Soup Special of the Day.......Cajun Gumbo

This week's Soup Special of the Day is a Gumbo, but just not any Gumbo a Cajun Gumbo! Made Chicken Thighs, Crab Meat, Shrimp, Crawfish, Oysters, and more! Everyone leaving the table will be smiling! The recipe comes from one of my favorite recipe sites, the CooksRecipes website. The Cooks site has a huge selection of recipes to please all tastes, diets, or cuisines so check it out today! Enjoy and Eat Healthy in 2018!  https://www.cooksrecipes.com/index.html

Cajun Gumbo
Gumbo combines ingredients and culinary practices of several cultures, including French, Spanish, German, West African and Choctaw. The dish is the official cuisine of the state of Louisiana.

Recipe Ingredients:
4 pounds chicken thighs
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper

1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 (28-ounce) can tomatoes
2 cups chicken broth or water
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 dried bay leaf
1 (10-ounce) package frozen sliced okra
1 1/2 pounds crabmeat, shrimp, crawfish, lobster and/or surimi
1 (10-ounce) jar medium oysters, drained
1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Cooking Directions:
1 - Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
2 - Place chicken thighs in a single layer on a shallow baking pan and season with salt and pepper. Bake 45 to 50 minutes or until done. Remove chicken from pan and set aside to cool. Deglaze pan with a little water, scraping the bottom to remove any browned bits and pour pan juices into a fat separator and set aside. When chicken is cool enough to handle, pick meat and discard skin and bones.
3 - Meanwhile, heat oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat. Add onion and green pepper and cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in flour, reduce heat to low and cook 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Add garlic, and cook for 2 more minutes, or until fragrant. Stir in tomatoes (undrained), chicken broth, red pepper flakes, thyme and bay leaf. Increase heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until slightly thickened. Cover and and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add chicken, pan juices (discard fat) and okra. Return to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in crab, oysters and parsley. Cook gently 5 to 10 minutes or until oysters begin to curl and crab is thoroughly warmed (if using shrimp, shrimp should be pink and opaque throughout). Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve over rice in soup bowls.

Makes 4 servings.
https://www.cooksrecipes.com/soup/cajun_gumbo_recipe.html

One of America's Favorites - Crab Rangoon

Crab Rangoon, sometimes called crab puffs, crab Rangoon puffs, or cheese wontons, are deep-fried dumpling appetizers served in American Chinese and, more recently, Thai restaurants, stuffed with a combination of cream cheese, crab meat or imitation crab meat, scallions, and/or garlic. These fillings are then wrapped in Chinese wonton wrappers in a triangular or flower shape, then deep fried in vegetable oil.

Crab Rangoon 

Crab Rangoon has been on the menu of the "Polynesian-style" restaurant Trader Vic's in San Francisco since at least 1956. Although the appetizer is allegedly derived from an authentic Burmese recipe, the dish was probably invented in the United States. A "Rangoon crab a la Jack" was mentioned as a dish at a Hawaiian-style party in 1952, but without further detail, and so may or may not be the same thing.

Though the history of Crab Rangoon is unclear, cream cheese, like other cheese, is essentially nonexistent in Southeast Asian and Chinese cuisine, so it is unlikely that the dish is actually of east or southeast Asian origin. In North America, crab Rangoon is often served with soy sauce, plum sauce, duck sauce, sweet and sour sauce, or mustard for dipping.


In the Pacific Northwest states of America crab Rangoon are also known as crab puffs, although this primarily refers to versions that use puff pastry as a wrapper instead of wonton. They may also be referred to as crab pillows, crab cheese wontons, or cheese wontons.

One of America's Favorites - Crab Louie

Crab Louie salad, also known as Crab Louis Salad or the King of Salads, is a type of salad featuring crab meat. The recipe dates back to the early 1900s and originates on the West Coast of America.

The exact origins of the dish are uncertain, but it is known that Crab Louie was being served in San

Francisco, at Solari's, as early as 1914. A recipe for Crab Louie exists from this date in a publication entitled Bohemian San Francisco by Clarence E. Edwords, and for a similar "Crabmeat a la Louise" salad in the 1910 edition of a cookbook by Victor Hirtzler, head chef of the city's St. Francis Hotel. Another early recipe is found in the The Neighborhood Cook Book, compiled by the Portland Council of Jewish Women in 1912. San Francisco's Bergez-Frank's Old Poodle Dog restaurant menu included "Crab Leg à la Louis (special)" in 1908, named for the chef Louis Coutard who died in May 1908.

By some accounts it was created by entrepreneur Louis Davenport, founder of the Davenport Hotel in Spokane, Washington. Davenport spent his early years in San Francisco before moving to Spokane Falls. He would use crab imported from Seattle to be offered in his hotel. His recipe pre-dates 1914 and can be found in hotel historical menus. The popularity of Crab Louie has diminished since its heyday in the early to mid-1900s, but it can still be found on the menu of some hotels and restaurants on the West Coast, including the Palace Hotel in San Francisco and the Davenport Hotel.


The main ingredient for Crab Louie, as the name suggests, is crab meat. The preferred crab is Dungeness Crab, but other crab meat can be substituted, including cheaper imitation crab meat. Although variations of the recipe exist, an essential ingredient is a creamy dressing such as Louis dressing, Thousand Island dressing or Green goddess dressing. This dressing is either served on the side or mixed with the other ingredients, depending on which recipe is used.

A typical Crab Louie salad consists of:

* Crab meat,
* Hard boiled eggs,
* Tomato,
* Asparagus,
* served on a bed of Iceberg lettuce
* with a Louie dressing based on mayonnaise and chili sauce on the side.
Other ingredients such as olives and green onions have also been listed as ingredients in some recipes.

Diabetic Dish of the Week - Deviled Eggs with Curried Crab

Kick your Deviled Eggs up a couple of notches with this weeks Diabetic Dish of the Week  Deviled Eggs with Curried Crab. With Cayenne Pepper, Curry Powder, and Crab Meat you know you got a winner dish here. Plus they're only 70 calorie and 2 carbs per serving!




Deviled Eggs with Curried Crab
Ingredients

8 hard-cooked eggs
1/4cup light mayonnaise dressing or salad dressing
1 tablespoon finely chopped green onion
1 teaspoons flavored mustard (such as Dijon-style mustard or horseradish mustard)
1/4teaspoon salt
1/4teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoons purchased mango chutney
3 tablespoons light mayonnaise dressing or salad dressing
1/2teaspoon curry powder
1/2cup cooked crabmeat (about 2-3/4 ounces)
 Desired garnishes (such as paprika, finely chopped sweet pepper, snipped fresh chives, sliced or chopped toasted almonds, and/or cracked black pepper) (optional)


Directions

Halve the hard-cooked eggs lengthwise and remove yolks. Set whites aside. In a quart-size resealable plastic bag combine egg yolks, the 1/4 cup mayonnaise dressing, the green onion, mustard, 1/8 teaspoon of the salt, and 1/8 teaspoon of the cayenne pepper. Seal bag. Gently squeeze the bag to mix ingredients until smooth. Snip off one corner of the bag; pipe egg yolk mixture into egg white halves. (Or in a small bowl combine egg yolks, the 1/4 cup mayonnaise dressing, the green onion, mustard, 1/8 teaspoon of the salt, and 1/8 teaspoon of the cayenne pepper; mash and stir with a fork until well mixed. Spoon into a decorating bag fitted with a star tip; pipe into egg white halves.)

Cut up any large pieces of chutney. In a small bowl combine chutney, the 3 tablespoons mayonnaise dressing, curry powder, remaining 1/8 teaspoon salt, and remaining 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper. Gently fold in crabmeat. Top each deviled egg with a spoonful of the crab mixture. Cover and chill for at least 1 hour or up to 2 hours. If desired, garnish with desired garnishes. Makes 16 appetizers.


* The egg yolk mixture may be made a day ahead and stored, covered, in the refrigerator. Wrap and store egg white halves separately.


Nutrition Facts (Deviled Eggs with Curried Crab)
70 kcal cal., 5 g fat (1 g sat. fat, 113 mg chol., 142 mg sodium, 2 g carb., 4 g pro.
Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Crab Cake Slider w/ Baked Fries

Dinner Tonight: Crab Cake Slider w/ Baked Fries

Another cloudy and rainy day out again. Ran dad for a check-up at his family doctor. Then stopped by Kroger to pick up some Apples and Boston Lettuce and back home. Been fighting with a mild case of the Phantom Pains since last night, It hasn't been too bad though. For dinner tonight Crab Cake Slider w/ Baked Fries.








I just had Crab Cakes the other night and they were so delicious I’m having more tonight, but as a Slider Sandwich. Once again I used Kroger Private Selection Maryland Style Crab Cakes. They come frozen and there’s 2 to box. To prepare them just preheat the oven on 400 degrees and bake for 30 minutes. Nothing beats a fresh made Crab Cake, but these are too good to be frozen! They’re just the right size, about 3.5 ounces each, and full of flavor. Baked them for about 30 minutes and they were done. Served then on a Pepperidge Farm Wheat Slider Buns. Topped them with Louisiana Remoulade Dressing and Arugula. This makes one delicious Slider! The taste of the Crab Meat and Remoulade Sauce, then the Peppery taste of the Arugula is perfect together!








Then I also prepared one of my 2 favorite sides, Green Beans being the other, Ore Ida Simply Cracked Black Pepper and Sea Salt Country Style Fries. Love these Fries, they’re 130 calories and 20 carbs per serving. And a serving is 13 Fries, which is plenty. For dessert later a Healthy Choice Dark Fudge Swirl Frozen Yogurt.

Pepperidge Farm Wheat Slider Buns

Timeless and without pretense, our “Bakery Classics” stand for quality, with premium ingredients, perfectly orchestrated with a baker’s touch. Make your barbecues a little more special with our delicious buns. We hope you agree that our bakers have created a delicious, premium quality bun.
Pepperidge Farm® Fresh Breads & Rolls
Sliders Wheat Buns
Nutrition Facts*
Amount per Serving (serving size) = 1 bun

Calories 100
Fat Calories 15
Total Fat 2g
Sat. Fat 0g
Trans Fat 0g
Polyunsat. Fat 1g
Monounsat. Fat 0g
Cholesterol 0mg
Sodium 130mg
Total Carb. 17g
Dietary Fiber 1g
Sugars 3g
Protein 5g

% Daily Values**
Vitamin A 0%
Vitamin C 0%
Thiamin 6%
Riboflavin 6%
Niacin 8%
Folic Acid 10%
Calcium 4%
Iron 0%


http://www.pepperidgefarm.com/ProductDetail.aspx?catID=757&prdID=120929

LOUISIANA Remoulade Dressing


LOUISIANA Remoulade Dressing is typically a cold dressing served with chilled boiled seafood. This dressing combines the perfect blend of soybean oil, horseradish, egg yolks, tomato paste, onion, garlic and other spices. Use it as a dipping sauce for your favorite seafoods or meats.

Seafood of the Week - Crab Meat

Crab meat from crab claws, atop toast

Crab meat or crabmeat is the meat found within a crab. It is used in many cuisines across the world, prized for its soft, delicate, sweet taste. Brown crab (Cancer pagurus), blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus), blue swimming crabs (Portunus pelagicus), red swimming crabs (Portunus haanii) are among the most commercially available species of crabmeat globally. In some fisheries, crab meat is harvested by declawing of crabs.  This is the process whereby one or both claws of a live crab are manually pulled off and the animal is then returned to the water.  The practice is defended because some crabs can naturally autotomise (shed) limbs and then about a year later after a series of moults, regenerate these limbs. It is argued that declawing therefore provides a sustainable fishery, however, declawing can lead to 47% mortality and negative effects on feeding behaviour. Furthermore, once separated from the body, the claws will start to degenerate. Usually, crabs are cooked moments after capture to ensure freshness; the freshness of claws previously removed from the crab cannot be accurately gauged and should therefore be avoided.








European Crab
In Western Europe crab meat is derived primarily from the species Cancer pagurus. Cancer pagurus is a large crab noted for the sweet, delicate flavour of its meat. It is also known as The 'Brown Crab' the 'Common Crab' or the 'Edible Crab'. The United Kingdom is the largest fishery for Cancer Pagurus with large fisheries in Scotland and a smaller but substantial fishery in the South West of England in Cornwall. The best grade of Crab Meat is 'handpicked' - this refers to the method by which the crab has been processed (by hand) and ensures the flavor of the crab meat is unadulterated. By contrast 'machine processed crab' is produced by using water or air to blast the crab meat from the shell which has a detrimental effect on the flavour. Cancer Pagurus Crab meat is widely consumed throughout the countries from where it is fished. Due to its short fresh shelf life of around 4 days, much of the crab meat available through retailers is sold from defrosted crab. White crab meat has a natural water content that crystallises when frozen. Once defrosted this leads to an alteration in the texture of the crabmeat and a loss of the natural flavour. This crab meat is also available pasteurised, which avoids the pitfalls of freezing and should where produced with care have a flavor almost indistinguishable from fresh crab. Cancer Pagurus contains two types of meat:




White meat
White crab meat comes from the claws and legs of the crab and while predominantly white in color it does have a naturally occurring red/brown tinge throughout. White crab is very low in fat and particularly high in protein, it has a delicate, sweet flavor, a sweet aroma and a naturally flaky texture. White crab meat is versatile and while it is consumed largely in sandwiches, it can be used in pastas, risottos, and salads as well as a canape topping.
Brown meat
Brown Meat is from the body of the crab. It has a higher natural fat content, but is also extremely high in Omega-3. 100g of Brown Crab contains 2/3 of the 3g weekly recommended intake of Omega 3. Brown crab meat has an even pate like texture and a rich full flavor. The color and texture of the brown meat vary throughout the year as the crabs physiology changes.








* U.S. Crab

Crab Colossal

For the U.S. market the meat of crabs comes in different grades, depending on which part of the crab's body it comes from and the overall size of the crab the meat is taken from.
* Crab Colossal
Colossal crab meat, also called Mega Jumbo Lump, is the largest whole unbroken pieces available from the blue crab and blue swimming crab.The colossal meat is taken from the two largest muscles connected to the back swimming legs of the crab. The lumps, or pieces, in the Colossal grade are bigger than those in the Jumbo Lump.
* Jumbo Lump
The jumbo lump grade crab meat comes from larger crabs, is the meat from the two large muscles connected to the swimming legs. Contrary to smaller portions of crab meat, it can be used whole. It has a brilliant white color.
* Crab Lump
The Lump grade of crab meat is composed of broken pieces of Jumbo Lump, which are not included in the Jumbo Lump grade pack, and other flake pieces. This grade of crab meat is ideal for crab cakes and it is commonly used by manufacturers.
* Back fin
The back fin portion consists of flakes of white meat, coming both from the special meat and the jumbo lump. Back fin is a popular crab meat for Chesapeake Bay, Maryland style crab cakes
* Special
The "special meat" is shreds and small flakes of white meat from the body cavity of the crab. It is generally used for all dishes in which white crab meat is used.
* Claw
Claw meat is the dark pink meat that comes from the swimming fins and claws of the crab. It has a stronger taste, and is less expensive than the white color meat grades. It is often used in soups, where the strong taste comes through.
* Claw Fingers
The Claw Fingers, also called Cocktail Fingers, are the tips of the pinchers, usually served whole, with the dark pink meat still in it. They are commonly used as garnish or hors d'œuvre.

Claw Fingers

Imitation crab meat is widely used in America as a replacement for 100% crab meat in many dishes - popularly used in American sushi (e.g. California roll).
The flaky, red-edged faux crab often served in seafood salad or California roll is most likely made of Alaska Pollock. Also called Walleye Pollock, Snow Cod, or Whiting, this fish is abundant in the Bering Sea near Alaska and can also be found along the central California coast and in the Sea of Japan. Pollock has a very mild flavor, making it ideal for the processing and artificial flavoring of imitation crab. While Pollock is the most common fish used to make fake crab. New Zealand Hoki is also used, and some Asian manufacturers use Southeast Asian fish like Golden Treadfin Bream and White Croaker.
The processing of imitation crabmeat begins with the skinning and boning of the fish. Then the meat is minced and rinsed, and the water is leached out. This creates a thick paste called surimi. The word means "minced fish" in Japanese, and the essential techniques for making it were developed in Japan over 800 years ago. Surimi is commonly used in Japan to make a type of fish ball or cake called kamaboko. In 1975, a method for processing imitation crabmeat from surimi was invented in Japan, and in 1983, American companies started production.