First Official FRYday

After having my baby, I am now in the throes of losing the baby weight. I've already lost over 6 lbs (hooray!), so I'm on my way. When I was losing weight from my last baby I was trying to eat all fat-free food, I'd given up butter and even switched to low-fat cheese. For someone that loves cheese, let me tell you - that was agony! This time around I'm determined to make my weight loss work with foods that I enjoy eating - like butter and cheese. I realize that making life-time food commitments is part of keeping the weight off, but what's the point if I can't eat foods I like? We have to be practical now, don't we?

As part of my weight-loss and sanity I've decided to dedicate one day a month to frying something. *gasp!* (I can't have fried food for the rest of the month, though.) So, I've initiated my very own FRYday to be held the first Friday of every month. It gives me something to look forward to while I'm dipping my carrots in low-fat ranch and telling myself I should be switching to skim as I drink my 1%. Okay, so I have to have some fat in my life every day. It's all about moderation, people.

Anyway, for my first official FRYday I picked one of my absolutely favorite things on the face of this planet: the good ol' Southern delight of little balls of cornbread fried in oil - a.k.a. Hush Puppies. I've never had a restaurant-fried hush puppy in my life. I only have this one amazing recipe. And really, that's all it takes. Shall I share it with you? Hmm? I think I will!

War Eagle Hush Puppies
(adapted from some book I don't remember the title of)

2 cups stone ground cornmeal (the fresher the better)
3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. sugar

1/2 cup onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, peeled and minced

1 large egg
1 cup milk

In a medium-sized bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Set aside. In a small bowl, combine the onion, garlic*, egg and milk. Add the wet ingredients to the dry. Stir to combine well. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl to incorporate all of the dry cornmeal. You should have a fairly stiff batter. If it's too loose, add a little more flour to thicken it.

Heat 1/4 to 1/2 inch of corn oil (I just used canola) in a heavy skillet until quite hot. Drop a tiny piece of batter into the oil and if it sizzles, the heat is correct. Dip into the batter with a tablespoon -- make it heaping -- and drop the batter into the hot oil. If the hush puppies brown too quickly, turn the heat down. Fry until crispy brown on one side; turn it over and brown on the other. Lift the hush puppies out with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Serve hot. And maybe with a bowl of chili.

Makes about 24 hush puppies.

*Feel free to add more onion and garlic

Oh, heavenly YUM!