Surprise Party Crabcakes

Sorry I’ve been on hiatus a while, glad Jessie has been keeping you all updated with her exploits. With the weekly heatwaves many of us have been heading towards the water for some much needed R&R. I spent yesterday on a catamaran out to Sheffield Island in Norwalk, CT. It was gorgeous and so relaxing.  With the seaside, comes fish, fried fish, chowder, bisque, and my favorite, crab cakes. ( I ate 3 out of 5 for dinner last night)  I came across this recipe for crab cakes while testing for an upcoming cookbook. This is with my personal revisions, and it’s delicious. Jessie and I made these for my father’s surprise party a few weeks ago and I have gotten nothing but enthusiasm.

The surprise party went really really well. Jessie and I made a delicious Arnold Palmer (I’m sure she’ll post that recipe later), pasta salad, pulled chicken tacos and lemon goat cheese crostinis. He was genuinely surprised, and even with the slight rain there were still smiles all around. The food got rave reviews from all. For future parties Jessie and I decided we will always make these crab cakes, everyone asked us for the recipe.. and finally here it is!

Surprise!!

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Zucchini Fritters and a Vacation

So I’m off to Seattle and Portland!  I’ll be in the Northwest for 8 days, back in New York for one day, and then up in New England to spend a few days at the beach with my Nana, Auntie, and Mum.  I’ll be back in August with lots new recipes inspired by my trip.

For now I’ll leave you with a recipe for zucchini fritters.  As I’ve mentioned before, eating all of the vegetables that come in our CSA basket every week has been a challenge.  A fun and rewarding challenge, but a challenge nonetheless.  I’m not used to eating so healthy and some nights I’m not in the mood for another really vegetable-y dinner.  This recipe is primarily zucchini, but the pan frying and addition of cheese makes feel like more of a treat than another stir-fry.

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No Bake Cheesecake Two Ways: Black Currant and Oreo

Last week we received black currants and gooseberries with our CSA.  In our weekly email explaining our upcoming share we received this warning about currants, “They really stink like sweaty socks pre-cooked but are a knock-out once cooked!”  Hmm…I realized I would need to do some research on how to use these.  Since I only had a pint of each, I thought it would be fun to use some ramekins and make two little cobblers.  Then it got hot again and I was hesitant to turn the oven on for an hour for something I wasn’t sure I’d like. Read the rest of this entry »

Chocolate-Covered Peanut Butter Krispies

So it’s really hot in New York.  Really, really, really hot.  Just terribly hot.  And it’s going to be hot for 10 days.  There are a lot of terrible things about the heat.  Being outside is miserable.  Being inside can also be miserable (my office likes to crank the AC so high that it’s like working inside a walk-in refrigerator).  You feel tired before you even make it to the end of your block.  What do I usually do when I’m miserable?  I bake.  Not when it’s 99°.  That’s where no bake recipes come in.  And these chocolate-covered peanut butter krispies are definitely the best no-bake dessert I’ve made this year. Read the rest of this entry »

CSA Week 3, 4, and 5

In addition to the veggies I got meat and jam from Lewis Waite farm.

The variety of vegetables we’ve received over the past few weeks has increased dramatically.  In addition to greens, we’ve gotten carrrots, zucchini, kohlrab, beets, brocolli, dill, parsley, cippolini onions and fennel.  It’s a lot of food and there have been moments when I was overwhelmed.  To be honest before I joined the CSA if I ate one serving of vegetables per day – it was a good day.  Now to keep up I have to eat at least 4 servings EVERY day.

I thought the dirt on these carrots was really exciting. Pat found it gross.

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Mixed Berry Terrine

I’ve wanted to try this recipe for a long time, and the stars finally aligned this weekend.  Berries were incredibly cheap at my local fruit stand and we were cursed with a heat wave in New York City which made turning the oven on impossible.  I’m really disappointed I couldn’t get a better picture of this terrine.  It’s delicious and the picture above really doesn’t do it justice. Read the rest of this entry »