Beachy Fun
CURRENTLY AT THE BEACH
Why Don’t You Join Us?
Digging my Sandy Toes deep into the Sand
The best exfoliation you can have is to walk barefoot on the beach.
Dig your feet into that thick sand and with each step your feet become smoother, and smoother.
This is one reason why I love Florida so very much!
Nature, the beaches, the sand, the sun….
See you at the beach!
Julie
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Our Imitation Crab Pasta Salad
(Recipe Down Below)
We took this delicious Pasta Crab Salad with us as our Picnic Food to the Beach.
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Apollo Beach, Florida
Apollo Beach is something of a ‘not too populated’ beach.
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Gordon Setting Up Our Umbrella
Just Trying to Keep Cool!
It did feel so good to dig my toes back into the sand.
It’s been a while since I’ve been to one of our many Florida beaches.
Apollo Beach is now more of a Nature Preserve
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Ready For Lunch
Our Pasta Imitation Crab Salad Lunch w/ Crackers, and our Veggie Balls
As hot as it has been, we didn’t want anything heavy.
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Solitaire, Anyone?
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DR. NO
I got the swimsuit for Gordon as a gift. 🙂
Could that be Dr. No’s Nuclear Powerplant Reactor?
(Actually, it is where the Manatee’s go in the winter months when the water is cold.)
Apollo Beach is a beautiful area to just enjoy nature.
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Our Pasta Imitation Crab Salad
Gathering Our Ingredients
Ingredients:
14 oz.Crab Shaped Pasta – (Pastabilities – Let’s go Crabin’ Pasta)
1 Tbsp. Sea Salt
2 Quarts Water
3-4 Celery Stalks – Chopped to a small dice
2 Pkgs. Imitation Flake Crab Meat – (Crab Classics Brand)
1/2 Cup Sweet Yellow Pepper – diced
1/4 Cup Red Onion – diced
6 Water Chestnuts – chopped
~1 Cup Miracle Whip
1/4 Cup Aji Mirin – Sweet Cooking Rice Seasoning
1 Tbsp. Old Bay Seasoning
Garnish with Flat Leaf Parsley
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Add enough water to a large pot to cover the pasta.
Then add your sea salt to the water to help flavor the pasta.
Turn the heat to high, to boil the water.
Meanwhile, wash and slice your Celery first in long lengths…
Here, my water is boiling so I am adding the pasta, and boiling it as directed by the package instructions for 6 min.
Stir the pasta while it boils and turn the temperature down slightly.
Now slice the Celery into a small dice.
Pictured is the imitation Crab Meat I used.
I like this brand and flake type the best.
Break the flaked meat into smaller chunks as shown and place it into a medium sized bowl.
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Your pasta should be ready by now, so drain it into a colander and rinse it well with cold water to stop the cooking process.
Now, add your chopped Celery to the bowl.
Here I sliced and removed the seeds then chopped the Sweet Yellow Pepper into a dice.
Add the Pepper to the bowl.
I then chopped a Red Onion into a small dice and added about 1/4 of it to the bowl.
Here you can see the nice array of colors in this salad.
I used Water Chestnuts to provide more crunch to the salad.
Chop the Water Chestnuts as shown and add them to the bowl.
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Here I am adding Miracle Whip to the salad.
I like using this more than Mayonnaise as it provides a subtle sweetness to the salad.
Mix the ingredients by using a folding action… this is done by placing your spoon into the center of the ingredients, then pulling the ingredients up and over the center and repeat this action.
Now add your Aji Mirin and Old Bay Seasoning.
The Aji Mirin is a ‘go to’ item for me in most all of my pasta salads as it too gives a subtle sweetness to the salad.
Of course, Old Bay Seasoning is a must in most anything having to do with Crabs.
Fold all the ingredients together and taste the salad.
Adjust the ingredients as needed, such as you may need a touch more Miracle Whip or Old Bay Seasoning.
Taste the salad again and adjust as needed.
When done, add the salad to a large serving bowl and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Here we garnished the salad with some Flat Leaf Parsley.
Enjoy!