Easy Cooking: Fish Tacos with Mango Salsa

I really should start taking pictures of the food, but after cooking and putting Cara down for a nap (so there's always a lot of crying when I'm prepping dinner), and Colin whining for me to play with him, I just don't feel like pulling the camera to take pictures.

But I should try.

Anyway, I digress. Tonight's dinner was DELICIOUS. and oh so simple. and healthy too!!!

It was easy because I have a tool. It's called the 'Quick Chopper 2000'. It sounds so gimmicky, and... it is. I always fall for it - the little booth with the salesperson on a microphone, selling their product, and then sampling all the millions of different things you can make with it. It was about 3 years ago we were at The Bay, and we fell for it. The lady was demonstrating the Quick Chopper 2000, and she made salsa with it (but you can make other things... that can be chopped up) but because Joe LOVES salsa, we just call it our $20 salsa maker.

What is it? pretty much a manual food processor. I know, we're lame. MANUAL. But it still works the same, so here goes the recipe:

- Fish (I got red snapper, but any white fish should do)
- Soft Taco Shells
- Lettuce
- Salsa

Salsa recipe (and I just dump everything into my QC2000, but in your case you can do it in your food processor, or hand chop):
- 1 really ripe mango
- 3 roma tomatoes
- 3 cloves of garlic
- quarter of an onion
- quarter of bell pepper
- handful of cilantro
- 1 juiced lime
- and if you want it spicy, just add jalapeno peppers to it
- salt

(of course, all these are coarse measurements... I rarely follow exact measurements so use what you have, add it, don't add it up to you!)

1. make the salsa
2. cook the fish, season it with salt and pepper and you're good to fry it in a little bit of oil.
3. slice the lettuce, and if you want add sour cream, avocado... whatever you add to your tacos!

it's really yummy, and Colin even loved it (i melted cheese in his to make the taco stick together). family friendly, and if you prep enough salsa you can have leftovers for days to come!

Enjoy :)

Santa's Ark

Me: Where's the giraffe?
Colin: there
Me: Where's the lion?
Colin: RRRROOOAARRR - there
Me: where's Noah?
Colin: No that's Santa.

I apologize to any future Sunday School teachers.

3 Minutes Inside My Brain

A friend sent this along to me from Jason Good's blog. It was pretty amusing, accurate, and absurd all at once, but I thoroughly enjoyed it! So much that it inspired me to blog about 3 minutes inside my own head.


- What am I going to make for dinner?
- I need to grocery shop.
- I want salami.
- and cheese. and chocolate for good measure.
- Cara's so cute.
- Why the heck can't Joe ever put his socks away???
- I swear I'm going to burn all of his socks - he'll learn his lesson then.
- Colin's so cute.
- I wonder if I have any Facebook notifications?
- Hmm, none right now, but I'll just stalk an old high school friend's photos and see what they look like now.
- Ugh, what am I going to make for dinner?
- I'm shedding like crazy, I need to cut my hair.
- OOh, I'll visit Groupon to see if there's a cheap hair salon deal.
- I could use a free bootcamp lesson. I jiggle more than I remember.
- dinner? dinner? dinner???
- I need tin foil.
- There must be a notification by now.
- I'll check my blog stats.
- I need to cut Colin and Cara's toenails.
- I love my family. Joe's cute, smart and funny.
- Joe needs a hair cut.
- I need more tupperware.
- What was I going to get???
- ARGH I can't remember what I was going to get.
- I want to rearrange our furniture.
- I need to organize the desk first, then we can rearrange things.
- I need to get organizers, dividers, file folders, and new pens to properly organize the desk.
- I feel stressed out thinking about the desk. The room is fine the way it is.
- I'll look on Allrecipes.com for ideas.
- I'll text Joe and ask him what he wants. He better not say 'anything'.
- I need new lids for the sippy cups. why can't they just sell the lids???
- Colin and Cara are so cute.
- Why can't Joe put his shirts back on the hangers?? I'm going to donate anything that's laying around.
- ugh. laundry. and how is it that all the pairs of socks become singles magically after I wash them??
- How is this place always a mess? I'm pretty sure I cleaned it up 10 minutes ago.
- Doesn't Joe know I need to know what he wants for dinner NOW so I can grocery shop NOW?
- I love Superstore. I like one-stop-shopping.
- I hate dishonest people who park in the maternity/parent parking
- I like the idea of reading.
- hmm, where's my Entertainment coupon book?
- i'll ask Joe. but he probably won't know... but i'll ask him anyway
- can kids smell? how does that stench in his diaper not get to him?
- A van would be so nice to have. so much extra room. and sliding doors...sliding
- maybe there's a fb notification. I'll check my phone.
- it's sunny. we'll just BBQ. I can think of dinner and groceries for the week tomorrow.

Stay at Home Mom vs. Working Mom

I am fortunate enough to have great neighbours and we recently started getting together for dinners (they also have kids the same age as Colin so it's perfect!). My 2 lovely neighbours, Anne and Gwynne are both working moms, and I'm the lone SAHM. I have so much respect for working moms, and sometimes just am in complete awe of them!! We got to discussing the pros and cons of both sides since both of them have just had a taste of stay at home life (one is a teacher so the summer is off, and the other had 2 week vacation because daycare was closed for 2 weeks).

I've always thought that I had it quite good though, and I don't want to complain too much that the grass is greener on the other side. But there are some definite patches on that other side of the fence that I'd looooove to frolic in - the biggest being... adult interaction? And not having a child attached to my hip at all times. But I know I'm really blessed and fortunate to be able to spend so much time with my kids, and to have a husband that works so hard to make it happen for us.

So, I thought I'd dedicate this blog to all the moms - working or stay at home. What is your life like? What do you see on the other side that you want, and what do you love about your situation? How do you make it work?

As for myself - before I popped any babies out, I had it all in my head that I'd go back to work. It's nice to have the extra security, and everyone else does it right? But then, the baby came. And he changed our life.

To put it simply, these are the reasons why we decided to have me stay at home. My previous job as a Special Ed Assistant was great - I loved what I did and the hours were perfect for a mom - but when i factored in daycare and commuting costs, my net total was only minimal. For me, was that number worth me spending that time away from this precious bundle that just entered our lives? Everyone says that it goes fast, so was that number, worth missing this time? For me, no. I couldn't wrap my head around missing out on every moment of Colin's life for X amount.

Now, I do have to say though, if X was significant, I may have a different outcome, but because Joe is the main breadwinner in this house, I had an option.

But what do we have to give up? For us, it's the luxuries. We don't have a second car, we haven't done any renovations on the house (yes, the port holes we have on our doors still exist - the house is pretty much the same as we bought it), Craigslist is our friend, and other minor things like extra channels on the tv, no landline etc. On the personal side, you give up yourself - there's not a whole lot of alone time (physically and mentally) and it's always the kids first every single waking moment of the day.

So nothing devastating, but we live a very comfortable yet humble lifestyle? Humbfortable.

But what do I get in return? I am at home, and able to cook, clean (wait a second... these aren't rewards....), and most importantly be active in the growth of my children's lives. I am here everyday when my husband returns from work, and yes, although I am also tired, I am not stressed out. I am able to see my family, and as a result Colin and Cara are very close with their cousins (and aunts and grandma). I even do get to nap when both of the kids are sleeping (which i always take advantage of because one day.... my perfect 'napping scheduled children' bubble will burst).

I love that it's worked for us, and that I can see my children are thriving not because I'm a stay-at-home mom, but because we're happy.

I'd love to hear from working moms, other stay at home moms, or stay-at-home working moms (yes, that exists!) and what your honest thoughts are about your life - do you love it? or would you change it?

Tough Guy

I know I know, I'm bad and haven't posted in a while. I am currently working a longer entry as we speak, but I have to put Cara down for a nap soon, so I'll amuse you all with this recent picture. We took the kids to get their shots last week sometime, and Colin had finished his and got a Go Diego Go sticker (don't worry, the shot was in the other arm)

Boob Boy

We borrowed a pop-up dinosaur book from the library today, and were looking at a pop-up fossil of a Stegosaurus. Here's how the conversation went:

Colin:(pointing at the spine)what's this?
Me: The spine.
Colin: What's that for?
Me: It hold the back and tail up.
Colin: (pointing to the ribs) what's this?
Me: The ribs. They're right here on you! (touching his rib cage)
Colin: What's that for?
Me: It protects all the important organs in your body, like your heart, your lungs...
Colin: and NIPPLES!

Yup. He's going to be a boob guy.

Safety Hazard

Okay, so I won't lament about the safety hazards when Joe and Colin play..... because somewhere this is happening. Hmm, perhaps a North American mom's worst nightmare though!!