Salmon Cakes with Arugula, Tomatoes, Pistachios and Honey Mustard Vinaigrette

Everyone who knows me knows I love to cook. My kitchen is my favorite room in the house. I spend countless hours in it. I love trying new recipes and experimenting with things I've never used before. I rarely follow recipes completely and am always improvising and putting a spin on them with what I have on hand. Last year I subscribed to a organic, local CSA and started receiving things I didn't know how to pronounce, had never eaten, and certainly never cooked with. It was exciting to get my share every other week and plan out my meals according to what was in my basket. It took a little time to find recipes that even my husband would eat. But, that was part of the fun for me. Admittedly, it wasn't always a hit in the Thompson household. I try to fill the weeks meal plan out with at least one new recipe or vegetable. But I have many recipes that are my go to meals that are simple, fast and healthy and are always a hit. This is one of those meals.

This dinner takes me about 30 minutes from start to finish. It can be served hot or cold, so can easily be made in advance and plated up later. Which I love since the hour I usually start preparing a meal coincides with Rosalie's "witching hour" and I simply can. NOT. cook with a crying baby on my hip. (Who, by the way, happens to love these salmon cakes, too!) 

I always try to include a fish dish at least once or twice a week when I'm planning our meals. But fish is just one of those things that I refuse to buy and freeze or buy pre-frozen. It never tastes right after freezing. I make sure at the market that I purchase wild caught never frozen fish and cook it within a day. That's all great and all, but sometimes I don't have time to grocery shop. For that reason, I started buying canned wild caught Alaskan pink salmon. Its one of the very few canned items in my shopping cart. I purchase mine in a six pack at Costco, so I always have it on hand and can make this recipe in a flash. 

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients for cakes:

2  (6oz) cans of wild Alaskan pink salmon

1/4 cup finely diced onion

2 teaspoons old bay seasoning (I make my own with this recipe)

1 egg

1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs

2 Tbsp mayonaise

1-2 Tbsp olive oil for pan

For salad:

Arugula or Baby Spinach

Grape Tomatoes

Salted Pistachios ( I use POM Wonderful shelled)

For the dressing: 

(Rachel Rays Honey Mustard Vinaigrette)

1 Tbsp Dijon Mustard

2 tsp honey

1/4 c. red wine vinegar

2/3 cup good olive oil

salt and pepper

Method:

In a medium bowl, I lightly beat the egg, then add the onion, mayo, Old Bay seasoning, and bread crumbs. Open and drain the canned salmon and add to the bowl. Gently mix all ingredients until combined then form 6 patties at a little less than an inch thick.

Heat a skillet with 1-2 TBSP of Olive oil on medium heat. Once the skillet is hot, place patties in and cook 3 minutes or until golden brown. Gently flip and cook for 4-5 minutes until browned. Remove to dish and lightly salt to taste while still hot.

While the patties are in the pan, I cut the tomatoes in half and remove the stems from my arugula (I don't care for them, but you can skip this if you want). Then wash and dry. My oldest daughter loves the salad spinner, so this is where I get her involved.

My sous chef

For the vinaigrette, I place all the ingredients in a glass jar and shake the hell out if it.

Then plate up your greens, sprinkle on the tomatoes and pistachios and place 2-3 patties on top. Drizzle with vinaigrette and your ready to dine.  IT'S THAT EASY!

Rosalie loved it, too!

Baby Led Weaning And A Towel Bib Tutorial

Lets face it teaching a another human being to feed themselves is just plain awkward. My almost 3 year old survives on peanut butter sandwiches. She wants one for breakfast, snack, lunch, and dinner. She refuses much else. When I searched for a mother's day out program for her, my first question was "is peanut butter forbidden?" For someone who loves to cook and loves food like myself, this is torture. Oh, and you can believe I have tried numerous ways to get her to eat other things. Her diet is so limited and I worry I created this madness. When she was a baby, I made all her purees from scratch. And she loved them! It wasn't until we moved on to table food or finger foods that this craziness began. She wouldn't touch the majority of what we had. At some point, she became the pickiest eater I know.

Fast forward to baby number 2. I was not going to have another picky eater. And with a busy toddler under foot, making homemade purees just didn't seem as fun as it did the first time. We already ate very healthy, balanced meals, so I decided to give baby led weaning a try. Oh my God, I am so happy I did!! Wednesday night, she had tilapia with spinach and feta couscous-and loved it! Thursday night, she had roasted chicken and zucchini pasta--and love it! Friday night, was homemade organic bacon cheeseburger pizza--and she loved it!

Scrambled eggs are a breakfast favorite and perfect texture for babies without teeth!

Baby led weaning is so easy. I purchased this book for advice and to answer what questions I had, but really, I found all the same information on Google and Pinterest. Basically, you wait til six months old or when they start showing signs of readiness (reaching for your plate, licking their lips, putting things in their mouth, able to sit up alone). By waiting until six months old, their digestive system is capable of digesting most anything. I consulted my pediatrician who advised that the only thing necessary to refrain from offering is honey (until at least 1 year old).

You simply give your baby whatever you are eating. I sometimes have to cook hers a little differently but for the most part, she eats off my plate. I make sure her food is soft enough that she can smash it with her tongue but not so soft that it falls apart in her hand. I give her pieces of food that are big enough for her to pick up and extend enough from her grip that she can get it to her mouth. So most fruits and veggies I now cut in wedges or strips instead of chopping up. I leave skins on so that they are not quite as slippery. A good rule of thumb on size is that if the food is big enough for them to pick up, they shouldn't choke on it. Rosalie is seven months old now and is starting to pick up smaller chunks. I am really surprised at how well her coordination has improved in the last month. She's getting better at scooping up and opening her hand to dump food in her mouth. Meats and thicker things she just sucks on until they disintegrate. Yogurt, soup or foods that are to be eaten with a spoon are pretty simple too. I just make sure they are thick or sticky enough to offer her on a baby spoon and then hand it to her and she licks it all off.

There are a few things that I have to keep in mind about feeding her that are worth mentioning. First, there's that chocking thing. According to the literature, a baby's gag reflex is at the front of their mouth. So this helps them to spit out food that is too big to swallow before it reaches the back of their mouth or throat. Sure, there will be gagging. They are learning how to eat. But my first baby gagged on purees, so that gives my some comfort. I have to really trust my baby. That doesn't mean I can leave her side for even a minute while she's eating. I just mean that I don't freak out when she puts too big of a piece in her mouth. I have to let her learn her limits.

Second, she has control of how much she eats. Sometimes she eats everything I put in front of her. Other times she just plays with it. One of the hardest things for me is not intervening. I have to make a conscious effort not to put food in her mouth or take it away. I don't know why this is such a big deal for me. With pureed foods, you can easily tell exactly what they've eaten. Its not that simple with BLW. Rosalie takes her time eating. She will sometimes be the last one at the table. Other times, she doesn't care to eat and wants to just play.

Which brings me to another point. This is MESSY business. I'm a neat freak and my husband is a germaphobe. This does not bode well with babies throwing their food around. It's also the hardest part of  BLW, in my opinion. Food will be smashed, smeared and tossed everywhere! There's usually a buffet in her lap and her clothing will be frosted with food. There will be food in nostrils, ears and places you didn't know they could reach. Dinner is always followed by a bath.

I've had to come up with ways to minimize messes. We have a bar height dining room table so her high chair just doesn't work well at dinner. I've taken to feeding her in the Bumbo with the tray attached. I like this because both are small enough to easily wash off in the sink after a meal, making clean up a cinch. I sit her on the table so I can reach her since I would much rather wipe up the table after a meal than clean and mop floors. (Just a disclaimer about the Bumbo...My baby is never left unattended. So please be advised that I'm not suggesting you set your baby in the Bumbo on the table. This works for my family and may not for yours.) Up until now, I had been stripping her down and using a bib around her neck and tucking a dish towel around her waist to catch food. But standard bibs just don't cut it and my dish towels are becoming quite stained. I'd seen towel bibs before but didn't have a use until now. So I set out to make my own. They turned out to be a super convenient and were very inexpensive and quick to make. Here's a quick tutorial on how.

You will need:
a dish towel (I purchase two cute towels at Ikea but the next set Im making are from the dollar store)
1-1 1/2 yards of binding tape per
towel
a cd
marker
scissors
straight pins
sewing machine

First, place the cd in the center of the dish towel several inches from the edge. I divided my towel in thirds and centered a third of the way down. Trace the cd onto the towel. Add a straight 2-3 inch line at the top of the circle. Like so....

Next cut out your circle and along line. Crease the edges of the line so that they resemble a lapel and then pin your binding tape along edge by stretching the sides out until nearly straight line, in order to get the binding tape around the "v". Sew on the binding tape. (A side note: Binding tape is super easy to work with if you never have. Its basically trim that has an open edge to sandwich your fabric in. I love this stuff to make a perfect finished edge when my fabric frays or my cuts are not ideal. Its nearly foolproof!)

For the head opening, begin pinning the binding tape on while leaving a length of binding tape that will become the ties. I left mine about 12 inches long on either side.

Fold in the ends of the binding tape to create a finished point. Begin sewing at one of the ties. This is simply just a straight stitch to close up the binding tape. Then sew around the head opening ending by sewing up the opposite tie. And that's it, your DONE!

If I had a close up you would see just how bad my sewing skills are. But as far as I'm concerned, this is a bib, it doesn't have to be perfect. 

You now have a great big bib/towel to cover and clean up all those baby messes.

How cute is this? That's my sweet Rosie, enjoying her yogurt snack, obviously taken before we were both covered in it. How do you handle your feeding messes? I would love to hear your feeding experiences.

DIY Toddler Halloween Lacing Cards in 15 Minutes

Oh, how I love nap time. It's that beautiful hour of quite and peace. I can eat my lunch without holding a wiggling baby. No one is screaming at me to make them a "sammich" or crying for milk. No cleaning up spills, messes or spit up. Never mind that my lunch is cold. God forbid the buttons or chime on the microwave wake them up. I don't mind tiptoeing around the house or using the bathroom at the other end of the house so they don't hear a sound. My sneak-around skills rival that of a teenager prowling at night. Its my saving grace, this quiet. I can sit and stare at the wall...mind numbing silence! The bliss! It's heaven, I'm telling ya!
On good days when I manage to get both the sweet monster and monkey down simultaneously, I may even start on dinner or work on a project. Today was a good day, and luckily, because I innocently volunteered myself to take the lead of my tots Halloween party for her preschool class. Of course I had no idea what that entailed as this was our first year in preschool and I had never even been to a preschool party. Nonetheless, I enthusiastically emailed the director and said how excited I'd be to help out. I am now in charge if orchestrating games, crafts, activities, and snacks for a dozen 2-3 year olds. EEK!
I knew the first thing I had to do was delegate! and you can bet I delegated! I've now got a list of awesome parents bringing in everything needed. I wanted to tackle the crafts and activities and had some ideas of what I wanted to do. Today while my sweet monster and monkey napped, I completed their party activity.
Thanks to Pinterest I found these adorable Halloween lacing cards that are super easy and can hold the attention of a tot at least for a few minutes. They are pretty simple and quick to put together but so darn cute! You can find the free printable here. I customized the size and opted to just stick with the mummies so that there wouldn't be any fuss over sharing. The beauty of these mummies is that there is no rhyme or reason to how the laces must go. Very toddler friendly. Here's what to do:

You will need:
A Printer
Heavy card stock  (white)
Laminating sheets
Scissors
A hole punch
Shoe laces, Ribbon, or yarn (though show laces work best)

Print out your images on heavy card stock. You can use regular printer paper as well but the heavier paper works best to limit bending when lacing the cards. I shrunk my image and make two per page since I needed over a dozen of them.
Laminate the entire page. Laminating sheets are simple. You partially remove the film and lay your image onto the paper backing. Then slowly lay the laminating film back down over your image to avoid wrinkles and press. Remove the paper backing. Viola! You can laminate the front and back for added stability if you desire.
Cut the image out along the dotted edge.
Use hole punch at the designated holes or add more if you'd like.
You're done!

Let you little pull a shoe lace through the holes and wrap the mummy. You may want to start them off and show them how. It is also a good idea to knot one end of the shoe lace so that it doesn't pull all the way through. This activity is great for fine motor skills. You can really have fun with these by adding stickers or googly eyes.

Enjoy! And Happy Halloween!

My first post! I'm excited. I'll be learning to blog along the way, but I hope to make this blog a great experience! I wanted to start blogging for a while now but I wasn't sure if I'd have time or content to keep it up. I hope that I will be able to learn, grow and share it all.
To begin with, I'm Amy! I am a wife, mother, homemaker, friend, daughter, and so on. I am married to Scott and we have two beautiful daughters who are my entire life. There are so many things that I enjoy doing and plan to post many of the experiences here. I'll be sharing parenting joys and woes, home and crafting projects and plans, recipes, and unlimited photos, unsolicited advice, successes and failures. Basically, you'll be that little part of my brain that keeps track of all the things that make me ME! Be forewarned, four letter words are constantly being muttered in my head. I'm equally as passionate with joy and happiness as I am with anger and frustrations. No offense is intended. Sit back and enjoy my ride!