CEiMB- L.O.V.E. Wrap Sandwich and Spicy Crab-Papaya Salad

Joanne of the blog Apple Crumbles was the host of this week's choice for Craving Ellie in My Belly: Lettuce, Onion, Vegetable, Egg Salad (L.O.V.E.) Wraps.

I was truly surprised over the flavors in this wrap! First of all, I already LOVE egg salad but had "no" idea I could get away with just 4 teaspoons of mayonnaise and 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard - still having great flavor and texture. I already had whole wheat pita pockets so I used those instead of the wraps; after eating the sandwiches and finding out how messy the pita pockets were, wrap bread it will be next time.

We also made Spicy Crab-Papaya Salad to go with the wrap for dinner. I bought fresh, "LIVE" Dungeness crab to make the salad and actually had to chase the crabs down as they seemed to enjoy scurrying around my deck. I think I squealed more then they would have if they could.

Fresh Dungeness crab is AMAZING! I had no idea fresh crab tasted that great. WOW! The salad is fresh, light, and does not overpower the light flavor of crab meat. The recipe came from a Cooking Light magazine; since the website Project Foodie prints all recipes from this magazine, I thought I would post the recipe here.

Spicy Crab-Papaya Salad

4 servings (1 cup each)

1 1/2 c. diced, peeled papaya

1/3 cup thinly sliced green onions

1/4 cup finely chopped celery

1 finely chopped jalapeno pepper

1 pound lump crab meat

3 T. canola oil

2 T. cider vinegar

2 t. sugar

1 t. Dijon mustard

1/4 t. freshly ground black pepper

1/8 t. salt

Directions:

Combine papaya, green onions, celery, jalapeno pepper, and crab meat. Combine canola oil, cider vinegar, sugar, Dijon mustard, freshly ground black pepper, and salt, stirring with a whisk. Drizzle vinegar mixture over crab mixture; toss. Chill.

I wish you could see this crab moving and know how crazy this feels picking up a wiggling creature when so many of us are used to asking someone behind a counter to clean and package our food. The fisherman selling the live crab said to boil them in salt water for 22 minutes. We did and the meat came out perfect.

My only frustration was finding ripe papayas in the middle of winter.

I boiled eggs and the crabs at the same time, making dinner efficient and, like most of Ellie's recipes, fast.


I thought I would share another up close and personal picture of my live dinner. He backed himself up into the bag he originally found his way out of. Larry couldn't believe the phone call on his way home asking him to help chase dinner. I told him if he would put the crabs in the boiling water, I would be happy to clean them.