Veggie Fritters: a better way to eat vegetables you don't like!

Over the last couple years I've had a lot of hateful things to say about my experiences at Smith College. It can't be for everyone. It wasn't for me. And I've wondered whether, knowing what I know now, I would have changed my decision to attend - chosen instead to move to North Carolina or Worcester or Amherst. Would I have had a better experience? A different experience - that's for sure. 

But hindsight is 20/20. Someone I dislike dearly was always saying that. And I'm like "DUH", but seriously - it's so much easier to sit on my couch now and pretend I knew what I was doing all that time. You can have a plan, it might even be a super-awesome incredible plan! Then one day you can wake up somewhere you never thought you would be and go, "shit. this isn't the person i want to be! this isn't the day i want to have."But what is the day you want to have? Who is the person you want to be? And then you say "shit" again, because you don't know. 

Have you ever heard the Baz Luhrmann song "Everybody's Free to Wear Sunscreen"? If you haven't, and you weren't at the Gateway High School Graduation for the class of 2007, you should youtube it right now. Every time that I listen to it, it's relevant. But about five years ago, I never paid much attention to this part:

"Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life.

The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don't.

Get plenty of calcium.

Be kind to your knees, you'll miss them when they're gone."

Now I think about it all the time. Am I going to be one of those 40 year olds ?!

I can still be an interesting, good person if I don't know where I'm going, right? Well, somedays it feels like it and some days it doesn't. I guess that's the way it is.

My only other advice to you: eat vegetables.

Veggie Fritters a million ways

Say you have a lot of broccoli. Or you think you should start dieting so in an effort to eat healthier you BUY a lot of broccoli and then you are like... shit. I have all this broccoli. What ever will I do? And then you get over the idea of eating healthier and break out the cheese and oil and the frying pan. In the end you aren't really any healthier but you can pretend if you want!

So you take your 3 cups of broccoli (or whatever veggie as long as it's nothing too soft, mushrooms would be great or peppers) and chop it up into chunks. Use the stems too, they r just as good! Just slice or peel the tough outer part off. Steam for 5-6 min. DO NOT OVERCOOK! You'll be so sad. Meanwhile beat 1 egg in a large bowl with 1/2 c. flour, 1/3 c. parmesan (not shaker, if you can help it) 1 clove smashed garlic, salt and pepper. Add broccoli and mash together with a potato masher (preferably the kind that looks like a squiggle). Only mash a few times to break down broccoli, you're not making a paste here. (If you've got anything else in the fridge you're looking to get rid of this is a good time to throw it in). Fold the rest of it together. Finally heat a medium skillet with 2-3 TBS olive oil+vegetable oil. Don't jump the gun and put your first one in before the oil is completely heated or you'll have one soggy fritter. Drop 2-3 TBS of batter in the skillet and flatten with whatever you have handy. Heat 2-3 min. flip. Heat 1-2 min. If you're really going to do it, do a test run where you cook only one fritter in the pan before you go pro and try to cook a few at a time.

We had these with a lemon sour cream sauce (super easy - if you only have a little bit of sour cream, just squirt a tbs or so of lemon juice into the container and shake, just don't forget to label it if you're going to put it back in the fridge.. whoops).