Polenta is similar in taste and texture to grits, but can be made with plain yellow cornmeal so you don’t have to keep extra ingredients around the house. For those of you in the South where the grits roam free, this is a tasty way to use that cornmeal you have for something other than cornbread.

Polenta and grits share a common phenomenon of ’setting’ when chilled: they turn from a spoonable texture (think oatmeal) to a sliceable solid (think cold mashed potatoes). As a result you can choose to serve your polenta as a spoonable side, or it can be chilled, sliced, and fried in butter (my mom does that with grits for shrimp & grits).

At any rate, I made this recipe tonight (with modifications I’ll note) to go with a steak and it was quite tasty. It would also do well with some grilled shrimp stirred in. This recipe was on the back of my bag of cornmeal and is from Publix Apron’s® Simple Meals.

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups milk
• 1 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup (half a stick) of butter
• 2 tsp chopped garlic
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 cup plain yellow corn meal
• 1/2 cup shredded Chedder cheese
• 1/4 cup shredded Parmasean cheese

Instructions

1. Combine first seven ingredients in a large saucepan over high heat. Bring to a boil. Do not leave this unattended while it’s heating up, it will go from nothing to boiling over in the blink of an eye. Trust me on this.
2. Add cornmeal (slowly!) whisking constantly until it’s well blended. Reduce heat to low and cook 8-10 minutes, whisking often, until thickened.
3. Stir in cheeses and mix well.
4. To make polenta cakes, spoon the mixture into a plastic wrap lined pan (such as an 8×8 pan or a loaf pan). Chill over night. Remove polenta from the pan and plastic wrap and slice into 8 portions. Fry in butter over medium-high heat 5 minutes per side, or until golden brown.

The substitutions I made are as follows

1. I used 1% milk because that’s what I have on hand.
2. I used Smart Balance® spread instead of butter and cut the amount in half, using 2 tbsp instead of 4.
3. I used three large cloves of garlic chopped, which is at least double. Then again, I really like garlic.
4. I used a bit more Italian seasoning and pepper, for the same reason as number three.
5. I added three shakes of onion powder. It worked well.
6. Instead of Chedder and parm I used 1/2 c Scotch Ale Chedder and 1/4 c Gruyere. The cheese you use is going to be a matter of taste and what you have on hand.

I didn’t add the cornmeal in slowly enough, so my polenta turned out rather lumpy. Tasted fine, just a tad ugly. I’ll grab a picture for this post the next time I make this dish (and yes, I will be making it again!).

Winter brings one of three things to my mind when it comes to dinner: soup, beans, or beef stew. Give me a piping hot bowl of any of these and I am guaranteed to be a happy customer. Tonight it’s going to be beef and vegetable soup, so I thought I’d share the recipe here in case any one else is craving something warm to eat.

Be forewarned I use the word ‘recipe’ loosely. One of the best aspects of a soup like this is you can change the ingredients based upon what you have on hand, so it’s likely to never be the same twice. I’ve loosely based mine on the beef and vegetable soup recipe provided on the Better than Boullion jar. The nutritional analysis at the end of this post is from NutritionData.com and is for the ingredients as they’re listed: substitutions or additions will of course change things a bit. Also note that the serving size is huge, almost a pound of soup. All for under 400 tasty calories.

• 6 tbsp Better Than Boullion beef base
• 2 qts water
• 1 14oz can of diced tomatoes
• 1 16oz can of beans (pintos used here, though I also like garbanzo beans)
• 1.5 lbs beef pot roast, cooked and pulled into chunks
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 2 medium stalks of celery, chopped
• 5 medium russet potatoes, chopped
• 10 oz mixed frozen vegetables (I just scoop out 3 cups from the bag)
• 1-2 bay leaves
• pepper and garlic to taste

Here comes the hard part: put everything together in a big pot. Simmer for an hour. Eat.

Here’s the nutritional analysis. Click for the full size image.