Last Week

I've been meaning to document what an awesome week we had the week before last.  First of all, Aunt Liz came to visit for a few days.  All I can say is, we LOVE Aunt Liz!  Having her come is always such a treat.  She is an incredibly fun Aunt and sister.  We had a really great time together.

Here are some of the things we did (with pictures).  It is only now that I realize that Liz isn't in any of the pictures... because she took them all!  I am the worst when it comes to remembering to take pictures.  This has spurred me on to remember to take pictures of those who come to visit!

Aunt Liz brought the girls the perfect gift.  A little wooden apple pie.  It's adorable.  All the pieces come apart so that you can build it yourself.  This new toy is played with daily now.  Not surprisingly, these 21/2-year-olds have quickly become pie lovers.

Speaking of pie, what's a visit from Aunt Liz without eating some?  She made Alex a birthday pie that was delicious.  Note to self: candles work better in cake than pie.

While Aunt Liz was visiting, we all took an outing to purchase our first family pet: a fish.  It was awesome.

 Here are the girls looking at their new fish, Chester, in his new home on top of their dresser.

We met Alex at work for lunch twice while Liz was visiting.  The little cartons of milk were a big hit with Eliza and Zoie.

 A trip to the grocery store to get items needed to make the below cupcakes.  Car carts are the best!  I don't know what I'd do without them.  I'm speaking literally.

Liz helped me prepare for New Beginnings night in my ward.  She designed these cupcake toppers to go along with our theme, the 13th Article of Faith.  Aren't they so cute?  There were lots of them with different words from the scripture and very fun, bright colors.  They got lots and lots of compliments that night.

We went shopping the last day Liz was with us.  In one store (World Market to be specific... I love that place), the girls discovered and insisted on buying these backpacks.  We didn't end up getting them.  But it did make me think how sad I'll be when they are old enough to go off to school all day long.  I'll miss them!

A few days after Liz left, we celebrated Alex's birthday.  That day, we went to the Museum of Flight.  So fun.  We had a great day and weekend.

Yummy Yogurt Salad

I made up a side dish last night to go with our quiche for dinner.  I thought it was most delicious and worth sharing.  I call it yogurt salad.

Here is the recipe:

-  1 large container (32 ou) of plain yogurt (I used a mixture of 2 containers, half nonfat and half full fat yogurt... but make sure it is plain)
-  2 apples, shredded (I washed them well and left the peels on for added nutrition. You can't really tell that the peels are on when they are shredded)
-  2-3 carrots, peeled and shredded (mine were small carrots, so I used 3)
-  a handful of raisins
- a handful of chopped nuts, walnuts or pecans (I used pecans)
- 1/2 to 3/4 cup of shredded, unsweetened coconut (If you have never seen unsweetened coconut at the store, it's because it is usually hidden in the "health food" section.  Or, they always have it at Whole Foods or any health food store)

Stir it all up and eat.  Trust me, it is delicious.  We had it for dinner and then again for dessert.  It's a great, healthy side dish.  No added sugar.  I even had some more for breakfast this morning.

I LOVE yogurt!  Yum.

Split Pea Soup

I used to hate split pea soup growing up. Not because of the taste necessarily. I think it was because it is green. But, I am a huge fan now. It is a definite comfort food for me. I made this recipe this weekend:

http://www.legumesamis.com/search?q=split+pea+soup

I love this recipe and have made it many, many times. I like how it doesn't require a ham hock and is very simple. I usually always have the ingredients so it is a great go-to meal. I love serving it with hot bread or fresh muffins. Give it a try. It's delicious!

By the way, my one tip with this recipe is to omit the salt if you are using a veggie or chicken stalk that contains salt as your base. I've made this soup way too salty on a few occasions... which can't be undone. You can always add more salt at the end, if needed.

Movement Time!

I enrolled the girls in a community toddler movement class.  We went yesterday for the third time.  They LOVE it.  The teacher does a few dance/rhymes with the kids, but a large portion of the class is free play time on a bunch of gym/play equipment.  It's awesome.  I'm totally signing them up for another one in a few months.  It is so funny to watch them run around and go crazy.  Eliza especially likes the mini trampoline (see photo).  I need to take my video camera in sometime and film them because it really does crack me up to watch them let loose all of their energy.

Next month, the three of us will be taking "Messy Art for Two-Year-Olds."  I'm sure I will have lots to tell about that later.  Two-year-olds are the best!

Oh... one more thing.  The first picture below is what Eliza and Zoie chose to wear yesterday.  Check out the red Santa and striped reindeer socks with the pink shoes.  Like I said, two-year-olds are the best!

I would wish twins for anyone

I find I am always saying to people: "I would wish twins for anyone."  It is totally true.  I had a friend over for lunch today and was recounting the story of Eliza and Zoie's birth.  It made me remember how shocked I was when I found out I was pregnant with twins.  I never ever thought I would have more than one baby at a time.  Twins don't run in our immediately family, so the thought of having twins never even passed through my mind.  I totally lucked out!  I'm so grateful that I was blessed with these two little cuties.  Seriously, they just get more and more fun and cute.  It's amazing.  And, they are at such a fun age.  They talk nonstop and LOVE playing with each other.  They have so much fun together that sometimes it makes me wish I were a twin.


Here are some things they have been doing lately that make me laugh...


- Take out the hymn books, open them up, sit on the floor in the hall and sing together (see posted picture)


- Insist that we make pie daily (I think Aunt Liz might have planted this thought in their heads.... and, for the record, we don't make pie daily) :)


- Pretend there is a monster outside their door and then use their recorders (those flute-type instruments) as swords to fight the monster off.  I have no idea where they learned this.


- Zoie likes to sing to me a lot.  Usually her songs are a mixture of all the songs she knows and are in a very high pitched, cute-as-can-be voice.


- They have only watched 2 episodes ever of Dora the Explorer, but they have this incredible fascination with her.  So, I bought them some Dora underwear and now potty training has begun!  With the incentives of wearing Dora underwear and putting Dora stickers on their potty chart, they are rearing to go!


- Eliza can out eat any of us at breakfast time.  She usually eats 2-3 eggs, a bowl of oatmeal, some fruit, and sometimes some yogurt.  And, occasionally she asks for more eggs, but I draw the line at 3.  We now buy our eggs in large quantities at Costco.


- They both LOVE to help me cook.  This is somewhat a test of my patience because of the 20 little fingers in everything and the constant desire to do everything themselves.  But, I feel that it is important that they learn and love to cook, so I'm slowly learning to deal with it.


- They have started to pretend play a lot.  Last night we were driving to Costco and saw the moon out the window.  Eliza asked if we could drive to the moon.  So, we pretended our car was a rocket ship traveling to the moon.  When we arrived at Costco, Eliza yelled excitedly, "We made it to the Costco moon, Mom!"


-They love to take out all (which is a lot) of my dish towels and drape themselves with them as well as rap their babies in them.


- They still love to read books, so we spend lots and lots of time reading every day.  I love how they never tire of this... even when we have read the same books at least a hundred times.


They keep me hoppin', but oh how I love my twins! 

Soup, Glorius Soup

I just love soup.  It is one of my favorite things about wintertime.  There are endless recipes to try.  I love eating my soup with some kind of bread.  A biscuit, a roll, a wedge of quesadilla.... yum.

Here is the recipe for a soup that I made for dinner last night.  It is chalk full of vegetables, which I love, and it has a really nice flavor.  I love the mild taste of cinnamon.

I used bacon instead of pancetta.

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000000399190&cookbook_id=5983462

I served this soup with some delicious biscuits.  My good friend Anna Roberts gave me this recipe.  I think they are my favorite biscuits of all time.  Thanks, Anna!

This recipe is actually for a big batch of baking mix that you can then use for pancakes, waffles, or whatever.  I usually half this recipe, use what I need for the biscuits I'm making that night, and then put the rest in the freezer.  It's great to have on hand.  And, I don't use quite as much butter as it calls for and I use all whole wheat flour.

Baking mix: 

3 c rolled oats
2 c flour
2 c whole wheat flour
1 c wheat germ
3 T baking powder
2 t salt
1/2 t cream of tartar
2 c butter (softened)
1 c dry milk powder
 
Combine all except milk. cut in butter.  gently sirt in milk. store refrigerated. 
 
For biscuits just add 1 1/2 c mix with 1/2 c milk cook on baking sheet at 450 for 8-10 min.

A New Year, A New Blog

Brown Rice Pilaf with Mushrooms and Apricots:
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/2587

Celery Citrus Salad with Balsamic and Feta:
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/2881

I made these for dinner last night. Followed both recipes pretty much exactly. Delicious! Loved the balsamic, feta dressing on the celery salad. The apricots and nuts (I used pecans) in the rice were delightful. Generally speaking, the recipes on the Whole Foods Market website are great.

By the way, I think I'll start posting to our blog again. Alex gave me the idea of writing about what I cook from time to time. I might just give that a shot. It would be a great way for me to finally keep track of the recipes I try out. Hmmm... we'll see if I actually stick to it.