The Zoe and Silas Show

6/7/14: It was the opening day of the Roslindale Farmer's Market last Saturday. I was so happy to buy some fresh, local produce (mustard greens, radishes, harukai turnips), and S&Z were excited to be able to check out a Boston Police car! That evening we met up with some friends for a 40th birthday celebration/pub crawl in Cambridge. It was great to go out with some awesome people!

After an uninspiring food week (except for some  Greek Potatoes , and an improv Curried Quinoa with Roasted Summer Vegetables that was inspired by this recipe ), I am happy to get back on track with cooking this weekend! I talked with my sister yesterday, and she recommended perusing Pinterest boards of my favorite food magazines and bloggers to look for ideas. I did just that and came up with a fun list of stuff to try for this week. A visit to our awesome Farmer's Market always helps me prime the creative food pump as well... After the Farmer's Market we made summer salads for Mommy and Daddy Bears, And for Baby Bears. It blows my mind that S&Z will eat salads this year. Both of them even wanted some of my hardboiled egg! For dinner tonight I made Red Lentil Coconut Soup . It had a dal-like consistency so I was glad that I had also cooked up some rice. I think I like this recipe better than the Lal Dal that I typically make. It was pretty spicy ...

8/24/13: After six VERY long days at home, aside from 1 trip to the ER and 3 trips to the clinic (1 for me and 2 for Silas), we were very happy to rejoin the land of the living today! We spent the morning at the Farmer's Market, and I took the kids to the Arboretum after nap. It was one of those perfect, 75-something degree summer days and I didn't want to miss a second of it. I'm looking forward to continuing on the path to normalcy over the next few days... Whatever that is.

7/27/13: It was beautiful outside today. I hit the gym first thing this morning, and then the kids and I met up with Tracy, Josef, and Nick at the Farmer's Market while Derek did food shopping for the week. The Rosi Farmer's Market has a nice kids corner set up with various activities - today there were hula hoops! The kids were chasing each other around, and the next thing I knew Zoe was actually hula'ing!!! She's definitely got the moves! ***** Cook's Notes : Between a trip to the farmstand at Allandale earlier this week and today's visit to the Farmer's Market, we have so much great stuff to inspire our summer palates! White peaches, plums, sungold tomatoes, napa cabbage, green and wax beans, white potatoes, scallions, radishes, beets, and cauliflower are included in this week's procurements. I made another frittata for dinner - this one included beet greens, potatoes, ham, and goat cheese. Both kids refused to eat the potatoes...

7/8/13: Little people, big tent.  Now that we're back from MN we need to start getting organized for our upcoming camping trip. In that vein, Derek and the kids set up the tent on Monday morning. They were so excited to show me the tent when I got home from work! Julia took the kids to a splash park after nap. After S&Z went to bed I finished another baby blanket for a dear friend. I can't wait to give it to her!!! Cook's Notes : On this week's Monday Meatless Menu was  Pasta Primavera . I used sugar snap peas, scallions, mint, zucchini and summer squash from the Farmer's Market, along with store-bought carrots, red pepper, and grape tomatoes. This version is finished off with goat cheese - it turned out delicious!

6/29/13: We have spent the last couple of days trying to re-group after an awesome week in Minnesota. After doing lots of food shopping the last 2 days, we finally had everything to make smoothies for lunch.  Today's concoction had  kale, spinach, broccoli, collard and mustard greens, fresh citrus, green apple, peaches, mango, pineapple with a splash of apple juice. On Thursday night we made Chicken Parm Meatballs and steamed broccoli. Tonight w e made an awesome summer supper and ate on the deck. We grilled our FAVORITE chicken,  Asian-Style Barbecue Chicken , and two summer salads chock full of vegetables from today's Farmer's Market. The first was Chilled Napa Cabbage with Shallots and Cilantro . It was my first time making it so I didn't make any modifications, and it turned out delicious! We also tried Lemony Quinoa Salad , to which I made a few modifications (subbed in Israeli Couscous for the quinoa, added haruki turnips, sugar snap peas, fresh pa...

6/8/13: Farmer's Market day means there are lots of greens to be cleaned for the week. S&Z love using the salad spinner, and they thought it was funny that I give everything "a bath" in the sink. Of course they wanted to help. Today we bought romaine lettuce, haruki turnips, and swiss chard. I will saute the turnip greens along with the swiss chard when Derek and I grill   Southern Style Pork Tenderloin   on his night off this week.  I got a pedicure this morning, and then we met up with Rhiannon at the Farmer's Market. When I asked the kids at bedtime what their favorite part of the day was Zoe said "seeing the vegetables at the Farmer's Market" and Silas said "pancakes!" (which is what they had at the neighborhood cafe for lunch). After nap they wanted to do some painting on the deck. The idea I had of using the animal stamps with paint instead of stamp pads didn't quite work out as envisioned, but they still e...

6/2/13:  Let the summer of salads begin! Tonight's inaugural salad featured panisse lettuce, haruki turnips and radishes from the Farmer's Market , along with cucumbers, carrots, and red pepper. I cheated with Trader Joe's Greek Feta dressing, but I'm planning on making this dressing very soon. Considering how much S&Z love cole slaw (and the fact that we've gotten them to eat wheat berry salad twice in the last 2 months), I was really hoping they would get on board with my salad plan this summer. But, you really never know with two kids and two very different personalities. They both dove right in, though, and of course Silas finished his first and said "can I have more salad?". The possibilities will be endless if they are willing participants, and we have an awesome local Farmer's Market that will be able to supply my summer habit: asian slaw , indonesian chicken salad , lemony quinoa salad  are just a few sitting in my pepperplat...

6/1/13: Another 90+ degree day meant more meals on the deck and more time playing in the pool and sprinkler. It was also the opening day of the Farmer's Market and nothing was going to keep us from that!  I swear the kids remembered that they usually got a cookie at the FM last year, because the first thing they asked for upon arrival was a special treat. Daddy got them a homemade oreo to split from the Fornax stand. I made chicken and potatoes last night for dinner, to which I also threw in some broccoli and cauliflower. When we got home from the FM we used the leftover potatoes and veggies and made a frittata for lunch. It was soooo hot so we ate on the deck. After a long, cool nap we had Josef and Nick over to play in the backyard. After our friends left we made this for dinner, and ate our 3rd meal of the day on the deck. We will all sleep well in air conditioned bedrooms tonight!

12/8/12: Enjoying some live music at the JP Winter Farmer's Market.

I was so incredibly cranky last week that I knew going into this weekend that I really needed to relax and rejuvenate. On Friday I put my mind to resetting my bad mood and getting back on the right foot by Monday. I will say that this is pretty easy to do when we have dance parties multiple times a day, whenever a particular song on Pandora strikes Silas' fancy. On Friday morning we went to the library. Oh, how we love Library Day! We picked out a stack of new books that we've been snuggled up reading in Mommy and Daddy's bed all weekend. Derek worked all weekend, so the kids helped me cook dinner each night. On Friday we made pan-seared chicken breasts, roasted brussels sprouts, and brown butter orzo. We had a giant stalk of brussels sprouts, so it was the vegetable that kept on giving all weekend long. Last night I mixed some with roasted cauliflower and tonight I mixed it with roasted broccoli. It's amazing what I can get the kids to eat when they ha...