Get 'Em While They're Young

I was a totally picky eater when I was a kid. As in, no rhyme or reason to it, give-my-mother-an-ulcer kind of picky. I think that after exhausting her efforts, she would have been ok dealing with a situation where I would only eat hamburgers or plain pasta, but even there I would not offer some (stress) relief. I just found something to hate about everything that was put in front of me, and it took a looooong time for me to get over those issues.

Today, as a mother, I am fully prepared to deal with whatever karmic diet retribution the universe wants to throw at me, but I am also doing my damndest to ensure that that my own kids do not turn out to be the little brat that I was.

To whit, (did I really just write, ‘to whit?’) my kids were eating things like tofu, kale and fish before you could say ‘chicken fingers.’ Of course, they have also eaten chicken fingers, but they have never ever had McDonald’s. I have a huge problem with things like Happy Meals, because I don’t think kids need the extra incentive to beg for horribly un-nutritious meals.

I’m not totally unreasonable, and I seem to be getting softer the second time around (I actually allowed Dove to taste her cake on her birthday!), but I do want to instill good eating habits while I still have some say in it. I know that they’ll probably eat french fries with gravy everyday for lunch throughout their entire high school tenure, but you what? As long as they come home and please for the love of god, cook their old ma some chow still ask for second helpings of the broccoli-quinoa casserole I’ve made for dinner, that’ll be ok with me.

Kgirl’s Try Em, They’ll Like Em Salmon Patties

This is a great make-ahead meal and will easily keep in a sealed container overnight if, like, you have already mixed up all the ingredients and then your husband calls because he needs you to pick him up in half an hour.

Prep time: 10 minutes * Cook time: 10 minutes * Yield: approx 16 little patties

1 large (418g) can red or pink wild salmon (leave the little round bones – calciyummy!)

1 stalk celery, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

½ cup breadcrumbs or matzo meal

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tbsp lemon juice

pepper

Canola oil

1. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl, then pulse with hand mixer or food processer until desired consistency is reached.
2. Heat a small amount of canola oil in a large frying pan, and drop rounded tablespoons of the salmon mixture into the pan, flattening them a bit with the back of the spoon.
3. Fry approx. 3-4 minutes per side.

***

SoundBite

Eating fish is an efficient way to get those important Omega 3’s, but not the only way. If you are a vegetarian (or even if you’re not), flaxseed oil is rich in O3, but so are rapeseed (canola) oil, walnuts and tofu. Don’t avoid your good oils, people – they don’t cause heart problems; they prevent them.

Comments

[Athena]

Sounds yummy, thanks for sharing. I find it really hard to cook fish right so will definitely try this recipe out.

[No Mother Earth]

I tried salmon patties a while back and they did not go over well. But then, I suck at cooking. I'm going to try your recipe and see if that improves matters. Wish me luck! (And some improvement in my cooking skills).

[kgirl]

These are seriously easy, and seriously good, I promise. We had them last night, Dove for the first time ever - she loooooved them! Good thing I made enough for lunch today, too!
P.S. served 'em with rice and broccoli and a little bit of homemade tartar sauce.

[Beck]

Salmon patties! My kids love them. Especially with peas.
My oldest girl was such a good eater when she was young - the wild, adventurous things she ate! Now, though? Not so much. My hope is that she'll grow out of it someday, probably when I'm much too old to cook anymore.

[Don Mills Diva]

We eat a ton of salmon at our house - Graham can't get enough of it!