Crab Cakes with Spicy Avocado Sauce

I made crab cakes for a light dinner the other night. It was supposed to be a healthier version of fish sticks. I slaved away in the kitchen making them while The Good Daughter hung out watching SuperWhy!

It was too late to take a decent photo, and coming from me that is a lot. While I liked them, TGD was skeptical.

Me? You want *me* to eat that

I don't fucking think so Mom

While it this was a good dry run, I think I will play around with the flavors next time. TGD did love the avocado dressing I served with it.

Ingredients:
For the sauce
1/2 ripe medium avocado, pitted and peeled
1 tablespoon low-fat mayonnaise
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1 fresh jalapeño, stemmed and quartered lengthwise
1/4 cup milk

For crab cakes
1 pound jumbo lump crabmeat, picked over and coarsely shredded
3 tablespoons low-fat mayonnaise
1/4 cup minced fresh chives
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup panko
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 garlic cloves, smashed
1/2 teaspoon herbes de Provence
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:
~Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with foil.

To make the sauce:
~Pulse avocado with mayonnaise, lime juice, salt, sugar, and one fourth of chile in a food processor until chile is finely chopped. Add milk and purée until smooth. Add more chile if desired, processing until smooth. Transfer sauce to a bowl and chill, covered.

To make the crab cakes:
~Stir together crabmeat, mayonnaise, chives, lemon juice, mustard, pepper, and 1 tablespoon panko in a large bowl until blended well, then chill, covered.

~Melt butter in a medium nonstick skillet over moderate heat, then cook garlic, stirring, until golden and fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add herbes de Provence, salt, and remaining 7 tablespoons panko and cook, stirring, until golden brown, about 6 minutes. Transfer crumbs to a plate to cool. Discard garlic.

~Divide crabmeat mixture into 4 mounds on a sheet of wax paper. Form 1 mound into a patty, then carefully turn patty in crumb mixture to coat top and bottom. Transfer to a baking sheet and repeat with remaining 3 mounds, then sprinkle remaining crumbs on top of crab cakes. Bake until heated through, about 15 minutes. Serve crab cakes with sauce.

Recipe by: Epicurious

Explaining the looming government shutdown

In case you haven't heard the government might shut down tonight at midnight if Congress fails to pass a budget. This clusterfuck has been going on for a while and if you are just now hearing about it, I will present to you the best summary I can.

Obama was all "Here is the budget"

Congress was all

""

and dicked around in getting the numbers together

One party tired to compromise but the other party was all

""

Then another compromise was floated and the other party was all

""

Meanwhile Obama is all
""

Congress is coming back with

""

The government might shut down and the military might not get paid and everyone is now all

""

I hope that clears up everything for you.

I'll let you know when NPR has hired me for stunning and brilliant political analysis.

Gearing up for Spring Cleaning!

Starting this week and continuing on through May, I will repost my spring cleaning checklists for the following rooms:

Kitchen
Bathroom
Bedroom
Living Room
Dining Room

and share some new tips I have picked up since last year.

Aren't you all just so excited to clean as I am? (yes that is sarcasm, b/c even I don't like to clean all the time, if you can believe)

Angry loster and a shitty photo

I went to our local fish market the other day since they are one of the only places in town where I can get fresh sushi rolls to take home. I could get some at the Super Walmart too but Walmart and sushi should not go together.

As I was getting the sushi, I noticed a sale on lobster. I am generally a fan of lobster and while cooking a whole live lobster is a goal of mine, I decided to stick with just a tail this time. The last time I made lobster, I poached it in butter and while it was awesome, I wanted something different.

So I hopped on epicurious and found a recipe for Angry Lobster. With a name like that, it can't be bad. So I got to work preparing the lobster, when this happened:


I should have gone to the prompt care to get stitches, much like my mandolin experience, but I was home alone with The Good Daughter, so I just had to tape it up and move on. This is round 1 with the tape. I bled through this set up two more times before I got things under control. No blood got on the food though.

Moving on to the lobster. This was a firey fried version of lobster and what is not to love about that? I didn't want to add too much heat to this and overpower the lobster, so I was pretty conservative with the spices. It turned out really well, despite the shitty photo. I blame that on the pain.

I also didn't follow the sauce directions at all really. I just cooked some garlic and chili flakes in butter and served it on top of the lobster.

Sine I was only working with one tail, I cut this recipe way down. The following are the ingredients to make 3 whole lobsters.

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1/4 cup chili powder
2 tablespoons cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons coarse salt plus more to taste
3 2-pound live lobsters
1 cup peanut oil
8 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon hot red pepper flakes
1 cup lobster or chicken stock
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 loosely packed cup fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup julienned Oven-Dried Tomatoes
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
~Combine the flour, chili powder, cayenne, and salt in a plastic bag. Set aside.

~Remove the meat from the lobsters and place it into the seasoned flour. Shake to coat well. Remove the lobster from the flour and shake off any excess.

~Preheat the oven to 475 degrees.

~Heat the oil in a large sauté pan over high heat until smoking. Add the lobster pieces, cut side down, a few at a time, if necessary, and sear them for about 4 minutes, or until they are golden brown. Transfer the lobster to a baking sheet, and when all of the lobster is seared, place the baking sheet in the preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes.

~While the lobster is baking, prepare the sauce. Return the sauté pan to medium heat and add the garlic and red pepper flakes. Sauté for about 3 minutes, or until the garlic is golden brown but not burning. Add the stock and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Whisk in the butter and remove the pan from the heat. Whisk in the lemon juice, basil leaves, and the tomato julienne. I pretty much eliminated this step. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

~To serve, spoon sauce over lobster and serve immediately.

Recipe inspired by: this

Orange Ginger Chicken Stir Fry

I went a little crazy last week and everything we had for dinner was some sort of "Asian" dish. I use quotes, b/c let's face it, it's white girl Asian cooking at best. The Good Husband is hit and miss when it comes to Asian food. He will like something I would never in a million years think he would like - pad thai, summer rolls - and he will hate a dish that has only ingredients he likes. He is totally food bipolar.

But this is a healthy little dish that he was neutral about. And it didn't take that long to make either, which is good when you have a kid that can only watch 30 minutes of TV a day, then wants to be right next to the stove as you are cooking.

Ingredients:
For the sauce:
1 cup of water
1/4 cup of soy sauce
4 tablespoons of orange juice
1 teaspoons ginger, fresh and grated
5-6 minced garlic gloves
2 teaspoon sweet chili sauce
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
2 teaspoon hoisin sauce
3 teaspoon corn starch

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced thin
Canola oil
1 package broccoli slaw
1 cup cooked brown rice

Directions:
~For the sauce - Add all the ingredients in a screw top jar and shake to combine. For a ticker sauce, add corn starch by the teaspoon until desired thickness. Set aside.

~ In a large skillet over medium high heat, brown the chicken in oil until cooked through. Add the sauce, bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Cook 2-3 minutes until the sauce has thickened. Add broccoli slaw and toss to combine.

~ Serve with cooked brown rice.

recipe by: The Good Wife

Am I going to be THAT mom?

So, I think I am going to be *that* mom. You know, the one you roll your eyes at b/c she will do anything for her preshus little snowflake.

See the problem we have here:

"A ... B... C... D... E... F... G... H...?" Where the hell is the I?

I think the I actually ended up in the garbage accidentally. But if it didn't, it has disappeared completely from the house. So how do I fix this? Should I fix it?

Does it make any difference that The Good Daughter probably doesn't give two shits the I is missing? She can already say and point out which one I is anyway, so we don't need it as a learning tool the way we need the J or the C.

But still there is a gaping hole where the I should be. And I have kinda missed hearing the little tune, "Every letter makes a sound. I says eye and eh" when you put the letter in the doghouse.

So I either let it go and chalk it up to the fact that kids lose toys or that I should have been more careful about picking them up every night so I would know when I went missing and I could have checked the garbage before trash day.

Or, I will do what *that* mom does, which is to search the internets for a replacement I and spend more on the one letter you lost than you did on the entire toy in the first place.

Which one do you think I will be?

Mashed Cauliflower Do Over

I've made mashed cauliflower before. But I didn't use a recipe and it turned out only ok. This time I used a recipe.

I found this recipe from The Novice Chef and used it as a guideline.

And the results were amazing. I think this will become the standard recipe in The Good Household.

Ingredients:
1 head cauliflower, diced
Chicken Stock
1 shallot
2-3 garlic cloves
1/4 cup shredded cheese, I used an Italian blend
1/2 cup light sour cream
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:
~In a large stock pot over high heat, add cauliflower and enough chicken stock to completely cover the cauliflower. Bring to a boil and boil for 8 minutes or until tender. Drain and set aside.

~In a food processor, process the remaining ingredients until desired consistency, careful not to over-process. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve immediately.

recipe modified from: The Novice Chef

We have a winner!

Congratulations to Sharon! She was the winner of the $35 gift code from CSN stores.

Thank you to everyone that entered and thanks to CSN stores for allowing me to give you guys some free stuff.

Do you want some free stuff?

I'm pleased to announce another CSN stores giveaway! One of you will win a $35 gift code from CSN stores.

CSN stores have over 200 stores that will help you find the perfect recessed lighting, the sweetest modern furniture and, of course, the best cookware.

But there are over 200+ CSN stores, so you can buy almost anything.

How to score the gift code:
Just comment on this post. That's it. Tell me I am awesome or that I suck. It doesn't matter. Each comment is a separate entry, so enter as many times as you want. Either include your email address somewhere in your comment or link with a way for me to contact you.

Score more entries:
~Become a follower of the blog and post telling me who you are

~Follow me on Twitter and tweet this. Tweet, "$35 gift code giveaway from @thegoodwifeblog & @csnstores http://tinyurl.com/5vjgwb #giveaway". Leave a comment with a link to your status.

~Like me on Facebook - The Good Wife Blog. Leave me a comment telling me you did.

~Post about this giveaway on your blog or elsewhere. Leave a comment with a link.

Good Luck!

Please note: This is open to residents in the US and Canada only. There may be shipping charges or in the case of Canadian readers, international fees, for certain products. Giveaway ends March 20th at midnight. I'll use random.org to pick a winner and I will email the winner. If I do not hear back within 48 hours a new winner will be picked. I will then email the winner the $35 gift code. If I do not have an email address for you, you cannot win.

Disclaimer: I was not compensated in any way for this giveaway.