Bread bowl crab dip

Last week I mentioned a love for hot seafood dip (usually clam) baked inside a round bread loaf that has been hollowed out. About 10 years ago, I was introduced to this method: Baked clam dip was a regular party dish prepared by a longtime friend of mine, Preston Gannaway, who now lives in Norfolk. She has access to blue crabs from her home in Ocean View, so I am offering this crab dip recipe in her honor.

Bread bowl crab dip

12 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 small onion, finely chopped
5 tablespoons mayonnaise
Two 6-ounces cans of crabmeat, drained and flaked (use a pound of fresh crabmeat, if you can buy it or if you catch your own)
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste
1 pound round, crusty bread loaf

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine the cream cheese, onion, mayonnaise, crabmeat, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Spread mixture in a 1-quart baking dish. Bake for 20 minutes. While the dip is baking, cut off the top of the bread round and scoop out the insides to create a bread bowl. Cut the extra bread into chunks for dipping. Remove the crab dip from the oven and stir well. Spoon the mixture into the hollowed out loaf. Place bread bowl and chunks of bread on a baking sheet and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Serve hot.

Preston made her clam dip by putting the mixture in the hollowed out loaf, covering it with the bread “top” and baking it for nearly an hour, with the loaf covered in foil. There was no separate step of heating the dip first, then putting it in the bread loaf. The best part of either method? Tearing the loaf apart and eating it once the dip is gone!

(Since Preston is a graduate of Virginia Intermont College in Bristol, Va., I am calling this an honorary Bristol recipe. Now she is in Norfolk, pulling crabs from the Bay, near my native home!)

Cupcake love for charity

Healing Hands Health Center is accepting cupcake orders in its first fundraiser called Sweets to the Sweet. For local residents who want to share a giant cupcake, and help uninsured workers have access to charitable health care, this is the answer.

Each cupcake helps underwrite the cost of patient care expenses including medications and medical supplies. A donation of $50 will include a hand-delivered jumbo cupcake honoring the person of your choice and a Valentine’s Day Card with your personal message.

A great cause and the cupcakes are being designed and donated by Blackbird Bakery in Bristol, Va. Delicious!

Want to place an order? Contact Helen Scott at (423) 652-2516 or execdirector@btes.tv. Get cracking; Valentine’s Day is Monday.

Aunt Peggy's Hot Crab Dip

The blue crab gets its name from its bluish-tinted claws. Its shell is more of a mottled brown color, and mature females have red on the tips of their pincers.

Blue crabs are prized for their sweet, tender meat, and are among the most heavily harvested creatures on the planet. They are excellent swimmers, with specially adapted hind appendages shaped like paddles. Their scientific name, Callinectes sapidus, means "beautiful swimmer."

I grew up eating blue crabs from the Chesapeake Bay and surrounding waterways, but blue crabs have an amazing range. They are found in brackish coastal lagoons and estuaries from Nova Scotia, through the Gulf of Mexico. Some are found as far south as Uruguay. Crabs are bottom-dwelling omnivores that will eat nearly anything. And they are quick to use their sharp front pincers if disturbed.

Because of their popularity, blue crabs have been routinely overharvested. Because of their declines, there are management plans for harvesting in many parts of their range.

Growing up in Norfolk, we were always fortunate to have access to blue crabs. We put pots in at friends’ homes or crabbed from local piers, most often in Ocean View. About 14 years ago, my parents moved to a home on the Lafayette River. If you want blue crabs, my dad can walk down to the pier and put about a dozen pots in the water.

I dearly love steaming blue crabs cooked with Old Bay seasoning, black pepper, vinegar, salt and a touch of cayenne. There is no better way to spend a summer afternoon. But after posting a recipe for clam dip, my thoughts turned to hot crab dip. Finding fresh crab meat in Southwest Virginia is more of a challenge. Greene’s Seafood in Bristol often has great offerings. But even with canned crab (which is often from Asia and is a different variety than blue crab), this recipe is terrific.

My aunt, Margaret Mills of Winston-Salem, N.C., is a stellar cook. This is her tried and true method. Our family calls her Peggy.

Aunt Peggy's hot crab dip

6 ounces of crabmeat, drained (use about a cup of fresh, if you have it)
8 ounces of cream cheese
2 tablespoons onion, diced
1 tablespoon milk
½ teaspoon prepared horseradish
¼ teaspoon salt
1/3 cup almonds, sliced and toasted

Mix ingredients, except almonds, and heat in a saucepan until very hot. Do not let it boil. Transfer to a chafing dish. Sprinkle with almonds and serve.

Bring on the weiners!

Cocktail weiners are always a hit at parties because they embody that "perfect bite." They are spicy, sweet, tangy and salty and just the right size to pop in your mouth. And for ease of preparation, cocktail weiners were made for the slow cooker. Mix up all the ingredients, dump it in a slow cooker, set it to low. All you need to serve are some plates and toothpicks.

This recipe is pretty basic: ketchup, vinegar, jelly or jam, mustard and black pepper (plus the weiners, of course!) I have tried many versions of this dish over the years, but this one, first shared by Myra Marshall of Norton, Va., is my favorite method.

Cocktail weiners

1/2 pint (one cup) currant jelly
1/2 cup white vinegar
2 cups ketchup
1/4 cup prepared mustard (you may use yellow mustard, or brown mustard)
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 pounds small cocktail weiners

Melt the jelly over low heat in a medium sauce pan. Once melted, add the remaining ingredients, except weiners, and blend thoroughly. Place the weiners in a 6-quart slow cooker and pour the sauce over all. Stir to blend. Cover and cook on low for 4 hours before serving. Can keep cooking on low until all the weiners have disappeared.

You may substitute another favorite jelly for the currant jelly, but I love the tangy taste from the currants. Also, you can cut up 4 packages of hotdogs to substitute for the cocktail weiners. Slice each into about 5 pieces.

Super dip for Super Bowl

As you consider items to make for the Super Bowl on Sunday, consider trying this clam dip. It is foolproof, universally loved and easy to prepare. This version is my mother’s recipe and has been a go-to for more than 30 years. There are hot versions (including a delectable version that bakes inside a scooped out sourdough loaf), but this one is easier to prepare and all you have to do is keep it cold. Look for a hot clam dip version to come soon. For now, try this basic favorite that always wins raves.

Creamy clam dip

8 ounce package cream cheese
1 small onion, minced
6 ounce can minced clams, liquid drained and reserved
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Chopped parsley to garnish

Place the cream cheese in a medium bowl. Bring to room temperature, until softened. Add about 2 tablespoons reserved clam juice, onion, drained clams and Worcestershire sauce. Blend completely, adding more clam juice, if necessary. Refrigerate several hours, or overnight, before serving. Garnish with chopped parsley. This dip is great with thick cut potato chips, crackers or vegetable sticks. Use reduced fat or fat-free cream cheese in this recipe; both work well.

How many servings? Who knows. There have never been leftovers when I have served this at a party.

Fresh fish options

I am pleased to see local grocery stores carrying more fresh fish options. I can easily find catfish, tilapia, cod, perch and other varieties in regular chain groceries in Bristol and Abingdon. As I have written before, I am focused on eating real food and staying away from more processed items (more fresh fish versus processed things like imitation crab or fish sticks.)

My youngest son will not eat fish sticks – a good idea; have you ever cut one open and really looked at it? He loves catfish, especially when it is one like this, caught by his older brother:

Obviously a 23-inch, fresh caught catfish is uncommon. So recently I chose a package of filleted tilapia at the local grocery store. Tilapia is a common farm-raised freshwater fish. It is a good source of protein and because it eats a plant diet and grows quickly, it does not accumulate mercury. The fish is low in saturated fat, low in calories and is a good source of niacin, vitamin B12 and potassium. This fish contains low amounts of omega-3 acids; other fish like salmon provide those heart benefits.

I prepared the tilapia very simply; it is a firm, white fish and I wanted that to shine through. I absolutely love various flavored croutons and think they make a great addition to other recipes. I fashioned a tasty topping for the fish by crushing some of the sea salt and black pepper variety.

Salt and pepper tilapia
3 tilapia fillets
Old Bay seasoning
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
8 seasoned croutons (sea salt and black pepper), crushed

Place the tilapia fillets in a casserole dish that has been sprayed with non-stick coating. Sprinkle the fish with lemon juice, Old Bay seasoning, parsley flakes and the crushed croutons. Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes, until fish is firm, but not dry. Serves 3.

The tilapia fillets nearly filled the pan I chose:

The fillets smelled wonderful once cooked; the croutons were a tasty, easy way to make a delicious topping.

I also prepared some shrimp; I gave them a quick toss in a skillet with some garlic, lemon juice, Old Bay and parsley. Don’t overcook your shrimp; as soon as they turn opaque, give them a quick flip in the pan, another minute or two on the heat and take them out.

This is a delicious, fast cooking meal that is easy to make and much better for your family than processed fish sticks, artificial crabmeat or fried shrimp.

Cheesy goodness, made from scratch

So many people rely on packaged foods that some children have never had real, honest-to-goodness macaroni and cheese. Once you learn to make this dish from scratch, eating powdered, orangey cheese powder will never again be an option.

I had never eaten macaroni and cheese from a box until I went to college. Same for canned spaghetti sauce and corn dogs. My mother was a “from scratch” person and did not include pre-packaged or mix items in our pantry or fridge. Today, she will use canned spaghetti sauce, but she still shuns macaroni and cheese from a box.

And here’s why: Making your own tastes better. Powdered cheese mix is not cheese. Making food for your family gives you a sense of pride and accomplishment.

Don’t get me wrong; macaroni and cheese is not health food. Eat it in moderation. You can use reduced fat milk in the sauce. But do take the time to try this recipe; it is better than anything you will ever get out of a box.

Homemade macaroni and cheese

1 cup uncooked macaroni noodles
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 ½ cups milk
1 cup grated Cheddar cheese; reserve about ¼ cup to sprinkle on top
6-8 saltine crackers, crushed

Cook the macaroni noodles in boiling, salted water for about 7-8 minutes. Drain and place in a greased 2-quart casserole dish. In a sauce pan, over medium heat, melt the butter or margarine. Add the flour and blend thoroughly. Cook 1-2 minutes. Using a whisk, add about half the milk. Blend thoroughly; as the mixture thickens, add the remaining milk. Cook 2-3 minutes. Add ¾ cup cheese; stir until melted completely. Pour the cheese sauce over the macaroni noodles, then stir to combine. Top with the reserved cheese and crushed crackers. Bake in a 350 degree over until top is browned and bubbly; about 20 minutes. Serves 6.