Bang Bang Cauliflower

Wanna know a fun fact? I went on my first real date to Bonefish Grill. I was sixteen, he picked me up in his Jeep, and dropped me back off a few minutes after curfew, causing my Dad to nearly have an aneurism.

Ah, memories.

But really, if you've never had Bonefish, you need to. It's really good seafood, and their widely considered best item is the Bang Bang Shrimp. It's spicy, crispy, creamy and full of calories. I try to avoid eating it, even though I'd seen copycat recipes all over Pinterest, but then I found the veggie holy grail: Bang Bang Cauliflower.

It's cheaper, easier, and less calorie-dense than the seafood variety without sacrificing flavor. Plus, I'm southern, so frying veggies is in my blood. I just scarfed down a huge bowl for dinner and I can't wait to make it again.

Recipe adapted from That's So Michelle. Serves 2.

Ingredients

Cauliflower
1 cup Panko bread crumbs
4 tablespoons flour
1 egg beaten
2 cups cauliflower florets
Salt & pepper
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Sauce
1/4 cup lite mayo
1/4 cup Sriracha or similar hot sauce (reduce or add more depending how spicy you like it)
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar

Directions

1. Slice your cauliflower florets into bite-size pieces. Mix salt, pepper and garlic powder into your Panko breadcrumbs in a shallow dish.

2. Set separate bowls aside with egg and flour. Dip your florets one by one into the flour, and shake off excess. Then dip into egg, and then coat with Panko mixture.

3. After coating all of your florets, heat up your vegetable oil in a large frying pan on medium-high and place all florets in hot oil. Turn with tongs making sure all sides are browned, about a minute on each side. Set on top of paper towels to remove excess oil. Top with more salt.

4. In a small bowl, mix all of your sauce ingredients. Coat your breaded and pan fried florets with sauce and serve right away.

I ate these with chopsticks, because it made me feel fancy. I also didn't have rice vinegar so I used water to get the consistency, but it tasted fine without it, although I would cut down on the sugar next time as well. All in all, this is a really yummy, easy dinner!

Let me know if you try it!

Tart Lemon Crumble Bars

Technically, there are no vegetables here, but this is still a yummy, fruity vegetarian dessert!

I'm about to show y'all the perfect summer bar. It's flaky, gooey, tart, and sweet, and the lemon flavor is just light enough for sunny days. The best part? They look super complicated, but they aren't at all. Recipe adapted from So, How's It Taste. I made way too many, so unless you're prepared to drop them off at all of your friend's houses like I did, I would half the recipe.

Ingredients

Makes about 20 bars.

Crust
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 cup butter, softened
2 tsp. grated lemon peel

Filling
4 eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tsp. grated lemon peel

Glaze
2 cups powdered sugar
4-6 tablespoons lemon juice

Directions

• Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl with electric mixer, beat flour, sugar, butter, and peel on low speed until crumbly. Press mixture evenly in bottom of 13x9-inch pan (recipe says ungreased, but I sprayed a little Pam and I'm grateful I did. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until light golden brown. 
• Meanwhile, in large bowl with wire whisk, lightly beat eggs. Beat in remaining filling ingredients except lemon juice and lemon peel until well blended. Beat in 1/4 cup lemon juice and peel.  
• Remove partially baked base from oven. Pour filling evenly over warm base. 
• Return to oven; bake 25 to 30 minutes longer or until top is light golden brown. Cool completely, about 1 hour.  
• In small bowl, mix powdered sugar and enough lemon juice for desired spreading consistency until smooth (I doubled the original glaze amount, there was almost none!). Spread glaze evenly. Let sit until glaze sets, then cut into bars.

See? So simple but it looks like you're a master baker! The original recipe said to store them in the fridge, but I've had more success with room temperature bars. I would also reduced the amount of flour, because my crust was a little too flaky. The recipe says you'll need two lemons, but I used three to get a really lemony flavor.

This could be made vegan with butter and egg substitutes. If you try it, let me know how it works out!

Greek Summer Pasta Salad

Pasta salad just screams summer. When I think pasta salad, I think of picnics, days at the pool, and backyard bar-be-ques. It's cool, easy-to-make, and keeps fantastically so you can eat it all week, avoiding heating up your kitchen to cook. I have several go-to pasta salad recipes, but my favorite is my Mediterranean variety. It's loaded with veggies, feta, and balsamic, so it's a healthy summer dinner.

The best part about this recipe is the flexibility. Pretty much any Greek veggies taste great in it, and you can make as much or as little as you want. I don't even measure when I make it, I just keep adding things until I'm happy with it. There is one secret ingredient, but we'll get to that in a minute. This version of the recipe serves about 4 people.

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups (dry) rotini pasta
1/2 red bell pepper
1/2 cucumber
1/2 cup kalamata olives
1/2 cup feta cheese
1/2 cup balsamic vinaigrette
1 tablespoon lite mayo

Again, you can add or subtract any veggies you want. Sundried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, or red onions would probably be delicious as well. If you're feeling up to it, you can make your own dressing, too. The measurements are approximate; I usually just dump things in there until I'm happy with it.

To make it vegan, just eliminate the mayo and feta. To give it an omnivore twist, grilled chicken would be delish.

Directions

Boil the pasta with salt and olive oil until al dente, about 9 minutes. Chop your veggies into chunks while its cooking. Drain and return to pot off the hot eye.

Add our secret ingredient - lite mayo - to the pasta and stir. This helps bind everything together and adds a touch of richness.

Dump all veggies into pasta dish.

Pour half of the dressing onto the dish, then stir. Once everything is incorporated, add feta and the rest of the dressing and stir.

Chill in the fridge for 1-3 hours before serving.

That's it! You really can't screw up pasta salad, so don't be afraid to experiment with ingredients. This time, I chose tomato basil feta instead of plain and it was delicious! I also want to try zucchini instead of cucumber next time to switch things up.

I'm not a vegetarian.

In fact, I quite like meat. A few times a week, you can find me chowing down on bacon cheeseburgers, asian pork tacos, spicy chicken wings, or a turkey brie sandwich. Meat is delicious.

But I can't cook meat to save my life. Seriously. It's always undercooked, overcooked, straight-up burned, or ends up with the consistency of roof shingles. And, as a college student, paying to eat out is a twice-a-week luxury.

I do, however, love to cook vegetarian meals. After a long time of eating nothing but junk, my bad habits caught up with me and I gained a little more than the freshman fifteen my first year of college. Now, I live on my own, and I'm cooking healthy, vegetarian meals (occasionally pescatarian, I have figured out shrimp) to share with you other vegetarians or veggie lovers cooking for one.

Since I'm a student on a budget, my recipes are always cheap and don't take much time or cooking skill, but they're always delicious and mostly super healthy. Most of them can even be changed to fit a vegan diet with a few substitutions!

Join me on my veggie-loving journey!