Last night I noticed that it was still lightish at 5:30pm. That is so encouraging. I loved this graph that I found on a gardening page on Facebook. I’m pretty sure I suffer somewhat from that seasonal affective disorder especially when I can’t get outside. Last week was rough for a number of reasons but the cold really kept me indoors. I finally braved the cold once the wind died down and took the dogs for a couple of walks in the woods. They were so much happier and so was I. Plus they slept better, so did I and they were more relaxed and calm, so was I. Today the sun is shining and the air temperature is supposed to get up into the 30’s so we will head outside once again.
Pupsicles
Katie gave the dogs each a wonderful Christmas present called Woof Pupsicles. They have proven to be a big hit with the pups in this household. They came with some treats to put inside them but they are very expensive if you have three dogs and you give them a treat almost every day. On the website there are recipes for making your own treats. Of course they will sell you their special tray but I discovered that mini muffin trays work very well and they are the perfect size. Now I know what to do with all the leftovers in our fridge that no one seems to like to eat in this household. I spent yesterday afternoon messing up the kitchen big time with my Vitamix and making a tray full of treats out of everything I could find. The liquid I used was carrot juice, (you can see there is a consistency to the color) added peanut butter and yogurt to some of the mixes and removed any onions or spicey sauce if there was some. Put them in the freezer and about three hours later they were ready. Worked like a charm and way cheaper than buying the treats they sell. The dogs eat them fast enough they don’t melt all over the place which had worried me.
Biggest Fan
What is is like in our household at supper time? John is the one who feeds the dogs their dinner the most consistently. Of course Katie and I do sometimes but it seems to be his thing. I grabbed this photo of the three telling John it was time for him to stop watching football and get their supper ready for them. I thought it was a cute photo of all of them.
Cooking This Week for Humans
I did some of that too although it was nowhere near as much fun as mixing up the pupsicles in the Vitamix and just making a mess. We have been buying premade crab cakes from the local fish market for sometime now but they are closed for the winter break and we were missing them. My good friend Sally, brought us some beautiful crab back from Maine so we decided it was time to make our own from scratch. When we lived in South Carolina I would do that all the time because we had plenty of crab available at the markets there. John found a recipe for Maryland Crab Cakes so I made a double batch and froze some for future use. They were delicious – better than I remembered – so maybe we won’t buy the premade $$$ ones but rather the crab meat itself and make our own.
Recipe to Share from Sugarspunrun.com
Ingredients
- ▢ 1 lb (453 g) jumbo lump crab meat picked over, shells removed
- ▢ ½ cup (40 g) plain panko crumbsor crushed saltine crackers
- ▢ 6 Tablespoons (85g) mayonnaise
- ▢ 1 large egg
- ▢ 1 teaspoon yellow mustard
- ▢ 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- ▢ 1 teaspoon Old Bay (or J.0. seasoning)
- ▢ 1 ½ teaspoons finely minced fresh parsley or 1 teaspoon dried
- ▢ ¼ teaspoon table salt
- ▢ ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ▢ 1 Tablespoons salted butter cut into 8 pieces (plus additional for greasing pan)
Instructions:
Lightly grease a rimmed baking sheet with butter. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together mayo, egg, mustard, lemon juice, Old Bay, parsley, salt, and pepper until well combined. 6 Tablespoons mayonnaise, 1 large egg, 1 teaspoon yellow mustard, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, 1 teaspoon Old Bay, ¼ teaspoon table salt, ¼ ¼ teaspoon table salt, ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
Add crab meat and panko crumbs. Use a spatula to gently work the crab meat and panko into the wet ingredients (try not to break up the lumps of the crab meat, you want them to stay intact as much as possible).
1 lb jumbo lump crab meat, ½ cup plain panko crumbs
Scoop crab meat by heaping ⅓ cup (about 3.15oz/90g per, I use my ice cream scoop) into a large scoop or measuring cup. I pack the meat into the scoop to help encourage it to keep its shape, then transfer to buttered baking sheet. If the crab cake is trying to fall apart, use your hands to press any stray pieces back in and pack it more firmly into the scoop next time. Do not flatten. Space at least 2” apart on baking sheet.
Place a small piece of butter on the top center of each crab cake.
1 Tablespoons salted butter
Cover baking sheet tightly with plastic wrap and transfer to refrigerator to chill for at least 30 minutes and up to 24 hours before baking.
To bake: Preheat oven to 450F (230C). Once oven is fully preheated, remove crab cakes from refrigerator and remove plastic wrap.
Transfer to center rack of oven and bake for 8-10 minutes/until baked through. For a browned exterior, switch oven to broil for the last 2 minutes and broil on high heat for 2 minutes (I do not switch my oven rack).
Walking This Week
It was a mix of walking this week. I did a few mornings on the Peloton and then a few with the dogs outside on the trails. I like both options and for me, I get a good workout either way, but for the dogs the outdoor walk works much better. Didn’t see any winter critters on our walks this time. We did have a nice snowfall that made everything nice and white again plus it wasn’t too deep to walk through. Because of the cold it was pretty hard packed under the top layer. Used my walking stick anyway but it wasn’t slippery.
