The Zoe and Silas Show

Derek and I have been together as a couple for 5-1/2 years, married for 3 years, and parents of twins for 2 years. This was our first year, however, hosting Thanksgiving. Today I was reminded that putting on a meal of this magnitude takes some serious planning and coordination. Honestly, I don't think you have experienced Thanksgiving until you have hosted Thanksgiving... Lists were made weeks ago, grocery shopping happened last weekend, and the fridge was cleared out to make room for lots of holiday groceries + a 22 pound turkey. We were hosting 13 of Derek's family members plus our family of 4, so we were planning for 17 total. I took shift #1 last evening after the kids were in bed and put together homemade Green Bean Casserole (from The Best of America's Test Kitchen ) and washed and organized all the serving dishes. Derek was off last night and shift #2 started with a double batch of his grandfather's Portuguese stuffing at 2am. We had the bird in the oven at 7...

I heart the Roslindale Farmer's Market. Today was the kickoff so I took the kids down to check it out. Mayor Menino was speaking when we walked up and the square was already mobbed by 10am! We got there just at the right time because a clown show was starting! I was worried that Zoe and Silas would protest about being in the stroller, but they were very chill and content the entire time. They had a great seat for the show! Our CSA starts on Thursday so I didn't buy too much stuff, but it was fun to get a glimpse of what will be in our first box this week. There is live music every Saturday at 11am so I think we'll be spending lots of fun times at the FM this summer!

My friend, Megan, brought a proscuitto & goat cheese strata to a brunch we hosted last year. It was absolutely delicious. She referred me to the recipe on Epicurious.com , and I filed it away in the "recipes I want to try" part of my brain. Epicurious is a great source of recipes from Bon Appetit and Gourmet magazines, which are two magazines I subscribed to pre-children. As I posted recently , we do a lot of brunch get-together's with friends. Today we hosted a twin family brunch - one couple, Carrie & Steven, are expecting b/g twins in May; the other couple, Sam & Keith, have 1-year-old twin boys named Nathaniel & Elliot. I thought it would be fun to get everyone together to give Carrie some ideas and info about planning for their new arrivals.  Sam is a vegetarian, so originally I thought about making a vegetable quiche. I realized it wouldn't be enough to serve 6 adults and 4 kids, so I decided to look up the strata recipe. The recipe as po...

This recipe came from my Aunt Sue many years ago - I think the e-mail I have printed out in a recipe binder is from 1999! When we used to have friends over for brunch, I would usually make a quiche. Now the mornings are just too hectic with S&Z, so I have been making an "overnight" egg dish for these occasions. I can put the whole thing together the night before, and then just throw it in the oven 30 minutes before our guests arrive. Served with a side of fruit, it's a delicious, make ahead meal.  Serves 4 adults and 2-3 kids 9 x 13" glass casserole pan 3/4 lb breakfast sausage or turkey sausage 1 onion, chopped  2 c. shredded cheddar or pepper jack cheese 8 pieces of bread, crusts removed so everything fits in the bottom of the casserole dish 8 eggs, whisked 1-1/4 c. milk Salt and pepper 1. Brown sausage and onion; drain. * I haven't tried this, but it occurred to me today that an optional addition would be to also saute peppers and mushrooms w...