recipe

Recipe: Spiced Peas And Polenta

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This is a quick dish that you can do a number of ways – honestly it’s more an outline than anything else. Give it a shot as it’s pretty easy.

  • 1 1/2 tsp spread (or butter/oil if you don’t mind the fat)
  • 1 1/4 cups frozen peas
  • Your favorite seasoning salt, curry powder, or about a tsp of soy sauce or your favorite sauce.
  • 1/4 cup quick-cook polenta
  • 1 cup water
  1. Put polenta, water, and 1 tsp spread/oil/etc. into microwave safe dish and cook as per directions until done. Warning polenta stays hot a long time.
  2. Unthaw peas. Add 1/2 tsp spread and a few dashes of seasoning or curry powder as preferred.  If you add sauce, leave the spread out. Mix thoroughly.
  3. Place peas atop polenta. Serve. I usually use use the bowl the polenta is in if possible.

That’s it.

This is a nice, easy dish that, due to the ingredients, has a sweet taste that goes very well with savory and spicy seasonings. You may need a bit of salt and pepper depending on your tastes.

I also found this goes really well with a more bitter side dish – like a Kale salad.  That sweet with the bitter and the kick of the dressing was fantastic!

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

White Bean Vegetarian Chili

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This is a delightfully different, light, vegetarian chili.  It has a mild but pleasing spicy-sweet taste that is satisfying without being the same old chili flavor.

Makes 6 250 calorie servings or 5 300 calorie servings.

  • 2 Tbsp Olive Oil, divided
  • 1 large, white onion, chopped
  • 1 Tbsp crushed garlic
  • 3 cans (14 oz ea) low-no sodium white beans, about 5 cups
  • 1 1//2 cups low sodium vegetable broth
  • 1 medium chopped seeded green chili (about 1/4 a cup not packed).
  • 2 Tbsps Soy sauce
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/2 tsp dried oregano
  • 1/8 tsp ground red pepper
  • 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1 Tbsp dried cilantro
  • 1 Tbsp lemon juice
  1. Sautee the onion in one Tbsp Olive oil until it softened.
  2. Add garlic to onion, stir regularly until onion and garlic begin to brown.
  3. Add all other ingredients except remaining olive oil’ lemon juice, and dried cilantro. Mix thoroughly.
  4. Bring to simmer, and simmer covered for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  5. Add olive oil, cilantro, lemon juice, stir thoroughly. Bring to simmer.
  6. Remove from heat and serve.

Thats it.  Pretty simple – which is another thing I like about it!

You can freeze it pretty easily.  To unthaw it I’d let it unfreeze in a frigde or use microwave defrost a bit then cook it up to a light boil.

As for side dishes I’ve found it goes best with corn, corn chips, steamed broccoli with lemon juice, and (oddly) cherry tomatoes.  I don’t think it’d go good with rice, potatoes, or refritos.  It would probably be an excellent game day chili or event chili, and its thick, creamy broth would also be satisfying in winter – though it’s not too heavy.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

Recipe: Savory Bread

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A toned-down variant of a Taste of Home recipe, this is basically a tasty cheesy bread that you can vary all sorts of ways.  It’s a good mix that’s just easy to keep nibbling on.  No it’s not really healthy, but you could get the lowest-fat cheese possible and use spread to tone it down a bit.

Great for a party, sports or TV watching, and so on.  Also might be fun with a dip or hummus.

  • 1 1-lb round loaf of sourdough (or similar bread and shape)
  • 8 oz shredded cheese with a kick (I prefer Monterey Jack or a mexican mix)
  • 1/4 cup butter or spread, melted.
  • 4 tbsp dried chives
  1. Preheat oven to 350.
  2. Slice bread “grid wise” – cutting crosswise, cuts one inch apart, but not going all the way to the bottom – leave about 1/2-3/4″ bread, then do the same to create a “grid” (rotate the Bread 90 degrees, cut again).  This leaves you a bread loaf that is sliced but still whole with open slices forming a nice grid.
  3. Place bread on Tinfoil – enough to wrap the bread.
  4. Place shredded cheese in the cuts, evenly distribute them.
  5. Melt spread and pour evenly over bread. and cheese.
  6. Sprinkle chives over bread.
  7. Wrap bread fully in tinfoil.
  8. Place bread on cooky sheet and bake for 15 minutes.
  9. Unwrap bread and brake for 10 minutes or until cheese is well melted.
  10. Serve.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.