fresh tomato and caper pasta with basil and grilled salmon

We are well into summer and one of the things I love most about this season is how the heat just makes you want to eat lighter and healthier. And thank goodness for that. I love winter and all of the hearty meals that come with it, but summer is the best. We are always looking for new meals that are light, healthy, and that we think River might also like. While we were visiting family in Boise this last weekend, my sister-in-law made us something similar to this and we loved, loved, loved it. And, the best part is, River loved it too. So, as soon as we got home we wanted to make it again. We changed a few things, and added a few things, but it was still delicious. I hope you can find the perfect night to make this dish for your dinner sometime soon.

Summertime Pasta with Grilled Salmon
serves 4

You're gonna need...

1 package of fettuccine
3 cloves of garlic, minced
3 tablespoons. extra light olive oil
2 cups of small tomatoes, halved
1 tsp salt, or more to taste
1 tsp freshly black pepper, or more to taste
1 pound of salmon
1 cup of basil leaves, then lightly chop
3 tablespoons of capers, drained
4 cups of spinach leaves

Brown Sugar Glaze

You're gonna need...

1/2 cup of tequilla
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
 

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook using the directions. Stir occasionally. Drain pasta and move to a large bowl. Add the garlic, two tablespoons of olive oil, salt, and pepper. Toss to combine well. In a small saute pan heat a tablespoon of olive oil  on medium heat and toss the tomatoes for a couple minutes, just to soften them a bit, and then throw them in the pasta. Add the basil, and capers to the pasta and toss to combine.

For the salmon, mix the tequila, brown sugar, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Mix until combined. Place the salmon in a small casserole dish and spread the glaze over the fish. Heat your grill and once the charcoal is ready place the fish skin side down on the grill. Cook for 10 minutes.

Place a handful of spinach on each plate or shallow bowl then place some of the pasta over that. Top with a piece of the salmon and serve.

Enjoy!
recipe adapted from here

watch this (a dog and his man)

Have you seen this video? If you have a dog, or even if you don't, you can feel the emotion so vividly. My love for Hank grows every day. But also, after having River, my frustration grows. He seems to make everything a little bit more difficult. Whether it's barking at the mailman during one of River's naps, or getting jealous of the attention everyone else is getting. I try to remember that he's getting used to the new member of the family but it's hard sometimes. After watching this video I just want to give a million squeezes to Hank and tell him how much I love him. Thank goodness for talented people like Ben Moon for making such touching pieces of art.

Enjoy!

(another) california adventure

A few weeks ago we spent a wonderful, long weekend in California. We flew into San Jose and drove up to San Francisco for a few hours. After some tacos here and some ice cream here we made the long trek down to San Luis Obispo for the rest of the weekend. We ate delicious food, spent time on the beach, and played bocce while tasting delicious wines. It was the perfect beach for River's first sand experience (I'm surprised there's any sand left after he ate so much) and we made many, many memories--including River's first flight (he did great). We used to do trips like this quite a bit more frequently, but we have started to come to the realization that with a baby joining our family, these little excursions are far more tiring than they used to be. We certainly don't want to forget about them all together, we just want to be more thoughtful and intentional about our time away from home.

Weekends like this are so rejuvenating. Excited to get the next one on the calendar...

an adventure in baby food

At first, the idea of making food for River was incredibly intimidating.

Where do I start?
What would he like?
What if he hates it after we put that much work into it?
Do I have the time to follow through with it?

And then, we made his first batch and stocked our freezer with it and on his sixth month birthday we let him eat it. And he loved it. Of course, he made funny faces but he didn't spit any out and it was so fun watching him start down this new, exciting world of food. It's such a special thing for Colby and me to make meals together and it's so exciting getting to share that with River.

For his first food we just went with sweet potatoes, and ever since that seems to be his favorite. Although, now he's branching out into other flavors. I thought it was going to be really time consuming and difficult and I was confused about what he could and couldn't eat. I researched lots of baby food blogs to get recipe ideas, but when we started making food I just went with super basic meals. We baked sweet potatoes, and steamed carrots, peas, and greens. I have been using these and these for storage and they've both been great. The Sage Spoonfuls have been our favorite. They come with great labels that peel off easily without leaving a mark--which works out great to be able to send food with River to daycare. Also, they're much more affordable.

Usually, we just spend a few hours on the weekend making enough containers of food to last for a week or two. Every baby is different, but River usually eats one container of food at breakfast, one and a half at lunch, and two for dinner. And once we started it was really easy and we got in to a great rhythm.

Here are a few easy ideas to start out with... you can do more or less of anything because it's all just fruits and veggies.

Baked sweet potatoes - bake for an hour at 400 degrees. Sometimes I add quinoa to this. Puree until smooth in food processor.

Steamed carrots with greens (kale, spinach, chard, brussel sprouts, etc) - steam the carrots until very soft and then add the greens at the very end to steam. You can also do a few containers without the greens. Puree until smooth in food processor. I've been filling the food containers with a little quinoa at the bottom and then putting this on top.

Pears and blueberries - steam the pears with a tiny bit of water until soft and then add the blueberries towards the end. Puree until smooth in food processor.

Apples - steam the apples with a little water and then puree until smooth in food processor.

Baked butternut squash - bake until soft at 350 degrees. Puree or mash with a fork.

We also feed him a lot of fresh avocado mashed up. He's not so in to plain bananas...although that's another great option for an easy meal.

Here are a few more involved recipes that we've had fun making for him...some of them were inspired by the Sprouted Kitchen recipes that you can find here...

Blueberry Banana Oats
4-6 servings
2 cups of water
3/4 cups of oats
1/2 banana, sliced
1/2 cup of blueberries

Bring the water to a boil over medium heat and then add the oats. Cook until they're soft (about 15ish minutes) and then add the bananas and blueberries. Mash in the pan with a potato masher and let cool before serving. 

Lentils with Carrots
8-10 servings
1 cup of red lentils, washed
2 cups of water
6-8 cups of steamed carrots
2 tbsp parsley
1/4 cup of coconut oil
1/8 tsp Salt

Add the lentils and the water to a pan and cook until soft - about 20 minutes. Combine the cooked lentils, steam carrots, parsley, salt, and coconut oil in the food processor and mix until smooth.

Colby and I even made a little extra for us to put over some rice and chicken.

watch this...the mind of a chef

Have you heard of this show on PBS? A friend turned me on to it and I am loving it. If you like to get nerdy about cooking, or like to watch other people get nerdy about it, this is for you. Each episode is about a specific topic (Fresh, Rotten, Southern, etc) and explores the many facets of that topic.

Seasons 1 and 2 are on Netflix right now. And, hopefully, season 3 will be there soon...