As a pregnant lady, getting a good balance of omega 3 fatty acids is extra important for me. One awesome way to get those omega 3’s is to eat fish, especially salmon! You may have heard the idea that fish consumption should be limited during pregnancy because of the danger mercury poses to the growing fetus, which is a valid concern. Unfortunately, people have been throwing the baby out with the bath water, so to speak, by throwing out fish because of mercury fears. Small fish and fish that are harvested at younger ages do not collect the mercury levels that larger and older fish do, including swordfish, king mackerel, tilefish, and shark. Eating plenty of wild Alaskan salmon, sardines, arctic char, trout, and albacore tuna will supply you with a lot of omega 3’s and help your baby build it’s brain!

With that in mind, I made a salmon ceasar salad the other day with made-from-scratch ceasar dressing that was excellent. I took the main ingredients for the ceasar dressing from this recipe, but made the following changes:

1. I halved the recipe, but didn’t halve the garlic or parmesan (I think I added extra parmesan actually).
2. I put all of the ingredients into my food processor, turned it on, and drizzled the olive oil into that instead of whisking.

It turned out just like restaurant ceasar dressing! I added it to chopped romaine hearts and diced roma tomatoes, tossed a bit, then topped with poached salmon and more parmesan.

Cook your salmon however you’d like. I simply put it in a pan on the stove, drizzled it with balsamic vinegar and olive oil and topped with salt and cracked pepper, put about 1/3 cup water in the pan, turned the stove on high and covered with a lid until the water boiled. Then, I turned the heat down to medium, turned the salmon over once, and it was done in a matter of about 8 minutes! Easy. The end of summer is very near, so try to enjoy a few more salads before it turns into soup weather!