The Vegitarian Adventures of a Carnivore, Part 1

One of my very good friends (DarthCoco) who I hang out with often is a vegetarian.  We both really enjoy cooking, but there is a problem.  I am a definite carnivore.  Recently we decided to try to get together and cook every once and awhile to exercise our culinary chops and yes, to eat new and fun things.   

We had our first culinary adventure this past Saturday.  For our two recipes we chose Corn Fritters (because who doesn't like fried things in balls and on sticks?) and Crispy Smashed Potatoes (which required 3 ingredients and generally describes out attention span).    The recipes came from a cooking magazine that DarthCoco brought with her that day.  I can't remember the name of the magazine, but I was really surprised how many really good recipes were in it.  First...  the fritters....

Mini scoops are great for all kinds of things like making cookies and portioning out the fritters into the hot oil.

Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble....  this was the first time either one of us had fried anything, so I think we were both waiting for some kind of disaster to occur.

Done!  Don't they look so yummy? We salted them the second they came out to the oil so they would be really flavorful.

We were really happy with how the fritters came out.  Between the two of us, we came up with two good dips to serve them with: maple syrup if you like them sweet and sour cream mixed with chives, salt and pepper if you are in a more savory mood.

Actually, we started the Crispy Smashed Potatoes first, but the cooking time on them was so long because you have to first boil the potatoes, smash them with the palm of your hand, let them cool completely (argh!!!!) and then bake them after pouring olive oil on them and giving them a nice seasoning with salt and pepper. Whew!  The recipe was so simple but it took forever...  This is what they looked like right out of the over. 

Edit: Found an online recipe that seems the same as the one we made.  You can find the recipe here.

Now that is what I call crispy, crunchy, potatoey goodness!  We had these with the rest of the chive sour cream I made for the fritters and they were heavenly.  Needless to say, we were both very happy with how the recipes came out and would definitely make them again.  Not much of what we made survived past the day we made it, although I did have my leftover fritters for breakfast the next morning.  Talk about a nice way to start your day :)