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Last month I decided to cut meat and poultry out of my diet.  The decision was less about ethical purposes and more for health reasons.  I am still eating eggs, dairy products and seafood.  To make sure I'm getting all the "stuff" I need I've been eating more seafood.  Fillet of whatever can get kind of boring so I've been digging on crab meat, calamari and some other tasty stuff.  I saw a Weight Watchers recipe for spicy crab cakes and decided to hack it up for my own tastes.  And now I share the tastiness with the interweb.

Spicy Cajun Crab Cakes

Ingredients:

• 18 ounces large, lump crab meat
• 1 cup quick oats
• 1/4 cup diced roasted red peppers
• 3 tbsp. low fat or fat free mayo
• 1/4 diced onion
• 4 tbsp. horseradish (not the sauce you communist)
• 3 tbsp. hot sauce
• 2 tsp. Cajun seasoning

Preheat your oven to 425.

Combine the crab, 1/4 of the oats, diced red pepper, 2 tbsp. of the mayo, 2 tbsp. of horseradish, 2 tbsp. of the hot sauce, the onion and 1 tsp. of the Cajun seasoning together in a bowl.  Gently mix the ingredients together until everything is nicely co-mingled.  In a shallow bowl, mix the rest of the oats and Cajun seasoning together.

Grab a handful of the crab mixture (wash your hands first please) and mold it in to a hockey-puck-like patty.  There should be enough mixture to make 4 cakes.  Flop the cakes in the oat & Cajun seasoning mixture and then place them on a baking sheet.  Hit the sheet with some cooking spray first.  Bake the cakes for around 20 minutes or until they are golden brown.

Whilst your cakes are baking, combine the remaining horseradish, hot sauce and mayo in a small bowl.  This makes a simple, zippy little sauce for the cakes.  I also made a tomato-cucumber salad to go with it which is also pretty simple.  Tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion and Italian dressing.  I also add a little Mrs. Dash and fresh ground pepper.  Good stuff.

When I hopped on the scale at the gym today I was pleased to discover that it looks like I've hit the 17 pound mark in weight lost since the beginning of the year.  That's good progress yet somehow it barely seems like a dent.  Nevertheless, I'm pleased with what I've accomplished so far and I definitely feel better.  The thought of being guilty for not going to the gym on a given day was something I could not have even comprehended just a few short months ago.

Liz & the kids went to visit family and friends in NY yesterday so I was on my own for dinner.  I decided to make a batch of French Onion Soup as the soup regular season is nearing a close.  It came out pretty damn good.  I was tired and around 8 PM I went to grab something from the bedroom where not surprisingly I found Maggie sacked out on our bed.  (Note - there are two dog beds on the floor in our bedroom)  I decided to give her a few scritches for her disobedience and the next thing I know I'm being awoken by Liz when she came home.  I ended up getting about 10 hours of sleep which is unheard of for me.  I guess I was tired.

Speaking of soup, if you have HBO and are even a casual sports fan then you should check out Magic & Bird: A Courtship of Rivals tomorrow night (3/6) at 8 PM ET.  I've never been a huge NBA fan and it's barely watchable these days but this promises to be a good special.  Check out this clip from 1988 3-point competition during the NBA all-star weekend for some vintage Bird.  I didn't watch this live but I have a friend who still talks about it incessantly.  Anyway watch the special tomorrow night if you're not otherwise occupied.

We threw together a pretty sweet dinner tonight that was also quite healthy so I thought I would share the recipe.  We're sick of winter so the idea of a burger for dinner was a welcome concept and a nice way to shrug off the Team USA overtime loss to America Jr.

Ingredients:

• 3 small to medium onions (white or yellow)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Spray cooking oil (Canola)
• 2 medium tomatoes, sliced
• 4 slices yellow American cheese
• 4 multi-grain sandwich thins (Arnold's)
• 4 Boca burger patties (we tried the bruschetta flavor)

The key to a successful patty melt is in the onions.  Caramelized onions kick ass.  If I had my way, we would have a continuous batch of caramelized on the stove at all times like a greasy spoon dive.  Caramelizing onions is easy but a little time consuming.  Here's a good article on how to do it so I'm not reinventing the wheel here.

Once your onions are all set, spray a non-stick pan or skillet with the cooking spray and warm it over medium heat.  Throw in the Boca burgers or whatever your patty of choice is.  For frozen veggie burgers, cook for about 8 minutes total and flip at the half way point.  Move the patties around every minute or so to keep them from burning.  Grilling is always a better option if you have one and the weather permits.

While your burgers are cooking, preheat your oven to 425 degrees.  Get a baking sheet or stone and arrange the 4 sandwich thins.  Once the burgers are done, add them to the sandwich thins.  Top with onions and then cheese.  The cheese must go on after the onions in order to form a protective blanket that preserves the structural integrity of the patty melt.  Throw the sandwich thin top on the stack and pop it in the oven for about 6 minutes or until the cheese is melted just right.  Once the cheese is melted and the bread is toasted, add your tomato slices and of course some ketchup.  I threw some hot sauce on that pig as well.

Sides are up to your individual preference but we went with the trusted garden salad.  All in, the patty melt is about 5 WeightWatchers points.  Not bad.  Fat free ranch dressing on the salad adds another point which is still not bad for dinner.  We used veggie burgers but you could of course do this with regular burgers or whatever you like.  It was pretty damn good.