Happy Hump Day! This is the view I awoke to on this glorious Wednesday…

 

Renly officially thinks he is a human. He usually falls asleep right between us with his head on the pillow like a real person, but this is his typical relaxing posture. Need further proof that he thinks he is a person? This is how he rides in the boat….

 

Goodness I love that anthropomorphic furball.

In case it isn’t obvious, I  have certainly been spending a lot of quality time with Renly this summer, but I’ve made sure to enjoy a few special date nights with the other most important man in my life… you know, the one that is actually a human   When Robert and I were completing our pre-marriage counseling, our pastor stressed the importance of “date night” repeatedly. Now that we have been married for a year, I see just how right he was. Life gets busy and its crucial to make time to reconnect with your spouse. Dinner is an important time for me to spend with Robert each day, not only because I love preparing our meals, but also because that’s sometimes the only time during the week that we truly get to sit down and talk. Every few weeks, it’s nice to have a date night and make that dinner time together extra special. Robert and I both enjoy treating ourselves to a meal out, but sometimes I’ll splurge at the grocery store so we can enjoy a date night at home. Crab Legs are not only one of my favorite date night splurges but they also scream SUMMER.

 

The first time I ever remember eating crab legs was on vacation with my family at the beach when I was little. My younger sister Haley was only a toddler at the time and she must have enjoyed the crab legs even more than we realized. As we were leaving the restaurant, one of the restaurants wooden crab mallets fell out of her pants right in front of the hostess stand! She cried and explained to my parents that she had wanted to take it home as a souvenir, which the restaurant was kind enough to let her do (maybe because it had already been in her pants). She kept the mallet in her room for years and we still laugh about it to this day.

Anything that requires a mallet to eat may seem intimidating to cook, but crab legs actually couldn’t be easier. Robert’s cousin, who shares my affinity for Crab Legs, gave me this recipe a few years ago and it is tried and true. I use a big soup pot with a strainer insert, but if you don’t have one of those, you could just use a big pot with a lid. Crab legs are pretty fool proof, unless you overcook them. If that happens, the meat is still fine and just as tasty, it’s just harder to get to as it will stick to the shell. 4-5 minutes, that’s all it takes!

Bottom Line. Don’t be intimidated, don’t overcook and don’t worry if it isn’t date night, it IS Wednesday which means you’re half way there, and that’s more than enough reason to celebrate with crab legs Oh yeah, and last but certainly not least, don’t forget the butter! Enjoy!

Perfect Steamed Crab Legs

Ingredients:

2 lbs. Crab Legs

1 Beer (2 if your pot is very big OR you can fill your empty bottle with water and use that)

1-2 Lemons, Cut in half and squeezed into pot (don’t worry about the seeds)

2 Cloves of garlic

Melted Herbed Butter for serving

 

Directions:

1. Combine beer, lemon juice and garlic in a large pot and bring to a boil.

2. Once boiling, add crab legs directly to pot (or in a strainer insert), place lid on pot and steam for 4-5 minutes.

3. Use tongs to remove crab legs and serve immediately.