit that I spend a sizable chunk of my time looking for new tools and ways to make it as fun and efficient as possible with the highest learning quality. I am a firm believer in learning through play and engaging sensory and motor skills to engrave the information in the brain.

Fun Organizational Tips

I have been MIA for the longest time, I still struggle with scheduling time to post on my blog. I have so much on my plate at the moment. I have been embroidering like a storm. I am almost done with a custom order, more about that in future posts. I am also in the process of working on something very exciting and unique, however the time is not right yet to announce it. Stay tuned. Moreover, I have injured my knee while I was running, which was quite painful. I had to use crutches for a while but I am almost to my normal again and surely not running anymore. There is a time, when one must realize that there are limits and knees are quite fundamental to my existence. I chose my knees.