Have you ever felt like thiswhere you can’t even imagine ordering Chinese food much less cook for yourself? I found myself in that very situation but I was prepared with cooked polenta and white beans in the fridge. I wanted something that would be healthy and totally effortless and so I came up with the easiest thing I could have possibly made and it actually turned out pretty good. First I scooped out some of the cooked polenta and beans and stuck them in the oven. Then, I cut up some broccoli and rolled it around in olive oil and minced garlic and stuck it in the oven too, for about 20 minutes on 375. In the meantime I let some jarred pasta sauce simmer on the stove. Then I layed down with a couple of beagles. Then I ate way too much ’cause Mr. Smurf is out of town and I am not used to cooking for one person anymore. 
What are your favorite things to make when you don’t have any energy?
Tag Archives: polenta
Cantaloupe Batido a recipe for another scorcher
This is the part of the year where you see if you really have what it takes to live in Texas. It is so hot that you can fry tofu on the sidewalk. You can leave some batter in the car and come back to find muffins. Eating tomatoes off the vine is like a slow cooked marinara sauce. In these times when it is a hundred and five it is too hot to do anything but relax with a cool refreshing drink.
In Central and South America Batidos are very popular. I think Batido means “beaten” because you beat the hell out of your ingredients with a blender. It is a lot more violent than the north American smoothie but it is also a hell of a lot more fun. You can use whatever tropical fruit you like, if your fruit is very sweet you don’t need to use and sweetener and you can omit the milk and use water instead. Here is how I made mine
Cantaloupe Batido
1/2 Cantaloupe, cut into big pieces
1 cup of milk or water (I used Oat milk)
1 Tablespoon of Agave Nectar
1 cup of ice
Then just beat It, beat it, beat it, beat it no one wants to be defeated showin’ how funky strong is your fight just beat it, with a blender.
I had my batido alongside another recipe from Vegan Brunch: Polenta Ranceros. This might be my favorite to boot. We added a little Black Salt to get the egg flavor and I topped it with a puree of yogurt, cilantro, and lime and then some cherry tomatoes & green onions it was fabulous.
Poor Dinger really hates the heat, he has allergies so I have to give him a lot of showers. Luckily, getting toweled off is one of his favorite things in the world. Whenever we get out the towel, even for us, he runs up saying “towel me”! My mom offered to take him for the summer which he would probably like. A beagle that summers in Illinois I can see it now.
I plan to spend the weekend submerged in water so if you don’t hear from me know that I drowned happily! Have a fun weekend!
Original Recipe Seitan
The polenta is leftover from when I made it a week ago. I sauteed carrots & leeks and then at right before serving mixed in the spinach and some tarrago. The gravy is the Punk Rock Gravy from Vegan with a Vengence and the seitan is from Kentucky Fried Chicken. Just kidding! I was trying to decide what to do with my last seitan cutlets and googling chicken recipes and I came up with the spice mixture from KFC’s original recipe, it sounded good and I had everything so I tried it. We both liked it a lot although it wasn’t as good as Wheatsville Co-ops! Here is the spice mix:
3 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon paprika
2 teaspoon garlic salt
2 teaspoons onion salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried rubbed sage
1/2 teaspoon dried powdered rosemary
1/2 teaspoon dried powdered thyme
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
It was really easy to mix and very similar spices to the Punk Rock Gravy so it was easy to make them together and pull together this recipe.
VeganMoFo- McVegan Griddle
A couple weekends ago I made Dreena Burton’s Polenta Pancakes from Eat Drink and Be Vegan. The method is so simple and easy that I bought prepared polenta just to try it. The recipe calls to simply cut the polenta into rounds, rub with cinnamon and sugar, and then grill on each side. We really liked them but I instantly regretted upon tasting them that I didn’t also make vegan sausage patties because I thought they would go together just perfectly and the polenta pancakes were kind of simple on their own.
I had also seen a post on “good eats and faux meats” for an Egg McVegan and although it looks like a brilliant idea it also seemed more in the “project” category so I haven’t made it yet. But I was inspired by it and the polenta pancakes to make the McVegan Griddle and it turned out better than I could have hoped. The polenta pancakes are so smooth and creamy but hold up really well to create the perfect encapsulation for morningstar sausage patty and a little bit of syrup. The whole project took 10 minutes from walking to the kitchen to trying and I am sure that this will become the standard “to go” breakfast in my house.
Lazy Smurf's Guide 
