‘Seafood Feast’ Articles at Sweetnicks

Two nights of Aleve and rounds with IcyHot patches did nothing to help my neck, so today I made my way to the doctor. Who said she felt the spasms on the side of my neck. And sent me promptly to x-rays while guessing a herniated disc. I am purposely not going to google “herniated disc” because I don’t want to know worst case scenarios right now. Two days to wait for x-ray results and a prognosis. When I can’t turn my head left or right, I happen to think that’s a little crazy. In the meantime, I left with two prescriptions and the advice to get a heating pad and use it non-stop, rest, and not work. Oh yes, and no driving while taking one of the meds. I tried to explain that this is all well and good, but doesn’t really work for a single working mom. No work, no pay. And there is this matter of two kids that need constant care. So for now, I hope for the best and try to forget the story Mystic told me some months ago about when he had surgery for a herniated disc and was out of work, um, for awhile. Luckily his symptoms were way more severe, so me and my rose-colored glasses are pulling for a pinched nerve, pulled muscle, or something decidedly less serious than surgery and heavy recuperation.

How about some crab cakes now instead?

We are super partial to Weight Watchers crab cakes and make them a few times a year, including for our annual New Years’ Eve Seafood Feast. But I saw this recipe the other day, from Easy Restaurant Recipes via Pinterest, and when I saw the directions, it seriously said make me now. No, it didn’t really say that. But it did say mix, fry and eat. When I said “stupid simple” yesterday, I meant it.

I changed a teensy bit of the recipe along the way, mostly to lighten it up and make use of ingredients I had on hand. I’ve never been to Joe’s Crab Shack so I can’t tell you if these are a good copycat recipe. What I CAN tell you is that they are amazingly good. Slightly crispy and full of crab goodness. Simple to make. And totally worth ten minutes of your time. But then again, most things are worth ten minutes, right? Such a small investment.

Just one caveat. They were okay reheated, but not as out of the world as they were fresh from the pan, so best to eat them when you make them, and not save for later.

And with that, my kiddos are fed and bathed and moments from bed. Which means, time to reheat the heating pad and hit the hay, wishing miracle neck cures for the morning. A girl can dream, right?

A year ago today … need a way to use up the last of summer’s strawberries? This is the ticket.
Two years ago today … breakfast for dinner? why the heck not?
Three years ago today … ahh yes, the olden days when there was menu planning.
Four years ago today … Grilled Peanut Chicken, don’t mind if I do.
Five years ago today … guilty pleasures and clearly before I became a wordsmith.
Six years ago today … muffins, just muffins.

September 14, 2011 -Bonus Photos

A few months back, my sink was empty, which prompted Mystic to comment, “so THAT’S what your sink looks like!” He was kidding, of course. He is just way better at the having-an-empty-sink thing and I, well, I know it will be there when I get to it. He’s very much a clean as you go cook. I am totally and completely not. I cook. Enjoy time with whoever. And deal with it later. And I cook a lot so even though I empty the dishwasher at least once a day, sometimes twice, the sink fills up quickly. We also don’t use disposable anything, so that doesn’t help. Well, it helps the environment, not so much my workload in the kitchen.

So every time my sink is empty, I take a picture of it and text it to him. Just to bust him. But to change it up the other night, I texted him the overflowing picture with this message:

All in good fun. One of the strong fibers in our relationship is humor. A topic for another day.

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“You are too funny,” came the voice as I took pictures of the crab cakes.

“Hey, you’re going to miss this when we move!”

“You ain’t kidding! What’s on the menu tonight?”

“Crab Cakes. Want some?”

“No, not this time. I’m really picky about crab cakes. I like more filler, less crab.”

I looked up to see if she was kidding. She wasn’t. (This whole exchange was with my neighbor, through her kitchen window, by the way). Who wants crab cakes with less crab? Apparently, she does.

We’ve lived here a little over two years now, and she’s grown used to seeing me on the deck, taking pictures of our meals regularly. Nick runs over there once or twice a week, with something straight from our table. We have a good bartering system. She takes care of my garden and I take care of an occasional dinner, dessert or pregnancy craving. It’s perfect trade-off.

But seriously, a crab cake with less crab? Still shaking my head over that one. That’s what the restaurants do to save money … skimp on the crab and ante up more bread crumbs. Who knew that would become something that people have a taste for?

I got this recipe for Weight Watchers Crab Cakes from a co-worker a few years ago, and they first made an appearance at our annual New Years’ Eve Seafood Feast (here and here and wait, here too – wow, three years worth; didn’t realize that we had been making them that long, and goodness my pictures sucked back then, sometimes it’s painful to go back and peek!).

I had a hankering for crab last week so they hit the table yet again. I like this recipe because it’s fairly forgivable if you do a little tweaking here and there. This time, to use up some frozen ingredients, I used green bell pepper instead of the red, and made larger dinner size crab cakes instead of the mini size that the recipe calls for.

Perfect … a crab cake without the guilt … or the extra filler – dig in!

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