Polenta Pizza

Super Bowl Sunday means homemade pizza, not sure how this tradition got started but The Hubs looks forward to his pizza every superbowl. This year I am trying to be a bit healthier so I made his...and something different for me, polenta pizza I saw over at Forks over Knives...My polenta "crust" is on the right, and The Hubs traditional pizza is getting sauced on the left.

 

I made a basil pesto sauce....

 

Put a thin layer on and then layered potatoes I had thinly sliced and steamed, on top of that goes caramelized onions...the onions didnt get "caramelized" but they were cooked and sprinkled over the potatoes.

 

 
On top of all of that we sprinkled nutritional yeast...and to make it "my own" I of course had to add pineapple, because I LOVE pineapple on my pizza.

I really liked it, Baby Girl does not care for pesto so she didnt like it so much, but we have an idea to change it up so look for that post in the future...but for me, I thought it was really good, the hardest part was cooking the polenta...oh and slicing my finger on the slicer...luckily it was the last swipe, but I was so close to an incident free cooking session...so close.

Lentil Loaf

Again with my "Forks Over Knives" book. :) Plus I wanted to show you what I do with most of my books that I like to have open flat, I take them to Office Max and for around $4 they will cut the spine off and make them spiral bound.

For the second recipe I tried, "Lentil Loaf". While my lentil beans were cooking I prepared all the veggies...carrots, red onion, italian parsely, garlic, oats (I like the gluten free) and walnuts.

I put everything above plus the lentils into my new handy dandy food processor...OMG why have I not bought one of these before. I LOVE it!!!!!

Then I pressed into loaf pans...and here I cheated a bit on the "healthiness" of the recipe and did my usual meatloaf topping of ketchup and brown sugar...I know so bad, yet so yummy!!!!

I then baked at 350 for 50 minutes. I liked this recipe...wont lie as I didnt love it, but I liked it better in the days after, for me this wasnt so great on the day it was baked, but maybe I didnt cook it long enough...or too much? I found it mushy on the first day and much more firm in the days after. I think it would be fabulous made into a sandwich or in a pita pocket, for me the texture just seemed off.

Anyone made a lentil loaf before have any tips for what I can do to improve?



Polenta Pie

My newest favorite book is "Forks Over Knives"...The plant-based way to health. The first recipe I decided to try in the book was "Polenta with Rice and Beans".

I will admit I had no idea what polenta was...I thought it was some kind of potato looking thing, imagine my surprise to find it in a bag...AKA corn grits lol.

I started with the polenta crust...That wasnt as easy as I thought it would be, it is a bit sticky but it wasnt long and I had it neatly in the pan.



For the filling I cooked my rice in my rice cooker using broth for the water, and I added a can of diced tomatoes, a diced onion, and a tsp of chili powder.

When that was done cooking I added a can of drained black beans and mixed it up and then added into the "pie crust".

I poured some mild salsa over the top and baked it for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

I was pretty pleased with how it came out. Very tasty and very filling.

I really enjoyed the polenta itself, but I think to do the recipe again I will add diced green chilis to the polenta.

What is your favorite polenta recipe?