Fabulous Polenta!

So, some of you might be wondering, what exactly is polenta? Well, It is a simple dish made from boiled cornmeal. While polenta can be made from other grains as well, today I will be talking about the corn variety, because I love it! And it's basically the only polenta I've personally tried. So far!

Polenta is so easy to make. You cook it just like you would oatmeal, or any other grain you are making into a gruel. And, just like oatmeal, you can add any variety of flavor enhancers, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and condiments you like. When making polenta as a gruel, I like to add a little bit of unsweetened soy milk and some plant based butter to make it creamy and rich. I prefer the Silk brand unsweetened organic soy milk and Earth Balance buttery spread. And depending on whether I am hankering for a sweet or a savory dish, I can add maple syrup with some nuts and blueberries, or wilted greens and mushrooms sauteed with garlic. Polenta's versatility is awesome!

Melissa's brand polenta

You can also skip the cooking process and buy pre-made polenta in a cute little formed log. Things seriously don't get any easier than that! So far, I've see original, Italian, and sun dried tomato flavors. My personal favorite is the Melissa's brand organic original flavor. So, you can crumble it up and heat it as an aforementioned gruel- done and done. Or you can do what I love to do and cut it into 1/4 to 1/2 inch rounds and air fry them, using the French fry setting on my air fryer! Air fried polenta rounds come out crispy on the outside, while still creamy on the inside. So good! I'll have four or five of these rounds with some fruit for breakfast, and then throw the leftover rounds into a salad for dinner.

A favorite thing I like to make with polenta is what I like to call "Tiny Sopes." A traditional Sope is actually made with a thick, delicious masa base. But, for my "Tiny Sopes," I use the air fried polenta rounds as the base, and top them with refried beans, veggies, guacamole, salsa, and anything else that will tickle my taste buds, like a tiny, thick tostada.

Pictured here, I used, refried beans, my cashew based nacho cheese sauce, (find it in my recipe section!), red cabbage, and green onion.

Tiny Sopes!

They're so darn adorable! Tiny Sopes are suitable for appetizers or a full meal. And little fingers can hold on to these a lot easier than a tostada.

Remember, You can just as easily make these little cuties sweet with some maple syrup, agave syrup, or jam and fruits, nuts, chocolate chips- the combinations are truly limitless! I mean, part of the fun of cooking is in the experimentation, right?

You can find polenta at basically every grocery store, either packaged dry, or pre-made and ready to be turned into something fabulous! When buying the dry polenta, my fave is Bob's Red Mill organic. The grocery in my town has the tubes both in the refrigerator section of the produce department and on the shelf in the pasta and grain aisle. Your local health food store will most likely also carry it in their bulk section, if they have one.

Go ahead and give polenta a try, if you haven't already. I think you will really like it! I mean, who doesn't love corn? And I love to read your comments, so show me all of your imaginative creations! I can't wait to see what you come up with! Ciao for now.