Crab Cakes

It seems like forever since I've had a weekend off, but it was just last weekend! This weekend was really good though. Full of food, family, friends, fun. Lots of 'f's in that sentence.

Saturday caught a quick nap (after the "my car didn't start....again" fiasco) after work and then went to a really sweet memorial service that the Children's Hospital does each year. A reminder that for now, here is where I am supposed to be.

After that, I decided I deserved a White Chocolate Mocha from Starbucks :) Then headed down the road to Richmond to celebrate "Greaster"  with my cousins and grandparents. My aunt made a big Greek feast and then we headed to watch my cousin play Belle in her high school's Beauty and the Beast musical.

Sunday morning I slept in and was able to spend a long quiet time studying and jounaling. Then ran some errands and stopped by work to put up some "Happy Nurses Week" deco! Love my job.

And when I got home, my grandparents were there to spend the night in C'ville with me! Unfortunately, I have no pictures of us. We didn't do much, ate out twice :) but had fun catching up and enjoying each other's company.



Grown up Mac 'n Cheese for dinner

Monday after seeing my grandparents off, I headed to Michael's, the gym, then to search out crab meat for crab cakes. I bet you thought you were never going to get to that actual recipe. Your getting closer. I must tell you about my hunt for crab meat first. I went to Whole Foods. Because I thought that would be good quality. You know how much crab meat is there?!? $45 a pound! People really pay this? Now, if I were cooking dinner for Kate Middleton, I would buy that. But only then. 

So next I checked out Kroger. They only sell imitation crab meat. Cool. I don't have any weird rules about eating real food or anything. On to Trader Joe's. Success. $10 a pound I can handle for special occasions. Such as Monday night dinner. I also left with trail mix. Don't go shopping at lunch time, after working out.

Meagan and I toured Ashlawn-Highland, the home of James Monroe, this afternoon. I didn't know much about him, but I really enjoyed the tour and learning some history. I felt very Virginian. A couple hours and a meeting at the hospital later, it was dinner time!

Chesapeake Bay Crab Cakes from Southern Living Heirloom Cookbook

- 1 lb lump crab meat
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/2 tsp. dried parsley
- 1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper
- 1/8 tsp. hot sauce
- 1/2 C mayonnaise, divided
- 1 3/4 tsp. Old Bay seasoning, divided
- 4 Saltine crackers, crushed (didn't have, so I substituted bread crumbs)
- paprika, lemon wedges, chives

1. Preheat oven to 350*. Pick crabmeat, removing any bits of shell.

 

2. Whisk egg in medium bowl. Whisk in next 4 ingredients, 3 Tbs. mayonnaise, 3/4 tsp Old Bay. Gently stir in crabmeat and bread/cracker crumbs. Shape mixture into patties and place on lightly greased baking sheet.

 

3. Mix rest of mayonnaise and Old Bay. Top crabcakes and sprinkle with paprika. Bake for 12 minutes or until golden. Top with chives and lemon if desired.

 

Meagan made asparagus and sweet potato fries to go with! I really enjoyed this dinner. Meagan thought the crabcakes were a little fishy, but you win some, you lose some.

 

Speaking of losing. Last week's recipe. Big time loser. Hence the reason I didn't share. It was a Pinterest recipe recommended by a friend. A chickpea/avocado spread for sandwiches or wraps. And all it tasted like was chickpeas and avocado mushed together. Unimpressive.

However, sweet potato biscuits- worked! Next post ;)