Crab Cakes and Springtime!
Spring is in full effect...and that can only mean one thing! Well, playing outside DEFINITELY and also it's crab cake time! YUM!
Theresa and her friend Ashley came over last night to celebrate Theresa's big 30th birthday. I wanted to prepare a light, fresh, summer dish - and also include some BBQ action so Jim could fire up his grill. So I went with a crab cake appetizer and then bun-less turkey burgers on top of a bed of lettuce and a side of a caprese salad...with garden fresh basil!
Conor and Caden ate a couple hours before us and had some meatball pizza, corn, and diced up apples. Yogurt pouch for dessert! Boy does Caden LOVE corn. He wolfed it all down before he even touched his pizza. We are planning to make some homemade pizzas again this weekend, so watch out for that blog post. The boys love doing that and "helping" me in the kitchen. Their new thing is sitting at the island and having a snack and watching me cook or run the water at the sink. They think it's great.
I whipped up the crab concoction from my own recipe - here on my blog from two years ago. It's mainly lump crab meat, diced red pepper, celery, apple, chives, mayo, one egg, ritz crackers, crushed red pepper, and black pepper. You can really add whatever you like...just make sure to dice it up real small.
Everything is all plated out. The lettuce is for the turkey burgers - when they come off the grill. And the fixings for the caprese salad are off to the right.
A few last stirs and topping of fresh ground black pepper - now I'm ready to make the cakes.
I didn't have a pic of this stage from last time - mainly because it's real messy like when you're making meatballs. But here they are! Cooking away! I made 7....the pan held 5. I heated up some EVOO and garlic for about 2 minutes and made sure the pan was piping hot. I put the cakes down and let them cook for about 5-7 minutes on one side, and then another 5 on the other side. Let them sit and cook, otherwise they get mushy and break apart easily. Leave them alone! :)
It was tough timing when they were done cooking, because it was also bath and bedtime for the boys (6:30 or so). So I turned the heat real low, and let them simmer a bit more while we were doing bedtime upstairs. It's best to serve these piping hot - so I didn't want to take them out of the pan and let them sit while we did bedtime. SO anyway, long story short they are a bit more well done than I typically like them.
Then I made my homemade tartar sauce which is simple. I use light mayo, dice up a pickle, add some lemon juice, salt and pepper...and done!
These are so easy to make and often you have 95% of the ingredients already in your fridge. You can find the crab meat at your local grocery store, in the seafood department of course. I actually found three different kinds when I got there - so I asked the seafood person which was the best for crab cakes and he guided me in the right direction. It's a real crowd pleaser, nice to share, and something different!
Enjoy!
xo,
Shaz
PS Flashback photo...in preparation of Baby C, check out mini Caden and Conor! They're probably about 2-3 months here. I used to put Caden in the front, so I'm pretty sure he's on the left. ;)
Conor and Caden ate a couple hours before us and had some meatball pizza, corn, and diced up apples. Yogurt pouch for dessert! Boy does Caden LOVE corn. He wolfed it all down before he even touched his pizza. We are planning to make some homemade pizzas again this weekend, so watch out for that blog post. The boys love doing that and "helping" me in the kitchen. Their new thing is sitting at the island and having a snack and watching me cook or run the water at the sink. They think it's great.
Everything is all plated out. The lettuce is for the turkey burgers - when they come off the grill. And the fixings for the caprese salad are off to the right.
A few last stirs and topping of fresh ground black pepper - now I'm ready to make the cakes.
I didn't have a pic of this stage from last time - mainly because it's real messy like when you're making meatballs. But here they are! Cooking away! I made 7....the pan held 5. I heated up some EVOO and garlic for about 2 minutes and made sure the pan was piping hot. I put the cakes down and let them cook for about 5-7 minutes on one side, and then another 5 on the other side. Let them sit and cook, otherwise they get mushy and break apart easily. Leave them alone! :)
It was tough timing when they were done cooking, because it was also bath and bedtime for the boys (6:30 or so). So I turned the heat real low, and let them simmer a bit more while we were doing bedtime upstairs. It's best to serve these piping hot - so I didn't want to take them out of the pan and let them sit while we did bedtime. SO anyway, long story short they are a bit more well done than I typically like them.
Then I made my homemade tartar sauce which is simple. I use light mayo, dice up a pickle, add some lemon juice, salt and pepper...and done!
These are so easy to make and often you have 95% of the ingredients already in your fridge. You can find the crab meat at your local grocery store, in the seafood department of course. I actually found three different kinds when I got there - so I asked the seafood person which was the best for crab cakes and he guided me in the right direction. It's a real crowd pleaser, nice to share, and something different!
Enjoy!
xo,
Shaz
PS Flashback photo...in preparation of Baby C, check out mini Caden and Conor! They're probably about 2-3 months here. I used to put Caden in the front, so I'm pretty sure he's on the left. ;)
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