tamales

When I was a little girl my nana and pappy would drive down from Pennsylvania every summer to visit their daughter, son-in-law, and three grand-daughters on the farm in West Virginia.

Their car would packed with coolers full of homemade pirogi’s and fresh crabs.  My nanna would sit in the shade and crack crabs for hours, rationing out bites of shell-less meat to my sister’s and I.

It’s been over a dozen years since my grandparents last made the trip south bearing seafood and butter-filled love.  They both passed over the last few years and some of my favorite memories of them are from those long, hot summer days on the farm.

My mom turned 60 yesterday.

It seemed most appropriate that we bring into the day the memory and essence of the folks that brought her into this world and we did it with crabs.  Lots of crabs.

And lots of tequila.

We sat around the picnic table and cracked and snacked.

Eventually we tired of straight crab meat and were ready for something a bit more substantial.   Something unique, something special, and something involving crab.

Crab tamales fit the bill.

I mixed masa harina with vegetable broth, olive oil, aminos, and garlic powder.

Crab meat was mixed with black beans, onions, garlic, celery, zucchini, and cheddar cheese and placed on top of the masa mix before being wrapped in corn husks and steamed.

The birthday girl declared the tamales delicious and the perfect celebratory meal for the day.

If you are unfamiliar with tamales, the corn husk serves as an inedible wrapper to hold the ingredients together as everything cooks.

Mom’s not a big fan of cake but she does enjoy coconut milk ice cream!

Happy birthday momma!  I am so glad I got to celebrate the day you were born with you!