polenta re-use

Polenta is one of my favorite pasta, carb, grain alternatives to the traditional white rice, potato carb loaded addition to a meal.  I make it often, but not too much where I will get sick of it.  When I do make it I often make extra and freeze it so that I have some for another meal later on. That is exactly what this post is about.  

Most of the time when I make it I roast a bunch of vegetables that I have extra after the week.  This time I had zuchini, yellow squash, a red pepper, a green pepper, and a red onion.

Chop them up and roast them up at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes.

Then whisk up your polenta.  I usually buy Bob Red Mill's Corn Grits and the way they explain how to do it on the back of the package works perfect for me.  It's basically 3 cups of water to 1 cup of corn grits.  I also add in about a tablespoon of butter, 1/2 tablespoon of salt, and about a cup of Parmesan cheese.

I'm not really sure why people think polenta is so difficult to make.  It is quite simple in fact.  The trick is once the water comes to a boil you must whisk in the corn grits to avoid any clumps.

For this meal I used everything I needed then placed the extra in a baking dish.  I then cut them in rectangles.  

I then wrapped them individually to diminish freezer burn. 

I then placed them in a Ziploc and threw them in the freezer !

Then weeks later I took them out cooked them up and topped with some cheese, marinara sauce, and chicken sausage.  It was so easy !!

Enjoy !!!

bulgar salad

I have written lots in the past about my husbands so called "vampire diet."  To some this may seem strange, but let me explain again.  It is about being half vegetarian.  Meaning that he only eats meat for dinner.  So often I am tasked with coming up with delicious, healthy, and quick lunches for him and I to enjoy.  I love being able to find new recipes and the process of cooking.  It is a true form of creativity.

So on with a delicious Bulgar salad.  If you haven't used Bulgar I strongly recommend it.  It is the one of the most versatile whole grains you can cook with.  The best part of it is you can just pour boiling water over it and cover it and in less that 10 minutes the steam and the boiling water work together beautifully to cook it perfectly.

This is such an easy salad to start with if you haven't used bulgar before. 

You will need the following items

• 2 chopped zuchini 
• 1 red onion chopped
• 1 package of reduced fat feta cheese crumbled up 
• 1 head of parseley chopped up 
• 1 handful of sundreid tomatoes chopped up
• 1 lemon zested 
• 1 lemon juiced
• 3 tbs of olive oil 
• salt and pepper 
• 1 can of rinsed chickpeas 
• 1 small handful of black olives

Add it all to a bowl and mix it together throughly.  Then add in 3 cups of cooked bulgar.

Continue mixing it up throughly until it's all combined.  It will begin to look utterly delicious like it does below.  Give it a try today !!!

Enjoy !!!

autumn latkes

One of the things I love most about cooking and creating healthful meals for my husband and I are finding ways to sneak veggies into everything.   Not only placing veggies in everything, but increasing the numbers of servings of vegetables in a side dish as well.  This side dish is a wonderful example of that.  I got this recipe out of one of my friends favorite cookbooks Veginomicon, which is slowly becoming one of my favorites.  You can also find my friend The Wise Vegan here !!

You start autumn latkes by shredding 2 sweet potatoes, 3 zucchini, 2 yellow squash, and a couple of carrots.  It takes some time, but it is so worth it.  You can use a food processor to do it, but I felt like making my arms hurt for a bit.  

Then add in about 1/4 cup of cornstarch, an 1/8 of cup of flour, and 1/4 cup of water.  Mix that thoroughly and let it sit for about 10 minutes.

Then make patties out of the mixture and fry them up in a little olive oil.  They are so delicious.  They get wonderfully crispy with even just a little olive oil.  They freeze pretty well too!

They are delicious and you wont be able to say no to the extra veggies with this one !!

Enjoy !!!