When Aiden was younger, we spent months looking for the ‘perfect bib’. Our favourite in the end was the JJ Cole Waterproof Bib. That was, of course, until Aiden decided he would no longer wear plastic bibs. He wanted fabric. Ugh. Large toddler-sized cloth bibs are impossible to find, though we had a small stack we’d use before we’d have to do laundry. They weren’t exactly clean for every use.
A few days ago, I spotted a plastic bib at Whole Foods from Crocodile Creek with robots on it and thought we’d give it a try again. Aiden loves robots and is always extremely excited to wear shirts with robots on them. We gave it a shot and… success! So it was all about playing to Aiden’s tastes, in the end.
I was recently given the Black & Decker Convection Countertop Oven along with 19 other Canadian bloggers as part of the Black & Decker Ultimate Sandwich contest for Mom Central Canada. We were asked to use this awesome new convection oven to come up with a delicious sandwich recipe. I wanted to try to make my favourite kind of sandwich – a torta!
A typical Mexican torta is served on a crusty roll and is served hot. Some aspects of the sandwich may be deep fried or covered in butter. We try to be health conscious in our family, so I challenged myself to come up with my favourite torta (the Milanesa, a breaded and fried chicken or steak) in a healthy way. The convection oven allowed me to make a breaded cutlet that was crispy – not soggy – and delicious!
Healthy Torta Milanesa Serves 2
This recipe features warm fresh bread filled with a breaded cutlet, melted cheese, black beans and avocado. The flavours are accentuated by the adobo sauce and a splash of lime juice. Great to adapt to any taste and welcomes additions of shredded lettuce, spicy pickled carrots or tomatillo salsa. Makes a great stand-alone meal or main to go with a black bean soup.
Ingredients
1 egg
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/8 cup flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
salt & pepper
2 chicken, veal or steak cutlets
1 can refried black beans
1 avocado sliced thinly (or mashed, if you prefer to spread it)
2 bake @ home buns (substitute crusty french rolls or panini bread if needed)
Oaxaca or mozzarella cheese, sliced
Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, diced or your favourite smokey hot sauce
lime juice, to taste
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 and bake rolls for 10 minutes, until lightly golden. If you have pre-baked buns, skip this step.
In a small bowl, lightly beat eggs. In another small bowl, mix together bread crumbs, parsley and a dash of salt & pepper
Line oven tray with tinfoil or parchment paper, for easy clean up. If your cutlets are thick, prepare them by using a meat tenderizer between plastic wrap or lightly score the outside. Dip the cutlets into the egg mixture to coat, then in the bread crumbs. Place breaded cutlets on tray (fits 2 cutlets)
Bake cutlets for 20 minutes, flipping half way through. Use thermometer to verify cooking time, depending on thickness of cutlets.
Meanwhile, slice your buns most of the way through and lay flat. On one side, generously apply black beans.
Place cooked cutlet on opposite side of bun and add cheese. Return to baking tray for 5 minutes, until cheese is melted.
Remove sandwiches from oven. Add sliced avocado, or spread mashed avocado over the beans. Add adobo sauce and chopped chipotle peppers, to taste. Squeeze on some fresh lime juice.
For additional photos, please visit my Flickr set.
Disclosure: I created this post as part of the Black & Decker Ultimate Sandwich contest as part of a Mom Central Canada program. I received a Convection Countertop Oven Courtesy of Applica Canada Corporation, exclusive licensee of Black & Decker Home. The opinions on this blog are my own.
For some time now, Aiden has expressed his thirst by doing a dainty little cough. Months before he could express himself through words, he figured out that his little cough would be followed by the question “Are you thirsty?”.
For a long time, water was identified by this cough. I remember when Aiden was first learning to use his words, he was telling me about his lunch… “Apple, nana, deeda (his word for bread, derived from the tick/tock of the toaster oven)… *cough cough*” He specifically pointed at the water for his *cough cough*, as if that was describing what it was.
In the above video, I managed to capture one of Aiden’s last uses of the *cough*. It’s becoming more rare, as he uses words to express himself instead. He began by replacing most instances of the cough with agua or juice, and this week finally started using the word “water” more often. It’s kind of sad when these baby quirks start to disappear!
We have a rather large assortment of drink cups in our house. They are all straw based, or at least have a nozzle of that sort. The SafeSippy was great, but it took Aiden forever to figure out how to lift it to drink, so it wasn’t used often for a while. The Munchkin is our livingroom water bottle. Meanwhile, I wanted a portable and leak-proof bottle I could toss to Aiden in the car seat. One of those I tried was the Fill Your Own bottle.
The bottle is stainless steel with an option of cap (pop-up straw, sports, etc). We have the pop-up straw. I love that the bottle is stainless steel. It’s easy for me to toss the bottle into a bag with the cap on, though I do need to watch Aiden while using it. If he tosses the bottle away and the straw gets pushed down, it can spill.
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Disclosure: I purchased the bottle myself, though there are kick-backs if you use the above link to purchase a bottle of your own.
When we were pregnant, one of our neighbours told us to enjoy eating out at nice restaurants while we can, because we’d be eating at WhiteSpot for years. We scoffed at that – we were determined to take our child to eat out at other restaurants. Alas, how wrong we were.
Though we do take Aiden to other restaurants, it’s not as often as we expected. We tend to choose restaurants with a “homestyle” dining offering, since Aiden doesn’t seem to enjoy things like sushi or Thai food or fancy meals like seafood yet. He, instead, likes things such as pasta and sausage and burgers and fries.
I told myself pre-baby, “I won’t give my child fries,” but the reality is that any food a toddler chooses to consume is a good thing, and I’ll happily give him fries. We typically order a couple of menu items we know he’ll like which are healthy, and if he wants a few fries, that’s A-ok by me. For the most part, we don’t yet choose restaurants based on kids menus – Aiden prefers to eat our food than anything ordered for him anyway!
So, why do we eat at Whitespot? The menu is diverse, some of it healthy, and you know there’s always a free high chair. The price is decent for the food you receive. More than anything, though, it comes down to service. The food comes quickly, the wait service knows how to deal with kids, and we don’t feel guilty if Aiden needs to walk around before his food arrives. The food isn’t always perfect (sometimes we get lukewarm fries) and going during a shift change is not a good time, but WhiteSpot has made loyal customers of us.
Aiden is more interested in sorting sugar packets than in colouring, but I know that the kid-friendly atmosphere, and someday the pirate packs, will keep us coming back for years.
The bottle is stainless steel with an option of cap (pop-up straw, sports, etc). We have the pop-up straw. I love that the bottle is stainless steel. It’s easy for me to toss the bottle into a bag with the cap on, though I do need to watch Aiden while using it. If he tosses the bottle away and the straw gets pushed down, it can spill. 