The best and worst thing about visiting Louisiana is, well, all the fried food. From hush puppies to po-boys to seafood platters, deep fried glory is calling out to you from the radio, the TV, street signs, newspaper ads, and once they've got you where they want you, the restaurant menu. In Louisiana, I'll eat things I won't eat anywhere else: fried shrimp, stuffed crab, butter-soaked crab claws, catfish po-boys. Rationally, the clean eater in me is horrified by all of this, but the power of smell and marketing is just too much in Louisiana, and reason tends to take a back seat to passion. In fact, on this journey, passion completely sabotaged reason, and I accidentally left all of Week 7's broccoli at my sister's house in Mississippi. She was thrilled because it gave her the chance to make a beautiful stir fry (photo attached) and I was over the moon because it meant I got to eat another po-boy.
But by Day 3, I was actually craving food that wasn't lathered in oil and batter, so I decided to follow my sister's lead and make a stir fry. As luck would have it, we had red cabbage, summer squash and Swiss chard in this week's delivery, so I sauteed it all with garlic, onion and homemade peanut sauce. The cabbage turned purple while cooking and to everyone's excitement, our meal took on the colors of Mardi Gras - purple, gold and green. Even the kids, in disbelief that I was offering them purple food, outdid themselves by taking multiple bites. They stopped short of making happy plates though, no doubt coming to the realization that what they were eating was wholesome and natural rather than artificial and fun. But so be it - I was just relieved they weren't begging for king cake for dessert.
Mardi Gras stir fry with tofu, red cabbage, summer squash and Swiss chard.
Staci's beautiful broccoli stir fry.
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