Whole30 Crab Cakes with Lemon Balsamic Salad

You might have seen the Whole30 diet floating around lately and after hearing so much hype about it, I decided to try it for myself. Whole30 focuses on "whole" foods like veggies, fruits, and proteins while excluding grains, legumes, and dairy. Sounds pretty straightforward, right? Yeah, that's what I thought too until I was literally having dreams about yogurt and coffee creamer about three days in...

Grandma's Seafood Pasta Salad

It's funny how all of a sudden you crave something from your childhood. I was fixing myself lunch the other day and suddenly I was in desperate need of my grandma's famous shrimp salad. I remember sitting on the back porch on my Grandparent's farm during the summer and eating this salad (usually from a fancy glass bowl). I can still remember watching her making it in the kitchen, she always had this magical ability to move really slow at a memorizing pace but before you knew it, she had a 6 course lunch laid out on the table.

I actually made and photographed this twice but as it turns out, it's really hard making a mayonnaise based salad look appetizing (plus apartment lighting is super awesome). The first time I made it strictly with shrimp, but for some reason the shrimp haven't been too tasty here in Texas this season so this time around I decided on crab meat instead.

I love this salad because of all the textures going on, the slight crunch of the celery, the freshness of the tomato, and because of the eggs and pasta it can hold up as a satisfying and filling lunch.

Fran the Great's Seafood Pasta Salad

serves 5-6

1/2 pound of macaroni pasta
1 cup shredded fresh crab
1 cup of cooked shrimp
1-2 small Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
2-3 stalks of celery, minced
3 hard boiled eggs, diced
1/4 mayonnaise (or a little more just to bind it)
1 tsp dried mustard
salt and white pepper to taste
squeeze of fresh lemon juice (about 1-2 tsp)

Directions:
1.Boil the pasta and drain. Transfer to a large mixing bowl.
2.Add remaining ingredients and fold with a rubber spatula until combined
3.Enjoy now on cracker (or by itself) or chill for 15 min. in the fridge.

Lump Crab White Wine Fettuccine with Garlic Chives

Have you ever made something that was almost too good? Like, I just might eat my portion and my husband's portion too before he comes home type of good? Yeah well, this is one such meal, I advise you proceed with caution...

In all honesty though, with ingredients like cream, wine, and cheese, it's pretty much impossible for this to go wrong. It is rare that we make a creamy based pasta dish, just because they're so darn delicious, it should almost be illegal for something to taste this good! I decided to use canned lump crab which I feel kinda gets a bad rep, at first I was hesitant to try this, for some reason if it's fish and it's in a can I always associate that with tuna. The first time I used in was actually in culinary school, we were making a crab salad to feed 100 people and buying fresh crab would have been wayyy out of our budget and I was pleasantly surprised at the results. Don't get me wrong, it won't be as good as fresh and you have to doctor it up a little but for less than half the price of fresh it's pretty satisfying!

Lump Crab White Wine Fettuccine with Garlic Chives

serves 3-4

Recipe adapted from Pinch of Yum

2 TBS butter
2 cloves garlic, minced, divided
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup water
1 lb. whole wheat linguine (or you can use Smart Taste, I couldn't find any fettuccine noodles)
1 (6oz.) can lump crab meat
1 TBS lemon oil (or vegetable oil)
1/4 cup Riesling
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 heaping cup grated Parmesan cheese
bunch of garlic chives, cut small with scissors
1 lemon
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1.For the pasta, heat two tablespoons butter in a large pot over high heat. Add one cloves of garlic and sauté, stirring constantly, for one minute. Add the broth and water; bring to a boil. Add the pasta and boil until the pasta is cooked. Lower the heat and simmer until most of the liquid is absorbed. Do not drain - there should be some liquid left in the pan to help coat the noodles.

2.While the pasta is cooking, heat one tablespoon of oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the crab and saute for 2-3 minutes until lightly browned on the outside. Add the white wine (you don’t necessarily have to measure - just eyeball a few good glugs) and remaining garlic, cook until most of the wine has evaporated (about 1-2 min.) remove from heat and set aside. Cover the crab so it stays warm.

4.To finish, add the whipping cream, Parmesan, and chives to the cooked pasta. Toss everything together and finish with a squeeze of lemon juice, salt, and pepper (Note: the pasta might look watery at first but keep stirring and it should thicken up). Top with crab and more chives if desired.