cooking, day 1

i cooked dinner last night (no, really). i found a recipe for crab cakes in a little cookbook i bought on impulse at the checkout stand at the grocery store. the title is 'summer meals' and it's put out by prevention magazine.

greenhouse crabcakes (they're from some spa called greenhouse spa or something like that)
1 lb crabmeat
1 egg
1 cup finely chopped celery
1 Tbsp fat-free mayonnaise
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/4 tsp curry powder
1/8 tsp ground red pepper
1/8 tsp mustard powder
2 Tbsp chopped, fresh chives
1-2 Tbsp unseasoned, dried bread crumbs
3 drops hot-pepper sauce

1. in large bowl, mix all ingredients and form into 8 patties
2. in medium non-stick skillet, heat patties over low heat until brown, 4 to 5 minutes per side.
Makes 8 crabcakes

it wasn't a total disaster; i ended up with 3 edible crab cakes (out of 7). the first one i had to dump because i tried to flip it too early and it fell apart. the next 3 also fell apart and i gave them to the kids and called it 'crab cake surprise' (sound familiar, mom?). jeff and i ate the last three and they were ok. i would have left out the hot sauce and would have used a different kind of breadcrumb (the only ones i had were panko breadcrumbs which apparently are for japanese foods. eh. you win some, you lose some. one of the problems with the meal was that i was so focused on making the crab cakes that i forgot to make any side dishes. jeff came to the rescue with some rice and corn. he also whipped up an impromptu tartar sauce since i forgot to get that as well.

tonight i'm making a recipe i found in my new cooking light magazine (thanks to everyone who recommended it - i'm loving it so far. the pictures are very pretty): grilled flank steak with tomato, avocado and cucumber salad. jeff is doing the grilling so i can blame at least partial failure on him ;)