Help! Pregnant and craving fish sticks!

[Jaimee]

So my m/s is causing me to crave fried and battered crap.  I want McDonald's french fries.  I want fish sticks.  I want battered popcorn shrimp.  I don't think I actually want fish- I don't think I could actually eat it.  I've been a vegetarian for a loooong time now.  But I want the crunchy fried loveliness.   

Any vegetarian ideas for me???  Something that I can prepare at home?  I can't be running out to fast food restaurants everyday for the next few months.  Sigh...

[bluebackpacks]

How about corn fritters?  You can pick up some masa harina, and fry them up in a matter of minutes (well, after you've let the masa soak).

[cocoanib]

How about

tempura veggies or tempura tofu (its fried, but vegetarian)

tofu fish sticks

Oven baked french fries

[MsFortune]

fake fried chicken nuggets tend to taste fishy to me. Also, a grilled cheese sandwich with swiss.

Those are all greasy and awesome and might do it.

[Jaimee]

Originally Posted by cocoanib 

How about

tempura veggies or tempura tofu (its fried, but vegetarian)

tofu fish sticks

Oven baked french fries

Thanks for the link... I actually know the Krys he credits for inspiration.  What a small world!  I think I'll give those a try tomorrow.  I had thought about tempura... can you buy it pre-made?  It doesn't seem like that would be possible and still taste good....  I'm having trouble cooking these days, too.

Unfortunately I have tried home made oven baked potatoes and veg chick'n nuggets and neither of those worked.  I think I'll have to try store bought fries next.  Ugh.
 

[kavamamakava]

Originally Posted by Jaimee 

So my m/s is causing me to crave fried and battered crap.  I want McDonald's french fries.  I want fish sticks.  I want battered popcorn shrimp.  I don't think I actually want fish- I don't think I could actually eat it.  I've been a vegetarian for a loooong time now.  But I want the crunchy fried loveliness.   

Any vegetarian ideas for me???  Something that I can prepare at home?  I can't be running out to fast food restaurants everyday for the next few months.  Sigh...

This is hilarious to me because I was the same way. Only I've never had fish sticks in my life! I was seriously drooling when I drove by an Ivar's and I had no idea what was going on with me. I even went so far as to purchase some fish n chips and then took a bite and gagged. Oh lordy being pregnant can be entertaining.  I went to Whole Foods and went up to the deli and was like Oh hey, I've never had fish before but I'm suddenly craving it and I want it good n fried. Can you recommend something that a person who may not like fish might enjoy? He gave me some samples of different things and they were all gross!?!

I bought a bunch of kelp and dulse to put in soups and started snacking on nori strips and adding furikake sprinkles to my food and the craving went away. The fried craving was there too. I ate a lot of tempura dipped into my own homemade dipping sauce with mirin and tamari and rice vinegar and tons of seaweed flakes!  And then I had this weird thing I had to eat almost daily where I mixed rice with vegenaise and capers and some furikake and nutritional yeast ohhhhh mmmmmmmm gooooood. I also started sending my partner out to get me buckwheat soba a couple of times a week. I am not Japanese. 
 

[Jaimee]

Originally Posted by kavamamakava 
I even went so far as to purchase some fish n chips and then took a bite and gagged. Oh lordy being pregnant can be entertaining. 

The fried craving was there too. I ate a lot of tempura dipped into my own homemade dipping sauce with mirin and tamari and rice vinegar and tons of seaweed flakes!

With my last pregnancy I tried tuna salad b/c that was the last meat item I gave up when I was vegetarian and it felt the "safest."  I only got a few bites down before couldn't go on and then I had three days of stomach/intestinal cramping.  Lovely.

Did you make your own tempura?  How?  When I get hungry I have to eat right away... I wouldn't be able to be cooking for an hour beforehand.

[kavamamakava]

Uh no. I bought the tempura from a place down the street that used a tempura batter without eggs. I made it sometimes, just flour and water batter. With time for the oil to heat it took about 30 mins to fry up a few veggies. My furikake rice was my quick go-to food when I got suddenly hungry. I'm not usually a fan of capers but I liked them in this dish. If I didn't have any more furikake I used gomasio. Sometimes I couldn't find the brand of furikake I liked that was just sesame seeds, salt, and seaweed but Whole Foods always had the gomasio. 
My friend said it was probably an iodine craving I had and nothing to do with fish. I think she was right because when I added all that dulse and kelp and seaweed to my diet I didn't drool everytime I got junkmail with coupons for fish and chips. 

[catnip]

I suggest that tofu fish stick recipe, with a version of whatever sauce belongs alongside in your mind. For me, that's thousand island dressing. Spray the sticks with oil before they go in the oven and again after they come out.

[cocoanib]

Originally Posted by Jaimee 

Thanks for the link... I actually know the Krys he credits for inspiration.  What a small world!  I think I'll give those a try tomorrow.  I had thought about tempura... can you buy it pre-made?  It doesn't seem like that would be possible and still taste good....  I'm having trouble cooking these days, too.

Unfortunately I have tried home made oven baked potatoes and veg chick'n nuggets and neither of those worked.  I think I'll have to try store bought fries next.  Ugh.
 

It is a small world :)

We have bought the box tempura and added water.

I'm not sure the exact ingredients, but it was decent tasting.

We just used all kinds of veggies we had on hand(including sweet potato, yum) and fried them up.

 delish!