Polenta with Beans and Zucchini

This is another quick and easy meal that's nice and light, which makes it perfect for a busy summer weeknight. Lately quite a few of my meals have featured peppers, summer squash and zucchini. I've been buying most of my produce at the farmers' market, and peppers, summer squash and zucchini are in season here in NJ. As I've said before, eating locally and supporting area farmers is both good for you and good for your local economy. Your food hasn't traveled hundreds of miles to get to you and you're eating the food nature intended for you to eat.

For this dish, I sliced up a tube of premade polenta and then cut the slices into wedges. I pan fried the pieces in a tiny bit of oil until they were crispy. In another pan I cooked together zucchini, shallots, peppers and cannellini beans. After it was all cooked, I sprinkled a little bit of hot sauce over everything. Delicious!

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Grilled Polenta with Beans and Veggies

This is a meal that used to be in heavy rotation on my dinner menu, but I haven't made it recently since I haven't been eating corn. My corn allergy is mild, and since I haven't had it in a while, I've decided it's okay to add it back into my diet in moderation. Most people eat corn all day, every day without realizing it, which is not a good thing. Corn is in a lot of processed food because it's so cheap, and high fructose corn syrup is all too prevalent in the standard American diet. I highly recommend seeing the film King Corn, which is all about the corn industry and how corn ended up getting into so much of our food.

This is grilled polenta with beans and veggies. I like to buy the tubes of organic polenta, slice them and grill them on the stove. I'm not really sure what I did wrong with it this time, because the polenta broke apart and stuck the pan. I think it was the pan I used, so I won't use that one again for this. After fighting with it for a while, gave up on and and mashed it all together and then cut it up to serve it, which didn't alter the taste at all. I sprinkled some Daiya cheese over it while it was cooking. The veggies are mixed peppers, tomatoes, and onions, and I also added black beans.

Polenta is made with boiled cornmeal, which has a smooth, creamy texture. Strangely, it used to be classified as peasant food, but it has gained popularity and is now on the menu in many high end restaurants. It's naturally gluten-free, so it can make a nice grain alternative to people with gluten intolerance. And it's also really tasty!


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