Guilt over the food frenzy of the past month is starting to set in. There’s still time to indulge. January 1 is really the date for tossing out the leftover cookies and becoming reacquainted with the treadmill. But I took a step in the right direction with last night’s dinner. Crab cakes aren’t exactly diet food, but I had a half pound of frozen crabmeat that I wanted to use. I compromised by completing the meal with salad dressed with a lemon vinaigrette.

I actually use this technique a lot. Topping a protein with salad is pretty standard around here. Usually the protein is chicken cutlets or fishcakes, but it’s the holidays, so there was crabmeat still around.

Making crab cakes is pretty simple. Just flake the crabmeat in a bowl. Saute some finely diced onion and celery seasoned with salt, pepper and a few shakes of Old Bay seasoning. Add this mixture to the crabmeat. Toss in some dried breadcrumbs and bind everything together with mayonnaise. Taste for seasoning. Form into patties and chill for about a half hour. Fry in a mixture of olive oil and butter. Top with a salad dressed with a lemon vinaigrette. ( 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice, 1/4 to 1/3 cup olive oil. 1/2 tsp. kosher salt, 1/4 tsp. pepper.)