My New Secret Ingredient

Dry sherry!
It is what is missing in all creamy sauces! It gives cream of crab soup that awesome kick that separates it from other cream soups, until now. From this day forward it goes in all my cream soups, and or sauces.

Awesome Quick Mushroom Cream Sauce (that tastes super fancy):

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1/2 soup can whole milk

1/2 teaspoon chicken stock paste

1 clove garlic (minced)

2 tablespoons minced onion

3 tablespoons butter

2 fresh basil leaves

2-4 fresh oregano leaves

3 fresh parsley leaves

splash dry sherry (or a couple splashes)

Melt butter, add onion and garlic. Saute. Add soup and milk and chicken stock paste. then chop herb leaves into sauce add splash of dry sherry.
I poured it over ravioli, shredded some mozzarella cheese over it then sprinkled with bread crumbs and baked at 350 for 30 min.

This one was a last minute experiment so I didn't take pictures as I went but here is the final product:

Since I started this post I have used my new secret sauce on smoked chicken and mushroom crepes, and an experimental casserole based on the filling used for oyster's bienville. 

(Which is a creamy shrimp and mushroom sauce) Both were awesome!

How to make homemade birthday invites and get your kid to do most of the work!

Bubba loves to color!
His artistic sensibilities inspired me to let him "make" his own birthday party invitations this year.
First I gave him a blank 3 x 5 index card and a box of crayons, once he decided he was done with a picture I gave him another card. He made three or four of them at a sitting. I started about two weeks before I wanted to mail them out.

Sure he is happy here, but those last couple of invites were tough. He really likes coloring books better than blank index cards. I bribed him with the prospect of being able to color in a "grown up" kitchen table chair vs his high chair to finish up the batch.  :)

Beautiful!

Then I printed out the party info and glued it on the back with a glue stick.
Now I just have to teach him to glue the party info to the back and address the envelopes and I won't have to do anything. I guess there is always next year ;)

My Favorite Soup in the World!

Before we were that crazy family who saved mice from the garage, or the crazy couple with a bunch of cats, we were the crazy hermit crab couple. How we became these hermit crab owners isn't as good a story as how we stopped being hermit crab owners.
This post seems to be going in an odd direction... when do I talk about soup?!
Let me explain. My favorite soup in the world is Cream of Crab Soup, but in recent years I  can't help but associate cream of crab soup with hermit crabs. A Maryland favorite, almost every restaurant on the Eastern Shore serves Maryland Blue Crab Cream of Crab Soup. I grew up in Maryland, vacationing in a beach town called Ocean City, the perfect beach town with a board walk that had a carnival at the end of it. On the board walk they sold the best caramel corn, french fries and soft shell crab sandwiches, and of course tourist shops which sold T-shirts and hermit crabs about every 10 feet. My brother and I always wanted them, but my parents steered us away from the cages filled with colorful shells. Now I know why. Don't get me wrong, they are great, easy going pets. But there are a lot of things you don't know about the care of hermit crabs. For detailed info please visit this forum. My shortest explanation is hermit crabs are social creatures and always need a buddy. (THIS IS THE IMPORTANT PART) You get two hermit crabs, knowing they are social and bring them home from the beach, you give them the perfect aquarium home with toys and food and even fresh coconut meat as a treat. Then one dies. What do you do? They are social they need a buddy. So you go to PetCo to find him a new friend. And the vicious cycle begins....
The only way out of the cycle is to find a new home for your last remaining crabby, and that is where the forum comes in. They have a section to match crabbies with new adopting families. After deciding we could not participate in the cycle any longer we searched for a home for our last remaining crabby. Shortly after we made the post we were contacted by a woman whose son had several happy hermit crabs. We know because she provided pictures. The drop off time and location was set, it would be the next Saturday morning at a McDonald's between our towns. (You can't make this stuff up.) The drop off went off with out a hitch, and our crabby was happy in his new home with new buddies, again we know that because pictures were provided.

How does all of this relate to awesome soup you ask? After owning our little crabbies I realized some of the smallest creatures still have personalities. Some hermit crabs are shy, some are out going and some are just dicks. We actually had one that was. We described him as  Benny- the dick. He was mean to all the other crabs. But we also had two that were best buddies and hung out in the same corner of the cage, and followed each other around. Here they are together:

Anyway enough hermit crab politics. It is enough to realize that they are more than we think. Which makes me feel bad about eating my favorite soup. Since it is made of crab. But I love it so much! So I just buy prepackaged crab meat, and try not to think about my little buddies.
Now on to the soup!

First you'll need to make the crab stock, since it is impossible to find prepackaged. This I had my Dad do at his house the night before and he brought it up the next day with all the other supplies. To make it you can by some blue crab parts and simmer in a pot for an hour or so.

Strain out all the shell bits and stuff through a coffee filter.
(It looks a sort of weird grayish blue color, that doesn't seem appetizing but trust me it make a big difference in the flavor of the final product.)

Then you'll need:

1 stick butter

1/2 cup flour

2 cups crab stock

1 pint light cream

1 teaspoon chicken stock paste

1 lb lump crab meat

old bay and white pepper to taste

1/2 cup dry sherry

And if you want to get really fancy:

soft shell crabs (as many as bowls of soup you'll need. this recipe makes about 6)

egg

flour

panko crumbs

Make roux with butter and flour. First melt butter then stir in flour.

Then add the cream and the crab stock,

And the Old Bay

And most importantly the lump crab meat

A bit of chicken stock paste

And a little dry sherry,

Maybe a little more...

Mix it up well then cover and keep on low heat to keep warm while you make the fried soft shells.

Here they are! 

First coat them in flour,

Then beaten eggs

And finally panko bread crumbs

Let rest in a pan to give the bread crumbs a chance to stick

Then fry in hot canola oil

Til golden brown

Place the fried soft shell crab into a bowl of soup and garnish with fresh parsley.

Delicious!

At the time Bubba refuse to try the soup and the fried crabs, so did my brother Tim, who hates seafood. Instead they shared Tim's famous smoked ribs.
Though in recent weeks Bubba has started eating fish sticks and will try most smooth soups, so maybe next time he'll get to enjoy my favorite soup in the world!

The Grill

My grill was scheduled to be delivered. I had picked out a dual function gas grill/ smoker grill. The morning it was supposed to be delivered, I got a call. The weirdest call I've ever gotten from a delivery company. Here's how it went:

Them: "Hi, we have a grill for you."

Me: "Ok. The email said it would be delivered today."

Them: "Tomorrow. Maybe. Is there a guy there?"

Me: "What do you mean "a guy" ?"

Them: "Or a fork lift?"

Me: "What?!"

Them: "We don't have a hydrolic truck for two weeks so we needed a guy or something to get the grill out of the truck."

Me: "Are you serious?"

Them: "Yes."

Me: "How heavy is this thing?"

Them: "It says 150 lbs on the box."

Me: "Oh, I'll help him get it out then. That isn't that heavy."

The next day the grill came, no problem. My husband happened to be home by the time it got delivered, and the guy didn't even want help bringing the box in! Assembling it was a trick though. It took my husband and I all of nap time to put it together. (which is about three hours)
My first meal cooked on the grill was burgers, not very inventive but I'm still learning this whole grill thing. My second grill meal was  a bit more creative: chicken, bell pepper and mushroom naan pizzas, and shrimp scampi naan pizzas. First I pre-made the naan.

Chicken, bell pepper mushroom topping:

1/4 red pepper

1/4 green pepper

1/8 cup onion

1 clove garlic

1/2 cup cooked chicken

 (I used some smoked chicken my brother made on his grill for Bubba)

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon parsley

1/2 teaspoon basil

grated parmesan cheese

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

Shrimp Scampi topping:

1/4 cup onion

2 cloves garlic

1 cup shrimp

small splash lemon juice

small splash white wine

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon parsley

1/2 teaspoon basil

grated parmesan cheese

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

For the chicken pizza saute the onions, garlic, red and green pepper and mushroom a couple of minutes, then take off the heat and add the spices then the chicken  mix well then let it sit in the fridge to settle.

For the scampi saute the onions and garlic lightly, then add the splash of wine, then the lemon juice. Take off the heat and add the pre cooked shrimp and the spices. Mix well and sit in the fridge to settle.

Put the toppings on the naan.

Then add the cheese.

Gently put them on the grill, pre heated to 350. Cook for about 5 minutes or til the cheese melts.

They were delicious, almost like wood fired pizza. A little crispy on the bottom, but I'm getting the hang of it. Next I'll have to master the smoker size of the grill.

Curry Meatloaf with Homemade Curry Yogurt Sauce

Complete with Uncle Tim's Samosas, Naan and Grandma's Pumpkin Bread for dessert!

My family came up to visit and since the snow finally melted and it has warmed up around here they brought Bubba some of the outside toys so he will have something to play with besides rock and sticks, not that we don't love our rocks and sticks.  He was so excited, he stayed out for almost two hours!

The next day, still loving the new outdoor toys!

On to the Curry Meatloaf! The third in my series of experimental meat loafs.

1 can chickpeas (drained and rinsed)

1 cup peas and carrots mix (thawed)

1/4 onion (finely chopped)

2 cloves garlic (finely chopped)

1 lb ground turkey

2 eggs

1/4 teaspoon tumeric

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1 1/2 teaspoon curry powder

1/8 teaspoon red pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon cumin

I smashed 1/2 the chick peas so they would blend through the meat better.

Add the onion and garlic

Then the peas and carrots

And finally the meat, eggs and spices

Mix well

This makes a larger loaf them my other meatloaf recipes, almost takes up the whole crock pot. It was really hard to get out and came out in pieces, not pretty. 

So I only did a picture of the finished plate.

Also, I was preoccupied while making the yogurt curry sauce, so I didn't take pictures. And I was kinda winging it so the measurements should be pretty accurate, but you may need a pinch more of this or that to get it right.

Curry Yogurt Sauce:

Here are our "after the fact" ingredient estimations:

1 clove garlic (minced)

1/2 onion (minced)

1/4 cup (or a splash) of white wine (I used Pinot Grigio)

1 teaspoon chicken stock base (I use Better than Bullion brand)

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup greek yogurt

1- 1 1/2 teaspoons corn starch

2 teaspoons curry powder

generous sprinkles of the following:

cumin

tumeric

paprika

red pepper

First saute the onions and garlic. Once you start to smell them cooking ( a couple minutes) add the splash of wine. Wait for it to sizzle a minute or two then add the water and chicken stock, then the spices. Mix everything well then add the yogurt. Blend well and get the sauce back up to a nice warm temp, a light simmer. Do not boil. 

Add the corn starch to thicken it up and take off the heat.

Here is the final product, going counter clockwise: Curry Meat loaf with the yogurt curry sauce, a vegetable medley of cauliflower, carrot, red pepper, onions and peas (also with the curry sauce), naan, and samosa balls (so much better than the pyramid, or dog biscuit shaped ones). The Samosas were served with Patak's brand Major Grey Chutney, which is mango ginger flavor. Next time I may experiment with "icing" the meatloaf with the chutney, like I did with the refried beans for my Nacho Meatloaf.