Crab Cakes

Sometimes it's hard to try to find a balance during the holiday season. I find that many of my friends are buckling down with the finances during this time of year. Whether they are saving to buy holiday presents or beginning to plan for their vacation people are thinking a little more strategically. Of course, being more fiscally conservative is a good thing.

We follow the same pattern in my home but the one area where we seem to go crazy is with food. Yeah, but you would not have guessed that. Many years ago we realized we went a little food crazy during the holidays. Since then we've put or planned a little extra on the side so we could enjoy whatever food we wanted during the holiday season. I know saving for food but sometimes you've got to pay for a good piece of beef.

One thing I try to do is clean out the fridge. I don't mean throwing food in the garbage I hate waste. It's actually why we started composting. I clean out the fridge by cooking the food that has ended up in the back of the freezer. The extra bits of stock, beef etc that sit in the back of the fridge. It also helps to make room in the fridge for the Thanksgiving ham or turkey. Lucky for me there was a bit of crab in the back of the fridge. Hello...


Crab Cakes
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients
8 oz of crab meat, drained
1/2 cup of bread crumbs
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon of  butter
1 teaspoon of parsley
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon mayo
1 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon ground mustard
1/8 teaspoon of salt
1/8 teaspoon of pepper
1/8 teaspoon of old bay
1 lemon cut into wedges

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt butter and set aside to cool.

In a bowl combine crabmeat and all ingredients. Mix well.

Use mixture to make 4 patties.

Place patties in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. (Mine ended up in the fridge for an hour.)

Grease a baking sheet and bake crab cakes for 25 minutes.

Turn crab cakes after 12 minutes. Crab cakes should be lightly browned.

Serve these on hamburgers buns with tartar sauce and a squeeze of lemon.
Add some french fries. Yum!!