New Meal Adventure: My first recipe with Polenta
Hello, my Lovelies and Gents,
I hope this post finds you healthy and safe. One of the big challenges for most people throughout this Quarantine time has been Food. Restaurants were closed. Grocery stores were running out of some foods. What do we do?
I have absolutely loved seeing people exploring their own kitchens. Frankly, I'm crazy jealous of everyone who attempted to make their own bread. I was not that adventurous. And I'm also crazy jealous of all of the desserts that I have seen. Why oh why could I not be quarantined with someone who aspires to be on The Great British Bakeoff?
One of the challenges of being at home during this stressful time has been stress-eating. Remember: If you don't buy it to have around, then you can't snack on it all day. For someone who eats fresh fruits and vegetables all day I have spent a lot of time at the grocery store. Sending a big shout out to the Farmers for keeping us fed. Sending another shoutout to all of the Grocery Store employees. Thank you. I loved seeing them pulling the items for online orders. I'm so very thankful that we live in a time where that is an option. I do not use that option because the majority of what I buy is fresh and I like to be able to choose it for myself. However, I do know lots of people who utilize this option and it is a safe and time-saving option for them.
I have truly enjoyed my time in the kitchen. I always enjoyed my food prep day, but it can be time-consuming. It's worth it though because it makes those meals so much easier. I still have food prep days, but now I can be leisurely about them. It also makes New Recipe Day that much more exciting.
I have so many Vegetarian Cookbooks and magazines that I have had to organize them. I LOVE the magazine Forks Over Knives. It comes out quarterly and is full of fantastic recipes. It's great because they are seasonal for the fruits and vegetables available at that time. I also have their cookbook and regularly look up recipes on their website: https://www.forksoverknives.com/
One of the recipes that I got out of the Spring 2020 issue was:
Sopes with Beans & Corn.
I tagged this right away, but it took me a little while to get courageous. I love polenta but was very worried that I would mess it up. I found a tube of polenta at Publix a while ago. I had high hopes, but I let it sit long past it's best by date. Luckily, I found it at Trader Joes. I'm still glad that I found the tube of it because I am 100% sure that I would not have been adventurous enough to make it from scratch. If you don't know, polenta is a cornmeal mixture. I had a fantastic polenta meal on the cruise and it just intimidated me.
This recipe is super easy though and I made some adjustments to it. I should also say that I eyeball ingredients. For the most part, if they are very specific about ingredients I will follow it, but if it's just going to mix ingredients together I may add to reduce the size depending on how it is packaged or if I like the ingredient. I also like to pull all of the ingredients to the counter before I get started.
Ingredients Needed:
1 - tube of Polenta (I ended up making so much that I went out for another tube the next day)
2 - cups frozen peppers and onions (I love the frozen peppers from Trader Joes, and skipped the onions *I like to get frozen chopped onions as I do not care to cut them myself, but that has not been available at the grocery store for months *insert super sad face*)
2 - cups frozen corn (As you can see I just used the whole bag)
1 - can kidney beans (rinsed and drained)
1 - 14.5oz can of fire roasted tomatoes (I used ro-tell)
1 - tbsp taco seasoning
1 - avocado
1/4 - cup sliced scallions (I did not use this *See not about not liking to chop onions)
1 - fresh jalapeno chile (hahahahahahahahahahahahahahah NO)
Tofu sour cream (I used regular)
lime wedges
I like this recipe because I pretty much have all of that on any given day. The only thing I really needed to buy was the sour cream.
I was happy that the recipe called for baking the polenta. After I made I baked it I got feedback from friends that they had previously fried it with some oil. So when I got the second tube I tried that. I did not like it as much. I definitely liked the baked better.
To bake the polenta: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. For my non-bakers out there: it is not to be confused with wax paper. I am glad I asked about that prior to another recipe because that would be a mistake I would not like to make. As you might imagine, the wax would melt in the oven. Okay, back to the polenta. Cut the tube of polenta into 12 slices and arrange them on the sheet. 
You bake them for 20 minutes until they are browned, flipping them once. I didn't pay attention to that part and they were still fine.
See you soon :-)
Have a Blessed Evening,
Jennie
xoxo
If you feel like you are alone on your journey and you just need some encouragement I am here for you! Shoot me an email and I will do my best to check in on you or give you the words of support you need several times a week. The journey is so much easier if you have support.
jhendersonfit@gmail.com
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yeah, sorry, I messed up and the "l" is missing....I need an assistant :-)
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