In the years after I moved out, I slowly took over the cookie baking. First, my aunt in Texas handed her gingerbread recipe down to me. Then, I started making sugar cookies because Hershey loved them. Finally, when Stella D'oro stopped making pfefferneuse, I hunted down a recipe and started baking those, too, because they are my mom's favorite and I didn't want her to be disappointed.  I started to understand my mother's insanity in getting a cookie and a tray to look JUST RIGHT.

The year Hershey bought me my KitchenAid mixer was one for the books.  For years, I had either mixed the cookies by hand, or went to my mother's house to take over her kitchen for a night, where I would be there until 2 a.m. losing my marbles rolling gingerbread dough.  But that year, I got to make everything right in my apartment.  And it was AMAZING!  Until it was time to leave.  

I had meticulously baked and packaged about 7 trays of cookies.  Hershey stood by the door with 4 trays in his hands, waiting for me to gather up the rest.  I picked up the first tray and WHAM! - dropped it right on the floor.  And immediately started sobbing.  On Christmas.

Since then, I have slowly gotten OUT of cookie baking.  Space restrictions, electric ovens, and pregnancy have taken all of the gusto out of me.  This year, I swore it would be different.  I wanted Jane and Emma to have the same warm memories of Christmas as I had, of mom baking delicious smelling cookies while singing Christmas carols ad nauseum in the kitchen.

I have been collecting Christmas baking goods for WEEKS.  Red and green chocolate chips, Christmas themed cupcake decor, rolled oats and dried cranberries.  I was going to bake my little heart out.


Saturday was the annual holiday party at our friends' house.  I promised cookies.  I was going to do it this year!  I dragged out the box of cookie trays, bought 2 dozen eggs, checked my sugar stock, and got to work.  At the suggestion of a fellow mommy blogger, I bought some packaged snickerdoodle dough, figuring it would be an easy way to beef up my baking with minimal prep. 

Boy, was I wrong.  

Saturday morning, I strapped Emma into the Baby K'tan and got to work.  I quickly realized that I had forgotten a.) butter and margarine, and b.) some of the cookies I was planning to bake had to be refrigerated for 2-4 hours.  I spent 10 minutes rolling snickerdoodle dough in cinnamon sugar.  When I put them in the oven to bake, I saw that I had rolled half of them into 1 1/2" balls, and the other half in 1 tspn balls.  I burned half of the cookies trying to get the other half to bake.  *F.M.L.*


I then decided that I would just bake cupcakes, since those are usually my signature dessert, anyway.  I got them all ready and into the oven, and then Jane woke up from her nap.  In the process of changing Jane's diaper, getting her dressed, and letting her taste a cookie for the first time, I completely forgot about the cupcakes -- and overcooked them.  UGH.  This was not my day.










I said a little prayer of thanks that my friends are both understanding AND forgiving, finished the cupcakes anyway, and forged ahead.

This morning, I made a list of ingredients I needed in order to properly bake my Christmas cookies.  It looked like this. 


MAN was I unprepared.

So I'll be spending today trying to pretty-up.  I am going to go get my shaggy dog bangs trimmed, a mani/pedi, and take care of my eyebrows, which are starting to resemble this guy:

At least we still got in some godparent time!  They must be SO happy to come home from their honeymoon in Hawaii to this mess. 



I've been talking a lot about making Jane and Emma's baby food from scratch over the past couple of months, so I figured it was time to put the puréed apple where my mouth is. The one good thing about being snowed in on the weekend is that I got to make ALL of the girls' breakfasts AND dinners for at least a week. Awwwwesooomee! 

I'm not going to lie to you. In order for it to be worthwhile, you must make at least a week's worth of food in advance, and that takes a lot of time. At least an hour and a half (including clean up and if your kids leave you alone). Having 7 month old twins, the being left alone is the hard part. 

But I love being in the kitchen and who can be cranky with a sous chef as cute as this?! 

To start, I bought this book all about weaning your baby onto solids, and it comes with a lot of quick and easy recipes. And so far the girls have loved everything. 


The most important tools that I use the most are my rice cooker, my food processor, my Magic Bullet (which was bought as a gift for me by my husband for Xmas 3 years ago so that I could make individual margaritas, go figure I now use it for baby food making), these OXO food storage containers, and a vegetable peeler.  I also use a wok with a bamboo steaming insert, which works GREAT for steaming multiple veggies at a time.

Below are Jane and Emma's favorite recipes so far. We are moving on to the second stage of weaning, which means socializing the girls (aka family dinners!). Yesterday morning Jane and Emma sat at the table and had their apple sauce while Mama and Daddy had their breakfast. The looks on their little faces when they first realized that they were sitting at the big girl table and eating at the same time as us was PRICELESS!!!!!



2 medium apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
2 medium pears, peeled, cored, and chopped
1/4 cup unsweetened apple juice or water
Generous pinch of ground cinnamon (optional, but DO IT!)

Put the fruit into a saucepan together with the apple juice or water (I use filtered H2O) and cinnamon (if using, which YOU ARE), cover, cook over low heat for 6 minutes (or until the kids start screaming).  Blend the fruit to a smooth puree (I use the Magic Bullet for this).

Start this recipe at 6 months.  Makes 4 portions.  Suitable for freezing.



2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
2 medium potatoes (8 ounces), peeled and chopped
1 cup water
1/3 cup canned or frozen corn kernels
1 to 2 tablespoons of your baby's milk/formula

Melt the butter in a pan and saute the onion for 1 minute.  Add the carrots and saute for 5 minutes.  Add the potatoes, cover with the water, and cook over medium heat for 15 minutes.  Add the corn and continue to cook for 5 minutes.  Puree through a food mill and stir in the milk to make the right consistency for your baby.

Start this recipe at 6-7 months.  Makes 3 portions.  Suitable for freezing.

I have to say, Jane and Emma were PRETTY patient while I busted my ass in the kitchen all morning.  They are getting quite independent! *tear*

I hope that your weekend did not get snowed out and that you were able to enjoy the holiday season which is now in full swing! We finally got our tree up AND Hershey hung our icicle lights. It's finally beginning to look a lot like Xmas around here! 

Have a great week!  xoxo

P.S.  Janey says, "PLEASE VOTE FOR US!"

Never got back to it. 

I knew it was bad the other day when I asked my hubby if he liked my xmas decor and he said, "All you did was throw a couple of xmas dish towels in the kitchen and break out the penguin spatulas."

Aw crap. 

So now I am in mommy blog envy. Where the *bleep* is our stork? is listing the 21 ways to be selfless this holiday season. LBG is delivering doggie treats and making homemade red and green play dough as part of her advent calendar activities.  Selfish Mom is visiting Times Square and the M&Ms store.

And here I am, in freezing cold NJ, trying desperately to figure out how to schedule in a trip to the grocery store as my eyebrows grow to wooly mammoth proportions. Bah humbug! 

Today I planned a trip to Target, a homemade dinner using just one pan, bringing our little Martha Stewart pre-lit tree down from the attic (since we couldn't find time to go get a real one), creating our Xmas cards, and writing a blog post. Instead of the tree and the cards I watched the season finale of SOA on my DVR (btw DID THAT REALLY HAPPEN?!) and emailed my principal back.  Three outta five ain't bad, right?

I am still trying to figure out how to be supermom. You know, the mom who has 95 things up in the air at once and never drops a single one? But for today, I will go to sleep grateful that 1.) my kids went to bed clean and with full bellies, 2.) I have homemade breakfasts and dinners in the freezer for them for the next 2 days, 3.) I only had to change my shirt once due to spontaneous spit up, and 4.) I cooked my hubby a warm meal that was healthy and have enough leftover for my lunch tomorrow. 

So, if you truly ARE anything like me, don't feel bad about not getting to the other stuff. We're doing our best, our children are loved, and The holidays will come again next year. 

Hopefully by then Obama will have figured out how to add more hours to a day. 

Until then, spend your time enjoying the little victories, and squeeze in the trimmings, if you can. 

Happy Holidays everyone!