Shake, shake, shake it

Sunday night while preparing dinner I decided to force Spring in a little early with a salad that featured pears and apples. I wanted to top it with a honey mustard dressing. But, I didn't have any. So what's a girl to do when she is craving something lacking from her fridge? Make it herself!

What you'll need:

One small jar - I used one that once contained Kalamata olives. (Ah! Kalamata olives...)

2 tbsp spicy brown mustard

3 tbsp honey

2 tsp balsamic vinegar

1/4 extra virgin olive oil

Okay, here comes the tricky part. Ready? You measure all of that in to the jar and you shake it.

It was delicious. And it would probably make for a great marinade on chicken.

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Spice Pancakes

I have fallen head over heals in love with.... whole wheat flour. I love the color, smell and texture. I love the sweet way things taste after I make something using my new love, whole wheat flour.

A second love of mine... pancakes. But pancakes have long been my adversary. I cannot flip a pancake to save my life. If left on my own to make pancakes I will be left with a mess of a mess that is burned on the outside and raw in the center. Don't ask. I don't know why.

So my husband has become resident pancake flipper. This weekend I decided to try my hand a whole wheat pancakes and I came up with a recipe I am sure you will love.

It's simple and $2 (not counting syrup) makes enough pancakes to feed four people.

This is what you will need:

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 cups milk (That's equal parts whole wheat flour and milk if you want to make more or less pancakes)

1 egg

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup artificial sweetner or sugar

1 tbs cinnamon

1 tbsp pumpkin pie seasoning

Throw everything in a bowl and mix, mix, mix.

Preheat and spray an electric skillet or a pan over medium heat. Each pancake should be a 1/4 cup. This recipe yields 16 smaller pancakes. Cook until one side is bubbly and then flip.

Cover in syrup, or powdered sugar and enjoy!

Polenta with grilled peppers and sausage skillet

 

Polenta, it isn't just for foodies

Polenta is among the new trends in food this year. Everywhere I look, every cooking show, every food magazine touts polenta.
As a southerner it reminded me of grits, glorified grits. So I decided to see what all the fuss was about and pulled together this somewhat healthy polenta with grilled peppers and chicken sausage recipe.
It cost me around $7 for the whole recipe which yields between four and six servings.
This is what you will need:

Polenta recipe:
4 cups of water
1 cup cornmeal
1 tbs I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter (or use real butter)
2 tbs dried herbs

Topping:
4 small red bell peppers
1 cup mushrooms (unless you don’t like them and then leave them out)
3 tomatoes OR two cans of diced tomatoes
3 links of chicken sausage (or any other sausage you prefer) -- I used Al Fresco Chicken Sausage with Sun dried tomatoes. (Coupons here.)

Warm up your indoor grill, if you have one. A stove top griddle or traditional grill works too.
In a sauce pan bring four cups of water to boil. Once the water is boiling add salt and herbs. Add the cornmeal and stir vigorously. If you don’t begin stirring right away the cornmeal will clump. (If clumping does occur don’t fret. You can mash it out with a potato masher.)

Stir, stir, stir.

Once the polenta begins to thicken and pull away from the sides of the pan, cover and turn the heat down to simmer. Let the polenta stay in the pan for 40 minutes, but check on it every few minutes.

Cut the bell pepper into strips, remove the seeds and spray both sides with cooking spray or olive oil. You will want to grill them for about 8 minutes total.

Place your sausage in a skillet or pan that has been preheated and prepped with cooking spray or olive oil and let brown. As soon as the sausage is browned add your mushrooms.
** Add your mushrooms early so that the moisture from the shrooms has time to evaporate.

Add your tomatoes at the end. Adding them too early will make them mushy and that’s just gross.

After the timers is up on your polenta it should be firm and easy to cut into sections. Ideally it will have a crust on the top.

Cut into sections. Remove the peppers form the grill and replace with with the polenta. Grill for five minutes on each side.
Then top the polenta with peppers and sausage combo. Presto!