Mommy's Mis-Adventures in the Kitchen- Thanksgiving 2010

Well folks this blog has been mostly about my adventures as a mom with my beloved peanuts. But after a conversation over dinner with some good friends (~~&&NYC) I've decided to shake things up a bit around here. Part of being a mom of two picky eaters & wife of another picky eater means experimenting in the kitchen. Now if you're a member of my family, you probably don't think I can cook, but I assure you that I can. I just don't cook for all of you because you guys only like one type of food, Peruvian, that's it! If you're a friend that we've had over for dinner and/or parties you know that good food will always be in abundance at our home gatherings. And if you're my husband (hopefully there's only 1 person who can claim this) you know that I love love love cook books & watching cooking on TV and on occasion I'll actually try new things! Giada, Ina Rachel & Paula are my idols and I would do anything to spend a day in their kitchen. But since I can't I will invite them to spend a day in MINE. :) ...in my mind of course.

While being a working mom of twins certainly makes me very busy, I can't neglect other interests that I'm passionate about. There are things I enjoy doing & maybe one day I can make a decent living from it! But whether I can make money or not it shouldn't stop me from doing them. So I've made a commitment to myself (& my blog) to pursue these interests and share some of my adventures with those who care to read about it.

Soooo...Mommy's Mis-Adventures In the Kitchen #1

I'm not a trained chef. I can't even say that I'm a great cook. I like to say that I'm a decent cook that every now then surprises my family with something great. But here I will share with you my ups & downs in my kitchen with some of my favorite top chefs & their recipes.

Every year at Thanksgiving I think of a few dishes I want to try out. Ask J, it's no easy task for me but I do put a lot of effort into it. First I go through a list of dishes from something I've watched on the Food Network from one of my mentors (Ina, Giada, Paula, or Rachel). On occasion I have used some others for inspiration. I might also stumble upon something surfing through other blogs or my fav Cooking Light magazine. Some key dishes have been so good we've made them a tradition. Others experiments have been a big goose egg....ERRR try again :(

For dessert I usually make the pies, both pumpkin (my little brother's favorite) and sweet potato which seems to be everyone's favorite. Look how pitty pitty is my sweet potato pies :)

And we usually need to make extra for our post-Thanksgiving dinner at our house. Here's a yummy pumpkin pie that my lil bro likes because its delish but also a healthy version I got from Cooking Light magazine.

This year THIS caught my eye. Even the title of this recipe made my mouth water, Pumpkin Spice Latte Cheesecake. UMMM I know your mouth is watering too right? After reading this over & over again it sounded easy & I have to admit that it was easy, even for this novice baker.

If you look at our pictures side by side, I would say...not bad.

Here's mine...

And here's miss Sprinkle Bake's...cool huh?! Ok so her's looks a tad better but I'm sure it's the whole camera angle.

While this really was an easy recipe, nothing is THAT easy for me. So here's my Pumpkin Spice Latte Cheesecake adventure. First off I don't do crusts. I don't know why but I have attempted a few times & it just doesn't happen for me. For my pies I go with the frozen store brand & it usually works out great. But I couldn't find any cheesecake crusts in the frozen aisle. So I walked down the baking aisle and examined every so called easy-to-make crust. After thorough analysis and about 10 minutes of my kids screaming at me, I went with the graham cracker crumbs & followed the directions on the back. It was 3 steps, how hard could it be? Done.

Back home, it's Wednesday night and the girls are fast asleep. There's no way I could do this with them up & I wanted my focus to be on this dessert. I also prepped my pies at night too. So I'm making my graham cracker crust & I realize that the box doesn't answer some of the for-dummies-questions like, what if it doesn't look like it's enough? The directions say add the butter & press into your spring form pan. Got it, but I'm pressing & it's cracking & leaving gaps. So I keep pressing & pressing & somehow this is stuff is supposed to be enough for the bottom of the pan & up the sides?? Uumm...I don't think so. Then I figure I'll make more but I don't have enough to double the instructions so how much butter do I add to what's left of crumbs about 1/2 cup? Again, there is no 1-800# on the back of the box! Seriously, if anyone from Betty Crocker is reading, here's a suggestion add a friggin phone number where newbie bakers can call with questions. And make sure there's an experienced American baker answering the line.

Anyhow, I did what I could & into the freezer it went to chill out while I made the filling. I have to say the filling went a whole lot better & it really was pretty easy. UNTIL....until I realized I forgot to get the instant espresso. AAACKK! My cheesecake is nearly done & there's a missing ingredient. So I think...do I improvise? That's never really gone that well for me. Do I substitute with instant coffee? How bad could it be? Do I just skip it? Hmmm...nope. I decided to send J to the supermarket at 11pm at night. I know, I know, BIIIIIG mistake. Ladies, never, evah, evah send a grumpy husband to the market for something he's never seen before in his life. Even with specific instructions and the indication of which aisle he should go to, he still came back with coffe grounds. Yes friends this is not instant, it's ground espresso. UGGHHH meanwhile my filling is sitting idle waiting for the final touch!!

However in his defense and as a note to his incredible patience with me he went back & called from the super market until he got the right thing. Thank you God.

At 1am out came Penelope (that's my name for my master piece) & she looked lovely. And she smelled even better. I set her gently on the cooling rack to cool for an hour.

And then I realized the recipe did not say how the heck you're supposed to get the cake off of the bottom pan. WTF?? I wasn't ABOUT to ruin my masterpiece by trying to scrape it off the friggin pan. Again people, maybe to you chefs it's stating the obvious but to people like me it's a rack-your-brain-effort to figure this stuff out. I realize I'm a college graduate but I'm a home ec dropout. So Penelope stayed in the pan. And we just placed her on a pretty dish & covered up nicely & carefully placed into the fridge until tomorrow, when we'd have to figure out how to get her to Grandma's house for dinner in one piece. I offered to take separate cars for Penelope's sake but J was not having it. MEN!

My presentation is not quite as sophisticated as Ms. Sprinkle Bakes but I think it was ok. I couldn't do the whole powdered sugar pattern & opted for a more abstract look. I think the next time I make this I'll add some vanilla cool whip which might be a nice compliment to the hint of latte in the cake.

The critics response: J is not a coffee drinker so he couldn't appreciate the spice latte bit. I think only those who have had the distinct pleasure of enjoying a Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte could really dig this. But he liked it & ate his share without leaving anything behind. Translation, thumb up! And my brother-in-law asked me why didn't live closer so he could eat some more. Translation, TWO thumbs up!! :) YAY!!

Happy Thanksgiving 2010

Every year people remind each other to remember the true essence of this holiday, being thankful. This year I didn't have to think twice about what to be thankful for, my family's health, especially these two.

This holiday will probably always be marked as the time when my little Valentina wound up in the hospital with some scary stuff. It's sad that sometimes it takes a serious incident coupled with some struggle to make you realize what is important in life. Last year my little peanut was not healthy at all. And while sometimes I wish they would slow down so I can catch my breath, I'm thankful that this year no one slowed down. Instead the peanuts were full speed as it should be.

The blackest Friday ever for me was in 2009. We wound up here in the hospital with our sick little girl. And while their dad & I spent days and nights with her we had another little girl at home wondering what the heck was going on. It seemed like it would never end and the days at home would be just as hard.

Today, we're here at home causing a raucous and trying to get our hands into everything. I know for J & I it was a very happy thanksgiving because the days of Val being so sick are way behind us. She's a walking and talking vibrant and energetic two-year-old.

Getting ready for Thanksgiving the girls painted turkeys! What? Their art doesn't look like turkeys to you? Of course it does, these are the most beautiful turkeys I've ever seen people (use your imaginations or think abstract art :) ha ha)!

And sometimes the artists can get carried away and decide body art is also fun!

We spent the day at Grandma's with some other little people and eating some yummy turkey. My nephew is quite the charmer :) And finally check out this spread that grandma laid out for the family. Very nice!

This is Cati with her lets-get-our-eat-on face.

And Val in one of her extra special moods...ahem. And daddy with his token JETS gear to ensure all the Thanksgiving vibes make for a football win!

The next day all of us girls got up early & seasoned our turkey together for our post-Thanksgiving dinner at home. As we sang to the tune of Hello Mr. Turkey. Something about saying hi to the turkey and then telling him not to run away cuz it's time to eat. Yeah a little morbid, I know. But the girls didn't mind it.

This is something I like to do because really there's never enough left over turkey. I make our own and add just a couple of side items for our dinner.

In the end there are never enough days to be thankful for all of the blessings we have and we need to cherish and appreciate the people in our lives each and every day.

Bye Bye Summa Smma-time

It's been ages since I blogged but I can't move on until I reminisce about our summer a little bit...

I live for summer & the end of it just makes me wish I had a billion dollars so I go to a place where there's summer all year round. If this ever happened then it probably would mean that my husband has either died or left me for some young chick who lives for the cold weather. He would never move to the tropics..sux for me I suppose. The only comforting thought is that my 2nd favorite time of year is approaching & the holidays will soon be here. But until then it's time to answer "What We Did On our Summer Vacation"....here's some stuff we did

The peanuts learned lots of new words this summer like...

To the beach!














This is Cati's sexy look...HA!!!




Horse-seez.. (that means carnival type rides...everything is horsey)





















For the 4th of July we made cupcakes so they became little bakers...and eaters!











We also met some new friends like Big Bird and Elmo. They were just a tiny bit bigger than we expected. Hmm.







We had a blast this summer. In just a couple of short months my peanuts have grown so much. They're turning into little bits of personality right before my eyes. I try to capture as many moments as possible because I know that if I take the time to blink I'll miss it. And I don't want to miss a thing!!!







And one last thing the girls learned this summer was..."Mommy's Belly"

The stork paid us a visit this summer & we're going to have a new baby join our family!!




We are so excited about this baby. We wanted to have another child and give the girls a chance to be big sisters. And I also wanted to see what it was like to have just ONE baby. Our plans were always to have a big family but because we're not young spring chickens anymore we thought we'd be lucky to have 2 children and now we feel incredibly blessed that we get to have 3!! We wanted and prayed for this baby for a long time and there were moments where I thought maybe it just wasn't meant to be. But if this was the case then I was overjoyed at being a mom of my two amazing daughters I know that having them was my first miracle.


I am incredibly grateful and feel like we've been afforded another not-so-small-miracle. If all goes well, Baby Martinez will be making an arrival in March 2011. And the peanuts are so very happy about it too! I can't wait for all of us to meet this baby.






And that was our summer in peanut shell :)....So here's good-bye to Summer 2010...boy was it a good one! Well miss you summer see ya in 2011.

Potty Training Twins...the nightmare

So maybe it wasn't a total nightmare maybe it was like someone gauging your eyes out but we had to go through 2 attempts before we got it right. Back in July I decided that this would be a good time for me to work with the girls and get them potty trained. They were talking now and much more independent and of course I had some vacation time coming up so I can fit this into my schedule. I also wanted them trained before we went for a week down to the Jersey shore.

Lesson #1

As a parent, we sometimes need to take the lead of our children. We can't control everything in their lives. There are times when they will be the ones to decide on certain things.

So this was my first mistake! But everything is a learning experience and I'm sure I'm bound to screw up more times than just this. And I probably won't win Mother Of The Year but that's life and we can't always get it right as much as we have their very best interest at heart.

Lesson #2

You are not alone! This is a critical lesson to my over-achieving-mommies out there. You know them, we're the ones that don't ask or want anyone's help. We whole-heartedly believe that there isn't anything we can't do, even with twins.

That's me! Since the day they were born I believe I could do ANYTHING with my twins on my own. I refuse to admit that having multiples is in any way limiting to the things I can do. But twins are hard work!!! It's exhausting and tiring and sometimes near impossible!! This is one of those things. There was no way I could possible pay close close attention to each child AND clean up the 500 accidents that happened over 4 days.

Here's some of my original post after the first attempt.

Good God in heaven what in the world have I done! What was I friggin thinking?? 3-day potty training, puh huh cheah right!! I hope they read this one day & realize they SO owe me! Everyone knows I'm a borderline germa-phobe and God only knows that was magnified by the nurses in the NICU. After 19 accidents & counting, OH my germs everywhere....I've been cleaning up so much urine all over my floor at the risk of getting some kind of bacterial disease. I swear if I ever hear one complaint to clean up their room they will be forced to read this over & over again. I've got urine all over the bottom cuff of my pj's and the thought of urine smacking me in the ankle every time I run into the bathroom to catch an accident is making me nauseous. I'll have to scrub my feet with a pumice stone or better yet maybe I'll need to soak myself in alcohol for a few hours.

And where the hell is their father?!!?? I guess part of me was wishing he would wake up this morning & say "I'm going to take the day off & help you potty train the girls." In my dreams. I'm sure he doesn't even know how I'm going about this. For all he knows I could have inserted a catheter into each of our daughters and make you pee on command. What else is new.

The plan is to let them have an accident in their bed because I don't know what I was thinking taking this on by myself and now I need the time to think this through, regroup, & most importantly bathe, a few 100 times. I have to find a better way. God, if you're listening a miracle of your caliber would be really good right about now. I have invoked a higher being & prayed a little cause I don't know if I'm going to make it. I can't be taking one child to the potty while the other one decides to pee on the floor at the same EXACT time. That's just not going to work.

I had hit rock bottom. I was tired and frustrated and disappointed. I was so sure this would work with my peanuts but, I was wrong. I made a mistake & should have never put them or myself through this. All I kept thinking was, gosh I SUCK at this parenting. How many more things will I F' up? I really hope I don't mess up on the important stuff. The worse part about it was that I felt all alone in my failure.

But we live and learn. Just like when we gave up the co-sleeping, gave up on the paci, or when we did away with the bottles and their sippy cups, this was going to be a process. As a parent I need to accept that some things will come quickly for my daughters and some things will take some time and I need to be patient and comforting and above all loving. All parents have high expectations and want our children to excel and be the best but it takes a good parent to realize when you have to give encouragement and guidance and when your child needs to just wait until they can get better at something.

A few months later we gave it another try. The girls were older they new about the potty and had learned how to pull up and off their pants. They had matured quite a bit in just a few months. This time we did the gradual process and I got LOTS of help, professional help! My job hosted a Potty Training Boot Camp! Alright! The parents got little seminar on the approach and agreed to abide by the Potty Training Oath, the kids got a whole ceremonious introduction to begin the week long program. So while I worked a few floors above the pro's helped my kids understand the difference between wet and dry and were the help I needed to keep things going at home each night. The weekend came and they hadn't been successful once but we had 3 more days to ourselves and finally they got it. YES THEY GOT IT!! Oh our joy to see our kids use the bathroom instead of the floor. I felt like a lottery winner folks that's right it was like a million dollars.

We were all happy about our success!

And then we danced!

And we even drank!

And we even fell over with joy!

Now it's not perfect they do have to be reminded but a couple of months later they now have learned the feeling of when you-gotta go and they tell us. We also have accepted that they WILL have accidents but that's the process of learning. Kinda like riding a bike they will fall and trip but we dust off & start again.

And that's how we potty trained our twins.