Southern Comfort

Rarely ever do I rush home from work to make a recipe I saw on a blog that same day. I'm a crazy planner, and few things in my life are ever spontaneous. In fact, spontaneity gives me anxiety. I plan my meals two weeks in advance to prevent "oh my god, what am I going to eat next Thursday?" freakouts.

But sometimes rush decisions are just meant to be. Over the weekend, my Granny gave me a big ole bag of red and green tomatoes and some fresh okra from her neighbor's garden. Since my meals were already planned out, I knew I'd have to make some adjustments to work these fresh veggies in, and I was sort of prepared to do that yesterday when I stumbled onto John P's blog post on The I-40 Kitchen about Fried Okra, Green Tomatoes, and Tofu:

See, I was MEANT to make this! I had all the ingredients at home, so no after-work trips to the grocery store were necessary. Thanks John P, for being there when I needed you.

The dish is similar to how my Mama makes fried green tomatoes (diced and coated with cornmeal and flour), but with added okra and cubed tofu. It's all tossed with a little flour, cornmeal, chickpea flour, salt, and Tony Chachere's Cajun Seasoning, and then fried in oil until crispy.

John P doesn't provide measurements for his recipe because he just throws everything together. So I guessed at everything and it turned out just fine — 1/3 cup flour, 1/3 cup cornmeal, and 1/4 cup chickpea flour, salt and Cajun seasoning liberally. Oh, and about three tablespoons of oil. I served the dish with my Mama's leftover dumplins and greens.

Are you a meal planner? Or a spontaneous cook?