The Zoe and Silas Show

I have experienced some tough times in my 35 years -- the divorce of my parents, a divorce of my own, and a catastrophic flood, just to name a few. I can pretty easily say, however, that 2010 was the hardest year of my life. When S&Z were born in October of  '09 I was so overcome by joy, excitement, hormones, a survival instinct, and sheer exhaustion that it took a few months for reality to set in. Being a mother is tougher than I ever anticipated, and one might say that having twins takes that to another level. Earlier this year I went back to work. I quickly learned how hard it is to be a working mom - much of the time I don't feel like I'm doing a very good job at anything. I have also had glimpses of what it would be like to be a stay-at-home mom, and those glimpses have given me a lot of admiration and appreciation for my friends who are SAHMs. I would like to believe as S&Z get older that things will get easier. As time goes on, I am learning that is probabl...

This is one of my "I'm too tired to cook" meals. It's going on the stove as I write down the recipe. All of the items can be found at Trader Joe's. Olive oil Frozen chopped onion Minced garlic 1 bag turkey meatballs 1 bag organic foursome frozen vegetables 1 carton + 1 can low-sodium chicken broth Pepper to taste I have some fresh spinach that is about to go, so I'm putting it in the soup for a taste of fresh cooked greens. You could also use fresh chopped herbs for this same effect. Another delicious addition is Harvest Grains blend, orzo or leftover cooked rice. 1. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven, over medium-high heat. Saute onion until translucent, ~ 5-7 minutes. Watch it closer than I did, because my onions are a little crispy :) Add 1-2 cloves garlic and saute for 30 seconds. 2. Add vegetables and saute for a minute, coating in oil. Add the chicken broth and meatballs.  Simmer for 10-15 minutes. Add fresh spinach and cook until wilted, just a...

I made this chili and some jazzed up cornbread for our twin parent friends, Wendy & Dave, a few weeks ago. Wendy asked me for the recipe, so I am posting it here. Honestly, all this recipe posting business is selfishly motivated - it is helping me consolidate all my favorites in one searchable spot! Sweet-N-Spicy Chili Adapted from The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook 2 T. vegetable oil 1 onion, chopped (or frozen chopped onion equivalent, ~ 1/3 of bag) 1 red pepper, chopped (or use frozen chopped peppers, tri-color from Trader Joe's would work great) 2 T. chili powder 1/2 T. cumin 1/4 t. cayenne pepper Salt 3 garlic cloves, minced (1-1/2 t. jarred minced garlic) 1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped 1 lb. ground beef 1 can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed 1-14 oz. can diced tomatoes 16 oz. tomato sauce (1 regular or 2 small cans) 3-4 T. honey 1. Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onions, red pepper, jalapeno, chili powd...

Monday ended up being an impromptu day off due to weather and childcare issues. For me that meant back in the kitchen! Easy Black Beans & Rice Serves 2 big people and 2 little people My wicked smaht friend & co-worker, Vanessa, recently pointed out that beans and rice for a complete protein . This is a great recipe when cooking for vegetarians, or kids who don't inherently love meat. 1 T. vegetable or canola oil 1/2 medium onion, chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 can black beans 1 can Ro*Tel Tomatoes and Green Chiles (if your kids don't like spicy food, use regular tomatoes), drained Oregano Cumin Salt & pepper Leftover rice 1. Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and saute until translucent, 5-7 minutes.  Add garlic, saute for 30 seconds; add ~ 1 T. cumin and 1 t. oregano, cook until fragrant. Tip : I use store brand frozen chopped onion in all recipes these days where the onion is cooked. You cannot tell the difference b...

Zoe and Silas are our little helpers around the house. You might recall that they like to help empty the dishwasher . They also like to help us get ready for parties. Here they are with the beer cooler! They help put away the groceries when Daddy comes home from errands, Silas does the trash, Although he's a little distractible and sometimes takes off with his car before he finishes! In particular, they're really good helpers with doing laundry, And folding it too! They even helped Gramma Westerlund with her laundry when she visited right before Thanksgiving. What good little helpers!

Well, technically it wasn't a blizzard... But it was definitely the worst winter storm I've ever experienced in 6 winters living here. It took Derek 2+ hours to shovel us out this morning; the news report I heard today said the city got about 17" of snow in ~ 24 hours. The blizzard warning started at noon on Sunday the 26th and ended at noon on Monday. On top of the storm, Derek was also sick; so sick that he called in sick to work on Sunday night. It was probably for the best, because he would have had to shovel and dig out the car at 10pm in order to get to work. It ended up that Julia our nanny was sick too. Sick husband + sick nanny + blizzard = no work for me today.  Since Christmas Day we have been home just the 4 of us and have had lots of inside time due to the weather. There have been plenty of books, And blocks, Snacks, And fun in the tunnel! Unfortunately, all this time inside also leads to plenty of sibling annoyances and a few tantrums... I wi...

When I was growing up, I remember my mom spending one entire weekend day each week in the kitchen. She loved to cook and she made everything from scratch, including all of our bread. She was also a single mom to me & my sister and we didn't have a lot of money. At one point in my childhood she held down 3 jobs. I imagine that part of the reason for the weekly cooking fest was related to necessity - there was no time to cook during the week. We lived in North Dakota and the weather was brutal at times, so we always had a deep freeze stocked with plenty of food for when a blizzard struck. These memories have stayed with me and to this day I always have a fully stocked pantry. So when talk of a blizzard started yesterday, I could feel the kitchen itch coming on. It's hard to spend the day cooking the way I used to, but Silas & Zoe were very cooperative today. Now that Silas is walking, the two of them have so much fun playing bumper cars with their push toys and toodling...

As I wrote recently , food and cooking are passions of mine; food also connects me to many of my loved ones. I spend a lot of time and energy making good food for me & Derek as well as Silas & Zoe. I've written a bit in the past about making baby food . Things have been easier since they started finger foods around 9 months - they can eat a lot of the same things that I cook for us. They eat 3 meals a day at home, so I also make extra food just for them. Friends and family often ask me for recipes, so I thought I'd start to share some here - both for big people and little people, whatever I'm cooking or thinking about that day :) I recently tagged all the blog posts to date and added a search gadget - both can be found a little ways down on the left. I hope this is helpful when someone is looking for a specific kind of post (like cooking or recipes!). Happy Eating!

Now that S&Z are taking a nice, long midday nap, we decided to take advantage of this time to make a Christmas lunch for ourselves before Derek went to bed for the day. We decided to pick up a couple of rib eye steaks from Whole Foods for the occasion. My mom would often make steaks and twice-baked potatoes on Christmas Eve after we went to church, so this food is filled with holiday memories and tradition for me. Our menu today included, Rib eye steaks Twice-baked potatoes Roasted asparagus Bordeaux There are some good recipes for twice-baked potatoes but I winged it when I put these together on Christmas Eve. They turned out fabulous. One of the things I like about TBP is that you can make them a day or two in advance and have them all ready to go into the oven ~ 30 minutes before you're ready to eat. Twice-Baked Potatoes 4 medium russet potatoes, scrubbed and dried 6 slices of bacon A few handfuls of shredded cheese of choice, I used a combination of cheddar and ...

Derek had to work this holiday weekend, so we enjoyed a relaxing Christmas Day at home. Derek got off work 45 minutes early today so he got home just in time to get Silas & Zoe out of bed with me! That was a Christmas gift in and of itself. I cried when he walked in the door... After breakfast, there were a lot of presents to open from various family members. In order to get S&Z to sit in front of the tree for another one of Mommy's photo shoots, we let them initially play with the bluetooth headset and car phone charger that I gave Derek. Then they opened a few of their own presents. One was a police car that they ended up fighting over so many times that we ultimately had to take it away! We moved into the living room so that we could skype with my parents. We had to try on the new winter hats at the same time! They also got twin babydolls that have been a big hit. Here is a video that I shot tonight because Zoe was being hilarious and dragging ...

It's Christmas Eve and we have had a great day today. It started off with Derek's family coming over to celebrate the holiday with us. Grandma & Grandpa Dutra came bearing gifts, and S&Z proceeded to get into them promptly. They each got a riding toy - Silas' is an Elmo-themed airplane, and Zoe's is a pink horse. S&Z's cousins, Braden & Kaylan, were here as well. They all have so much fun playing together! Silas was pretty interested in getting into all the presents once he realized how much fun wrapping paper could be! We tried to get a picture of Grandma & Grandpa Dutra with both kids, but that was not successful. Here are a couple of cute ones we did get though! After everyone left and Derek went to bed, the 3 of us were very happy to get out for a brisk walk on a chilly December afternoon. After dinner, we skype'd with Dad, Mary, Stephanie & Jim. It was so great to be able to see everyone on Christmas Eve, even thou...