Grownup Fish Sticks

Happy Valentine's Day!

I was originally supposed to go into the city today for work, but a few of my meetings got rescheduled so I was thankful to get to spend this morning with my little love. And equally glad I get to have a family Valentine's dinner with both my favorite guys tonight, since I tend to get home pretty late when I work in the city. Matt and I don't have a babysitter tonight, so we're having our date night tomorrow; I'm making a fun V-Day meal for the three of us tonight involving two of the best ingredients ever.

Strawberries and chocolate! Cliche, I know. But still delicious.

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Last night's evening meal was like a grownup TV dinner. I took a big piece of cod out of the freezer to thaw during the work day, not really knowing what I'd do with it. Usually fish ends up just broiled or grilled and served with steamed veggies in this kitchen, but at dinnertime last night the thought of homemade "fish sticks" popped into my head.

These were a little bigger than your average fish stick, so I only ate two of them and gave the rest to Matt. I simply dipped the pieces of cod in egg wash (after thoroughly drying them off first so the egg wash would stick), then coated them with panko breadcrumbs and baked them for about 20 minutes. I served them alongside homemade baked sweet potato fries and fresh broccoli.

Everybody loved 'em, including Riker. At the last minute Matt also made a small dish of tartar sauce using homemade pickles, lemon juice and some capers. (P.S. Those refrigerator pickles last forever!) I'm not a big fan of tartar sauce since mayo is not really my thing, but I dipped a bite in here and there and it was quite good - especially with the vinegary capers and citrus.

Now I'm off to work - hoping to wrap up a bit early today so I can enjoy my family when they get home. Hope you enjoy your Valentine's Day with your loved ones!