Today's recipes

This is as inspiring as it got around here today:

Playgroup Granola Bars (I happened to make these AFTER our 2-year-old guest left.)

2 c. rolled oats
3/4 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 c. wheat germ
1 t. cinnamon
1 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. raisins
3/4 t. salt
1/2 c. honey
1 egg, beaten
1/2 c. vegetable oil
2 t. vanilla

Mix dry ingredients and raisins. Make a well and add rest of ingredients. Pat mixture evenly into a greased 9x13" pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool for 5 minutes, then cut into bars. (Don't let them cool for hours in the pan, unless you want to nearly break your spatula prying them out.)

Owen could hardly keep his hands off, and kept telling me he needed another 'nola bar. I wonder if I could slip some peas into my next batch? ha ha

Supper was a wonderful concoction:

Donna's Crab Meal

3 T. butter
3 T. flour
1 1/2 c. milk
1 c. cheddar cheese
1/2 pkg. imitation crab meat
dash garlic salt
dash garlic powder
dash pepper
dash cayenne pepper
1 tsp. lemon juice

Make a roux with the butter and flour, then add milk and rest of ingredients. Serve over rice.

I named this recipe after a very kind lady who sent this supper home with us after she watched Owen for a day while I was at working out my notice after he was born. (I would hate diagraming that sentence.) It's famous around our house now, and it's a great thrifty way to eat seafood.

This evening I used *real!* crab found for a deal at Winn Dixie, and for the record, real lemon juice squeezed from a real lemon. I bought a bag of already boiled snowcrab legs, so I had the opportunity to improve my crab-leg-cracking skills. Helen watched in admiration of the process, gulped up lumps of meat I set aside for her, and announced greedily many times over, "I need more." If you ever get the chance to order snow crab legs at a restaurant that knows how to cook seafood, take it. Swallow your pride, take off your rings, roll up your cuffs and get to work. It is sooo worth it.