Crab Cakes With Smarter Tartar Sauce, Flourless Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Children's Museum

On the plate:  Crab cakes, smarter tartar sauce, and flourless chocolate chip cookies

Soundtrack to cook to:  Hello everyone, my name is Nikki and I am a corny 80's music addict.  I have been hopelessly hooked on the 80's the past two weeks and even put together my own playlist.  Some of the songs come from the following groups:  Rick Astley (of course), Billy Ocean, Debarge, Tears For Fears, Simple Minds, Fine Young Cannibals, Starship, Cyndi Lauper, Anita Baker, Whitney Houston, Huey Lewis and the News, Robert Palmer, Bangles, Wham! (one of my personal favorites), Ah-Ha and the list goes on and on.
Thankfully, Alexander likes the music, so we've had a lot of dance parties in the house to this wonderful 80's Megamix that I put together. :)

A couple of years ago, I was really interested in making my own crab cakes at home, but hated that a lot of the recipes had SO much butter and breading in them.  I LOVE crab cakes, but don't like that they are so heavy and buttery when I order them at restaurants.  Thus, I went on a search and found the PERFECT crab cake recipe that is figure friendly and absolutely delicious.  It also comes accompanied with a fantastic tartar sauce recipe that is also very light itself and pairs soooo beautifully with the crab cakes.  Needless to say, every bite of crab cake that I take has a little dollop of the sauce as well.

*Apologies to the gross picture, but I thought it was important to include*
Mix together the dijon mustard, egg, worcestershire sauce, lemon juice,
Old Bay seasoning, salt and pepper.

Toss in chopped green onions and red peppers, and lightly
stir in the lump crab meat and breadcrumbs
until the mixture is just combined.  Section it off into 8 little mounds.
I've found that in order to make
the perfect cake, you have to squeeze out some of the excess liquid,
otherwise your cakes will fall apart when you flip them in the oven.

Once the cakes are formed, lightly coat the cake in bread crumbs
and place on a greased pan.  Then throw them in the oven! :)

While the cakes are cooking, I make the smarter tartar sauce.
I really love the addition of chopped green onions and capers.
The capers add a nice, briny acidity to the sauce that makes it
so that it's not too heavy of a sauce.

Gotta have some veggies!  I cut up some asparagus and onions
and cooked them quickly in a pan with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

Voila!  A beautifully cooked crab cake that is light and delicious.
It's one of Joseph's favorites and it even got Alexander's
stamp of approval! :)

It's starting to *finally...but not that I'm complaining* feel like winter around here.  Thus, I've been scrambling to find things to do indoors that are stimulating for Alexander.  After getting tired of being cooped up in the house, I decided to take Alexander to the Children's Discovery Museum in Acton, MA.  It takes us about 30-40 minutes to get there, but it's well worth the trek.  I absolutely love that it has two buildings:  One for little kiddos, and one for the bigger kiddos.  I've had so many instances where Alexander has been playing at the Children's Museum in Boston or at a playground and he just gets completely run over by older children.  This was a nice way that Alexander could explore while I could relax in knowing that he would be safe.

Alexander instinctively flocks to the train table.
This kid LOVES trains, trucks, and pretty much
anything with wheels!

Alexander manipulating some shapes. 

Alexander playing around with some washers on a rod.

I thought this was a genius idea for a toy!

Alexander at the play kitchen, pretending to eat
some green beans.  He even likes green beans as play food!

Alexander putting together a sandwich.

Alexander checking out all of the people walking
up and down the stairs from the ocean room.

Alexander playing around.

Alexander playing around with some blocks
and his Thomas the Tank Engine pillow pet
before bath time.

I forgot to include this video from the last blog post.

This was from when Alexander, my sister Kristen, and I

went to Larz Anderson Park and played around.

After all of these savory dishes, I really had a taste for something sweet and chocolatey.  I found this awesome recipe for flourless chocolate chip cookies from pinterest.  I made them for my first official playdate that I hosted.  I thought these would be perfect for the moms and kids to snack on.  They are so easy to make and are incredibly irresistible!  

Mix together the dry ingredients.  Then pour in 4 egg whites
and the chocolate chips and throw them in the oven! 

I placed the batter on a silpat, but you can use parchment paper
that has been greased as well.

14 minutes later and they're done!  I had these out on a plate
and every time I passed the plate, I had to get another one.
They're a perfect mix between a meringue and a cookie.  It has the
crunch of a cookie and the chewiness of a meringue.
So perfect for that chocolate craving you might have!

P.S.  These cookies were so good that I actually made a brand new batch when my friend Vena came over for a movie night and needless to say, there were only a few left at the end of the night.  So good!!

The playdate was a success, so much that we have a regularly scheduled playdate each week!  I'm so happy that Alexander is getting to socialize with other kids, learning to share (I have a feeling this will be a long process) and I'm meeting new moms in my area.  It's so weird having to make new "mom friends."  I likened it to having to find a seat in a high school cafeteria - that awkward, uncomfortable feeling of "Am I cool enough for these moms to like me?"  Oh well, after some time, I came to grips with it and have finally found some people who actually want to hang out with me, outside of the "Mommy and Me" classes.  Hooray!  

Until next time...

Love and kisses,

Nikki