Keri's Maryland Crab Salad

The Maryland Crab Salad (a name actually used by a local restaurant so maybe I shouldn't be copying that) is lettuce, tomatoes, shredded cheddar and monterey jack cheese, carrots (mostly for the non-salad-eating kids),and croutons topped with biscuit fries (another stolen name) and crab cakes.  I think the crab cakes must Phillips, the crab is really good quality.

This is their signature recipe:

1 lb crab meat

1 egg

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1/4 tsp dry mustard

1 tsp lemon juice

1 Tbsp mustard

1 Tbsp melted butter

1 tsp parsley flakes

1 tsp seafood seasoning (Old Bay, of course!)

1/2 cup bread crumbs

Don't forget the Merlot--for the cook, not the crab cakes!

Combine all ingredients except crab meat. Mix well and then fold in crab.  Shape into cakes, pan fry or bake/broil.  (I baked for 10 minutes at 375 and then finished under the broiler for 2 minutes.)

For the biscuit fries, I baked potatoes the day before and then sliced and fried them in canola oil.

For the dressing, I really like Hidden Valley Ranch so I made that (with a packet I bought from the store and 1 cup of buttermilk and 1 cup of mayo) and then added some Old Bay...to make it spicy!

So these are my final thoughts:

We most definitely have a special thing going here with The Better Halves.

When you don't actually have to cook your family's dinner every night, it becomes so easy to pre-prepare parts of a special meal (like a complicated Maryland Crab Salad) a day or two in advance.  

And you would think that it shouldn't be too hard to put together a meal with one little ol' four-year-old running around--in fact, cooking with your four-year-old actually sounds really sweet (passing down a love of cooking, spending quality time together, etc), buuuuuuuut, yesterday I discovered that having Gram (aka my mom!) entertaining my child in the other room is even sweeter! 

Having my mom here meant I could enjoy cooking while singing along to Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors and sipping a glass of merlot. Yes, enjoying peace in the kitchen while listening to the happy sounds of your little one playing with her Gram in the other room, that's what is truly sweet!  

Having my Mom here made my day and reminded me to LOVE MY MOM for all the cooking she's done for me over the years and for all the ways she continues to care for me and my family, too.  Not only that, BUT, she waited to eat her meal until my selfish need to photograph her dinner plate was fulfilled....Now, that's a Mom for ya!