Crab Cakes

Rachel's birthday dinner request!

1/4 cup finely chopped celery
1/4 cup finely diced onions
1/4 cup pimento chopped
1/3 cup capers
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp parsley
1 tsp minced garlic
juice of a lemon
1 egg beaten
1/2 tsp seafood seasoning
1 pound lump crab cake
1/2 tsp dijohn mustard
1 cup to 1 and 1/2 cups bread crumbs
Use enough for it to stay together but you don't want too much.
Mix it all together in a bowl and then shape into flattened fist sized balls. Bake on lightly sprayed cookie sheet for 8-10 minutes at 350. The alternative way to cook them is to saute in a frying pan with butter. Dad prefers the baking way.
Eat with or without cocktail sauce. He has basically combined three recipes here, just adding to the first recipe other stuff that sounds yummy in them. So, if you don't have one ingredient, don't panic. Like the pimentos. Just make them without them. They are really glorified meat loaf only with crab instead of hamburger, get it? The egg keeps all the yummy stuff together that compliments the crab and the very best crab cakes have more crab and less bread crumbs and other stuff. Don't mush up the crab. Mix all the other stuff together and then add the crab at the end to leave some big chunks!

wheat banana bread

I love this recipe because it is super moist and it has half whole wheat flour and not too much sugar. It is sooo good! I also use raw cane sugar which you can buy at Trader Joes or Costco and I think most grocery stores sell it now because it is much better for you since it isn't refined and processed. It also tastes great!

1 cup flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 baking soda
2 eggs
5 tbsps butter at room temp
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 tsp lemon juice
5 large really ripe bananas (sometimes I only have 4 and it is just fine)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup pecans or walnuts coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl sift or mix flour, wheat flour, baking powder and baking soda. Reserve.

In a bowl of an electric mixer, food processor, or blender, add eggs, butter, buttermilk, lemon juice, bananas, sugar, and salt.

Mix or blend until smooth. Slowly add dry ingredients. Fold in nuts. Pour batter into greased pan. Spread top so batter is evenly spread out. Bake for 1 hour and 25 minutes. I never have to cook it this long so just check after about an hour and see if a toothpick comes out clean when poked into the center.

Serve warm with butter.

Chicken veggie noodle soup

I just threw this together the other night and it turned out really yummy. It is kind of like a mix between chicken noodle soup and minestrone soup.

handful and a half of baby carrots chopped in big chuncks
3 celery ribs chopped
1 large onion chopped
1 zucchini chopped
1 summer squash chopped
2 tbsp minced garlic
2 cartons chicken broth or enough to cover
1 can 16 oz diced tomatoes and their juices
1/4 cup chopped fresh italian (flat leaf) parsley
salt and pepper to taste
garlic and onion powder to taste
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 cup white cooking wine
wheat egg noodles (as much as desired)
shredded cooked chicken

Place all the chopped veggies and the garlic in a pot. Cover with chicken broth. Bring to boil. Add cooking wine. Turn heat down to medium and keep a rolling boil for a couple minutes. Add fresh parsley, can of tomatoes, seasonings. Bring to boil again and then turn down to simmer. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Turn heat back up to med-high and bring back to boil. Add noodles and chicken. Cover and simmer until noodles are tender, about 15-20 more minutes. Enjoy!

Tip: I had bought a rotisserie chicken a couple days before that I used for a chicken salad and had a lot of shredded chicken leftover from that, so that is what I used. You can used whatever kind of chicken you want, but I liked the texture of the shredded chicken since the soup is already really chunky. Plus if you use a rotisserie chicken you can cut out the step of cooking your own chicken.