polenta Archives | FoodFash

Do you ever have one of those days that you feel like you squished multiple days into a single day? And you look back on your very first thing you knocked off your list and it seems like ages ago? Today was one of those days. It started with waking up in Florida, returning a rental car, and heading to the airport and ended with cleaning out cabinets in Austin, a mini trip to Fresh Plus, a 4-mile Shoal Creek trek with Skylar, and a fancy little dinner. The stuff that happened in between went something like work, work, work, wondering how I could be so homesick after 5 days at home, work.

When I was cleaning out the cabinets {homesick therapy}, I found a tube of polenta that served as inspiration for dinner. And then the thought progression continued like so: burgers -> arugula & spinach -> mushrooms & onions.

I put my oven to work by simultaneously sautéing, grill-panning, and broiling. And when everything was cooked to perfection, I assembled the mini towers of goodness and served to Skylar and Max.

I liked changing up a plain old meat/veggie combo with the texture of polenta. And I totally dug the addition of greens and sautéed veggies, but a classic topping of lettuce, tomato, pickle, and onion would be equally as delicious.

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Weekends are for baking, Mondays are for veggies. I had to remind myself of this constantly tonight to resist the urge to reclaim the pie I left with the boys on Saturday.

I distracted myself by heading to the market and loading up on lots of produce to vegify an already vegiful dish.

FoodFash Mexican Polenta Casserole (yields 8 servings)

Adapted from this Eating Well recipe

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large yellow onion, chopped

2 poblano peppers, chopped

1 zucchini, shredded

2 tomatoes, chopped

1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed

2 cups of frozen chopped spinach

2 teaspoons cumin

1 teaspoon salt

1 pound ready made polenta

1-1/2 cups enchilada sauce

top with Greek yogurt, sour cream, or non-dairy sour cream

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and poblano peppers and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add shredded zucchini, tomatoes, beans, spinach, cumin, and salt. Let cook over medium heat for another 5 minutes. Slice polenta into 1/4″ thick slices (you’ll need about 24 slices). Layer the bottom of 8×11-ish pan with 1/3 of the polenta slices. Top with half of the veggies and 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce and repeat. Top the casserole with the last 1/2 of the polenta slices and 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce. Bake for 30 minutes. Let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

I’d be lying if I said it didn’t take me a second to adjust my palate to eating a mostly dairy free meal again. But by the time I was a few bites in (and I forgot about this weekend’s peanut butter pie and cheesy Mexican feasts) I began to appreciate my meal. It reminded me of a hearty, polenta topped, stew – a perfect dinner for a thunderstormy eve!