Eat Together, Make Life Delicious...

Yes, really, I mean it.

If you are looking for ways to spicy up an evening, consider Deep Fried Oysters with Spicy Cocktail Sauce. Everything you've heard about oysters is true and what's more is they are actually quite fun to prepare. A glass of red or white wine will help with a little Frank Sinatra on too. The real trick is to coat these oysters completely with the crushed cracker/flour combo. If you are like me and cannot have a ton of gluten, simply use gluten free crackers and brown rice flour instead. It doesn't quite stick as well to the oyster, so make sure to press it on as best you can.

Deep-Fried Oysters with Spicy Cocktail Sauce
makes 6 to 8 servings

48 fresh oysters (or 1 pint shucked oysters if you are in a rush!)
½ cup cornmeal
3 cups olive oil for frying
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup crushed crackers (Saltines work great)
1 tablespoon sea salt
Cocktail Sauce with Tabasco sauce to taste
Lemon wedges

Scrub the oysters and place them in a large bowl. Make sure to discard all
broken shells or oysters that won’t close. Fill the bowl with enough cold water to cover the oysters. Shake in the cornmeal and stir. Let the oysters sit for 3 to 6 hours, to let them purge any sand. Remove the oysters from the water and rinse thoroughly.

Shuck the oysters. Combine the flour and cracker meal and dredge the oysters in the mixture. Let the oysters sit, refrigerated, for 20 minutes. Make sure they are well coated.

Heat the oil to 350 degrees. Fry the oysters until crispy, about 3 minutes. Transfer the fried oysters to a paper-towel-lined plate. Sprinkle with sea salt and serve hot with spicy cocktail sauce and lemon wedges.

This salad is super easy to prepare. If you have a favorite store bought Asian dressing, you can substitute that for the dressing below. This will save you even more time! This recipe can also be prepared with scallops, chicken, lobster, fish, thinly sliced beef or pork. Simply keep those ingredients submerged under the liquid until they are opaque and cooked through. My kids like this with extra noodles and broccoli florets instead of carrots and my husbands prefers to include a pinch of red peppers flakes!

Tossed Shrimp Salad
Makes 4 servings

For the dressing:
1 heaping teaspoon Miso paste
1 tablespoon orange juice
½ tablespoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon minced roasted garlic
½ teaspoon minced ginger
1 tablespoon soy sauce

For the shrimp salad:
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 cup canned baby corn, cut in half
1 large carrot, peeled, ends removed, and shredded
1 pinch salt
2 oz cellophane noodles
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled, and deveined, and tails removed
4 handfuls fresh baby spinach
Sesame seeds

In a small bowl prepare the sauce. Combine the miso, orange juice, oyster sauce, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and 2 tablespoons of water and whisk until well combined.

In a large sauce pot or wok over medium heat, slick the bottom of the pan with sesame oil and add in the baby corn, carrots, and salt and cook until the carrots are tender or about 5 minutes.

Reduce the heat to medium low. Add in the ½ cup water, cellophane noodles, shrimp, and the dressing and cook for 5 minutes. Try to get the shrimp and noodles under the liquid. Toss occasionally to help the noodles break apart.

When the shrimp is opaque and the noodles are soft, add in the fresh spinach and give it one more good toss. Turn off the heat. To serve, divide up the dish among 4 plates, sprinkle it with sesame seeds and serve.

Labels: Easy Recipes, Family Meal, salad, seafood, shrimp

Last week I filmed a video on how I get my kids to set the table. It was pretty silly. After editing and posting it later that night it dawned on me I didn't address the most important aspect of getting my kids to set the table, or for that matter do anything I request of them: why it matters.

And it was funny, even though in my heart I knew why it mattered, I found myself having a hard time articulating it. It felt like I had been just acting on auto pilot and once I slowed down to figure out what I wanted to say I was a little stumped. But after mulling over the question 'why it matters' (beyond because I said so) I came up with this:

It matters because we want our kids to grow up with a sense of self, accomplishment, and responsibility. And kids want to participate, have jobs, a role, they want to help, they are looking for a place to belong, for you to be proud of them, to be proud of themselves, and be paid attention to.

Ok, if you can see where I am going with this and and are shaking your head 'yes, I like that', I wonder if you can also see (and I am not saying YOU do this, but I know I am guilty of it) that just shouting out -set that table- doesn't accomplish this in the slightest.

So what does? It's simple, get connected with them in the spirit of even the simplest of things count and help make us proud.

Take the time to explain why you want what you want and what the big picture is (by the way this works with people of all shapes, sizes, and ages!)

Something like 'I'd like you to set the table, because it's your job and your part in this family. We all have roles and responsibilities, and this one is yours. Embrace it, rock it out, and make it great. I know you will do an excellent job. And it matters.'

And if you kid is staring at you and doesn't budge ask them why. And from here you will have a much better chance at getting their truth and you sharing yours.

In one such conversation my middle daughter said she felt like she had more work than the others and it wasn't fair. And though that wasn't true, that's what she thought and so her willingness to help was hampered by that. Once I was able to show her that wasn't true and in fact everyone had their thing to do, she was far happier and less argumentative. And then I realized as a kid (I was the middle one too) I had the same feelings. When I told her that she blossomed with a sense of belong, we were connected. (and yes, I'll get into the middle kid syndrome in another blog!) I would not have been able to get anything remotely like that out of her had I been just shouting orders.

So try it. Take the time and get connected. And be patient. You might need to untrain them from just taking orders from you and carrying them out. Start with opening the dialogue and explain to them why it matters, because it really does.