Pakoras with Cold Cucumber Salad

One of my favorite Indian dishes is the pakora.  Essentially any deep fried veggie or protein, it is meant to be eaten as an afternoon snack with tea.  I would choose to eat delicious pakoras over finger sandwiches with my afternoon tea any day, but tonight I decided to make pakoras my main meal. 

William and I have tried to make pakoras a few times before, but they've always turned out doughy.  We wanted them to be light and crisp, and we finally found the perfect recipe for them.  Honestly, they couldn't be easier!  Here's what you do...

Chop whatever vegetables you have in your refrigerator into small, bite-sized pieces.  Some great options are:

• cauliflower
• zucchini
• potatoes
• carrots
• onions
• whatever!

Mix these in a bowl with garam masala, chili powder, turmeric, and salt.  Then toss with chickpea flour and water, alternating until the veggies just stick together when pressed into a ball.  Then fry them in oil at 350 degrees until crispy and brown.  This video taught me how to make them perfectly, and the woman is adorable.

I also made chicken and kale pakoras, and the kale were definitely my favorite!

To lighten things up (since we were eating plates full of fried food for dinner), I made a spicy cucumber salad.  This was a perfect, refreshing side-dish, and it's so fast to make.

Chop 2 cucumbers, a little cilantro, 1 chili pepper, and 2 scallions, and combine in a mixing bowl.  Then in a small dish dissolve 1/3 cup sugar and a sprinkle of salt in 1/2 cup white vinegar and pour over the cucumber mixture.  Refrigerate until cold, and you're done!  This is the perfect summer dish--so cold and spicy!  Enjoy!

Time for an Update!

Well a lot has been going on in Atlanta, and since I haven't checked in for a while, let me fill you in to what I've been doing for the last year.  No one wants to read a year's worth of info, so here's my year in pictures...

I lived it up with gluten free hamburgers and onion rings at Yeah Burger,

...and I got bangs!

I got really into juicing

And did some sophisticated comparisons to pieces at the High.

We ate A LOT of crawfish!

We even checked out some of the schnazzy spots as well, like King and Duke.

I made Christmas cookies

and drove to work in the middle of the Snowpocalypse.  Yikes.

We made margaritas for Cinco!!!

I visited cousins in Nashville,

 went to Bonnaroo,

and even made it to a Braves game!  

I have to say, I was a much bigger fan of watching baseball than I ever thought I would be... I think the peanuts sealed the deal for me.

We did a ton of camping in some of the most beautiful spots and lucked out with gorgeous weather the whole time.  It has been a seriously wonderful year!

 So there you go--a quick, painless update of my year.  Now back to the food!



GF Pasta with Tomato, Basil, and Brie

This is a classic summer dish in my family. When my dad's backyard garden is overgrown with basil, and the farmers market it full of ripe tomatoes, we know it's time to make this quick summertime meal. The nice thing is, it really doesn't get easier than this. Cut the rind off of a large wheel of Brie, and tear it into pieces. Place it in a bowl with several finely chopped tomatoes, a handful of chopped basil, and two or three minced garlic cloves. Let this just marinate on your countertop for an hour or two with a good dose of olive oil and salt and pepper. Now I know some of you may be worried about leaving cheese out at room temperature for several hours. To which I say, live on the wild side, you crazy person! Let that cheese just sit until it's nice and warm and melty and delicious--you are such a daredevil! And your daring nature will be rewarded with the most delicious no-cook pasta sauce you've ever tasted. Just add warm pasta (gluten free or not) to this and top with a little more basil. This is by far my favorite summer dinner.

BLT with Homemade Basil Mayonnaise

Ah summer! It's the perfect time for lazy dishes, because when the tomatoes are as full of flavor as they are now, you don't have to do much of anything to them. Just pile them high with lettuce, bacon, and mayonnaise, and you have the perfect summertime lunch.

I used Udi's Millet and Chia bread, toasted of course, and made homemade basil mayo to be slathered inside. I started with Alton Brown's recipe (see link below), which is always flawless (as is he). To it I added a little minced garlic and tons of chopped basil. It is hard to actually get this stuff onto bread before devouring it. Now slice up a watermelon and enjoy.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/mayonnaise-recipe/index.html

Tonsil Free

Ever since I was a child I've wanted to get my tonsils removed.  Days of missed school combined with a diet consisting of ice cream, popsicles, and pudding still sound just about like heaven.  What I never learned is that if you wait until you're an adult to get this procedure done, the whole process lasts for around three weeks.  That's three weeks of force feeding yourself enough ice cream and popsicles that you don't become malnourished and get put on an IV...I am only on day three.

Fortunately, there is a whole other food group that I have failed to mention so far, and it happens to be my favorite thing to eat in the entire world:  snow cones!  Not snow balls or shaved ice.  Seriously, those are the worst.  I'm talking about snow cones from the green snow cone stand in the Oaks District in Hattiesburg.  These syrup drenched ice concoctions are the only things that have been pulling my through...along with my My Little Pony coloring book and of course my large bottle of liquid Lortab...but I think the snow cones are doing most of the heavy lifting.