Made it Through!

Affirmation: Change is a Choice

Well I made it through a holiday without going bonkers. Now, mind you I didn't do the party thing, no family picknic's this year, just a quiet 4 days off home puttering with mom. But many times being off work with nothing planned can mean a lot of snacking and munching. But I didn't. I ate pretty healthy even. Tomatoes are starting to trickle in from the south - real tomatoes. So I had my fill of all things tomato...I am sooo glad that they are so good for you!

I thought I would post a recipe that I have tweeked from I don't know where...it no longer looks like the original much and the original is long gone. I think the original had chicken or something in it. But I adapted it to make it a quick throw together rather than make all the stuff from scratch. I don't have a name for it, so I will make one up just for you all.

Poletna with Black Bean and Corn Salsa

For the salsa:

• 1 jar of your favorite fat free, low sodium salsa
• 1 can fat free low soduim black beans, rinsed well
• 1 1/2 - 2 cups frozen corn (to your taste)

Mix above together well. Chill. This is also good over a baked potatoe

For the Polenta

• Your favorite Polenta recipe (or if you really want fast, get the pre-prepared stuff from the market)
• Use soy milk instead of water (makes it creamier)
• some garlic (to your taste)
• cayene ground pepper (to your taste - if you are using a hot salsa you might skip this unless you love it hot!)
• a bay leaf
• Parmesean cheese (I make only 2 servings at a time so I use about 1/4 cup shreaded, less if it is ground)

Toast garlic in about a teaspoon of olive oil. Add the milk, cayene pepper and bay leaf and bring milk to boil. Add the amount of polenta grains called for in your recipe and stir constantly until thickens...about 5 minutes or more. Remove bay leave, take off heat and stir in parm cheese.

Now since this is a lunch bag standby I pour my polent into the little glad bowls (1 cup). Let cool and store in fridge for lunches. In another glad bowl put about a cup of salsa. Store in fridge for lunches. Warm up polenta and top with cold salsa. If you are serving it right away, pour the polenta into shallow bowl or pasta bowls. Top with about a cup of the salsa. MMM and so healthy for you. Easy breasy!

Polenta is quick and easy to make and really good for you. It stores pretty good in the fridge, so you can make up several servings ahead. It is good to lightly toast either in the oven or in a pan with a very small amount of olive oil (it sucks up the oil like a sponge) I also use a grill pan to toast them. When you make the polenta, pour it out on a cookie sheet and after it cools you can cut them into cute little triangles to toast. It makes a great base for putting other things over it. I will post some more recipes later. As you can see, making a pot of polenta is a great cook once morph into several meals food.