Chloe and Thomas are 1 year old!

This past Saturday we celebrated my babies birthday. I really, really cannot believe they are 1. Thinking back to a year ago when I went into labour, I had just gone to bed, went to use the washroom and one of my waters broke. It was a saturday night and Colin had had a couple beers. I waddled my way downstairs, told him what was happening and he panicked. It was actually quite funny, he ran around the house in a panic and I had to tell him to calm down. We never thought the babies would arrive. I was 36 weeks and 3 days along and thought I would go to 40 weeks and they would have to induce me. So when it actually happened a couple weeks before, we were caught off guard. I packed my bag, called my parents to meet us at the hospital to take Jonathan back to their place, woke Jonathan up, got into the car (I was driving...) and off we went. I drove pretty quickly as I had no idea how quickly things would progress and there was no way I was delivering; 1 - on the side of the highway and 2 - without an epidural.

The great thing about having twins and one of them being breach, is that they give you the epidural early in case they have to do an emergency c-section, with a pump, so any time I felt a little twinge, I pressed that button and the pain went away. So at 3cm I was given one and was in heaven. Mind you, I still couldn't sleep but Colin curled up on the sofa and the nurses kept bringing him warm blankets. Around 10am in the morning on September 27, 2009 things began to happen, I was feeling pressure, I was ready to go! I had a fabulous team of dr's, my only wish for delivery was to try as hard as possible to not have a c-section, even though Thomas's head was in my ribcage. Chloe came out first with one little push at 10:46am, weighing 6lbs 80z. Thomas was a little trickier. The dr had her arm in me all the way up to her shoulder and was doing some fancy maneuvering in there to get Thomas out without cutting me open. Thomas was finally born at 11:00am, weighing 6lbs 2 oz and was bruised all over. Poor guy. Both babies were very healthy and did not have to spend any time in the ICU.

Chloe is on the left and poor Thomas with his black eyes is on the right.

The week following was tough, I had to take them back to the hospital every day to get jaundiced tested. Chloe then became very ill and had to spend a month in the hospital. After doing every test possible on her poor little body and scaring the heck out of Colin and I with their "theories" as to what was wrong with her, they finally diagnosed her with a milk protein allergy. During that first week she went down to 5lbs but once we realized what is was she staring gaining weight like a champ and is extremely healthy now.

Chloe and Thomas are so alike but so different in many ways. I am so proud of them and love them and Jonathan more than anything else; they are my life.

To celebrate their first year we had a party with fabulous food. This was definitely a labour of love but totally worth it!

I made; Roasted Asparagus with Proscuitto, Stuffed Mushrooms with Brie, Caprese Skewers; Pizza Bites; and Taquitos. I wanted the theme to be mini so everything was bite sized and no utensils were required! We finsihed off the day with a cake (duncan hines mix - don't hate me!) for each baby and one for Jonathan for being the best big brother!

Roasted Asparagus with Proscuitto

Recipe:

• 1 lb of asparagus, wooden ends removed
• Prosciutto, sliced into thirds, lengthwise
• Olive oil
• Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste

Directions:

1- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with tinfoil (for an easier cleanup) then coat with cooking spray.

2- Slice the prosciutto into thirds, lengthwise. Wrap each third of prosciutto around the center of each asparagus spear.

3 - Place the asparagus onto the baking sheet and drizzle with a bit of olive oil then season with salt and pepper then toss to coat evenly.

4 - Place into the oven and roast for 10-15 minutes or until the asparagus is tender and the prosciutto is slightly crispy. Serve immediately.

Next were Stuffed Mushrooms with Brie. This was so easy and delicious!

Recipe:

• 24 button mushrooms, hollowed out, save half a cup of the inside of the mushrooms that you removed.
  
• Double Cream Brie Cheese
• Quarter cup diced onion
  
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil.

Directions:

1 - Preheat the oven to 375.

2 - Hollow out the mushrooms. Reserve a 1/4 cup of the insides and chop into tiny pieces.

3 - Turn the skillet onto medium, add olive oil. Once olive oil is heated add the garlic, mushroom pieces, onion and sautee for 2 minutes.

4 - Put the mushrooms in a baking dish. Add a small piece of brie cheese, then top with garlic, mushroom and onion filling.

5- Cook for 10 minutes, until brie cheese is melted. Serve immediately.




Caprese Skewers were light, fresh and so full of flavour!

Recipe:

• Mozzarella balls
• Cherry tomatoes
• Fresh basil leaves
• Olive oil
• Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste

Directions:

1 - Place a tomato on a skewer, next add a basil leaf folded, and finally add a mozzarella ball. Arrange on a platter.

2 - Drizzle with olive oil then season with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste.

As you know from reading my blog, last weekend I made Pizza Bites for Colin. I was pleased with them but they were missing something. So I re-did them for the birthday party and they were 10 x better! I used the same fillings, same pizza dough, but this time I made them smaller and once they were stuffed I sprayed each ball with olive oil cooking spray and then coated in parmesan cheese, rather than sprinkling each one with parmesan.


Recipe, adapted from For the Love of Cooking

• Pizza dough
• Mozzarella cheese, shredded
• Pepperoni slices
• Feta cheese
• Kalamata olives, halved
• Italian Seasoning, to taste
• Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
• Parmesan cheese
• Asiago cheese
• Canola Oil cooking spray
• Pizza sauce or marinara sauce, for dipping

I made two fillings; one with feta cheese and olives and the other with pepperoni and mozarella cheese.

Directions:

1- Preheat the oven to 400C

2 - Coat a pie dish with cooking spray.

3 - Let dough rest on counter for 20 minutes ( to give it time to rise )

4 - Grab a walnut size piece of the dough, flatten it with your hand then place the desired ingredients in the middle of the dough. Seal dough around the fillings and place in the the pie dish seam side down. Repeat, placing 16-20 balls into each pie dish.

5- Coat each ball with cooking spray and roll the ball in parmesan cheese so they are fully coated.

6 - Bake for 15 - 20 minutes, until crust is golden brown.

7 - Serve with pizza or marinara sauce.

I love all food that is Mexican related. I could eat it every night, as long as their is a pizza thrown in once a week. I made Mini Taquitos for this party and they were gone within minutes!

Recipe:

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 lb of lean ground beef
  
• 1 tsp coriander
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp onion powder
• Dash of red pepper flakes
• Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
• 1 15 oz can of black beans, drained and rinsed
• 20 tortillas
• Shredded Cheddar Cheese
• Cooking Spray

Directions:

1 - To make the taquitos mini, I used a measuring cup ( 1 cup) to cut out small circles. I did this to 20 tortillas and ended up with 40 mini tortillas.

2 - Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the ground beef and break the meat so it crumbles. Add the onion powder as well as the seasonings then cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the drained and rinsed can of black beans to the beef mixture then stir until well combined. Set aside.

3 - Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

4 - Place a bit cheese in the center of the tortilla then top with a bit of ground beef mixture and roll. Place, seam side down, on a baking sheet that's been coated with cooking spray. Finish rolling the rest of the taquitos, then spray each of them with cooking spray.

(Because these were so small, they unraveled very easily. I used a plate to keep them in place in the baking sheet while I rolled the others. Once I was done, they didn't move.)

5 - Place in the oven and bake for 5-6 minutes then turn over and cook for an additional 5-6 minutes or until crispy and golden brown.

6 - Serve with guacamole and salsa (I did not make my own, I know, I'm terrible)


My lovely mother, made delicious mini cheesecakes and my wicked brother Jordan of Kitchen Karate, made the cupcakes, cookies and brownies.





After the food was eaten, the presents opened, it was time for cake! Chloe was your typical girl, very dainty about eating the cake, whereas Thomas was all over that cake, he totally owned it!