Fast and easy dinner - Crabmeat Rolls

For a fancy looking sandwich night, we created a budget-friendly version of our favorite lobster roll from The Mermaid Inn which has quickly become a family favorite. Admittedly, I'm a terrible cooking instructor, as I am constantly experimenting and changing recipes with my "add a little curry to the marinara" here (which is FABU) and "I'm out of this ingredient, how would this be" there attitude. My flexible attitude in the kitchen makes for some great meals, but becomes very hard to nail down on paper or pass along a recipe...but here goes!

We've become fans of one of my childhood favorites for budget cooking - imitation crabmeat. While it's definitely not up to par with Alaskan King crabmeat, it's an affordable, family-friendly alternative that still gets seafood on the table and breaks up the "what chicken dish is for dinner" monotony. Besides, it's ready-to-eat, so you don't have to cook it or deal with raw meat juice to clean up after. We've sauteed in olive oil with pasta, made a budget version of paella, and our new favorite - sandwiches!

This recipe is super fast (talking 5 mins!) unless you have to thaw the crabmeat, but even then, I only spent 15 mins in the kitchen last night, and just finished the leftovers for lunch...mmmm! I thought thawing the imitation crabmeat would be alot of brain damage, but it's either an overnight in the refrigerator (had NO time for that), or under warm/cool running water. Solution: I put the package in the sink under running water, and finished the dishes from lunch (yes, they'd been sitting in the sink most of the day. I'm happy for you if this never happens if your house) and by the time I was done the meat was thawed!


Imitation Crabmeat Salad Sandwiches
Serves: 4
ingredients:

4 brioche rolls
1 lb package imitation crabmeat, thawed
1/2 cup mayonaise (we use light mayo)
salt, pepper, basil flakes, paprika, or whatever else you like to taste!


Toast brioche rolls, I put them in my oven straight on the rack for 5 mins on 350 degrees, but only because I don't have a toaster oven handy. While toasting rolls, throw some frozen corn in the microwave or whatever side you are having with dinner. In a large bowl, break up the crabmeat by hand to smaller pieces, but not too small, large chunks are good. Add mayo and seasonings and mix. Add heaping scoops to rolls and serve.


'til next time,
It's a BusyLife
-Danielle

Microwave corn on the cob & how to NOT lose a TV

How did I not discover this sooner! Ok, so microwave corn on the cob sounds terrible, like it would be mushy and yucky, but it was surprisingly good and oh so quick! The key appears to be leaving them in the husks, silk and all.

This was the recipe I used from Cooks.com:

Place corn on turntable of microwave, with about 1" space between. Cook no more than 4 ears at a time on HIGH setting. Cook 1 ear for 6 minutes, 2 ears 10 minutes and 4 ears 15 to 17 minutes or until tender. When corn has finished cooking, let cool a few minutes, then using a towel to protect your hands, hold corn and peel back the husks, the silks will be easy to remove.

Hint: the paper towel did not save my hands from minor burns, so consider a dishrag.

This went incredibly well with the re-heated rotisserie chicken we fired up as well (I've become quite the microwave gourmet with little or no time to cook). Total prep/cook time: 25 mins except for chicken carving...that was a disaster :(

Weekends are usually when I take the time to cook a full meal and get more elaborate, but we had a busy day re-organizing the apartment to eek out what little extra room we could find and stave off needing a bigger place. I think we were successful. We lost the hers of the his & hers desk/bookshelf units along one wall, moved the sofa back and switched the dining area with the remaining desk/bookcase. The result was a wide open center of the room, a cozy corner with the couch, a shelf just for the baby's toys. Unforeseen bonus: ditching the 4 yr old giant TV for a new flat screen - yeah!

On that note...why is it SO hard to get rid of a TV? We looked into donating - very hard. Had no time to call all kinds of organizations who might put it to good use - hard. Thought of selling on craigslist - how can a perfectly good 30" Sony Wega HDTV sell for $30???? Finally trying to freecycle it (posted for someone to take for free)...and WOW...people are so flaky. Hopefully the last guy we spoke to (4th on the list) actually comes through or that thing's hitting the curb at noon!

Til next time,

It's a BusyLife

- Danielle

Make-Ahead Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies

Make-Ahead Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies

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sporadic blogger shares a recipe...finally!

I always intend to keep up with my blogging, but sadly life happens and my dedication waxes and wanes. So...here I am again, dedicating anew! Lots of thoughts floating around that don't necessarily warrant posting, but did want to share one of the recipes that keeps my life as a busy parent relatively sane some days:

Speed dinner prep for busy families

• Some boneless chicken breast


• a deep skillet


• can of cream of mushroom soup (low sodium or fat-free if you like)


• cup of water


• 2 tbsps olive oil


• paprika

These are the ingredients to my family's fave quick dinner, 20 mins max prep time (15 is you're fast). Heat olive oil in the skillet over medium high heat, add chicken until lightly browned (3-5 mins). Meantime, open cream of mushroom soup and whisk together with water (more or less for soupy or gravy). Flip the chicken, add soup mix and sprinkle lightly with paprika. Heat until gravy bubbles and chicken is cooked through.

Serve with your fave side dishes (ours are rice and peas, but would go with noodles, salad, potatoes, veggies!)

Vegetarian alternative: We've substituted baby bella mushrooms, portabella caps and slices and all are just wonderful!

Not Julia Child, but definitely for the "servant-less American cook" ;-)

Here's a few other great resources for speedy dinners:
Real Simple's 10 Ways to Speed up Dinner-Prep Times
Speed up dinner preparation on LifeHacker
Working Mom Minute Meals

Until next time, bon appetit!
Danielle