Eat Well: Green Greens and Greens

The following post was written by my mom, WWW. Thanks, mom!

When I was growing up, most green salads were made from two types of lettuce: iceberg or romaine. Dinner salads consisted of lettuce or perhaps spinach and some tomatoes, radishes, onions, and cucumbers, probably a few croutons on top and Italian dressing (from a dry package mix). Or, for special occasions, a Caesar salad. Then came Alice Waters and the food revolution. Slowly grocery stores started stocking more exotic fare. Now, farmer’s markets and grocery stores are bursting with arugula, mizuna, frisée, escarole, mustard greens, endive, tatsoi, cress, just to name a few. Often these greens are found bagged in a “mesclun” mix for convenience (the word mesclun comes from the French word mesla, to mix). These mixes are expensive and now that I belong to a CSA as well as have my own garden and frequent farmer’s markets, I am able to make a green salad with 4 or 5 different greens very inexpensively and conveniently.

In my opinion, the two most important elements of a great salad are fresh ingredients and homemade salad dressing. It is so easy to make your own vinaigrette and it’s so much tastier, not to mention better for you. The classic ratio is 1:3, vinegar to oil. I use a good quality olive oil, although you can use any oil. For vinegar I use red wine, apple cider, or a good quality balsamic, depending on the type of salad. A pinch or two of salt added to the vinegar mellows out the acidity and is imperative to a good vinaigrette. You can add garlic or shallots and different herbs to create more interesting flavors. These days, there are so many flavored oils and vinegars that you can really have fun experimenting. Add some garlic or shallots and some fresh herbs, and you elevate your salad even more. Other variations come from replacing your vinegar with lemon or adding a little Dijon mustard. I even add Braggs amino acids to my vinaigrette for an Asian twist.

Basic Vinaigrette

2 T vinegar or lemon juice or a combination of the two

Salt and pepper

6 T oil

Optional: 1-2 cloves crushed garlic (or 1 teaspoon crushed shallots)

1. If desired, crush garlic or shallots in a small bowl

2. Add vinegar to the garlic

3. whisk in a pinch of salt

4. Taste. Add more if needed.

5. Whisk in the oil until emulsified or add all ingredients in a covered container and shake vigorously.

6. Add pepper and finely chopped herbs if desired.

(Serves 4)

Variations:

· Add 2 teaspoons of Dijon mustard or Braggs Amino Acids to the vinegar.

· Puree a clove or garlic or ½ a shallot and add to vinegar

· Add a seasoned herby salt instead of plain salt

· For a creamy dressing, substitute heavy cream, creme fraiche, or yoghurt for some of the oil

· My favorite fresh herbs in salad are dill, cilantro, basil, and tarragon

My favorite combination for a green salad is lettuce (I like leaf lettuce), arugula, mizuna, and mustard greens. (I’m not a big fan of spinach salad as it makes my teeth feel funny!) With such wonderful variety of greens for the base, it is easy to throw together a delicious salad. Add some toasted seeds and nuts (either plain or caramelized), some sliced strawberries or orange slices (or dried cranberries), and some crumbled goat or feta cheese then top with a good quality olive oil and balsamic vinegar and you have the perfect accompaniment to any dinner.

You can either toss your salad in a bowl (greens and heavy items separately as not to crush your lettuce), or lay the greens on each individual plate, adding the heavier items and vinaigrette on top:

Seen here for beets and blood oranges

I think the biggest mistake people make with green salads is putting the wrong ingredients together. I love fruits in salads. The best ones to use are any citrus, pears, apples, strawberries, figs, and pomegranates. In order for a salad to taste good, each ingredient needs to go together. For instance, you wouldn’t want to put strawberries with hearts of palms or artichokes. Yuck!

If you use fruit, don’t put tomatoes in your salad. The flavors don’t mix well. Put your tomatoes together with the more savory additions. For instance, tomatoes go great with hearts of palms or artichokes. Yum!

I love putting nuts or seed on salads, especially since I don’t eat meat. Good choices are walnuts, pecans, almonds, pine nuts, hazelnuts or sunflower seeds. You can toast these nuts briefly in a pan over a medium high flame but they are great plain, as well.

Here are some good combinations for salad (for all of these, I arrange the heavier ingredients on top of the lettuce)

1. Arugula, pear or grapefruit, and avocado with Parmesan curls or Gorgonzola cheese with a lemon vinaigrette.

2. Mixed greens of your choice, sliced roasted beets (see below), dill, thinly sliced red onion with goat cheese, walnuts and balsamic vinaigrette.

Bake beets in aluminum foil. Leave a few inches of stems so they don't bleed.

Peel skin off beets, slice and voila! Salad oomph!

3. Mixed greens (arugula, mizuna, and spinach) with sliced strawberries, feta, toasted sunflower seeds, and balsamic vinaigrette.

4. Mixed greens with toasted caramelized slivered almonds, mandarin oranges, sliced red onion and rice vinegar vinaigrette (use canola oil and add a little sugar for this one).

5. Mixed greens with vine ripened tomatoes, Kalamata olives, red pepper, cucumber, and feta. Use red wine vinegar mixed with oregano for this Greek variation.

7. Mixed greens with artichoke hearts, hearts of palm, tomatoes, and a garlic-thyme vinaigrette (toasted pine nuts are good on this one).

Next week, chopped salads as center stage!

Love,

WWW

95/100

This next song came via a tip from a reader named Sarah who thought I'd dig. (I indeed did.) Thank you all for sharing your opinions last week on what should become of Tuesdays (I'm a day behind this week) after the music dies. I've decided to go with D. All of the above and post on everything I think is interesting, important, inspiring et al. That will include the occasional music video but will also feature charitable causes, beloved websites, cool things, etc. Basically, Mix Tape will become Mixed Bag of Awes which will be good I think. In the meantime, here's today's jam:

95. The Beautiful Young Crew by: Lawrence Arabia

GGC

Eleven+ Weeks

I popped this week. Well, to me anyway. I look pregnant these days as opposed to bloated-on-the-rag. People are touching the bump, which I'll forgive because I am a bump-toucher myself and life's a take and give operation. I'm finally starting to put on weight (two pounds!) and if my last pregnancies are any indication, I've got about a hundred more to go. (I gained seventy pounds with Archer and forty-five with Fable. Here's 200 pound me, two days after Archer was born. But I lost it! I lost it ALL and will... again!) I'm still in and out of nausea which is frustrating. We went to San Diego this past weekend and I spent the entire drive with my head out the window and most of both days napping on my parents' couch while my family frolicked on outings without me. Being that these are my last few days of first trimesterdom, I'm hoping that come Sunday I'll feel magically amazing. Especially since we're taking our very first family-of-four vacation to New York in three weeks. I'll be crushed if I can't run amok with my crew.

We test-drove minivans this weekend and decided on the exact-down-to-the-color-plus-features model we'll be purchasing at the latest, this summer. We fell in love with the Honda Odyssey (by far our favorite of all the vans out there) and I cannot WAIT to cruise the streets in our metal metallic party bus. My minivan phobia is long gone. That puppy is FIERCE, you guys.

The other night Hal got out of bed in the middle of the night to make me food. He asked me how I was feeling and I told him I was hungry. Starving. The hungriest I'd ever been in my life. And so? Out of bed he sprang like a superhero chef! Slippers on and "I'll be back in a few!" He appeared fifteen minutes later with THE most perfect grilled cheese & egg sandwich that ever was. Dripping with butter, Muenster cheese for miles... heaven.

I guess you could say I picked the right man to make 56754756 children with.

GGC

Rachel

The other day Rachel came over with a box of saltines. I hadn't been able to stomach anything in days so she came to my rescue as she so often has these last two months and I devoured the entire box in one sitting. Later she took Archer for a bike ride around the neighborhood. I didn't have the energy so away they went. And last week when I had a terrible migraine, Rachel came over to squeeze the pressure points in my toes while we watched How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days. I was in pain and couldn't take any Aleve so she drove over to my house and made me feel better. Because that's how she rolls. That's my sister.

I think of my life without Rachel, who like the twins, was my mother's third pregnancy, my parent's wonderful surprise -- how lost I'd be without her, how grateful I am that she's here.

Whenever I feel nervous or worried about having more children, overwhelmed (like I am today, oh man). I think of my siblings, how someday Fable may be pregnant, that one of these children forming inside me will come to her rescue in the same way Rachel has, does, always will. That Fable will say, much like I have, these past few weeks, "I don't know what I'd do without her/him, her/her, him/him." And it will be true.

(photos taken at Shane's Inspiration, Griffith Park.)

*Fable's dress by: my mom*

GGC

Twos

I had my second ultrasound today. With Fable I had three ultrasounds my entire pregnancy and I only had two with Archer so I had to go to one of those tacky mall places that do 3-D ultrasounds with Enya blasting in the background and fake rock fountains, just to find out the sex. I was six-months pregnant and my doctor wouldn't give me an ultrasound, the dick. I got a new doctor when I was pregnant with Fable. The best in the west.

"It's a girl!" he said at week twenty. Indeed she was.

"You'll get an ultrasound every two weeks for the next few months," he told me. So today, at my second appointment, I got to see my babies again. Except this time I wasn't hyperventilating. This time I eagerly watched as my doctor pointed out two tiny beating hearts, heads, limbs. Twins are difficult to see in ultrasound at this point in pregnancy because they block each other. One of the babies (Baby A) is hidden behind "Baby B", who I was able to get a much better look at, although you wouldn't know it from these blurry snaps:

Baby B's front (10 weeks, 2 days):

Baby A's back... ish (10 weeks, 4 days):

Baby A is two days larger than baby B, which is normal and totally healthy. Two weeks ago they were measuring two days differently as well. And this time, because I wasn't hysterical I was actually able to ask my doctor questions. (I do NOT need to be eating 1,000 extra calories. Doctor thinks I'm an ideal candidate for a vaginal delivery, that most doctors are C-section happy when it comes to twins when, for many women, it's perfectly doable.) I came home and promptly tossed every book that led me to believe otherwise. The only thing worse than What to Expect When You're Expecting is What to Expect When You're Undoubtedly Going to Have a C-Section and Must eat a Shitload of Crap in Order to Deliver Healthy Babies.

Shut up, books. Just shut your front cover.

The babies are in separate sacs with separate placentas but there's still a possibility that they could be identical (identical twins can be in different sacs depending on when egg splits). If they are indeed the same sex, we won't know until they're born whether they share identical DNA. Fascinating fun. (ED: I'm feeling a boy/girl vibe. Hal is, too. That might be because we have a boy and a girl at home and their vibes have infiltrated us OR we could be psychic. We shall see.)

Also, and I know I've said it before, to any Los Angeles based mothers-to-be who are in the market for an incredible OBGYN, email me. My guy is OBGYN-Kenobi. Not joking. The fact that I get to see him every two weeks is a thrill.

Almost as thrilling as it is to peek inside my uterus and see those tiny dancers.

By the end of this pregnancy I'll have enough ultrasound stills to create an animated feature short subject. Oscars '13, here we come.

GGC & A & B

Eat Well: Walking the (Gluten) Free-dom Trail

The following post was written by my mom, WWW (those are her initials, btw). Thanks, mom!

Somerville, MA Farmer's Market

Last weekend, Larry and I spent a fabulous four days with David and his girlfriend, Alyssa, in the Boston area. These guys are serious foodies—on Saturday, alone, we went to the Somerville indoors farmer’s market, dehydrated apples, sprouted grain, made *popcorn from a whole dried cob, and cooked together an unforgettable meal. Unfortunately, David has been recently diagnosed with celiac disease —definitely a challenge for someone who enjoys cooking and food as much as he does. But three weeks into this diagnosis, he is already actively engaged in figuring out ways to modify his recipes and thinking up new ones. It is inspiring to see how he and Alyssa have formed a team and jumped into this life change together. Saturday morning he made us delicious gluten free waffles. Here is his recipe:

Gluten Free Blueberry Waffles

(Dry Ingredients)

1 ½ cups gluten free all-purpose flour (with guar gum. If not included in your mix, add ¼ tsp guar gum)

½ cup buckwheat flour

¼ coarse cornmeal

1 Tbsp baking powder

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

(Wet Ingredients)

2 cups buttermilk

3 eggs

½ cup oil

½ tsp vanilla

8 oz blueberries

Mix all the dry ingredients together. Whisk the eggs until blended and foamy. Add buttermilk, oil, and vanilla to eggs. Add wet to dry and mix until coated but don’t over mix. Add blueberries and gently stir in. Cook in waffle iron.

Top with yogurt and syrup if you desire:

For the past two years, I have lived mostly gluten free. I do not have celiac disease, but I do have an undiagnosed disease that causes inflammation in various parts of my body, so many doctors, both medical and alternative, have suggested I eat a gluten free diet. It’s not easy cutting out gluten—it requires diligence and a positive attitude. Luckily, at least, we live at a time when there is an awareness of gluten and companies are required to list ingredients on the food that we buy. But it still can be extremely frustrating, especially when eating out. So many foods have gluten hidden in them. For someone with celiac disease, it is an absolute necessity to stay away from gluten but it can get tiring to ask for ingredient lists every time you order. Buying a phone app to help find gluten-free friendly restaurants is really helpful, especially when traveling.

It is hard to give up foods that we love—like artisan breads and chocolate croissants for me, or in David’s case, beer. One of David’s hobbies for the past several years has been home brewing. Beer is made from gluten-containing barley (and/or wheat) so it was looking pretty bleak for him to continue his pastime. After he recovered from the initial shock of his diagnosis, however, he started researching gluten free beer, ordered alternative grains and began to experiment with recipes.

Although you can buy already sprouted grains (here and here), David bought large mason jars with mesh lids for his grain sprouting operation, the first step to brewing beer.

A few weeks ago I mentioned that soaking grains makes them more nutritious. Sprouting grains makes them even more digestible and more nutritious since after sprouting, the grains are “alive.” If you want to learn how to sprout grain, you can find everything you need to get started at www.sproutpeople.org.

Basically, you want to soak the grains for a period of time, then rinse and drain several times over several days. David sprouted brown rice, amaranth, two types of quinoa, millet, and buckwheat—all gluten-free grains.

grain before sprouting

sprouting the seed at an angle (so the water drains out).

rinsing the seeds

If you aren’t going to use the sprouted grain right away, it is important to dry the grain (for both brewing and storing for cooking).

You can buy grains for sprouting in bulk, sprout them, dry them, and then store. David has a grain factory going on for his gluten-free brewing experiments, so he has purchased a dehydrator to dry large quantities of grain. Buy the mesh dehydrator screens for drying grain or for making fruit roll-ups. You can also dry the grains in a very low oven, but it is harder to control the temperature and they must be dried at about 105-110 degrees in order to stay alive. Plus, using your oven takes a lot more energy than the dehydrator.

By sheer coincidence, I cooked sprouted mung beans and brown rice with some kombu sea vegetables the day before I went to Boston. They were completely cooked in only 30 minutes and were delicious. Dried sprouted grains cook much faster than regular grains and have a softer, more delicious consistency (you use less water when you cook them, too). Use them in any recipe that calls for grains. After watching David’s little sprouting farm all weekend, I now am excited to sprout grains at home—for eating, not for beer. I will keep you posted as I start developing recipes.

Besides drying grain you can use your dehydrator to dry fruit. Saturday after breakfast, we walked to the Somerville winter farmer’s market. What a wonderful market…complete with blue grass music and lots of amazing products. Among other things, we bought a mixed bag of New England apples and when we got home, prepared them for drying.

First, we cored the apples and then sliced them with a mandolin:

Then we spread the slices on the dehydrator tray:

About 12-14 hours later, we had the most delicious dried apple slices you can imagine:

These are great for lunch boxes or after school snacks. You can dehydrate any fruits you want.

(Kiwis are delicious as are pineapple, apricots, peaches, and mangoes.)

Alyssa’s grandmother used to make dehydrated watermelon and it was her favorite treat growing up. Drying fruit is a fun project to do with kids and they will love the results.

I am on the plane while I write this post—a little sad to leave our Boston family but inspired to try some new cooking ventures at home—and buy my own dehydrator. Thank you, David and Alyssa!

Love,

WWW

*To pop a whole dried corncob: Put the cob in a brown paper sack. Microwave on high for 3 ½ minutes. YUMMY and way fun for the kids:

94/100

Found this next song while searching for something entirely different and getting lost (as one often does) in clickville dot com. I'd never heard of this band before yesterday, fell in love with the singer's voice and think you will, too. Enjoy:

94. Where'd all the Living Go by: Imaginary Cities

Several of you have asked what I'm going to do when I hit 100/100 of this little mix tape project I started... oh, a thousand years ago, and I don't have an answer yet. I was thinking I'd try something new? Possibly a "featured website" or cause or interesting thing? Baby name of the week? What do you guys think? Should I keep posting videos after we hit track 100 or give tuesdays something new?

GGC

*Today happens to be World Water Day. Click here for more information or to donate via CARE, here.*

Ten Weeks

Ten weeks down and minus a brief puking spell this weekend, I feel amazing. My strength is coming back and with it the motivation to pull this off and prove that FUCK YES we can do this. I'm elated even with the stress on new financial goals, space... Hal and I have already decided on two full names, one boy, one girl and will wait until we know the sex(es) before we come up with another boy or girl name we love as much as the two we've agreed on hands-down.

I go in for my second OB appointment on Thursday. Every two weeks I'll be checked, status quo for high-risk multiples pregnancies. And yes, I know. I'm aware of all of the risks and worst case scenarios but I'm keeping focused, as I do, on the happy. I keep reminding myself of my aunt's healthy pregnancy with her identical boys and my great-grandmother's surprise triplets she gave birth to only a few weeks prior to their due date. All healthy and flourishing today as twenty-somethings backpacking through South America, eighty-somethings living boldly.

Even in my weakest state, I feel incredibly strong. Stronger than I have maybe ever. I got in a fight the other day with a man who cut in front of me at the T Mobile store. He was a misogynistic asshole and I went off at his face, I did. Possessed by the same force I felt weeks ago as I raged against the orange thief. All those years of "girls kick ass" stickers on my middle school binder and I finally believe it in myself.

When I was pregnant with Archer I felt reborn. And Fable, even in utero, has always been my happy place. And now these babes, (twinch-worms, as they will be deemed this week), are my muscle. Even in sickness, I feel superhuman. Craving fish and eggs like some kind of bodybuilder. (And yes. I'm gorging myself on fish. Because vegetarian I am during normal body months but with womb mates in my person, I am Pregnavore.)

From what I can tell thus far, these babes are my biceps left and right. Finally an excuse to flex for the mirror, roll up my sleeves.

GGC

Evolution

Weeks ago they were cells. And now your babies are the size of grapes until Monday when they become kumquats, feet and hands pronounced, tail no longer. This is where we all begin, big bang and BOOM -- life emerges from the wreckage of exploded stars.

It's a miracle every time, even in sickness. Even in fear and worry and doubt. There is a comfort knowing that these feelings haven't changed since humankind began, the unfathomable stirring of invisible beginnings. That everywhere and always women have pressed their faces against the same questions, harvesting hope and love with merely a touch and faceless dreams of bodies under miraculous construction. We are the lives of shape-shifters.

Every day equals ten million years until the cells become fish and the fish become frogs and the frogs wake up one morning with fingers, toes, a face -- tiny minds open, carrying with them every potential joy in the world. And fear and worry and doubt, yes. But not now. Not yet. In the beginning there is only peace and the thump of heartbeats, opening of eyes, symmetry.

I cannot feel them move but that doesn't mean that they aren't dancing. Together like partners, separate like individuals, moving.

Slowly they grow at the speed of stars and soon they will hang on the light of their exit, slither out of water and onto land, in and out of rooms on all fours, walking upright side by side until they're running in different directions...

...their hands full of the fruit they were once compared to when I sat down to write this post.

GGC

GGGiveaway: Olliegraphic Plate Set

**Updated with winner, below!**

A few weeks back the lovely Meg from Olliegraphic sent Fable a personalized plate inspired by her new 'do. (See above.) Fable (and I) loved it so much I asked if she'd be willing to give away one of her plate sets here on GGC and she was delighted to. (Thanks, Meg!) So today, care of Meg at Olliegraphic, I'm giving away a personalized plate + dish set for a child in your life to enjoy. You can check out more of Meg's awesome stuff like these pillows (adorbs), growth charts, art prints and more, here. Everything is customizable to look like your child. Very cool.

To win a plate + bowl set? Tell me good news. Something happy. (My good news = I feel good! Sickness has left the building! Am almost fully functioning again! Knock on wood!) I'll choose a winner via random.org on Monday and post it here. (Please don't forget to include your contact information so I can track you down!)

Thanks to Meg/Olliegraphic for the giveaway and everyone for participating! Much love.

GGC

Updated: Congrats to random.org commenter #103, Erin who wrote: "Today is the eve of my 32nd birthday and it feels great! The sun is shining, my little one is napping and life is good!" Thanks to everyone for participating! Was wonderful reading about your good news and happy days. Love to all.

Huggies Little Movers (Sponsored Vid)

Here's the second (of two) spots I did with Daphne and Momversation for Huggies Little Movers, who, will likely get the bulk of all paychecks once twins arrive and my life is poop central for miles.

For more on Huggies reward points/prizes go here.

GGC

Eat Well: WWW the Bounty Cooker

The following post was written by my mom, WWW. Thanks, mom!

fried polenta squares w/ greens (recipe below)

Can I first say, OMG, OMG, OMG!!! I AM GOING TO BE THE GRANDMA OF TWINS!!!!!!!! I CAN HARDLY WAIT!!! OMG! Ok…I had to scream that to the world. I can now continue.

Every other Thursday, I pick up my box of vegetables from my farm co-op. I love bringing them home and laying them on the table, sorting them, cleaning them, cutting off the leaves from the root vegetables, and generally admiring their beauty. But at times my garden harvest combined with the bounty from my box explodes, especially if I have been away for a few days, which is precisely what happened last week. Here are the vegetables from my box combined with my garden harvest: carrots, beets, giant radishes, kale, lettuce, tatsoi, sorrel, spinach, mizuna, mustard greens….

...Not to mention what was already in my refrigerator: too many vegetables, even for a die-hard vegetarian such as myself. I felt a tad bit overwhelmed (perhaps a little mother-daughter empathy going on here?) and tried not to panic. I had to figure out what to do with all of these vegetables.

After inventorying all of the produce, I removed the tops from the root vegetables.

(This is important. If you leave the leaves on, the roots get soft and limp). Then I stared at everything, took a deep breath, and plunged into the planning.

“AHA!!” Thought I. “Now is the perfect time to make “Compost Soup!!”

I hadn’t made it in awhile, and frankly had forgotten about it. I coined the term a couple of years ago when I made a vegetable broth from odds and ends and random scraps of vegetables that I had in my refrigerator. Anything (that isn’t slimy) can go into it—even lettuce and the peelings of carrots. I brought out all of the vegetables from my refrigerator—the greens from leeks, the tough kale stems, some tired celery and carrots, and some collards that we hadn’t eaten. After washing all of them, I threw them in a pot with the carrot and radish tops from my box (yes, they are both edible and are great in soups!) and some herbs and bay leaves. I saved the beet tops for another dish since they will turn the soup red.

Compost Soup (Vegetable Stock)

Making a vegetable stock is a great way to use lots of veggies. You can add almost any vegetable, although I don’t like adding broccoli or cauliflower since they are too sulfuric.

Add parsley or cilantro for lots of flavor (I love the cilantro in my stock). Just cover the vegetables with water, bring to a boil, and cook for about an hour with herbs of your choice and a couple of bay leaves. Strain the broth, compost the solids, and freeze the broth in containers. You can use this broth for the basis of any soup recipe.

cooked compost soup

strained compost soup

My sister-in-law, Nancy, gave me a great tip—If you aren’t ready to cook your broth, just freeze all of these odds and ends (tops of leaks, random tough stems, etc) and then when you have collected enough for a soup, take them out of the freezer and combine with whatever other vegetables you have in the refrigerator.

***

When my pot was on to boil, I felt a little better about being able to manage my massive amounts of produce and planned what else I would make. I still had a lot of greens: kale, chard, spinach, mustard greens, and beet greens as well as a bunch of sorrel and a lot of carrots. I decided to roast the carrots and sauté the greens with garlic and shallots to serve over polenta.

Homemade polenta is so delicious and it very easy to make (and very inexpensive). All you need is cornmeal (medium ground) and water. If you want to add variations such as milk, butter, or Parmesan or other cheeses you can, but it isn’t necessary. You can make creamy polenta or pour it into a pan to get firm and fry it. I like it both ways.

Polenta

1 cup polenta (medium ground cornmeal)

1 tsp salt

4 cups of water

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

(Optional: ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese)

Heat water to a boil. Add salt and lower the heat to medium. Slowly add the cornmeal in a continuous stream, whisking as you add it, so no lumps form. Continue whisking until the mixture boils. Then turn down the heat to barely a simmer and cover. Every 10 minutes or so, stir with a wooden spoon. Cook for 35-40 minutes or until the cornmeal loses its raw flavor. Stir in the butter (and cheese if you want it). Serve immediately. Top with greens or any other vegetables (or mushrooms). Or, pour into a 9x9 square pan to set. Refrigerate until set, cut into large squares, dust with flour, and fry in hot olive oil until brown on both sides.

I took the greens and shallots recipe I made a couple of weeks ago and modified it to go well with the polenta. And I used LOTS OF GREENS which is awesome considering how many I had to start with!

Greens with garlic and shallots

About 3 lbs greens

(spinach, kale, beet greens, mustard greens, tatsoi, chard or others in any combination)

4 large shallots, sliced thinly (or two medium onions)

6 large garlic cloves, cut into slices

olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Clean all greens well and tear off any tough stems (save these stems for Compost Soup). If using kale, boil for a few minutes to soften and then cut up. For the rest of the greens, tear into pieces (about 3 or 4 inches).

Sauté the shallots in a generous amount of olive oil (about ¼ cup) on medium heat until caramelized. Add garlic, turn up the heat, and cook for a few minutes until garlic starts to turn golden brown. Add greens and stir to coat with oil. Cover and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Check and stir once in a while. If there is liquid in the pan, remove cover, and simmer on medium until the water evaporates. Serve over bowls of steaming polenta:

(or on top of the fried squares as seen above.)

We had this for two nights. The first night I served bowls of creamy polenta with the greens on top and roasted baby carrots (glazed with honey)*. The next night I cut the firm polenta leftovers into squares, dusted them with flour, and fried in olive oil. This was scrumptious! I used garbanzo bean flour because it’s gluten free but any flour would do. (The garbanzo bean flour added a crispy nuttiness that was truly amazing!)

*Roasted Baby Carrots

1 bunch baby carrots, scrubbed

olive oil

fresh chopped herbs (I used rosemary but any would do)

salt and pepper to taste

1 T honey

Toss carrots in a drizzling of oil, sprinkle with herbs and salt and pepper, and toss again. Roast carrots (in a single non-overlapping layer in pan) at 425 until tender, about 15 minutes. Drizzle with honey and cook another few minutes.

***

The rest of the vegetables I will use for other meals. I’ll have plenty of time in the week to figure out ways to cook them. For now, I feel back in control of my vegetables and have cleaned out my refrigerator at the same time!

Enjoy!

Love,

WWW