Baked Shrimp-Crab Salad
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 cup finely chopped celery
1 (6-ounce) can crabmeat, picked free of any broken shells
1 (4-ounce) can medium shrimp
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 cup buttered cracker crumbs or bread crumbs
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a medium casserole dish or medium glass baking dish lightly with butter.
In a large bowl, combine the bell pepper, onion, and celery. Add the crabmeat and shrimp, and then the mayonnaise, salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce, tossing gently with a plastic spatula to combine. Spoon the mixture into the prepared dish. Sprinkle crumbs over top. Bake until a golden brown crust develops, about 30 minutes.
Serve with baguette or vegetables.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Puff Pastry & Cheese Starter
Cheese and Spinach Puff Pastry Pockets
12 frozen puff pastry shells, unthawed
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup whole milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 (16-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 1/4 cups grated Fontina cheese
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
3 to 5 green onions, finely chopped
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a heavy large baking sheet with parchment paper. Arrange the frozen pastry shells on the baking sheet and bake until they puff and become golden brown, about 20 minutes. Using a small knife, cut out the center of the pastry shells.
Meanwhile, stir the cream, milk, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl. Stir in the spinach, Fontina cheese, Parmesan, and green onions. Spoon the spinach mixture into the baked pastry shells. Bake until the pastries are golden brown and the filling is hot, about 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer the pastries to a platter and serve.
12 frozen puff pastry shells, unthawed
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup whole milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 (16-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 1/4 cups grated Fontina cheese
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
3 to 5 green onions, finely chopped
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a heavy large baking sheet with parchment paper. Arrange the frozen pastry shells on the baking sheet and bake until they puff and become golden brown, about 20 minutes. Using a small knife, cut out the center of the pastry shells.
Meanwhile, stir the cream, milk, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl. Stir in the spinach, Fontina cheese, Parmesan, and green onions. Spoon the spinach mixture into the baked pastry shells. Bake until the pastries are golden brown and the filling is hot, about 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer the pastries to a platter and serve.
Tomato Kebab Starter
Sun-Dried or Heirloom Tomato Kebabs
24 oil-packed sun dried tomato halves, drained, oil reserved
Alternatively, use halves organic heirloom tomatoes
24 medium basil leaves
24 small fresh mozzarella balls packed in water, drained
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Special Equipment: 12 (8-inch) wooden skewers
Alternate 1 sun-dried tomato half, 1 basil leaf, 1 mozzarella ball, 1 more basil leaf, 1 more sun-dried tomato half and 1 more mozzarella ball on each skewer. Arrange the skewers on a platter. Drizzle the reserved oil from the sun-dried tomatoes over the skewers, and or balsamic syrup. Sprinkle with flake sea salt and pepper, and serve.
24 oil-packed sun dried tomato halves, drained, oil reserved
Alternatively, use halves organic heirloom tomatoes
24 medium basil leaves
24 small fresh mozzarella balls packed in water, drained
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Special Equipment: 12 (8-inch) wooden skewers
Alternate 1 sun-dried tomato half, 1 basil leaf, 1 mozzarella ball, 1 more basil leaf, 1 more sun-dried tomato half and 1 more mozzarella ball on each skewer. Arrange the skewers on a platter. Drizzle the reserved oil from the sun-dried tomatoes over the skewers, and or balsamic syrup. Sprinkle with flake sea salt and pepper, and serve.
Bacon Wrap Starter
Craven Family Bacon Wraps
1 pound bacon, cut in half
2-3 cans whole water chestnuts, drained
1/3 C Honey
2/3 C Good BBQ sauce, preferably from scratch
Toothpicks (soaked in water at least 30 mins)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Wrap half piece of bacon around each water chestnut and secure with a toothpick. Arrange on dripper pan. Bake off in oven for 30-40 minutes (sometimes sooner, sometimes later depending on oven) until bacon is cooked fully and is crisp.
Mix honey and BBQ sauce and heat gently. Dip cooked bacon wraps, lightly in sauce and arrange on platter. Sometimes I wrap bacon around a half piece of a whole water chestnut and half piece of a whole date and proceed with the recipe.
Asian hoison sauce is also good for a variation to the sauce, if you are having an Asian themed appetizer party.
1 pound bacon, cut in half
2-3 cans whole water chestnuts, drained
1/3 C Honey
2/3 C Good BBQ sauce, preferably from scratch
Toothpicks (soaked in water at least 30 mins)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Wrap half piece of bacon around each water chestnut and secure with a toothpick. Arrange on dripper pan. Bake off in oven for 30-40 minutes (sometimes sooner, sometimes later depending on oven) until bacon is cooked fully and is crisp.
Mix honey and BBQ sauce and heat gently. Dip cooked bacon wraps, lightly in sauce and arrange on platter. Sometimes I wrap bacon around a half piece of a whole water chestnut and half piece of a whole date and proceed with the recipe.
Asian hoison sauce is also good for a variation to the sauce, if you are having an Asian themed appetizer party.
Monday, December 20, 2010
CravenChocolates!
I can't believe Christmas is just around the corner. Luckily Dan and I finally have all of our projects and shopping done for the season! To show you how sick we are (and how much we love Christmas!) we started working on projects in October. Specifically Dan made fondant centers for chocolates while I made the tags for the boxes. We were so on top of it this year!!!
As many of you know we make chocolate candies every year carrying on a tradition Dan learned from his mom, who learned it from her mom...etc. The centers are always creamier if made in advance, frozen then thawed. After they thaw in the fridge, you cut up squares and roll into balls.
We decided this year we would continue with the rolled, dipped and rolled in something theme we did last year but with a few flavor variations.
Coconut Curry, dipped in dark chocolate, rolled in cashews
Peanut Butter, dipped in dark chocolate, rolled in crushed cornflakes
Peppermint, dipped in milk chocolate, rolled in chocolate cookie
Butter Rum, dipped in milk chocolate, rolled in almonds
Black Walnut, dipped in milk chocolate, rolled in walnuts
From there we chopped up the toppings we would roll the dipped chocolate in.
With so many to dip we invited our friends over to help out. It went by so fast and was so much fun.
We had two electric pans going with the different kinds of chocolate in it and worked in teams of two. We had the place down to sub zero temperatures with the windows open to keep the chocolate from blooming. Dan used his infrared thermometer to keep us all on track as our hot and cold hands dipped and rolled.
We ended up with 46 boxes plus leftovers to share at work or eat ourselves! We tried to get most of it out of the house...but I can't resist those peppermint ones, they're my favorite! It is also tradition to have some out on the small cake plate we inherited from Dan's mom.
The finished product turned out great!
As many of you know we make chocolate candies every year carrying on a tradition Dan learned from his mom, who learned it from her mom...etc. The centers are always creamier if made in advance, frozen then thawed. After they thaw in the fridge, you cut up squares and roll into balls.
We decided this year we would continue with the rolled, dipped and rolled in something theme we did last year but with a few flavor variations.
Coconut Curry, dipped in dark chocolate, rolled in cashews
Peanut Butter, dipped in dark chocolate, rolled in crushed cornflakes
Peppermint, dipped in milk chocolate, rolled in chocolate cookie
Butter Rum, dipped in milk chocolate, rolled in almonds
Black Walnut, dipped in milk chocolate, rolled in walnuts
From there we chopped up the toppings we would roll the dipped chocolate in.
With so many to dip we invited our friends over to help out. It went by so fast and was so much fun.
We had two electric pans going with the different kinds of chocolate in it and worked in teams of two. We had the place down to sub zero temperatures with the windows open to keep the chocolate from blooming. Dan used his infrared thermometer to keep us all on track as our hot and cold hands dipped and rolled.
We ended up with 46 boxes plus leftovers to share at work or eat ourselves! We tried to get most of it out of the house...but I can't resist those peppermint ones, they're my favorite! It is also tradition to have some out on the small cake plate we inherited from Dan's mom.
The finished product turned out great!
Monday, December 13, 2010
Salzburg
We finally made it to Salzburg!! What a beautiful city, I truly loved it.
We started our day with the Sound of Music Tour. We met our group in Mozart Square took a small van to the BIG BUS with scenes from the movie painted on it. Was I embarrassed? A little. Was I excited? You betcha! I was mostly excited to see Patrick's reaction since he'd never seen the movie and isn't really into musicals (putting it mildly). Our first stop was the location for the lake. They used the gardens and lake in many scenes, but the back of the house was a different location.
Above is a picture of our guide. He was REALLY cheesy, and kind of disappointing. The funny thing was I kept wishing I could get video of him talking because his voice was so annoying...well we watched the extras on our DVD of The Sound of Music when we got back, and he's in it! Anyway, the next thing we saw was the row of trees the kids were swinging from and the gazebo, which is now closed because some old lady fell and broke her hip trying to skip between the benches. It was small and kind of lame. My favorite part of the tour was going to the lakes region and seeing some of the beautiful views from the opening credits of the movie.
We also saw the church that Maria and the captain were married in (in the movie of course). I thought the place was really creepy and gaudy in cream, pink, black and gold. I tried to capture the simple portions of the church. We had a little time to walk around the small town of Mondsee so we found a bakery where Dan finally got his apple strudel and I had the best chocolate cake!
We ended the tour in the Mirabel Palace gardens where they sang the do-ra-me song and did some prancing around the fountain.
After the tour we headed out of the city center a ways to find the apartment we rented. It was in a little neighborhood conveniently located on the bus line. We found food at a grocery store, ate in and played cards. We were also desperate to do laundry, the woman who gave us the key to the apartment told us there was a communal washer and dryer in the basement and that it cost around 10 cents. After waiting for the previous person to finish her laundry we went down and put ours in, pushed the buttons and it turned on...with no money, sweet! We couldn't find a box to put money in anyway so we figured that it must be free. We checked back an hour or so later only to find our WHITES soaked and locked in the washer. We tried and tried but couldn't get the clothes out, tempers flared (Not Dan's, he was asleep), until we finally decide there was nothing more we could do and go to bed hoping we'd find some nice person in the morning to help us out. Luckily the next morning early Noelle was down again looking at the washer and a nice woman helped us out showing us where the money box was. I guess the reason the washer turned on the night before was because there were still a few minutes left on the timer from the previous load. What is it with us and laundry in Europe? It always seems to be an ordeal.
Anyway, the next day we roamed around the city, went to the outdoor market (I continue to love the handmade wreaths), explored the some cathedrals, and did some shopping.
I loved the little iron signs that hung outside each shop.
There were horse and buggies and street performers in the main square which really added to the ambiance. I particularly loved this guy on the guitar and on another day there was a guy with a harp, but I didn't get a photo of that.
After shopping we went to meet our group to tour a salt mine. The bus ride was long, but picturesque on the way to a small town. When we arrived we had to put on coveralls to keep us from getting dirty. We couldn't stop laughing at how funny we looked!
We had so much fun laughing and taking pictures of each other that we ended up being last in line to board the train that takes you into the mine. Only a certain number of people fit on the train so everyone made it on but Dan and I. We had to wait about 10 min for the next one which filled up with us and with a whole slew of obnoxious American teenagers. The train takes you into the mountain down a dark tunnel, we looked at a display and were promptly ushered to a wooden slide consisting of 2 wood sticks that were worn down by so many butts sliding down them. It was a little scary, mostly fun...Patrick bought the photo they took of us which is basically a blackmail photo (it is truly awful!) There were a few of those slides, more hands on learning areas and a saline lake we crossed in a wooden boat (very Harry Potter).
It was really dark so the pictures didn't turn out, but it was very cool. After we thought the tour bus had left us because we didn't see anyone in our party...we actually were kind of angry and freaked out, but after 15 min. of searching for everyone we finally ran into Patrick and Noelle. After the stopped in another small town were we found a very cool cemetary. It is the first time I'd seen little gardens planted in front of headstones. We even saw an older couple tending to a grave, it was really rather sweet to see.
The next day we toured around the city some more waiting for the fog to lift, we went to the motzart museum which had fun artifacts to see and an audio guide that played a lot of beautiful music.
We also crossed the Mozart bridge, which was also in the Sound of Music. We got a little silly.
We actually got quite silly that day.
We also checked out the castle, but after seeing crazy Kind Ludwigs castles I'd call this a fortress. They had a few rooms with artifacts (snooze) then they also had some displays of torture devices, musical instruments and weapons that were cool. They even had a creepy marionette museum at the top.
We ended our day by going to the Nonnburg Abby which was where the real Maria von Trapp lived as a prospective nun. Our tour guide told us they sang every day at 5pm so we climbed some huge stairs to get there and hung around to hear the music. It was a little later than we thought, but that gave us more time to sit and relax.
We went to the last Ludwig castle on our way to one last night in Munich where we stayed on hostel row in what seemed like the international district in a hotel room that was like the Seinfeld episode where Kramer can't sleep because of the giant glowing chicken sign. It was noisy and creepy and the alarm was confusing...so we ended up not waking up until 7:30 am which was when we were supposed to be on the road. Oops! So we spit bathed and took off for the airport. With all that we were so ready to be home and in our own beds, but we really did love this trip and all we were able to see.
We started our day with the Sound of Music Tour. We met our group in Mozart Square took a small van to the BIG BUS with scenes from the movie painted on it. Was I embarrassed? A little. Was I excited? You betcha! I was mostly excited to see Patrick's reaction since he'd never seen the movie and isn't really into musicals (putting it mildly). Our first stop was the location for the lake. They used the gardens and lake in many scenes, but the back of the house was a different location.
Above is a picture of our guide. He was REALLY cheesy, and kind of disappointing. The funny thing was I kept wishing I could get video of him talking because his voice was so annoying...well we watched the extras on our DVD of The Sound of Music when we got back, and he's in it! Anyway, the next thing we saw was the row of trees the kids were swinging from and the gazebo, which is now closed because some old lady fell and broke her hip trying to skip between the benches. It was small and kind of lame. My favorite part of the tour was going to the lakes region and seeing some of the beautiful views from the opening credits of the movie.
We also saw the church that Maria and the captain were married in (in the movie of course). I thought the place was really creepy and gaudy in cream, pink, black and gold. I tried to capture the simple portions of the church. We had a little time to walk around the small town of Mondsee so we found a bakery where Dan finally got his apple strudel and I had the best chocolate cake!
We ended the tour in the Mirabel Palace gardens where they sang the do-ra-me song and did some prancing around the fountain.
After the tour we headed out of the city center a ways to find the apartment we rented. It was in a little neighborhood conveniently located on the bus line. We found food at a grocery store, ate in and played cards. We were also desperate to do laundry, the woman who gave us the key to the apartment told us there was a communal washer and dryer in the basement and that it cost around 10 cents. After waiting for the previous person to finish her laundry we went down and put ours in, pushed the buttons and it turned on...with no money, sweet! We couldn't find a box to put money in anyway so we figured that it must be free. We checked back an hour or so later only to find our WHITES soaked and locked in the washer. We tried and tried but couldn't get the clothes out, tempers flared (Not Dan's, he was asleep), until we finally decide there was nothing more we could do and go to bed hoping we'd find some nice person in the morning to help us out. Luckily the next morning early Noelle was down again looking at the washer and a nice woman helped us out showing us where the money box was. I guess the reason the washer turned on the night before was because there were still a few minutes left on the timer from the previous load. What is it with us and laundry in Europe? It always seems to be an ordeal.
Anyway, the next day we roamed around the city, went to the outdoor market (I continue to love the handmade wreaths), explored the some cathedrals, and did some shopping.
I loved the little iron signs that hung outside each shop.
There were horse and buggies and street performers in the main square which really added to the ambiance. I particularly loved this guy on the guitar and on another day there was a guy with a harp, but I didn't get a photo of that.
After shopping we went to meet our group to tour a salt mine. The bus ride was long, but picturesque on the way to a small town. When we arrived we had to put on coveralls to keep us from getting dirty. We couldn't stop laughing at how funny we looked!
We had so much fun laughing and taking pictures of each other that we ended up being last in line to board the train that takes you into the mine. Only a certain number of people fit on the train so everyone made it on but Dan and I. We had to wait about 10 min for the next one which filled up with us and with a whole slew of obnoxious American teenagers. The train takes you into the mountain down a dark tunnel, we looked at a display and were promptly ushered to a wooden slide consisting of 2 wood sticks that were worn down by so many butts sliding down them. It was a little scary, mostly fun...Patrick bought the photo they took of us which is basically a blackmail photo (it is truly awful!) There were a few of those slides, more hands on learning areas and a saline lake we crossed in a wooden boat (very Harry Potter).
It was really dark so the pictures didn't turn out, but it was very cool. After we thought the tour bus had left us because we didn't see anyone in our party...we actually were kind of angry and freaked out, but after 15 min. of searching for everyone we finally ran into Patrick and Noelle. After the stopped in another small town were we found a very cool cemetary. It is the first time I'd seen little gardens planted in front of headstones. We even saw an older couple tending to a grave, it was really rather sweet to see.
The next day we toured around the city some more waiting for the fog to lift, we went to the motzart museum which had fun artifacts to see and an audio guide that played a lot of beautiful music.
We also crossed the Mozart bridge, which was also in the Sound of Music. We got a little silly.
We actually got quite silly that day.
We also checked out the castle, but after seeing crazy Kind Ludwigs castles I'd call this a fortress. They had a few rooms with artifacts (snooze) then they also had some displays of torture devices, musical instruments and weapons that were cool. They even had a creepy marionette museum at the top.
We ended our day by going to the Nonnburg Abby which was where the real Maria von Trapp lived as a prospective nun. Our tour guide told us they sang every day at 5pm so we climbed some huge stairs to get there and hung around to hear the music. It was a little later than we thought, but that gave us more time to sit and relax.
We went to the last Ludwig castle on our way to one last night in Munich where we stayed on hostel row in what seemed like the international district in a hotel room that was like the Seinfeld episode where Kramer can't sleep because of the giant glowing chicken sign. It was noisy and creepy and the alarm was confusing...so we ended up not waking up until 7:30 am which was when we were supposed to be on the road. Oops! So we spit bathed and took off for the airport. With all that we were so ready to be home and in our own beds, but we really did love this trip and all we were able to see.
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