Crab Salad

My Grandma Betty (my mom's mom) was an "inventive" cook. That's putting it nicely. To give you an idea of her inventiveness, one Christmas dinner she dyed pineapple rings red...which wouldn't be too bad in itself...but to up the festiveness of the dish, she added cottage cheese that she had dyed GREEN! Yes, she served us green cottage cheese. Ew! I've always joked that while some people subscribe to the theory of "less is more", my Grandma Betty wasn't buying it. To her it was always "MORE is MORE"! So, if you had a dish that was tasty, there just had to be something that you could add to it to make it even MORE tasty. For example, knowing her tendency toward strange dishes, yet also being sensitive to her desire to contribute to our holiday meals, one Thanksgiving that I was hosting I asked her to bring good old Macaroni and Cheese. You can't mess up mac-n-cheese, right? You take some mac, you take some cheese - viola! Mac-N-Cheese! Simple, delicious, always a hit - right up there with mashed potatoes in my book. Well, Grandma Betty, being who she is, KNEW that she could improve on this dish that has stood the test of time. And the best way to improve on plain, old, boring (delicious) macaroni and cheese was to add mixed vegetables to the mac and the cheese. Yes, I said mixed vegetables! And not just peas, corn and carrots, which would have been gross enough. She added what I think is called "winter blend" - cauliflower, broccoli and carrots. To macaroni and cheese! Eww!!!! Take this stuff back and give me some green cottage cheese!! I think my dad (being one not to want food to go to waste) ate some of it. The rest of us put some on our plates, pushed it around and threw it out.

All that being said, Grandma Betty's inventive cooking did occasionally result in something that tasted really good. The problem was that she would never make this good dish a second time. She always had to up the ante and good often turned into not-so-good. One of the dishes that she invented that we all really loved was crab salad. Greg hovered over the bowl and inhaled it as quickly as he could. If you are wondering whether or not this dish got changed (and therefor ruined) the answer, to me and Greg anyhow, is YES! One time she added chopped celery. YICK! We'll eat celery by itself or dipped in ranch or with peanut butter on it, but please do not chop it up small and put it in anything, cooked or raw, but especially raw. I think Greg took it a little personally and was almost insulted when that celery invaded his beloved crab salad. He saw it on the counter and was anxious for that first bite, only to have it ruined by the crunch of celery. I sympathized and was determined to recreate the GOOD version of crab salad.

We love this Crab Salad. I never thought it was anything special until my friend, Angi, was over with 2 of her kids (Hi Zander and Ava!!!) and they all loved it enough that she wanted the recipe and made it for her family the next night. I had always made it as a snack type thing where the kids and I would have a small portion of it and then Greg would make several trips to the fridge until it was gone. But recently I decided that it was dinner worthy. Add some crackers and it's a meal. Maybe not a super well rounded meal, but a meal that fills your tummy and tastes good! You got plenty of protein and pickles count as a veggie, right? Ether way we enjoyed it tonight and are still quite full 3 hours later.

Crab Salad

(can be doubled)

1 8oz pack of imitation crab - chunk or "leg", chopped into small chunks (this is the stuff that sold in a flat plastic package - at Kroger it's in the bins that are in front of the real seafood display)

6 hard boiled eggs, peeled and diced

3 large dill pickle spears (I prefer Mt. Olive), diced

- keep the jar out to add some pickle juice

1/4 onion, finely chopped

1/2 cup mayonnaise (I prefer Hellmans)

1 tsp prepared yellow mustard

1 tsp dill - dried

salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder to taste

Dash (about 2tsp or so) lemon juice

Mix all ingredients. Taste and adjust spices as needed. I usually add some extra pickle juice to give more dill flavor and loosen up the "sauce". Cover and chill. You can eat it right away but it's one of those that tastes different after the flavors blend together overnight. Serve alone or with crackers (I like Club crackers).

This is pretty much the exact same recipe that I use for tuna salad, egg salad, chicken salad, potato salad, etc, minus the lemon juice. Once I tried making an egg salad recipe that I found online. It was similar, but didn't have any dill pickles. After we ate it I asked Greg what he thought. He said, "It's good, but it's missing something." Knowing what it was, I asked, "Pickles?" and he agreed right away. We like us some dill pickles in the Fraley household! Greg had the kids drinking dill pickle juice from the jar before they were 2 years old. They fight over who gets to drink it now! Our vacation to Florida at spring break was almost ruined when I opened the back hatch of my truck after going to the grocery and the economy size jar of dill pickles fell and shattered on the ground. Greg was very upset with me and I know it was not because of the mess or the waste of money - it was because he had plans to eat those pickles one by one, throughout our vacation. We still had a nice vacation, but it was definitely tainted by the lack of pickle! :P