Samson's Favorite Meal at 20 Months

Today marks the 4th day in a row that Samson has eaten chicken salad for either lunch or dinner. Funny, given that he has also refused the last four opportunities to eat breaded, fried chicken pieces (a previous favorite). Thought our readers might want to give our recipe a try and have a little bit of Samson with their next meal. Enjoy!

Samson's Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 12.5 oz can premium chunk chicken breast, drained & shredded (we use Costco's Kirkland brand; you could sub the same amount of rotisserie chicken, or freshly cooked, seasoned breast or tenders)
• 2 ribs celery, finely chopped
• 2 young green onions, finely chopped (you could substitute 1/4 cup finely chopped sweet onion like 1015, Vidalia, or Maui)
• 1/3 cup smoked almonds, crushed (put in quart ziploc bag & smash with rolling pin or wine bottle until desired texture)
• 1/3 - 1/2 cup mayo (to taste; we use canola mayo to eliminate saturated fat & cholesterol; you could sub Miracle Whip)
• optional: 1 tsp finely chopped fresh tarragon (this adds a great extra note of flavor, but only if you can get fresh herbs)
  

Mix all ingredients until well incorporated. Best flavor develops after overnight stay in the fridge. Serve on fingers, crackers, in sandwiches, or as stuffing for celery or boats of baby zucchini or cucumber. For party sandwiches, remove crusts, cut into small shapes, coat edges with additional mayo, and roll in finely crushed, smoked almonds.

Lefty with a Spoon

Our readers may have begun to wonder why it is that 75% of our posts seem to involve food. It boils down to having a captive subject. When Samson is snug in the high chair, he has a hard time getting away from the camera. Thus, it seems that most of our photography sessions occur at mealtime. That, and during his twice daily trip to the crab sandbox in the front yard.

Here's our first video with the new camera, taken last weekend on Samson's 19th month b-day. He uses the spoon throughout this clip, but in the past week, he has preferred to alternate between the spoon in his left hand and the fingers on his right hand, so mealtimes are now often as messy as they were back when we first started solids! We're not sure which hand is dominant yet. Maybe he'll use them both, like Mama.