Did You Eat?

Sorry for not posting yesterday, I was coming off the high from the boys birthday. It was such a great day. After a day of relaxation I am off to get ready for this weekend. We are having the twins birthday party with their class Saturday and Sunday we are having a family birthday party for them. Today I need to clean the house, make 48 cupcakes, and the make meatballs and sauce for Sunday. 

Since I was making the meatballs and starting the sauce while the twins were in school, I thought I would share how I do it. I'd like to make a huge disclaimer before I continue: I am in no way a chef, schooled in any sort of way about cooking. I am also not so great with exact measurements and time but I love to cook for my family and my family loves to eat my cooking. 

Meatballs and Sauce

(I took a lot of pictures for a visual reference)

Okay first things first, I take my biggest pot. I add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. I cut a large yellow onion in half and drop it in. I cut two green peppers in thick slices and drop them in. I peeled and crushed 3 big cloves of garlic. Turn the heat to medium. I let that sit for about 5 mins...basically I am building some flavor on the bottom with the onions, garlic, and peppers. 

Next, I open all of these cans. VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: I typically only buy San Marzano tomatoes. My Wegmans was out sooooo please try to buy San Marzano  in 2 Puree and 1 Crushed. 

 I add The 2 puree cans and the 1 crushed can to the pot and I give a good mix. Then I take one of the cans and fill it will water and pour it in. Next I add 2 big pinches of kosher salt and I do a few turns of pepper. Give a good mix. Add the tomato paste with italian herbs. Now all of your cans should be emptied into the pot. 

Mix up the paste in the pot, so it all breaks up. You may need to add another half a can of water if it is too thick. Remember paste thickens sauce and water will open it up...this helps me in case the sauce is too thin, just add some more paste. Let this come to a little bubble and then as you add the sugar set the heat to low.

Now I add 1 tablespoon of white sugar. I love the way sugar looks in my favorite glass canisters. So Sweet!

Lets make some Meatballs! Okay, so I am having a decent amount of hungry people over on Sunday so I am making a lot of meatballs. I picked up three 1.4lbs of the PORK,VEAL, GROUND BEEF mixture. 

With the amount I have I am going to use 4 extra large eggs. I scramble them first so it is easier to mix into the meat. 

Now this is what comes next: I add 1 cup of dried italian seasons bread crumbs, I grate 1 large yellow onion directly into the meat mixture, I mince approx 1/3 cup of fresh flat leaf parsley, I add 1 tablespoon of olive oil, I use my microplane to grate 3 cloves of garlic into the meat, and I add 1/2 cup of pecorino romano cheese. oh and add salt and pepper.

Mix. I use my ice cream scoop to evenly size all the meatballs. This amount of meat made 43 meatballs. 

Meatballs! This is my sous chef, I had to wrestle the baking sheets away from him earlier. 

Okay so throw those balls of meat in the oven. I bake at 350 for 20 mins. However, I have also made them at 400 for 15 min. Whatever...you are just getting them brown on top because they will totally cook all the way through in the SAUCE! These meatballs are what give the sauce all its flavor. You must let the meatballs cook in the sauce for the best tasting sauce, or lets be super Italian right now, GRAVY. 

Here she is. My big pot of sauce with 43 Meatballs in it. I have also added aprox. 1/2 cup of pecorino romano cheese to this pot right after I added my meatballs. I gave it a big mix. The heat is at low and I have the lid on for all those flavors to come together. 

This sauce needs to cook forever, so this is not going to be ready for dinner tonight. If indeed you wanted this sauce for dinner tonight you would have had to put it on the stove at 6:00am like my grand-pop did. I am going to let this cook on low all day and all night. I will stir it occasionally. I also would say to randomly bring it up to a bubble and then lower it back to low. I play around with it I put it on medium and bring to a bubble for 10 mins then lower it to low again. You really need to make sure it doesn't burn! Before bed I will turn it off, let it cool, and put it in the fridge then I will cook it tomorrow as well. Tomorrow I will add hot and sweet Italian sausages these will also cook within the sauce. This pot would definitely be ready to serve by 4 or 5 on Saturday but I don't need it until Sunday. By Sunday we will have a great dinner. 

Things I know you are asking yourself....why don't you chop the onion and pepper?

Answer: you don not need to, when sauce is cooking this long the onion will melt into the sauce and the pepper will virtually disappear. 

Why didn't she fry the meatballs? I used to and my family still does, but I found it just takes to long to stand over the stove, so I started baking them. 

Do I have to grate the onion into the meatball mix? I do it because otherwise you really should finely mince the onion and cook it on low heat to sweat it out a little. If you grate it you are adding the onion juice as well which a wonderful way to add moisture to those dry breadcrumbs. 

Enjoy! 

The day I had twins

Today, March 11th, the twins are four years old and I can not even begin to process such a life changing event. Yesterday they asked me to tell them about "the day they came out of my belly" and I was immediately overcome with emotion. How do you explain one of the absolute best days of your life? How do you tell your children that they made the world a better place on the day they came "out of my belly"?  The boys were born on a Friday. The weather was exactly like today, there was still some snow on the ground but the temperature was warming and you could tell spring was close. I had a 9:30am doctors apt. I woke up around 8:45 am, literally rolled out of bed (if you need a mental picture I looked very similar to Violet from Willy Wonka after she ate the gum). I digress, so I rolled out of bed, threw on a Phillies sweatshirt and went to the apt. With Identical twins I was high risk so I was being given ultrasounds every other day. I show up say hello to all the regular nurses and technicians, I basically break the table as I try to climb up on it..."probably shouldn't have been eating peanut butter and jelly waffle sandwiches at 3:30am for the past 7 months" I remember telling the nurse or forklift operator as I would like to refer to her as... She  does the ultra sound and then she says, "did you really eat a sandwich at 3:30?" Laughing, I told her "no, but I did have a yogurt around 9pm when I sat down to watch Greys Anatomy." She calls the doctor in and they precede to ask me to walk across the street to the hospital. "I think you should go have your babies now. You haven't eaten in 12 hours so you will be fine to have a C-section." I am a little in shock because they boys weren't due until 3/25. I told the doctor, "No, you see I haven't had my toes done yet and I didn't shave my legs." His response was, "well thats okay, you need to go. Baby B isn't moving and he needs to come out." Panic is all over his face. Confusion is on mine. Deciding that a doctors opinion was probably better than my own about a quick run to the nail salon was an obvious one. I called Michael at work and said that Doc wasn't moving. They told me to go over to the hospital and have the boys. I told him, "I'm sure he is just relaxing and they probably won't take them out"; "I bet this is all hype." Michael deciding to leave work as soon as I said "So.." was probably one of the best decisions he ever made. He arrived at the hospital just as they were rolling me out. The doctors had informed me that I was preeclampsic and needed to deliver.

To keep this post light I am going to spare you all the scary details. The main point is I am alive today to see my boys and they are brilliantly healthy individuals.
When they lifted Buddy out he peed all over the doctors! A strong steady stream! He was 6.9lbs
When they pulled Doc out it was a little more difficult because we was stuck tight. They yanked and pulled, but he came out all 6.3 lbs of him.
Everyday they make me laugh, smile, yell, and take a deep sigh that I have the most amazing boys. It is hard some days but not all day.
Boys, you have taught me how to be a mother and for that I am ever grateful. I love you more than life... Daddy and I made you from scratch.

We're Going On A Bear Hunt...

Tomorrow Michael and I are going into the boys school to read two of their favorite books. We are reading The Book with No Pictures by B.J. Novak and We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Helen Oxenbury and Michael Rosen. We are bringing in snack for the class, a classic favorite Oreos and then we are reading the books. We are going to read "The Book with no Pictures" first and then Michael and I are going to "perform" "We're Going on a Bear Hunt." We practiced a few ideas but ultimately ended up with the classic reading done by the brilliant Michael Rosen. As we say what we are going through, Michael is going to hold up the prop and I am going to act out what a person might look like while going through grass, water, mud, a forest, and a snowstorm.

After we act out the book, we are going to have the class engage in a little sensory activity. I am heading to the dollar store this evening to purchase some big plastic tupperware containers. I am going to fill them with:

 water and rocks for the river

chocolate pudding for the mud

sticks for the forrest

actual grass (if I can find any!) or easter grass for the long wavy grass

actual snow for the snowstorm

I picked up craft fur for the "two big furry ears" and two really really really "big goggly eyes" for the bear that the children will also be able to touch and jiggle. 

All in all I am truly hoping this works out! Michael and I have not practiced as much as I hoped! 

Fun new crafts!

This morning bright and early the boys woke up wanting to craft! I hadn't even had my coffee yet?!
Me: "Really you want to make something? It's so early!"
Boys: "Yeah mom, we want to use markers and paint and color."
Me: "hmmmmm okay okay only markers though"
Boys: "fine"
What's a mom to do? Its not like they were asking to jump off a bridge....so I did what every mom would do, I opened the card board wrapper from their smoothies. Just as an FYI there is usually some drawing on the inside of a box of cereal or yogurt for kids to color.
Jack is addicted to smoothies. We buy the Yo-Kids smoothies for him to have in the morning. When you unwrap the set of six smoothies there has been Mickey and Mini mouse drawings on the inside. Foolishly I threw the wrap away last week, but this week I remembered! So the boys pulled out markers and were able to color something very easily first thing!
After that I actually did think of a kinda fun craft....more fun for me than them.... I had purchased this magnetic adhesive sheet last week when I was buying birthday supplies from Michaels. This morning I took our Christmas card (which was still hanging in the kitchen) and we cut the pictures from the inside and stuck them on the magnetic sheet. Now I have super cute magnets for the fridge! Jack loves them. My boys are so vein; they love looking at themselves. I love telling them the stories behind the photos and I hope, one day they will remember all of these fun times!

Did You Eat?

Tonights Dinner is ..... (drum roll).....

Ina Garten's Turkey Meatloaf

This is a Must Make Recipe! I typically don't make it as large as she does. However if I do make her exact version I cut it in half and freeze the other side for dinner another night!

Enjoy!

Birthday Presents...

With the twins birthday approaching I have been thinking about birthday presents. This year the boys decided that they wanted a Jeep. The power wheels Barbie Jeep was a gift I asked for every Christmas. I asked for it when I am sure I was entirely to big to even fit in it, never the less I never got one. So, when the boys asked for one I was a little excited! Finally I would get a power wheels Jeep! After much research and searching we decided to get them this. I am hoping Jack can just ride in the truck bed so we don't have to get two of these monsters. However, since this truck is on back order we need something for the boys to open on their actual birthday so we also bought this. Here are some of my favorite gifts for kiddies.
Rainbow Rollers- I love this for expressive and receptive language building. You can work on phrases like "Ready Set Go" ayou can have a child make a "more" request. You can model "up" "go" "down" "wee" model environmental sounds like "vroom vroom"
Ironing Board Playset - Kids love irons! I have no idea why but they do!
Ukulele- its small enough for little hands, kids are exposed to music which is great, and it comes with a little case... all different colors too!
Personalized Beach Chair and Bucket-  I just love this because my boys used theirs even inside. They would eat snack in it.
Personalized Beach Towel- I feel like we always need a new towel for summer and even throughout the year with baths, swim lessons, cleaning toy cars, or using them as really big capes!
All Lego Duplo Sets and all lego sets, especially as the boys get older, they love to build
Soft Photo Books  ---This is one is super nice if you print off some pictures and put them in it for someone.
Pots and Pans- Favorit because they come with lids so you can expand language with words like "open" "close" "in" "out" and you can also practice verbs "mix" "stir" "cooking"
Easel- Love this because it is plain unfinished wood so you can personalize it by painting a color to match someones playroom or you can leave it plain!
Tunnel- this is great because it folds flat so you can put it right under the couch for storage
Bating Gloves for Tball- youth xs is a perfect size for little hands playing America's favorite pastime.

This is one of my favorite manzi'd from scratch gifts.
I found these super cute felt flips in a boutique in OC . You know when you get married as a shower gift people give you dishtowels for the holidays...well I thought it would be cute to do clips for a little girl. I just took a picture frame from JoAnne Fabrics (I had a coupon). I added burlap (remnant piece on clearance) and ribbon and there you have it. A little bit of effort makes for a special not like anyone else's gift! I will definitely do this again. I am currently playing around with a "Holiday Socks" version for boys. 

Did You Eat?

Chicken Cutlets that make my heart melt

Thin cut chicken cutlets
(we plow through these so I usually make two or three packs)
Scramble 3 eggs in a bowl
Italian seasoned bread crumbs
(I pour a decent pile on a plate...think about it, it has to be enough to cover all the chicken you are going to cook)
Mix Pecorino Romano cheese in with the bread crumbs (about half a cup)
Fine chop Italian flat leaf parsley  (about 1/4 cup)
Add salt and pepper to the bread crumb mixture

Okay so now take a large or multiple large non stick fry pans out.  Put about 1/2 inch vegetable oil in the bottom of the pan/pans. Basically take two turns around the pan.
Its important not to use olive oil because then the cutlets will just taste like olive oil. Vegetable oil is tasteless so the cutlets will actually taste like all the amazing seasonings you added.
Let the oil heat up
NEVER COOK ANYTHING ON HIGH HEAT! EVER! SO just let the oil heat up on medium, once its warm ( I test this by hovering my hand over the oil, when it feels nice and warm its ready)
My grandmother places 1 garlic clove in the oil while its heating and then she removes it before frying the chicken. This will make the oil have a slight garlic fragrance and light garlic taste.

Directions:
Take a cutlet
Dip in Egg
Cover with Bread Crumb Mixture
Place in Fry Pan
When the edges are a light golden brown Flip them Over
This should not take more than 3 minutes on each side
Take Cutlets out of pan and let them cool on a cooling rack ( not on a paper towel bc then they will get soggy)
Cover with foil

I sprinkle a little pecorino romano cheese over the top