Comcast and the other reasons this post is long past due.

Life has gotten in the way of my blogging lately.  Life and Comcast that is.  I really don’t know how a company that pulls things like “We are so sorry that two of our technicians knocked your Internet out on Saturday, while in your backyard without your permission, doing something you didn’t request.  We totally understand your frustration and will have someone out there first thing Wednesday morning to fix it,” thrives in this city… but they do.  Needless to say, I’ve developed quite the backlog  of posts to share with you, which would be all well and good had I actually written them.   So we will blame life and let Comcast off the hook.  Just this once.

It’s been beautiful in D.C. and I was outdoors most of the weekend.  Friday, I went to Wolf Trap for wine and a picnic (River Dance happened to be being performed in the background).  Saturday was a full day lounging at Skyline pool, taking in strong sun and stronger drinks.  Sunday I surprised Jana with tickets to Beauty and the Beast, where we were the oldest giddy little girls present and probably the only ones drinking Dirty Shirley’s.

After the show, we headed over to my parents’ house for our usual Sunday dinner and to celebrate Fathers’ Day (yes, that’s where the apostrophe goes, for me at least).  I’ve mentioned before how lucky I am to have three fathers in my life, although I unfortunately was only able to cook for one this Fathers’ Day.  Having recently found out that he’s not actually allergic to all shellfish as I had thought for years, I decided to go with this crab casserole.  It’s from Self Magazine, but it was so gloriously rich you would never know.  As you might not guess judging from my terrible photos,  this was delicious, and I will definitely be making it again.

Maryland Crab Casserole

From Self 

INGREDIENTS

• 2-4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium red potato, diced
• 1/3 cup chopped white onion
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1/4 cup chopped fennel bulb
• 1 3/4 teaspoons minced garlic
• 2 cups sliced Swiss chard, stems removed (I used Kale because I had it on hand)
• 1 cup baby spinach
• 4 egg whites
• 1 whole egg
• 3/4 cup crumbled feta
• 1/2 cup lowfat cottage cheese
• 3 tablespoons plain soymilk
• 1/2 cup whole-grain breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
• 1 pound precooked lump crabmeat
• Vegetable-oil cooking spray
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
• 8 sheets phyllo dough, thawed
• Old Bay

PREPARATION

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large pan on medium high heat. Add potato, onion, pepper and fennel; sauté until soft, about 3 minutes. Add garlic; sauté until golden, about 2 minutes. Stir in chard and spinach; cook 2 minutes or until wilted. Transfer to a bowl and cool.
   
2. Beat eggs in another bowl. Stir eggs, feta, cottage cheese, soymilk, breadcrumbs, cilantro, dill and chives into veggie mix. Fold in crabmeat. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Coat a 9″ x 12″ pan with cooking spray; dust with 2 tbsp Parmesan. Place 1 phyllo sheet in pan; brush with oil. Layer 3 more phyllo sheets in a row; brush each with oil. Dust with remaining Parmesan and Old Bay.
   
4. Spoon crab/cheese/veggie mix over pastry; top with rest of phyllo; brush each sheet with oil. Score the top to mark off 3″ x 6″ pieces. Bake 35 minutes or until golden. Cool slightly; serve.  Preferably with corn on the cob.

 

Because it was Fathers’ Day and they’re Matt’s favorite, of course I also made oatmeal cookies.  In fact I made what some folks on Pinterest have claimed to be “the best ever” oatmeal cookies.  They’re from a blog called ‘Better with Butter‘ so you know she’s doing something right.  Were they the best ever?  Who knows, the recipe looked pretty standard to me.  Sugar, butter, lots of chocolate chips.  But my brother compared them to the cookies from his favorite sub shop, so they had to have been pretty good.

‘The Best Ever’ Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 3 tablespoons butter, room temp
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1-2 cups chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix together the butter, brown sugar, honey, egg, water and vanilla extract. Add the dry ingredients and mix. Drop teaspoons full of dough on a baking sheet and bake for 12 to 15 minutes in a 350-degree oven. If you want thick, chunky cookies, chill the dough in the freezer for a half hour or more.

Johanna