was raised on seafood and am very comfortable working with it, cooking it, and experimenting.

my bff jill (who is a spark sister as well and is looking amazing) , not so much.

so today she and her hubby went to one of our amazinf fresh seafood markets here on the coast and bought a couple dozen oysters in the shell and brought them over for she and i to prepare while we watched the very rained out daytona.

First of all...DONT BE SCARED OF SEAFOOD. it's amazing for you and is really easy and quick to prepare. you could have a fabulous seafood dinner before you could go through a drive thru

we started with a bag of closed, fresh oysters. the closed part will take you some time, WAY easier if you can get them raw on the half shell, but if you have some time, closed fresh ones are very affordable and EASY, just takes a little time.

scrub the oysters in cool water with a scrub brush. sand and loose shell tend to add unwanted crunch ;)

pre-heat the oven to 400

use a cookie sheet or large roasting pan

lay cooling racks or rock salt along the bottom of the pan to prevent the oysters from sliding around

place the scrubbed oysters on the racks rounded side down. sometimes you cant tell for certain which side is the bottom, don't stress it.

place them in the 400 degree oven for 15 min, then check them for the first time. they will begin to open themselves.

as soon as they start to open, take them out. it can take from 15 - 25 min just check every 5 min or so.

do not worry about fish smell in the house. you actually get a sea smell from the shells and it's lovely

once you take them out, use a hot pad, or oven mitt in your non-dominant hand to hold the oyster. this will protect you from cutting and the heat.

use a butter knife or the very best is one of those grapefruit knives that is dull (slightly square) on top and serrated on both sides to slide into the area that is opening and the top should pop quite easily. if they don't throw them back into the oven for a little while. don't get frustrated fighting them. they will open eventually. oysters are such a delightful experience to eat it's necessary to not stress yourself out.

because the meat is only partially cooked, sometimes the meat will try to adhere to the top and bottom, just pry it off the top

place all of your veryy pretty half-shells on another cookie sheet

make stuffing: (you can change this up to your own taste. it's more about the technique)

a can of petite tomato drained
1/4 cup shredded reduced fat cheese
2T fat free creamy caeser
3T crushed almond slivers
2T bread crumbs
garlic powder to taste
pepper to taste

spoon stuffing onto the oysters. pop the cookie sheet under the broiler for 4-5 min until you see the cheese bubble.

scoop meat and stuffing out of shell with a fork and eat in one bite. some like them on crackers, i HAVE to hit them with hot sauce.

ENJOY!!!!!