Perfect Pairing - Peppered Crab Cakes and Baked Onion Rings

Yesterday, after my wonderful in-laws treated the husband and me to steamed blue crabs on the pier (as the breeze blew and the waves crashed on the shore...) I spent some time picking crab meat. I ended up with about 9 oz. and my kind in-laws let me take it home. Did I mention they are wonderful and kind (and not just because I love crab meat).

There's only one thing to make with crab meat - crab cakes. And although I love the Southern MD melted butter and pan fried variety, I turned to my online friend, Gina, for a skinny recipe. In her crab cakes, red pepper and low-fat Ritz crackers make the filling along with some egg and cilantro. 

I chose Gina's recipe for oven baked onion rings which were fantastic. I'm going to include the links here because I really didn't change too much. For what I did change, I've noted below the links.

Baked Lump Crab Cakes with Red Pepper
http://www.skinnytaste.com/2010/04/baked-lump-crab-cakes-with-red-pepper.html

• I did not use scallions, but I did use onion salt instead of regular salt
• I did not make or use the accompanying sauce - I really liked the flavor of the cakes

Low Fat Baked Onion Rings
http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/03/low-fat-baked-onion-rings.html

• I used a yellow onion, which after cooking, was oh-so sweet
• I did not have corn flakes so I crushed up some of my husband's Special K cereal
• My local grocery store was out of buttermilk so I soaked the onion rings in milk instead - yet, I found that I needed to add a step before the breading. I dipped each ring in egg white before dipping the rings in the breadcrumb mixture. That worked out well, and I'm not sure if buttermilk would have made the rings stickier...