Gosh, I was so proud of my girls yesterday. Eight chickens/Eight eggs!!! Doesn't get any better than that!
Today I want to talk a little about Polenta. Polenta is simply water, cornmeal, a little salt and a little butter. A very cheap side for those of you thinking about stretching your dollar but also versatile. I find polenta somewhat drab tasting yet a very comforting food. It's not hard to make and can be used as a savory or a sweet, a cereal or fried side at breakfast, a meat replacement on the grill, can be paired with onions, mushroom, peppers, or chutney. You can even sprinkle it with powdered sugar. Last night I made polenta to go with pork loins. The pork loins were covered in a luscious mustard, lemon and half and half sauce, with hints of dried ranch seasoning and garlic salt. The sauce was so rich it would have made me sick but I was considering it as a meal all by itself (just kidding!). It was really that good. I wanted a bland side and fried polenta fit the bill. I made the polenta in a 9 x 14 glass dish, put it in the frig to cool then sliced 4 servings out of it and fried it in the electric skillet, getting it nicely crisp and browned outside. Now at this point I could have covered it with marinara sauce, grated Parmesan or even smothered it in onions, mushrooms and peppers but I chose to just lay it beside the pork loin drizzled with the sauce and then drizzle just one end of the polenta with sauce - then sprinkled parsley on top. It was a beautiful plate with a side of buttered carrots and quite delicious. Polenta can also be made with ingredients like dried tomatoes and herbs mixed in and also can be made with milk. It's, as I said before, versatile, very economical and a really nice change for a side dish. This morning I got up, fried a couple squares and put a spoonful of chutney over it for breakfast. I'm going to be fair here. Hubby is not crazy about it because it actually is just too bland for him but last night he ate 2 pieces with the pork and sauce. This morning he really was not crazy about the polenta and chutney. I liked both! Try it, you may be well surprised!