Crab Cakes - Recipe #110

We have a crab pot for Rock Lobster, so for the last few years, Trent has gotten his shellfish license, gone down to Shilshole, dropped the pot and returned with either Red Rock crabs or Dungeness or a combination. While normally we just enjoy a crab boil, on days where the yield is especially high, I'll save some crab meat for this Simply Recipes recipe. This year was a little busier than usual, so we never got the shellfish license. With as expensive as crab is, I typically don't purchase it from the grocery store - but the Challenge called, so off I headed to PCC for 1/2 lb. of crab (at $35.99 per pound, I decided not to make a full recipe, though there was a very sad sigh from Trent when he learned that there were no leftovers). On the up side, it was far less time-consuming to make these when the meat has already been extracted from the shells. Fresh bread crumbs add to the deliciousness of the recipe, though I'm always afraid that I'll wear out the food processor motor, as I did to my chopper-grinder the last time I ground gingersnaps for cabbage rolls.

Crab Cakes

• 1 lb. crab
• 1/2 stick butter (1 T & 3 T)
• 1/2 cup shallots
• 1 tsp. kosher salt (divided)
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp. sweet paprika
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 2 T. tartar
• 1 tsp. lemon zest
• 1/4 tsp. Tabasco sauce
• 2 T. parsley
• 2 cups bread (crusts removed)
• 2/3 cup fresh breadcrumbs

Heat butter, shallots, 1/2 tsp. salt. Cook until translucent Whisk remaining ingredients. Fold in crab and bread. Make 12 patties 2 1/4¨ x 3/4¨. Place on rimmed tray with Silpat, sprinkled with half of the breadcrumbs. Place the other half on top. Cover loosely. Chill at least 1 hr. Heat 3 T. butter in a large non-stick pan on med. high heat. Cook in uncrowded pan, approx. 3 min. each side.

Cheese-Mushroom Fingers - Recipe 109

Another recipe from my mother-in-law. I've made this several times as an appetizer, but it had been languishing in my recipe for a while since the last time I made it. I had made a double (or was it a triple?) recipe for an event and there were leftovers upon leftovers to the point where I couldn't make myself get excited about eating any more. I came this close to recycling it, but I'm glad I didn't. While it still makes a great appetizer, its resemblance to quiche makes an even better breakfast heated up in the toaster oven or mid-morning snack. And I got wise this time and made just a half recipe in a 9x9 baking dish. My ¨green¨ peppers that I ordered from my CSA ended up purple (but no less delicious) and my cottage cheese from PCC ended up being all curds and no whey, which probably helped the texture.

Cheese-Mushroom Fingers

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 lb. mushrooms, sliced
• 1 lg. onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 lg. green pepper

Saute mushrooms, onion and garlic in butter until soft. Add pepper and cook a minute more. Set aside.

• 10 eggs
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. dried basil
• 2 cups small curd cottage cheese
• 4 cups shredded Jack cheese
• 3/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 3/4 tsp. salt

Beat eggs. Then mix in the other ingredients until blended. Add the mushroom mixture.

Put into greased 10"x 15¨ jelly roll pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 min. or until firm.

Cool at least 15 min. before cutting into 3/4¨ x 2¨ fingers. Serve warm or at room temperature. Refrigerate up to 2 days. Freezes well.

Grilled Pork Tenderloin - Recipe #108

I hate grilling - but I love pork tenderloin, so it is no surprise that while I kept this recipe from Trent's mom, I never had made it before the Recipe Challenge. I adore the smell of lighter fluid and charcoal together (though I know it is probably not the best for me), but I can never seem to get them to actually light - or if I do, I don't have the patience for the coals to glow with heat. So I was a little nervous having this as one of my final recipes in the month of October, always iffy grilling weather. Fortunately, we have had a lovely early autumn and I had a willing grill-er/sous chef in Trent. I did have to make one substitution - I could not find guava jelly anywhere, so I substituted red pepper jelly. Delish! I served some of the leftover marinade sauce on a salmon burger.

Grilled Pork Tenderloin

Brine:

• 1 1/2 Tbs. salt
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 cups boiling water
• 2 cups cold water

Stir salt and sugar in boiling water to dissolve, then add cold water. Add meat and brine in refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Rub:

• 3 Tbs. Spanish paprika
• 1 Tbs. cumin
• 2 tsp. ground fennel
• 1 Tbs. ground mustard
• 2 tsp. salt
• coarse black pepper

Mix spices together and rub into meat, then coat with olive oil. Grill meat 5 to 6 min. per side over med. hot coals, turning 1/4 turn each time, and basting with glaze often.

Glaze:

• 1 cup guava jelly
• 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• salt & pepper

Reserve some glaze for serving, adding cilantro.

Frozen Cranberry-Pineapple Salad - Recipe #107

I can't decide whether to count this as a dessert or a salad. This is a Thanksgiving classic from Trent's mom. The first time I prepared it, I brought it to my grandmother's for dinner. My family seemed excited to try it until they learned there was sour cream in it (who knows what their bias is - sour cream makes it like a delicious creamsicle). For the challenge, I prepared just a half recipe, taking advantage of the half can of pineapple leftover from the carrot cake and the sour cream leftover from the sour cream horseradish sauce and Beef Stroganoff.

Frozen Cranberry-Pineapple Salad 

• 1 can crushed pineapple (1#, 4oz.), drained
• 1 can cranberry sauce
• 1 c. sour cream
• 1/4 c. coarsely chopped pecans

Thoroughly mix all ingredients. Freeze at least 3 hours until firm. Allow to sit at room temp. for a few min. before cutting.

Kristy's Yummy Butternut Squash Soup - Recipe #106

Another delicious recipe from my bridal shower. This was the first time, I'd made it because 1) Trent doesn't care for squash and 2) it is a pain to peel squash. Well, though I avoided any injury, it is painful to peel the squash, so next time I'll likely purchase a pre-cut Trader Joe's bag o' squash, rather than painstakingly hacking away at my CSA beauty. I had a teeny-tiny squash that only made two-cups worth of cubed squash so I only made one-third of a recipe - just a perfect individual size recipe. Even with only one cube of bouillon, it was fairly salty, so I will probably make it in homemade veggie broth next time. Yum, yum, yummy.

Kristy's Yummy Butternut Squash Soup

• 6 tbls. chopped onion
• 1 tbs. margarine (I used butter)
• 6 cups peeled and cubed butternut squash
• 3 cups water
• 4 cubes chicken bouillon
• 1/2 tsp. dried marjoram
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1/8 tsp. ground cayenne pepper
• 1 3 oz. package cream cheese

In a large saucepan, saute onions in margarine until tender. Add squash, water, bouillon, marjoram, black pepper and cayenne pepper. Bring to boil; cook 20 minutes or until squash is tender.

Puree squash and cream cheese in a blender or food processor in batches until smooth. Return to saucepan and heat through. Do not boil.

(Note reads: This is my FAVORITE on a cold evening! :))

Carrot Cake - Recipe #105

Oh carrot cake, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. For the carrots and pineapple, that make thee feel virtuous; for the moist texture resulting from said carrots and pineapple; and most of all, for thy cream cheese frosting.

It was a bit alarming to have a cake in the final 10 without a corresponding social event to share it at, so I chose to make a half batch in an oblong pan. Without layers to frost, I probably could have made a third of a recipe of frosting, but I played it safe, thus providing suitable quantities for bowl-licking. And we did tempt one friend to come over for carrot cake and rum after a late night showing of The Martian (so good, but so much tiredness the next day - we are now reading the book aloud together).

This is another of the recipes that I received from Trent's mom one Christmas.

Carrot Cake

Mix together:

• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp. soda
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. cinnamon

Stir in and beat well:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 cups veg. oil
• 4 eggs

Add and mix well:

• 2 cups finely grated carrots
• 1 can drained crushed pineapple
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts

Pour into three 9¨ pans or 1 oblong and one round, well greased. Bake for 35 to 40 min. at 350 degrees.

Frosting:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 lb. powdered sugar

Mix butter, cream cheese, and vanilla, then add the sugar, mixing slowly at first.

Thursday Thought

“Learning – by definition – will always feel inauthentic. Practicing a new behavior, showing up in a new way, or acting differently, feels inauthentic. Changing a dance that’s been danced many times before will never feel natural. It will feel awkward, fake, like pretending.”

Peter Bregman “A Simple Formula for Changing Our Behavior”, Harvard Business Review

I don't know why this resonated with me when I read it earlier this week. Perhaps because I never thought I was the kind of person who would read the Harvard Business Review regularly - at a point in time, it would have been ¨inauthentic¨, but now I look forward to finding new articles in my blog feed. Or the fact that my first day on the job as an Assistant Managing Librarian, I felt a bit like a fraud. It's not just imposter syndrome, it is that when we learn, we are doing the things that don't just come naturally to us - whether in work or in life.