Polenta with rice and beans

New quasi-feature: sharing recipes that we make! Beats a recipe book and then you get to see them too. This is from The China Study Cookbook.

Today I got home from work around 6; Jill was working on this recipe. We went out for a 1 mile run through the neighborhood, took another 1 mile walk and checked on our garden, and came home to finish the job. It turned out great!

2 cups water

3/4 cup polenta

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1 small onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes

2 cups vegetable broth

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 cup short grain brown rice

1 15.5 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 cup salsa

2 avocados

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

  1. Place 2 cups water, polenta, and salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook for 10-12 minutes, until polenta pulls away form the sides of the pain (or just follow polenta directions). Transfer to a large dish and spread over bottom and sides of dish. Set aside. [We used an 8x8 glass baking dish, but a 9x13 would also work.]
  2. Place onion, garlic, tomatoes, broth, chili powder, and rice in rice cooker or pan. Cook rice until all liquid is gone and rice is tender (about 45 minutes).
  3. Stir black beans into the rice. Spread rice-bean mixture on top of polenta.
  4. Spread salsa on top of rice mixture.
  5. Bake at 350ºF for 30 minutes.
  6. Remove from oven and set aside for 5-10 minutes.
  7. Mash avocado and toss with lemon juice and garlic powder. Season with some salt.
  8. Arrange mashed, seasoned avocado on top of dish.
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Written by Jonathan On In Tagged ,

Pantry creation

  We were supposed to have left over Moroccan Shepherds Pie (yes you read that right)for dinner.  But lentils and spinach and sweet potatoes that have lived in a freezer for 2 weeks sound better than they look.  So, after a short 6 hour post-night shift sleep I got up to raid the pantry for a better dinner. 

Here's what I found: 

1 can of artichoke hearts

1 jar roasted red peppers  

1/2 bag of gluten free rotini pasta

That sounded fast and potentially edible to me so I got to work boiling water for pasta and sauteéing some yellow onions slowly.  I also found two slightly multi-eyed Yukon potatoes in the fridge and chopped them in cubes w rosemary, oregano, garlic powder and a bit of olive oil for a quick 25 min roast in a 400 degree oven.  Italians eat potatoes and pasta in the same meal, why not us?

Once the onions were soft and a teensy bit brown, I dumped in the roughly chopped artichokes, red peppers, and good bit of dried basil, oregano, and garlic powder as well ax salt and pepper.  Once warm, in went the pasta, mix it u and voila!!  Made up Italian-ish vegan dinner for two!!!  It was actually pretty darn good.  Fresh garlic would have put it up one more notch.  

Sorry no pics but no time and this meal was not that photogenic.  Ciao! :) 

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Written by Jill On In

Back to normal existence

I cannot begin to tell you how sad I was to leave Hawaii.  I think I was also sad because of the reason.  Certainly, I was sad to leave dear dear friends and beautiful place.  But, I was also anxious about returning to work and returning to night shifts particularly.  I hate to admit that I dread them so much.  I love love love being a nurse, but I dread and despise nights shifts.  Someday, I will not have to do them anymore and I can just be a morning person every day.  Until then I get through them and with a lot of prayer and support from loved ones and colleages, try to enjoy my work even if the sun is down.  

On the evening of our return, we wanted a super simple recipe that we could whip up in our jet-lagged, circadian confused state.  We looked to Caldwell Esselstyn's "Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease", a book we bought a few months ago that supports a plant based lifestyle and has a lot of recipes with 4 ingredients or less.  This one only had three:

1 15 oz can black beans,

1 can diced tomatoes w green chilies,

1.5 cups of frozen or canned corn.

Yikes!!  I can do that!!   You basically throw it all in a pot and heat it up and serve it over quinoa or whatever grain you prefer.  I doubled this so we could eat it two nights.  I'll admit, it was a far from a mind-blowing culinary experience for my palette, but the whole meal took 20 minutes and was healthy and delicious.  In classic Jill fashion, I did make a few small alterations.  I added a quarter of a red onion chopped and sauteed before adding the other ingredients.  Then, I added regular seasoning and some garlic salt.  But that's it.  If I add too much, it ruins the simplicity which is sort of the point.  This can also be eaten with tasty tortilla chips.  Mmmm....


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Written by Jill On In