Today, I kept telling my boys we were going to have a special feast for dinner tonight. They spent the day out in the backyard playing ball or running through the sprinkler while I sat inside and typed up more answers to the questions for my summer classes.

I had to leave around 4:30 to make an appearance at a surprise birthday party for one of my students, so I set the table before heading out. While I was upstairs brushing my hair, I heard the boys come in and say, “Oh, it’s going to be fancy tonight!” Made my heart smile.

I really toyed with the idea of doing a true Seafood Boil and dumping the feast straight on the. table, but then I decided to put down newspaper and kraft paper like a true seafood boil, but I’d use our big platter for the food along with smaller plates to collect the shells. I used ramekins to put out for our melted butter, and I added some fresh flowers because, well, you know, I love fresh flowers.

After my birthday party appearance, I came home and got to work. I searched online for a recipe. Everything I found was for Old Bay Seasoning, and well, quite frankly, we’re not fans. So, I ended up mixing a few recipes together today and pulled off one heck of a feast!

I gathered the spices and unearthed my huge 12 quart stock pot. It was really simple. Once I got the spice mix ready and added lemon and garlic heads to the water, I just had to wait for a boil. Then, every few minutes I would add in another ingredient until it was all done! I wish I took a picture of the stock pot when it was all done with crab legs hanging over the top! It was quite a scene!

Here’s the spices I used. (Remember, we don’t like old bay seasoning)…

2 tablespoons EACH: Ground mustard AND Paprika

 1 tablespoon EACH: Ground All Spice AND Coriander seeds OR Ground Coriander

 1 tablespoons EACH: Cayenne Red Pepper AND Italian Seasoning

 1 tablespoons EACH: Onion Powder AND Garlic Powder (I only had minced onion, so that’s what I used)

 4-5 whole cloves

 1 tablespoon black peppercorns

 ¼ cup kosher salt

 4 bay leaves

 2 heads garlic (sliced horizontally to expose the yummy cloves)

 1 onions, sliced

 1 lemon, sliced

As I am typing this, I realized I missed the onion at this point, but oh well! We’ll try it next time!

I put 5 quarts of water into my huge stock pot and turned it on high. I took the lemon and squeezed out the juice into the pot then plopped the halves right into the water. As I waited for the water to boil, I ended up taking the little feet off the fresh shrimp as they gross out Kirby. Kirby appeared in the kitchen while I was doing this and asked me to take the shells off too. (I kept the tails on as Punky likes to eat them). Somedays I truly think I am raising divas.

Here’s the yummy spices and the garlic waiting to go into the water after it starts boiling.

Once the water started boiling, I added the spices into the water (Along with the garlic and the onion, had I remembered). I mixed it up and let it boil a few minutes then added my little yukon gold potatoes and set the timer for 10 minutes.

I cleaned up the seafood and cut up the corn and the sausage. It was all ready to pop right in the water!

Once the timer went off, I added the corn into the pot and set the timer for 5 more minutes. When that timer went off, I added the lobster tails and set the timer for 5 more minutes.

At this point, I started melting butter in the microwave to pour into the ramekins. I also cut up fresh parsley and fresh lemons. It pained me to not add the parsley to the platter on the table when it was all finished, but Punky is not a fan of fresh parsley, so I had a bowl of it all cut up and ready for my plate! Hubby also has to watch his citrus intake as his skin breaks out, so I left the lemon wedges for each person to apply if they wanted to.

When the timer went off for the lobster tails, I added the shrimp, scallops, kielbasa sausage and the crab legs into the pot. I set the timer for 3 more minutes.

When that final timer went off, it was all done and ready to go! I dished up the food from the pot onto my huge platter. There was a tad more so I had to start a second platter (Thank you Rae Dunn DEVOUR platter for that second tray). Here’s what the final product looked like. I wish I would have taken pictures of the boys devouring their food and of Kirby testing lobster and crab (Both of which he is a huge fan!)

When all was said and done. There were four very full tummies and lots of smiles! We decided this was definitely a hit and a must do next time Grandma and Grandpa come visit us! So tasty!

Here’s a few shots of what was left (I packed it all up in the fridge to munch on tomorrow!) as well as the “shells/legs, etc” platters for our remnants.

We ended the night out in the backyard with a nice fire and some yummy s’mores. Perfect day! It sure feels like summer now!

For those of you who want the “true recipe,” here it is!

Seafood Boil

Seasonings:

2 tablespoons EACH: Ground mustard AND Paprika

1 tablespoon EACH: Ground All Spice AND Coriander seeds OR Ground Coriander

1 tablespoons EACH: Cayenne Red Pepper AND Italian Seasoning

1 tablespoons EACH: Onion Powder AND Garlic Powder (I only had minced onion, so that’s what I used)

4-5 whole cloves

1 tablespoon black peppercorns

¼ cup kosher salt

4 bay leaves

2 heads garlic (sliced horizontally to expose the yummy cloves)

1 onions, sliced

1 lemon, sliced 

Seafood/Meat/Vegetables:

2 lbs raw scallops

2 lbs raw shrimp, deveined

Lobster tails (I used 4 – one for each of us)

2 lbs crab legs (the store only had cooked ones, so it only needs to cook 2-3 minutes to heat up)

4 ears of corn – cut each ear into quarters

1 lb yellow small yukon potatoes (The mini ones at Aldi are perfect for this!)

1 kielbasa sausage, cut into pieces

Directions:

Boil 14-16 cups of water in a large pot.  Squeeze the juice of the 2 lemon halves into the water.  Put the lemon halves into the water.  Bring to a boil.

Add garlic heads, onions and seasonings to the water.  Stir until mixed.   Lower the heat to medium to simmer.  Let simmer a few minutes.

Add potatoes to the water.  Set timer for 10 minutes.

Add the corn to the pot and set the timer for 5 more minutes.  

Add the lobster tails to the pot and set the timer for 5 more minutes.  

Add the shrimp, scallops, kielbasa sausage and the crab legs into the pot.  Set the timer for 3 more minutes.  When the timer goes off, just stir the pot to make sure the shrimp and scallops are opaque.  The lobster tails should also be red now.  

Turn off the stove and place shrimp, meat, and veggies onto a huge platter.  Squeeze some lemon juice over the top and sprinkle chopped fresh parsley on for garnish.

Serve with melted butter. Be ready to eat with your hands and get lots of napkins ready!

Enjoy!