Teryaki Salmon

This is a favourite of ours and is so easy to make.

Ingredients:

• Salmon fillets (Approx 1 each, cut into bite sized pieces)
• 6 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• Thumb sized piece fresh root ginger, grated 

Mix all the ingredients together and place in the fridge to marinade for at least 2 hours. When ready simply fry the salmon until it’s cooked through. We’ve served this with stir fry vegetables and noodles, with special fried rice and vegetables and we’ve substituted the salmon for chicken and quorn chicken style pieces and it’s a winner every time.

Our Favourite Dinners.

Following on from my previous post, I’ve just done a little bit of planning.

As a member of slimming world and mother of 3. I try to meal plan healthy, wholesome dinners. However the reality is, I leave it until the last minute, can’t decide on anything, end up picking something quick rather than healthy or just let The Husband buy a takeaway.

Also, have you ever tried to sit and just plan out a weeks worth of meals? All of a sudden your mind goes blank. You can’t think of anything you’ve ever eaten, let alone anything you want to eat next week in between school runs, work pick ups, Brownies, Rainbows and Guides.

So I’m going to document a couple of our favourite meals. Mostly so I have something to inspire me when I sit down to plan.

Sticking at slimming world.

On 6th February 2013 I finally gave myself a kick up the backside and walked into my first ever Slimming World meeting. I was part of a parenting group that had a couple of members who were successfully losing weight on it and having previously failed at weight watchers I thought I would give it a try. I needed to give something a try. 

In my first 12 months I lost 5 stone.

In the last 6 months I’ve lost a stone. Kind of.

I’m just messing around. I’m paying my £4.95 a week. I’m sitting and I’m listening to image therapy and I’m thinking “This is it, I’m getting back on the wagon, I’m going to have a good loss” Then I go home and eat crap. Go next week, unsurprised to see I’ve gained the pound I lost last week and another half to keep it company… 

I really need to sort myself out. I know if I stopped going to group then the small gains I keep having would escalate and I don’t want to end up where I started. I’m nowhere near a healthy target weight. 

So this is it. I’m going to sit and plan and I’m going to get myself motivated again.

I have to.

I can’t afford to throw away a fiver for nothing!

The next generation of ignorance.

Yesterday when I was collecting Baby Girl from her first nursery session I had a brief conversation with another parent. Someone that has similar age children, she very briefly touched on one set of children coming home with a letter mentioning *shock horror* that Islam is on the curriculum for this term. I brushed it off, isn’t that what RE has always been? Weren’t we taught a little about it when we were at school? She agreed with me, Baby Girl came out of her classroom and we headed off home. (Via a celebratory Happy Meal!)

This morning I had another similar encounter. A neighbour who has a child in school waved from across the road. I said good morning and exchanged the usual pleasantries “It’s like we’ve never been away… How have they settled in with the new teacher?” This neighbour crossed to my side of the road to offload a minor gripe regarding uniform and then with a very hushed voice hinted her dismay at the “Islam lessons” Obviously my being white English and living on the same street, I must share the same opinions. I must be horrified that the school are going to radicalise my children and convert them all, right under our very noses!

It took a fair amount of effort to stop my eyes from rolling. I like this lady. We’ve lived not quite opposite each other for quite a long while, been doing the same school run for 8 years. Her family have never caused me any offence. On a road that’s seen more than it’s fair share of antisocial behaviour over the years, none of it has ever come from her house. The last thing I want to do is embarrass her or offend her but I can’t let this go. 

I trust the school. The education my daughters are receiving is fantastic. It may not be an outstanding school in the eyes of Ofsted, it’s not a private school, it’s not in an affluent area. They have a number of problem students from problem families but my children have so far flourished there. Big Girl and Mini Me are both attaining above national average expectations for their age, are challenged by their lessons and they love their teachers. With this in mind, I believe that the lessons they set for religious education are perfectly appropriate for both their age group and their abilities. I don’t for one second think that they shouldn’t teach my children anything that is deemed important enough to be on the curriculum. 

I believe in information. If we don’t give our children information how can we arm them to go out in the future and make good decisions. If we don’t start while they are young and give them unbiased information, how can we trust them to go out into the world and not be led astray by people with a skewed view. 

We are a Christian family. We attend church frequently and the children attend church led youth and activity groups outside of the usual Sunday school sessions. I know they are getting a good solid Christian foundation to build their life on and I trust that when the time comes for them to choose a path in life that they will make the best decisions. However, I also know that in order to make an informed decision, you need to have all of the information. 

The situation we have in the middle east is terrifying. I won’t even pretend to know an ounce of the full story. But I do know that all the misguided people that are being radicalised in Britain and sneaking off to fight, are not doing it because in year 4 nice Mrs Smith taught them the national curriculum standard Islam.

The ache in my chest and the empty space this morning.

So Facebook is alive this week of photographs of children looking smart in their uniforms ready to head back in to school for the autumn term. Mine is no different, my Big Girl has taken herself off into year 6 excited to be back with her friends after a long break. My Mini Me has entered into year 1 with trepidation, knowing that this year will be more work and less play but she assures me she is ready for this. Excited by being so much more grown up.

My Baby Girl this morning went into her first nursery class. Yesterday she said to me “I’m going to school in September Mummy.” I replied “Yes, now it’s September, you’ll be going to school tomorrow” She threw her arms around my neck with such gusto. “Yay, I love you Mummy!” Kissed my face and then ran off to tell her sisters. This morning she was so happy to be putting on her little uniform. “I’m a big girl now” and posed for the obligatory first school photos. She entered the nursery with confidence, she knows this room. We’ve been here before for inspire days and when we helped mini me learn to write her name, but this time it’s not for somebody else, this time it is for her. This is her room.

Mini Me takes her hand, “follow me. I’ll show you where the coats go” and leads her in front of me. My eyes well up, I blink away tears and help her find her name to see which cupboard her coat is going to go in. Tomorrow I’ll help her again but that’s it. No parents in the classroom from next week. We go out of the cloak room and find Baby Girl’s teacher. I introduce her. I want this lady to know my daughter’s face. To be able to remember her name instantly. I don’t want my daughter to become just another small blonde girl in a class of 30. The teacher welcomes her, tells her how smart she looks in her uniform and baby girl revels in it. Then the teacher is instructing her. “Come and get something to play with, say goodbye to Mummy” and that is it. I’m not needed here, my time as sole carer for my baby girl has come to an end.

Now it’s my turn to be led by Mini Me, round to her classroom. I smile, say hello to other parents we encounter every day, hide the turmoil inside me. Now I’m alone. A tear escapes and rolls down my cheek. I know it’s stupid. My Baby Girl will be fine. She’s happy, she’s sociable and she’s confident. I know I will be fine, I’ve done this before. Twice…

But this feels so much more final.

3 hours now, alone. No little person to follow me around getting out all the toys I’m putting away, talking to me constantly. I’m sure in a week that 3 hours will feel like 5 minutes and I’ll be complaining I don’t have enough time to get anything done. But today that 3 hours feels like 3 days and I really don’t like it.