Crabcakes with Lemon Dill Sauce

I. Love. Crabcakes. Like, seriously love them. I think they are the perfect food, and they let me indulge in one of my favorite seafoods! After having a few not-so-awesome crabcakes here and there (too much breading, not enough crab, bland, etc). These crabcakes are my attempt to make a better crabcake at home. Sweet crab, crunchy veggies, and a thoughtful blend of seasonings make these crabcakes close to perfect. The trick is using fresh, lump crab meat. Yes, it is a little expensive, but this recipe makes around 15 cakes and can be used for several meals, or it will feed several people for dinner - just serve alongside a fresh salad and you're good to go! Enjoy :o)

Crabcakes with Lemon Dill Sauce

Yield: 15 crabcakes

Crabcake Ingredients

1 lb lump crabmeat, picked through (the fresher the better!)

2 green onions, minced 

2 tbsp. celery, minced

2 tbsp. red bell pepper, minced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tbsp. parsley, minced

1/4 tsp. salt

cayenne pepper to taste
2 tbsp. heavy cream

1 tbsp. dijon mustard

1 egg

1 cup panko breadcrumbs, divided

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

2 tbsp. butter, divided

canola oil

In a medium bowl, pick through the lump crab for shells, being careful not to break up the lumps too much.

In a small skillet, melt 1 tbsp. butter. Saute the onion, celery, bell pepper, and garlic over medium low heat until softened. In a small bowl, mix together the egg, mustard, cream, parsley, salt, and cayenne pepper. When vegetables are softened, turn off the heat and mix in the egg and cream mixture. Stir quickly to prevent the eggs from scrambling. Add the vegetable and egg mixture, as well as 1/2 cup of the panko, to the crab and fold in gently to combine. In a shallow bowl, mix together the remaining 1/2 cup panko and the parmesan cheese. Form the crab mixture into 12-15 patties* and coat in the panko and cheese mixture. At this point you can freeze crabcakes on a plate then put in an airtight container. Defrost before cooking. To cook the crabcakes, heat a small amount of butter and oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Sautee the crabcakes for 2-4 minutes per side until they have a golden brown crust. Serve with a drizzle of lemon-dill sauce (recipe below).

Lemon-Dill Sauce Ingredients

3 tbsp. mayonnaise

1 tbsp. lemon juice

2 tsp. dill, chopped (fresh or dried both work well)

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

Mix together all ingredients. Allow to sit for 30 minutes before serving.

* Variations:

Make mini crabcakes by putting crabcake mixture into a mini-cupcake pan sprayed well with no-stick spray. Makes a great appetizer! Another great finger food is stuffed mushrooms - remove stems from large, white-button mushrooms and fill with some of the crabcake mixture. Bake at 400 for about 15 minutes until mushrooms are slightly softened. Yum!

A Bumble Bee Baby Shower!

Along with a ton of help from Andy and Mom T, we recently threw a baby shower in honor of my sister-in-law, Kylie who is expecting her first baby at the end of September (yayy!). They are not finding out the gender, so when we decided to have a shower the theme was important to keep in mind. After a little internet-inspiration, I decided to go with a bumble bee theme. It would be perfect in Summer, fun to work with, and yellow and white with pops of color. It turned out great!

Below I have some of the foods that were made. As recipes are posted I will link them here, so check back if you're interested!

 Cake pops and a diaper cake - I'm glad the sign came out so well! 

 Some homemade ricotta and store-bought fig jam dress up some toasted bread slices. Off to the right is some homemade honey butter (whip together 1 stick softened butter with 2 tbsp. honey) with honey from the Brewer's Farmer's Market.

 In the front are mini crab cakes with lemon dill sauce. On the 3-tiered platter there are chicken curry puffs and crab stuffed mushrooms.

 Caprese salad skewers (no recipe needed, just skewer basil, tomato, and mozzarella bites), bee cake pops, and spinach artichoke dip with crackers. (You can see some tissue paper poms and yellow chinese lanterns in the background - had to throw polka dots in there somehow).

 Panzanella - one of my go-to favorites!

 The whole table with the diaper cake centerpiece! I think I could make those for a living, they are so fun to put together and decorate, albeit a little time consuming :o)

 Red velvet bee cake pops - inspiration from bakerella!

Blueberry Pie

After our visit to Maine last weekend, Andy developed a strong craving for blueberry pie. We were able to pick up two large containers of fresh Maine blueberries so I could tackle the pie-making at home. I'll admit, pies are not one of my favorite things to make because I like to taste food and adjust as I go, but with a pie once it's in, that's it! Luckily, this pie came out perfect. I used a little less sugar than normal because the blueberries were super sweet, but it all depends on your fruit so adjust the sugar as necessary. Enjoy!

Blueberry Pie

Yield: 1 10-inch pie

Ingredients

4 1/2 cups fresh blueberries, rinsed and dried

1/2 cup white sugar

5 tbsp. cornstarch

1 tsp. lemon zest

1 tbsp. lemon juice

3/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

2 10-inch pie crusts, homemade or store-bought

1 egg, beaten

1 tbsp. white sugar

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a 10-inch pie plate with one crust and pinch edges to seal.

In a medium bowl, mix together blueberries, sugar, cornstarch, zest, juice, salt, and cinnamon. Pour into prepared pie crust. Cut the other pie crust into 3/4 inch strips and lattice the top. Pinch edges well to seal. Brush the exposed crust and lattice of the pie with the beaten egg, then sprinkle lightly with sugar.

Put pie on a baking sheet and bake in a preheated oven until crust is lightly browned. Adjust heat as necessary to prevent crust from getting too dark. Allow pie to cool completely before serving, otherwise you will have a runny mess! Serve with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, or just as is! Yum! :o)