Lemon Rosemary Chicken with Cheddar Grits and Roasted Asparagus

Usually I’m pretty modest (if not critical) when eating my own food, but tonight, I can honestly say that this dinner was something you could easily find in a restaurant — and it’s so basic. I had some chicken breasts staring at me from the fridge (what a conundrum) so I pulled out my trusty 3-ring binder of recipes and looked for something to cook under the “chicken” tab. This binder contains both tried and true recipes, and also new recipes that I want to get to eventually.  I wanted something comforting enough to block out the “order pizza” chant that was in my head since about 3pm today. But, since we’re trying to watch what we eat, I wanted whatever we made for dinner to be fairly healthy and also pretty straightforward. While starches are a bit of a no-no for us right now, these fluffy, creamy, cheesy grits sure are a lot better than a large pizza. This is harm-reduction at its best. Like how I justified that?

Braised pork with chiles and cinnamon over polenta

After we finished eating this, Brian said “That was a WIN”. It made me giggle, and I agreed with him. Delicious and stupidly easy.

Ultimate Shrimp and Grits

This is one of my favorite dishes of all time. It is comfort in a bowl!

Grits & Greens Casserole

This was a perfect side dish to a southern feast we had over the weekend. This mixes several of my favorite foods together in one creamy dish: polenta, bacon, cheese, and greens. Personally, (and probably because I have a slightly unhealthy relationship with bacon) the crispy bacon along with the creamy grits was the best part, but the bacon could easily be omitted for a vegetarian option. Yum!

Also, the dish is very forgiving. Throw whatever greens you have in there, and keep it in the oven until you’re ready to serve. The original recipe’s instructions just said to bake “until lightly browned”, which I translated to about 30 minutes. Turns out we weren’t quite ready to eat then and the dish stayed in the oven for an hour total…and was totally fine. Love that!

Sweet Potato Asiago Polenta

The photos of the next couple recipes I am going to post (including this one) are far from stellar. The budding snobby food blogger inside me wants to not post them, but the food was just too good not to.  First up, Sweet Potato Asiago Polenta. Ohmigod so good. The sweet potatoes add a ton of nutrition too. To make this weeknight-friendly, I baked and pureed the sweet potatoes over the weekend when I had more time and just stored it in the fridge ’til I needed them. This was a perfect accompaniment to other such ugly food as my Italian Breaded Steak and Italian Beans with Tomatoes, coming up soon.

Roasted Brussels over Polenta with Pancetta

I think I might love….
brussels sprouts. A couple of weeks ago you couldn’t have gotten me to touch a brussels sprout. But now? Amazing. Serving it with my second favorite food of the moment (polenta) doesn’t hurt, either.

Polenta with Mushroom Ragu and Poached Eggs

I have to admit, this was delicious. A true vegetarian delight that will not make you miss meat at all. I followed the recipe pretty closely, but since I love herbs, especially rosemary, I added a bit more. I will make this again – but next time I will cut down on the amount of polenta and add another egg per serving. Otherwise, YUM.

Blindfolded Eggs over Cheddar Garlic Grits

Remember when I said I couldn’t cook eggs to save my life? Well, I’m starting to consider them my specialty. I guess practice makes perfect.

As soon as I saw this recipe in my Cooking Light mag, I knew I had to make it. What the heck are blindfolded eggs, you ask? Well, besides an adorable name, it’s a method for cooking eggs that involves using ice and steam, which results in a combo fried/poached egg. Yum and great way to make sunny-side up eggs!