Recipe of the Week - Homemade Fish Sticks

I found this recipe in Everyday Food magazine from Martha Stewart and tried it tonight. It was SO yummy! Hunter loved it and so did my picky eater hubby. :) *I added a little Seafood Season-All to the fish after dredging them.*

INGREDIENTS
..Serves 4..

4 large egg whites
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 pound skinless tilapia fillets, cut into 1-by-3-inch strips
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup vegetable oil
Ketchup, for serving

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with foil; fit another with a wire rack. In a large bowl, whisk together egg whites, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; add fish, and toss to coat. In another large bowl, combine cornmeal and flour; season with salt and pepper.
Working in batches, lift fish from egg-white mixture (letting excess drip off), and dredge in cornmeal mixture, patting to adhere; transfer to foil-lined sheet.
In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high. Working in batches, cook fish until golden brown and opaque throughout, 4 to 6 minutes, turning once (if fish is browning too quickly, reduce heat). Transfer to wire rack, and keep warm in oven while remaining fish cooks. 

Fun For All

This week, Trav's schedule permitted time off to spend with us. Yay! :) 

Since he never attended Hunter's Music Together class or Baby Swim class last summer, we decided to do a few drop-in activities. 

These days it's difficult for me to take Hunter to classes alone anyways, since my tummy is large and I have little to no energy for chasing tots. 

Yesterday we attended The Little Gym in Jersey City. (Ghetto location but a great place for them once you are inside.) Hunter LOVED crawling all over the mats and beam and even hung from the parallel bars for awhile. They offer a free trial class (which we've already done) and then drop-ins are $19.50 thereafter.

Today we dropped in on a Puppetonia Show in Hoboken. Again, totally fun for Hunter. He impressed everyone with his pelvic thrust dance moves and then crashed in their papasan after class was over. It was nice seeing Alexarya and Alina - who we've missed since Music Together ended last session. It's interesting to see how much further along the little girls Hunter's age are in their motor-skill development. Alexarya's walking everywhere and Alina started twirling in circles, mimicking the older children, during one of the songs. Meanwhile Hunter was clapping and making out with the girl-puppet, Mary. Their drop-in fee for the first class is $10. 

Next week we're checking out the Library Lap-Sit on their new day: Wednesday. Hope to see some more of our group there!

Central Park Shenanigans

I was going through some old photos this morning and came across these:

They were taken a week before I became pregnant with Hunter.

 Trav & I went to brunch at Parea in the city: 

and then walked to Central Park for the afternoon:

 That's where we saw this fellow and his painted dog and head-parrot:

As a parent, I now wonder how on Earth I would explain this sight to Hunter and Kingston...?

Monkey Bread -- Mmmmm...2

I made this recipe again this morning...we were out of eggs and Hunter had already eaten some applesauce and orange segments for breakfast. I wanted something sweet and naughty and I recalled making this before -- it's SO easy and really delish!! Monkey Bread

PB&J

Most of you know and all of you will learn that feeding a baby/toddler is a challenge. 

EVEN if you have a super-eater like Hunter (totally not bragging -- it's the only thing he's really good at! haha) it's a challenge just to come up with healthy, inventive, easy menus.

Once he proved ready for table food I decided to HECK with making a separate meal for him -- he would eat what I eat. Except I was eating like a typical mom -- cereal and milk for dinner -- PB&J for lunch -- you get the idea. 

I resolved to start cooking -- which aligned with Trav being home more often anyways -- and these days I really enjoy not only cooking what I know is good for him but eating like a real person instead of a college student. :) 

I use all organic ingredients, as long as they are available, and most of what we eat is Vegetarian though I do make some meat for Trav & Hunter. 

To give you an idea of what Hunter eats, this week's breakfasts consisted of a spinach and havarti omelette, scrambled eggs with cheese, pancakes, and oatmeal (all different days of course). With breakfast he always eats one banana and sometimes some additional grapes or a sliced orange if he's still hungry. 

This week's lunches and dinners were spinach linguine with pesto and parm, sticky rice and curried shrimp, roasted red pepper soup, and a black bean and cheese quesadilla (again all different days). With lunch and dinner he will also have either a fruit (sliced pear, cherries, etc) or veggie (carrot sticks, cucumbers, etc) and some crackers or cookies (like Annie's Bunny Grahams). He really enjoys eating dessert (a little too much) and since I've been craving desserts and baking every day, Hunter has sampled banana bread and carrot cake this week as well.

Since he eats so well, I didn't at all feel guilty about giving him his very first PB&J on whole wheat this week. He LOVED it. It was too cute. He had peanut butter all over his face and preserves stuck in his hair. I monitored him closely to make sure no allergic reaction sprung up but after reading all of these articles recently about how withholding peanuts could cause allergies, I felt like I shouldn't keep him from my all-time fave snack any longer. 

Just writing this post, though, confirms what I was fearing while I made him his sandwich...I actually DO feel guilty for not cooking him something! What is with this Mommy Guilt?

Is it not enough that we carry them for 9 months, go into labor, have c-sections, nurse them, feed them, stay up all night with them, lose our lives for years at a time to focus on raising them, spend our days trying to teach them the alphabet and watching musical cartoons, forget what our pre-baby bodies even LOOKED like, .... etc .... I could go on .... but the point is, we do it all for them. Selflessly. Without a second thought. Because we LOVE them and want our babies and children to be happy and healthy and have nourished bodies and souls.

So when I make a friggin Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich I should be HAPPY that I am not spending an hour on lunch while Hunter is napping. And I shouldn't have to justify my decision to you other Moms either but here I am. :) It's uncontrollable, this Mommy Guilt, and I need to reign it in before Kingston arrives because I think it'll just double with 2 kids, won't it?

Or maybe I'll be one of those tried-and-true Moms that lets everything slide and starts making Kraft Mac & Cheese 4 nights a week just to get a 15 minute break to watch a celebrity gossip show. Maybe I'll just go straight to solids with Kingston so I won't have to bother with nursing, pumping, and formula.

But -- oh -- who am I kidding? I already cleaned out the Medela Pump In Style and the BabyCook is on the counter, waiting for its first batch of organic carrots to steam.

In the Motherhood

I'm anxious to see if this is any good.

Should we plan a screening? :) 

In The Motherhood

Recipe of the Week - Banana Bread

Mmmmmm-mmm!

I made this for breakfast because we had a bunch of bananas that were too ripe to eat & I didn't feel like making a smoothie since it's so cold out.

SO easy! Hunter had his own piece. Mainly b/c Trav & I didn't want to share ours. :) 

Enjoy:

Banana Bread

INGREDIENTS 
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas (3-5 bananas)

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.

3. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.