Thai Tom Yum Soup

I'm on a recipe kick right now, so started this week off with a bang: Tom Yum Soup!

While in Thailand last spring, we took a Thai cooking class. Through the class, we received a collection of herbs and spices along with directions for how to make Tom Yum Soup. The box has been sitting in our pantry for 11 months now... so I decided it was time to dig it out and give it a try.

Surprisingly, it wasn't difficult to make (since I already had all of the ingredients needed). The basic broth is made out of stock and fresh ingredients. I'm actually quite impressed with how it turned out! It was lite and fresh, and I would definitely recommend it. I also read that the soup has many health benefits due to its combination of herbs & spices. So not only does it taste good, but it's healthy too. :) So here's the recipe...


Ingredients:
1,200 ml (2 Pt.) chicken stock, or vegetable stock
2 dried red chillies
2 tbsp. chopped lemongrass
4 slices galangal 2.5cm (1 in.) pieces
6 kaffir lime leaves
4 spring onions white and green parts, chopped (I used a yellow onion)
2 tbsp. chopped fresh coriander leaves (I didn't have this)
1 tbsp. fish sauce (nampla) or soy sauce
2.5 cm (1 in.) piece lime or lemon peel (I used both)
2 tbsp. lime or lemon juice (I used both)
500 g. (1 lb) frozen prawns or chicken pieces or mushrooms defrosted
chopped spring onion and coriander leaves for garnish (I didn't do this)

Directions:
In a saucepan, combine all the ingredients, except the prawn/chicken/mushroom and lime juice. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook over low heat for 20 minutes to blend the flavors. Strain and discard the solids. Return the liquid to the sauce pan, add the prawns/chicken/mushrooms and cook until heated through, about 1-2 minutes. (I cut up raw chicken into tiny pieces, and then cooked the chicken in the soup - about 5 minutes). Add lemon/lime juice then pour into soup tureen; garnish with the chopped spring onions and coriander and serve.

Next time I want to try adding some veggies to it, and maybe use prawns instead of chicken. I also want to make sure that I have coriander leaves and green onion, which is what the recipe calls for and I didn't have. I also read that adding coconut milk will make it more rich and creamy and add to the flavor.

Chickpea Salad with Lemon & Parmesan

One of my New Year's resolutions is to try new recipes, and well... cook more in general. I find that we constantly make the same meals every week: tacos, fajitas, salmon, BBQ chicken... all accompanies by some easy veggie and rice. Occasionally I'll make a couple Japanese dishes, such as okonomiyaki and yakisoba. But variety seems to be rare these days.

Thanks to Pinterest, I have found quite a few new recipes that I want to try. Some of them will be challenging, as finding the right ingredients will be difficult. But the goal is to try. ;)

So I decided to start simple with an extremely easy side-dish recipe: Chickpea Salad with Lemon & Parmesan. It turned out pretty good and is so easy that I thought I would share. Here's the ingredient list:

1 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp. olive oil
a pinch of salt (more to taste)
1/4 cup loosely packed shredded parmigiano reggiano (unfortunately I couldn't find this in Japan, so just went with grated Parmesan cheese)

All you have to do is combine all ingredients in a bowl, and gently stir to mix. Serve immediately or chill until serving (I like it better cold).

It would probably be better with the correct cheese, but oh well. Was still good, and even got Joe's approval!

Fun in Michigan

We had a great vacation in Michigan. Joe was able to stay for 3 weeks - and it was so nice that he didn't have the stress of work or school to deal with over the holidays. He got a lot of bonding time in with Elodie, and she sure loves her Daddy to pieces!

I love how she puts her arms out like she's really flying. :) And I also love her new Paula Deen Ho Ho Ho Ya'll Christmas bib.

We were able to check off everything on our to-do list, which included mainly FOOD! We went to Bilbos, Sweetwaters, Bells, Panera, Taco Bobs, Qdoba, Smashburger, Red Lobster, Beaners, Papa Johns, and Olgas (and since I stayed a little longer, I was able to squeeze in Shermans and the new Chicago Style Pizza restaurant!). I don't know how we didn't come back to Japan 20 pounds heavier... yikes we ate a lot of food while we were home. People often ask us these 2 food-related questions:

1) What was the first thing you ate when arriving back in the U.S.? Answer: Taco Bell (and the last food I ate was Wendy's).

2) What food do you miss the most in Japan? Answer: TURKEY!

Anyway, I was fortunate enough to be able to stay an additional 3 weeks. It was difficult to be away from Joe for so long... I got to experience what it might be like to be a single parent (NOT fun!). But Elodie and I needed to stay the extra time so that we could get her second round of immunizations. It was nice to spend a little extra time at home after the holidays, to relax and leisurely visit family and friends. The holidays get so crazy sometimes with all of the running around, so the extra down time to visit people and run errands is always nice.

Elodie hanging out with her Great Grandparents. Thanks for coming to visit us!

First time sledding! Uncle Brian and Aunt Danielle bought this little baby sled for Elodie and then took her sledding. She seemed to really enjoy it! :)

We loved being home and visiting with family & friends! The hardest part about living in Japan is being so far away from everyone. Here Elodie is hanging out with her Great Uncle Marc and cousins Nick and Kevin.

Thanks for the great vacation everyone! We had a wonderful visit and can't wait until next time... Love you all!

4 months

Happy 4 months to our growing baby girl! This past month she started making little giggle sounds, and then finally had her first real laugh on December 20th with her Grandma in Michigan. She also had her first pediatrician appointment in the U.S. on December 21st, where she received her first round of immunizations. It was horrible to watch her cry and see the look of betrayal on her face... she had never cried so hard before! Through this though, she discovered that she has a strong voice - now she steps up her cry when she wants something. She weighed in at 13 pounds 2 ounces, and was 24.25 inches long, which are both in the 75th percentile.

Sporting her new pink Converse shoes that she got for Christmas, thanks Auntie Rachel and Uncle Alex! Her pink leggings make her legs look extra long and skinny. But we're all pretty sure that she's going to be a tall girl thanks to her very tall Daddy.

Professional Pictures

We had professional pictures taken of us as a family as well as individuals of Elodie over Christmas break. Megan, from Give Me a Shot Photography, did a fantastic job! She suggested that we visit a Christmas tree farm to take outside photos - which turned out super cute! Wish that there would have been snow on the ground, but we lucked out with good weather. Afterwards we did a few individuals of Elodie in her home studio, which also turned out great! She is about 3 1/2 months old in the photos.

We love the photos and are really happy with how they turned out, thanks Megan! Below is a preview of our favorite pictures. There are about 175 total, so it is very difficult to choose our top ones. I'll be posting more on FB as well as our shutterfly site. :)

First Snow!

Unfortunately we didn't have a white Christmas in Michigan this year. But we did see snow a couple of days later. So we all dressed up our babies in their snowsuits and headed outside for some fun! Emma & Scotty enjoyed being pulled in the sled in the backyard, while the babies got to experience their first snowflakes. None of them seemed to care that much, but they all looked super cute in their snow gear. :) Here is picture of the Dads with their babies:

Schreurs Family Christmas

Eight adults, 2 kiddos, and 3 babies in one house made for a crazy fun Christmas holiday at the Schreurs' house! You know that scene in the movie Home Alone where its complete chaos with everyone running around the house?... that's exactly how it felt sometimes. But it made for good memories we'll never forget. :) A few highlights...

Merry Christmas! Love her cute pink First Christmas PJs with the reindeer feet (thanks Mom!) and pink Santa hat (thanks Nicole!)

Roughhousing with the Uncles is always fun for the kiddos, but exhausting for the uncles. But they all always have so much fun!!

Emma was so excited to get an American Girl doll from Santa. Scotty was my little buddy for the week. Such great kiddos! It's been fun to watch them grow. Wish we lived closer to one another, we miss our family all the time.

The famous TUR-DUC-HEN that Dad Schreurs made for dinner. Don't know what that is? It's a whole deboned chicken stuffed in a deboned duck, which is then all stuffed into a turkey... so 3 meats cooked as one. I was skeptical about this, but it turned out great.

Schreurs Family Christmas photo. Surprisingly it only took a couple of tries to get a good one :)

Merry Christmas!

As always, we had a pretty hectic holiday schedule. Spent Christmas Eve at Joe's house, Christmas morning at my mom's house, then back to Joe's house for the afternoon, followed by the 26th at my Dad's house. It was a lot of running around, but so nice to spend time with everyone over the holidays. Last year at this time we were hanging out on the beach in Australia by ourselves, so this year was back to "normal" going back and forth between houses trying to see everyone. It took a lot of coordination, and I'm glad it all worked out ok.

Here are a few pictures from Christmas at my mom's house.

Smiling at Grandma Christmas morning. (Thanks for the pink Santa hat Nicole! She looked so cute in it!) :)

Hanging out with her Auntie & Uncle. Elodie loves Danielle, she always gives her lots and lots of smiles. She even laughed for her (her second laugh ever!)

Elodie had soooo many presents - and then she slept through opening all of them! She's such a spoiled girl already! Thank you everyone for all of the wonderful gifts.

Love, love, love this! Michael had this sketch of Elodie done by an artist in Savannah. It turned out AMAZING!!!

Triplets

Both of Joe's sisters also recently had babies. Joe's mom refers to them as "the triplets" since they were all born so close in age. Haley was born a week before Elodie, and Koen is 7 months old. It was fun to meet the other babies, and introduce the cousins to one another. It made the holidays pretty hectic and crazy at times, but very fun and lots of memories.

And what's more fun than dressing up babies and posing them for pictures... :)

Meeting for the first time

Matching Christmas pjs's

Cute fleece vest sets, and nice smiles from the girls!

Santa babies!

Birthday x 2

My brothers and I all have December birthdays. Most of you think that would be awful, especially since they are all around Christmas... but actually it's been great! Growing up my parents always made sure that each of us had out own special day and our own separate birthday party. But now that we're all grown up and live so far away from one another, we decided that it would be fun to celebrate them all together. So we did one combined celebration at my mom's house, and another at my dad's house.

Happy Birthday to Brian who turned 23, Michael who turned 26, and me who turned 28! :)

Birthday Party #1

Birthday Party #2