Salmon Tacos

Over the weekend, I made salmon tacos. It sounds a little strange but was actually pretty good.

1 can salmon (we eat a lot of canned fish around here because it still has the nutrition but it's much cheaper than buying the fresh fish)

1 can black beans (we actually finally got around to cooking our bag of beans the other day so I just pulled a 2 cup container out of the freezer)

1 cup salsa (I didn't measure. I just used enough so it didn't look dry)

1/2 cup cheese (I also didn't measure this. You may want more or less due to your liking. We used colby jack.)

Combine everything in a bowl and serve in shells or with tortillas. We ate it cold/ room temperature the first night but the leftovers got warmed up and that made it a little better. I also added sour cream to mine since they suggest adding regular taco toppings.

It was pretty good and really easy and extremely quick. I think I'd make it again but it wasn't fantastic. Maybe only 7/10 stars.

Bruschetta

Last night, I had some tomatoes to use up and couldn't think of a better way to use them than to make bruschetta. We had picked up some of those French baguettes that are half cooked and have a long shelf life from Menards. I believe they are called Oven2Table. They're fantastic.

So I popped those in the oven while I made the bruschetta.

• 3 on-the-vine tomatoes (you can use any kind), seeded and chopped
• a splash of balsamic vinegar
• sprinkle of salt
• dash of crushed red pepper flakes
• a lot of garlic (I use powder but you could easily get away with 2 or 3 cloves)
• italian seasoning (this is an actual spice in my spice rack)
• parsley
• basil
• mozzarella cheese

Obviously, I didn't measure anything but it doesn't really matter. This recipe is very versatile.

After you mix all that together in a bowl, you take the bread out of the oven (or its package if yours is already cooked) and slice into 1/4 inch thick pieces. Then spread with butter and top with mozzarella cheese (I used shredded but slices work well too). Then top with tomato mixture.

Put under broiler for 3-5 minutes, until the cheese is melted.

It's really good and simple. Perfect for a busy weeknight dinner. You could even make the bruschetta ahead of time!

Taking Care of a Baby When You're Sick

Last week, I wasn't feeling well at all. I even threw up. It reminded me of when I was pregnant (don't worry, I'm not. I just wanted to add in that I don't know how people take care of a little baby when they're pregnant with the next one!). I could barely get out of bed because any moving made my nausea that much worse. I was still able to nurse as long as I stayed hydrated. However, I couldn't take care of a baby like this.

I looked online and it seems like most people call for help. I'm lucky that I have a husband who was able to take the day off to take care of the baby while I tried to sleep all day. Other than being woken up every two hours for a feeding, I think it worked out pretty well. I also liked that he was able to see what it was like to be me for a day. It's not exactly a walk in the park, even if you are feeling well. It's hard work, especially with a lack of sleep!

My advice to you if you are sick is to take it easy as much as you can. If your kids are older, maybe you can get them to play quietly next to you in bed or at least explain you aren't feeling well. If you have a baby like I do (or impossible kids), don't feel bad calling in help. A friend, family member, or even a neighbor could maybe come to your rescue if your spouse is unavailable.

If nobody can come, some people mentioned that sometimes their babies seemed to know they weren't feeling well and behaved better or took more naps. I suppose worse case scenario, you just do it. It may take you longer to feel better but sometimes you don't have a choice.

Getting Back to Reusable Pads

I would love to get back to making my own reusable menstrual pads but I am currently stuck. The plastic disposable ones from the store have sticky backs so they stay in place. Without having special underwear with velcro or something sewn into it, I am not sure how to make mine stay. I started using some of my prototypes and my free trial one from Party In My Pants, and both slide around. I tried to look it up online and see what other people do but most people say this doesn't happen to them. Anyone with advice, please comment below.

I have also wanted to try the reusable cups for a while too but they are rather expensive. I know in the long run they will save you money over buying tampons but it is a big initial investment and I'm not even sure what brand to buy since they differ so much. I did find a website that teaches you how to knit your own tampons that I'm pretty excited about. Some people think this is going too far but if you look at the amount of waste from tampons, that's more extreme than making your own.

I will advise you that if you make your own, make sure the yarn is undyed and preferably organic hemp or cotton. I think this is one use where organic actually makes sense.

I will try to post more when I get farther but in the meantime, this is all I have thought up.

Elvis Bites

I had some bananas to use up and I was too scared to put them in a smoothie because I was afraid the noise would wake up the baby. Instead, I made them into a different delicious treat!

You slice your bananas (make sure you have an even number of slices) then spread half of them with peanut butter. Top them with the other half of the slices. Place on a cookie sheet and freeze for an hour.

Then, you're supposed to dip them in chocolate but I didn't have that much chocolate on hand so I just melted my remaining chocolate chips and put as much as I could on top of each banana pile. Then you put them back in the freezer for another 3 hours.

These are soooo good! The only problem is when you put banana in the freezer, it gets crazy cold! These would be better on a hot day than a day where my husband couldn't make it to work because it was too slippery out.However, this is a great dessert recipe that's no bake (another reason to make it on a hot day!)

(For those of you curious about the title, Elvis loved all things with peanut butter, bananas, and chocolate!)

Sour Cream Pound Cake

I needed to use up 4 oz of sour cream and in our family, that's sort of hard. It's too much sour cream for baked potatoes or for tacos, since there's just two of us. I decided to bake with it instead in a pound cake. I found the recipe online at allrecipes.com but I think I made enough changes to it that I'm going to be lazy and not link it (you can ask me for it in the comments if you are interested).

• 2 tsp vanilla extract (or any flavor works)
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick), room temperature (I used light butter)
• 1/2 cup sour cream (you could use light but I happened to have regular on hand)
• 3 whole eggs, room temperature
• 1/8 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a loaf pan (double the recipe if you want to use a bundt cake pan). In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in sour cream. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each one. Add baking soda. Add flour, a little at a time (I added a half cup at a time). Mix in vanilla extract. Pour into pan and bake for 60 minutes. Cake is done when a toothpick comes out clean. 

This cake is very good! The crust is perfect and the inside is moist and rich, like a pound cake. Next time, I would be interested in adding a different extract but vanilla tasted just fine. I think lemon would be a good one.

Pinterest Obsession

So for a while now, I have been using pinterest as a good place to get ideas. However, until recently, I did not have an account and didn't even necessarily see the point (I used it sparingly). Then I got an account and all that changed. What an addicting place!

I have ideas from exercise routines to recipes to home decor! I am very excited and I try to only pin things that I'll actually come back and read when I have more time. We have already implemented a few ideas that I have pinned.

For instance, we are going to start using a seam ripper to untangle the hair, threads, etc from the roll-y part of the bottom of the vacuum. We also started keeping our soap and scrubbers on a plate atop a candlestick holder we had. The website suggested a cake stand but we didn't have one of those so we made our own. We picked out a cool plate at Goodwill (our new favorite place!) and super glued it to the candlestick holder. This keeps the counter from getting sticky and full of soap residue.

Basically, it's my new obsession and I'm on it in a lot of my free time (what free time? with a baby you don't get much).

I will also point out that I don't understand the social aspect of it and it's rather similar to StumbleUpon, which I also like a lot.