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Wednesday, October 17, 2012

32nd Birthday Eats!

I've totally sucked at keeping with my Mofo sandwich theme this week, but it's my birth week, so I've decided to eat whatever I want. I promise to give you a sandwich tomorrow though, and holy crap y'all, it's a good one.

But tonight, I'm sharing pictures of my Sunday birthday dinner with my family. Since my birthday fell on a Tuesday this year and my parents are out of town this week anyway, I decided to do my birthday with them last Sunday. They live an hour away in Jonesboro, Arkansas.

When my mama asked me what I wanted to eat for my birthday, the answer was simple — fried stuff! I'm a Southern girl through and through, and I love a good fried veggie. If you have Cookin' Crunk, you already know. I've included several fried recipes there (fried squash, fried cucumbers, fried green tomatoes, etc.).

When I arrived at my parents' house on Sunday around lunchtime, my mama and granny were already hard at work, battering and frying with two different Fry Daddies at the same time. We had fried squash, fried okra, fried green tomatoes, vegan dumplins, and just for good measure, baked sweet potatoes. Hey, the USDA says half our plate should be filled with veggies, right? Does it matter if they're fried? Probably. But I don't care. I do what I want on my birthday.


Plus, there was good ole beans 'n' cornbread. A Southern meal is not complete without those:


Granny had fried okra duty. She used a Cajun seafood boil seasoning in the cornbread batter, and they were so good. You can see my mama's fried squash here too. I love how she slices it super thin:


Granny also made fried green tomatoes:


My mom tossed some cubed sweet potatoes with onion dip mix and baked them. Really tasty:


But the star of the show for me were my mama's homemade dumplins. This is like a vegan version of chicken 'n' dumplins. I don't know how she makes them so tender, but she really does make the best dumplins in the world:


Of course, mama made me cake too! Red velvet cupcakes with vegan cream cheese frosting, served with coconut milk vanilla bean ice cream.


I definitely got my birthday wish with this decadent meal!


20 comments:

  1. Everything looks completely amazing!!

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  2. your mother and granny are absolutely amazing for making you such a delicious birthday dinner!! i can't even presume to guess that last time i ate something fried, but all of that yumminess makes me want to asap. and the cupcakes!! seriously, amazing.

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  3. Wow, that is one amazing looking birthday feast. Happy birthday! :)

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  4. HAPPY BIRTHDAY WEEK :)
    I've always wanted to try fried green tomatos.

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  5. Happy birthday! And, FRIED CUCUMBER? I need to geet your book.

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  6. Happy Belated Birthday fellow Libra!! My birthday was on October 7. :) Your birthday food looks super delicious by the way. I'm really in love with the sweet potatoes! I'm such a sucker for those. :9

    Glad to hear that you had an awesome day with your parents and grandparents for a little birthday get-together. :)


    http://VegCourtesy.blogspot.com

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  7. best post ever! Girl, you have officially shown your Southern Roots with an all-fried birthday dinner! Amazing! Plus beans and cornbread! Plus okra! And dumplings! It's a 100% southern showdown. Half of my roots are from the south too - which I guess is why that okra and those green tomatoes sound SO good!

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  8. That's a lot of great stuff. And people think that vegan food is boring and healthy. :)

    Happy birthday!

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  9. Happy Birthday! That food looks amazing! Hey..this is off topic but you get the vegan box of food every month right? *blanking out on brand name* but do you get the same foods every month? Or do they change from month to month?

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  10. Yay Happy Birthday!! What an amazing birthday meal! The best part about it is that it was made with love from your mom and grandma. It looks delicious!! I don't even know which looks the best, I don't think I could choose! Gorgeous dessert too! What a perfect birthday dinner!

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  11. So I still haven't gotten your cookbook yet...it will def be on my Christmas list if I don't get it sooner than that. Now that I know there are fried veg recipes, I am even MORE excited. Perfect birthday meal.

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  12. Your family is the best! Nothing screams southern quite like a plate of delicious brown food! The red velvet cupcakes look fantastic too.

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  13. Happy Birthday! Hope it was killer. I put Cookin Crunk on my Xmas list. We'll see if the folks come through.

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  16. I want some dumplings like that!

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  17. Happy Belated Birthday you lucky duck! What a great family to make you so many yumful treats, and cornbread to boot! Cheers!

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  18. Awesome! Your mama and granny are so freakin' sweet. Everything looks so good!

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