Dungeness Crab Cakes & Game Meat - Feeding Myself Suppers – Part 2

Dungeness Crab Cakes

When the freezer failed and we had to touch everything, I discovered a two year old package of Dungeness Crab that I was sure would need to be trashed, but I decided to thaw it anyway.  To my surprise the flavor was still good but it was a little tough – so I chopped it into smaller pieces.  I looked around on line and found a simple recipe for crab cakes that included everything I had on-hand except celery and I adapted it for my 10 ounces of crab to get the recipe below.

Salmon Omelet - Feeding Myself Breakfasts – Part 2

Hash Browns, Gravy, And Eggs

Since the Amish Casserole didn’t use all of the package of hash browns and the pan was already dirty, I decided to go ahead and fry them up with some onions for later use and this day I had them for breakfast.  Since they were already fully cooked, I just gave them a quick fry in a hot pan to crisp up both sides.  After plating, I topped with some of the reheated sausage fond gravy and a couple of fried eggs.

I think the word awesome comes to mind for this breakfast.  I mixed the little gravy that was left with some dog food and the pups had a breakfast treat as well – I believe they thought it was awesome too.

Salmon, Spinach, And Cheddar Omelet

After two supper meals, I had one piece of salmon left and I decided to have it for breakfast.  I went on line and found this recipe from Fitness Magazine that included ingredients that I had on hand and needed to be used.  Since it was for two servings, I cut it in half to get the one below.

Salmon, Spinach, And Cheddar Omelet

Ingredients:

½ tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

½ small clove garlic, finely chopped (about 1/2 tsp)

1½ cups baby spinach, packed (I ended up with about half this much)

S&P to taste

5 ounces cooked salmon, flaked (I nuked to warm it)

½ tablespoon unsalted butter

3 eggs, lightly beaten

¼ cup grated cheddar cheese (I used sliced)

Directions:

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.

Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds.

Add the spinach and cook, tossing, until wilted, 2 to 3 minutes.

Season with S&P

1. In a small bowl, combine the spinach with the salmon. (I didn't do this)

2. Wipe out the skillet and melt the butter over medium-high heat. (I didn't do this either)

3. Season the eggs with salt and pepper. (I did this)

Note: I changed the cooking directions to suit the way I like to cook omelets.

4. Pour the eggs into the skillet and swirl the pan so they spread out and add a glass lid.

5. When the top is about set add the cheese to one half of the eggs, followed by the salmon and spinach and return the lid until the eggs have set on the other half.

6. Slide the omelet onto a plate, stuffed side first, and use the pan to fold the bare egg side over the filling as you do. Serve immediately.

It was outstanding and when you order a salmon omelet at my place you get salmon – the original recipe called for one ounce vs. my five ounces.  I might back off to three ounces but never to just one.  I think I’d also put cheese on both halves next time.  Maybe mine was really a salmon fillet with eggs wrapped around it.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

11/25/17 Meal Date

Baked Seafood - Feeding Myself Suppers – Part 1

In the previous post, I covered some of my breakfast meals and this one will be about suppers. 

While moving the freezer stuff around (after it quit working), I discovered a package of four salmon filet pieces that I thought we had, but couldn’t find, and decided to cook them for a couple of meals.  I found a recipe on line using oil, garlic and lemon, but since I’ve always liked to use mayo in lieu of oil, I modified it to get this.

Baked Salmon

Ingredients:

4 servings of salmon fillet

S&P to taste

Mayo to cover

Couple of teaspoons of minced garlic

Lemon and lime slices

Sprinkle of dried dill

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a 4 sided baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place the salmon in the middle of the foil.

2. S&P the salmon and add a layer of mayo.

3. Sprinkle on some dried or fresh dill

4. Top with sliced lemon or lime.

4. Cover the pan with foil

5. Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until the salmon flakes easily with a fork.

We had a couple of part bags of Yukon Gold and red potatoes that were sprouting and needed to be cooked so I peeled and boiled them all.  While taking out the dogs, I discovered some fresh parsley that survived last night’s freeze so I decided to have parsley potatoes for this meal.

As I see it, a typical meal often includes an appetizer, main course of protein, starch, and vegetable, and a dessert but I changed it up a little.  For an appetizer, I had a glass of wine (aperitif), and my main course was protein, starch, and fruit rather than vegetable in the form of fermented grape juice, and for dessert I just had a second piece of salmon.  If you work hard enough, anything can be justified.

Baked Catfish

While we are both carnivores, Bev is the one who wants meat for nearly every meal and that means beef, pork or chicken.  I’m more likely to be okay with meatless meals and I’m definitely more of a fish lover than her, so you will see several fish/seafood meals from me while she is gone. 

When we were in New England a few years ago, one of the restaurant dishes I really enjoyed was haddock baked in an individual serving dish so I decided to try and replicate it using catfish – any white fish works.  One of the key ingredients is a crisp topping to go along with herbs and spices. 

I went on line and found two recipes that when combined seemed a good place to start and I ended up with this – since I ate only the fish, I considered this as one serving.

Ingredients:

12 oz catfish fillets (2 pieces)

½ cup unseasoned panko bread crumbs

4 T butter melted

Old Bay seasoning to taste

2 T grated parmesan

2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350°F.

2. Add about a tablespoon of melted butter (or more) to a baking dish and arrange the catfish in a single layer.

3. To the fish, sprinkle with S&P, Old Bay, and parsley.

4. Mix the Panko, 3T melted butter, and Parmesan in a bowl and spread evenly over the fish.

5. Bake 15 minutes, then broil until the topping is browned.

I thought it was very good but with a tad too much parsley.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

11/22/17 Meal Date

Amish Breakfast Casserole - Feeding Myself Breakfasts – Part 1

Bev, Pat (SIL), Cindy, and Pat (neighbor) piled in the car and headed to Marco Island for their annual trek to the beach and as usual I’m dog sitting and looking after myself.  While they all tried to pack lite, the back of the Buick (back row of seats folded down) was almost completely full but I didn’t think about a pic until they had left.  

Ten days into their two weeks, I will be driving the motor home down along with my buddy, Joe, acting as navigator, extra road watcher, and dog wrangler then everyone but Pat and Bev will fly home (about $50 on Allegient) and we will hang around Florida for a while. 

Often times, Bev will cook me some dishes before she leaves, but since I’ve been in a cooking mood lately, I advised her not to bother and I would cook for myself.  A couple of days prior to her departure, our freezer quit working and we moved everything out until we could get it fixed (turned out to be a blocked drain).  Since we touched everything in the freezer moving it out and back (re-organized) I knew what all was available to me for the week.

Reheated Chicken Pepperoni And A Funny

My last post was about Chicken Pepperoni and it ended with how I froze them. 

Chicken Pepperoni Ala Kelly

Back in 1980, Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase made a really cute movie named “Seems Like Old Times” and one of the things that got played up in the movie was a dish called Chicken Pepperoni.  I’m not sure it even existed prior to the movie but there are now several recipes for it and we’ve made one of them previously.

We decided we’d like to make it again and I found a write up about the movie that included a recipe for the dish on Kelly's "Wildflour's Cottage Kitchen" blog, so we decided to give it a try – be sure to click on the link for a background of the dish, the original recipe, and some great shots.  Here is one of Kelly’s pics showing the single recipe.

Introducing Eliza Margaret Ware

With eight grandchildren and supposed no plans for any more, 41 year old daughter, Wende, threw in a major surprise – guess what, I’m pregnant.  And one week ago, tomorrow, 7# Eliza entered the world about 30 minutes after they got to the hospital – nearly a car front seat birth.

On her 5^th day, we drove over to Oak Ridge to meet Eliza and see Wende’s new home. Talk about some major life changes in just a few months – fortunately, Wende’s mom is there to help out. 

While Eliza slept for our entire visit, we have a few shots to show.

Red Lion Inn Swordfish (Crappie)

I’ve always enjoyed her recipes and I’d been wanting some fish so when newly minted Chef Lea Ann posted the recipe for Red Lion Inn Swordfish on her Cooking On The Ranch blog, I knew we had to try it – we like everything with lemon-butter-caper sauce.  Be sure to click the link for the original recipe and I borrowed this photo from her blog to show her version - always a better pic than mine.

Wine Club Soup Bar

It was our turn to host our wine group and since it was the last day of October (Halloween), we opted for a very fallish menu and made up a soup bar.  We asked others to bring the appetizer, salad, and dessert along with their bottle of wine so we ended up with this menu:

Red Assaritas as an aperitif

Appetizers

Salad with wine of choice

Soups with wine of choice

Homemade Limoncello as after dinner drink (digestif)

Dessert 

We served four very different soups from our serving area - the triple slow cooker comes in very handy.