The Girl’s Got Grits

Good day!

How is everyone?

Right.  Um.  I’m off to a late start, aren’t I?

I have an excuse!  Two, actually.

One: New recipe!  Yay!

Two: BSOD are the devil’s work.

You need coarse-ground corn meal for this recipe.

But yes, I have something new for you guys, and I think you’re gonna love it.

You see, as I have mentioned before, I am a Southern gal.  I was born in Tennessee, spent some time in Alabama before moving to Arkansas, where I spent most of my growing-up years.

You want to know the first thing people ask me, upon meeting me and learning that I’m from the South?

Any recipe that starts with "Layer your bowl with blueberries drizzled with honey and cinnamon" is bound to be a good one.

“If you’re from the South, where’s your accent?”

No idea.

As far as I know, I never got one, and I have no idea how that happened.

Another thing I never got?  The South’s fixation on all things corn.

Corn bread, corn pudding, creamed corn…and of course, grits.

This is my new favorite breakfast.

I have another confession for ya’ll, and it’s up there with the fact that I’ve never used “ya’ll” in context.

I’ve never made grits before in my entire life.

And I maybe have had them twice?

My first memorable experience, though, was last summer, when my uncle offered to make me grits and eggs for dinner.  For some reason, he was simply thrilled to be the one to introduce me to this culinary delight.

Blueberries, walnuts, and real maple syrup.

You see, to a Southerner, grits and eggs go together, hand-in-hand, like peanut butter and jelly.

Mmm, peanut butter and jelly…

No!  Don’t distract me.  This is important!  Yes.

So, grits and eggs, the true Southern breakfast staple…and I’ve only had it once, and I’ve never actually, truly made them before.

This breakfast may wedge quinoa porridge down from the #1 spot.

Today, that needed to change.

The first thing to know about making grits is to make sure you have the proper kind of cornmeal.  You want the coarse-ground stuff, commonly packaged in a pretentious and overpriced box that says “Polenta”.

Dude, it’s hominy grits.  Don’t pay twice the price for fancy nomenclature.

If you use cornmeal for baking, you’ll get a breakfast known as “cornmeal mush,” which is, in fact, a real breakfast.  However, we want grits.

Any excuse to pour kefir onto my breakfast is a good one.

The other thing to keep in mind are your ratios.  You want a 1:4 ratio, of grits to water.

I used 1/4 cup grits and 1 cup of water.

Now, this is real simple.  Plus, it’s also super-quick.  By the time my tea was done percolating, my grits were cooked and in my bowl.

How’s that for awesome?

I'm in love.

In your small sauce pan, combine 1/4 cup grits and 1 cup water.  Bring to a simmer over low heat, and stir until thick and water is absorbed (roughly five minutes).

Don’t let it come to a boil, though.  It’ll totally throw your texture off and make it slimy.  Gack!

Once thickened, add in 1/4 tsp vanilla and 1 tsp blackstrap molasses.  Keep stirring.

In a separate bowl, whisk together one whole egg, and 2 tbs almond milk.

Please make this soon!

Use a whole egg, by the way, and not just egg whites.  Grits tend to lend toward a more savory disposition, and the yolk adds a level of richness that makes them exceptionally creamy and delicious.

Slowly stir in your egg, taking care to ensure that it doesn’t cook.  Because it will try, I promise.  Mine did, a bit, but I didn’t let that faze me.  Southern gals don’t fret over petty details, you know.

Once thickened, remove from heat, and add up to 1/4 cup more of almond milk, or until creamy.  You don’t want this to be like custard, but rather, more like a very thick and creamy porridge.

In your serving bowl, add 1/2 cup of blueberries, a teaspoon of honey, and a dash of cinnamon.  When you add your grits, the blueberries, honey, and cinnamon will infuse an amazing flavor throughout your porridge.

Pour your grits into your bowl, then top with the other half of your blueberries and a generous drizzle of maple syrup.  Or, use more honey, but the maple syrup is amazing.  Add walnuts, or other nut of choice, and add a dollop of vegan kefir or yogurt, to taste.

Guys, this breakfast was pure bliss.  To say it may bump back my quinoa porridge as a favorite is a serious statement that doesn’t just get thrown around lightly.

Recap?  Sure!

Creamy Breakfast (Polenta) Grits:

1/4 cup coarse-ground cornmeal

1 cup water

1 tsp blackstrap molasses

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 whole egg

1/4 cup + 2 tbs almond milk

1 cup blueberries, to taste

Cinnamon, honey, maple syrup to taste

Cook grits and water over medium heat, until thickened and water is absorbed (about five minutes).  Whisk egg and 2 tbs almond milk into the grits.  Stir until thick and creamy.  Remove from heat, and add up to 1/4 cup almond milk for texture.  Top with blueberries and cinnamon and honey, and enjoy!

Thanks for reading!

❤ Kaz

Goin’ Green

Afternoon, folks!

Good?  Glad to hear it.

I suppose my posting schedule may be confusing and even frustrating for some of you guys, especially you poor east-coasters.

East-coaster.  I just imagined myself placing a mug of tea down on you, you east-coasters, you.  It’s like, hm, where do I want to place this?  I don’t want to get a water-ring mark on the coast.  I know!  I’ll just place it down on an east-coaster.

There.  Random mental imagery, that.

Crisp green bell peppers.

Back to the point, I’ll just flat-out admit it: I am on a weird posting schedule, but it’s more of a weird eating schedule.

For the record, partial blame goes to the fact that I am not a morning person.

I hate rising with the sun.

These have to be some of the most delicious cukes I've ever tasted.

I don’t need to get up at six a.m. to enjoy private “me” time in the morning.

Besides, I’d just die of boredom as I waited for the Amor to wake up.

No, I start my day at about 9:15 in the morning, and generally don’t get to sit down to breakfast until about 10:15 or 10:30, or even later.

Since when did I start liking celery?

Then I log on, read and respond to blogs, as I eat my breakfast.

I try to get my morning post up by 11:30, noonish, but of course: that doesn’t always happen.

Then I tackle my chores for the day, shower up, and pass idle time until lunch.

World's largest blob of hummus -- it was easily three servings or so.

I make a quick sandwich for the Amor, then throw something together for myself.

Today, it was an epic load of cucumbers, bell peppers, and celery.  Amor walked up to me as I was prepping my veggies, admired the assortment on my plate, and asked, “Going green?”

Baby, I was born green.

No, not really.  Though, I have been called “booger-face” my share of times, so maybe there’s something to it.

Now this was a treat: grilled "cheese", avocado, and tomato sandwich.

With my lunch, I enjoyed something I hadn’t tasted in ages: a grilled cheese sandwich.

I still had some rice cheese left over from the other night and my tapioca loaf from yesterday.

I slathered each piece of bread with mashed avocado, layered a half a tomato onto it, and placed a slice of vegan pepperjack onto the sandwich.

Makeshift hominy chili. So good!

Grilling it was an experience in and of itself.

The tapioca loaf package warned me that if I tried to heat my bread and turned away for even an instant, the bread would spontaneously combust and kill us all.

For the sake of all of our lives, I knew I couldn’t allow that to happen.

And, of course, I can't ignore dessert.

I oiled the bread and my skillet, and tried to cook it that way.

Nope, no dice.  The bread blacked extremely quickly, even after I lowered the heat and pressed down on it with a heavy lid.

Even after all that, the rice cheese was still a flimsy piece of solid plastic.

Finally, I moved the sandwich to the microwave, where thirty seconds on half-power achieved the desired melting awesomness.

I was extremely hungry, but this lunch absolutely hit the spot.

And, for your viewing pleasure, Osito loves to help me photograph my food:

Omnomnomnom.

He’s stinkin’ smart, that’s what it is.

He’s learned that every time I open the blinds and scoot the chair over, that means I’m going to place something edible and potentially tasty onto the chair then foolishly turn my back for a second to grab my camera.

I didn’t take a picture of it, but he also attacked my kefir from this morning when I went to grab the Nikon.

Yeah.  I love my little brat.

And, of course, now that I’ve finished lunch, and caught up on your lunch posts, it’s almost 5 o’ clock and the cycle resumes.

Are you a morning person, or do you prefer to sleep late? Psh, I don’t sleep late; 9:15 a.m. is plenty early for me, thank you very much!

Thanks for reading!

❤ Kaz

The Hunger Beast

Afternoon, guys!

How is everyone?

Chillin’?  Sweet.

Okay, wow.  I’m just, like, ridiculously hungry today.

It’s funny, after the eat-fest of the past few days that my stomach still has room for more food.

Even curiouser?  I have absolutely no desire for junk food today.

This contained everything a person could ever possibly want in a salad.

For instance, when I awoke this morning for a craving for straight-up peanut butter, I was worried that I was still in binge-mode and my cravings would never sort themselves out.

However, breakfast kept me satisfied all the way until lunch, when the voices from inside my tummy roared, “Salad!”

Yes, my tummy has voices.  They sorta sound like a cross between Kermit the Frog and Alan Rickman.

I stole Em's idea for her Southwestern salad. Still delish, but I prefer hers better.

Anyway.

I packed my mixing bowl full of crisp romaine, a huge mushroom, a half a large tomato, the last of my red bell pepper, a wedge of onion, a chiffonade of cilantro, a half a cup of hominy, a cup of black beans, and a half a monster avocado.

Chiffonade.  Doesn’t that sound pretentious?

The fact is, it’s the only way I can slice the little buggers.  Just roll the cilantro up tightly then chop away.  Job well done!

So good! I hate to admit it, but I love salad.

Even though eating this ginormous salad took me over a half hour of non-stop chewing, I was surprised to find myself still hungry afterward.

My stomach resumed its high-pitched and oddly appealing growling (hey, Alan Rickman and Kermit are just plain hot) even as I crammed the last bite into my mouth.

More food?  Why, sure!

The last of my very shriveled grapes and a black plum.

I finished off my grapes, and threw in a black plum for good measure.  Unfortunately the grapes were, by this point, starting to resemble raisins.

Still tasted good, and that’s what matters.

Am I right?

Dissenters may exit stage left.

Danger! Danger! Keep out!

After I finished the grapes and plum, my stomach was still not-so-subtly trying to get my attention.

When my stomach hails me, it’s about as discrete as mixing stripes with plaid.

Fine, fine.  I hear you, daggum tummy.  Sheesh.

So I dipped into a jar of poison.

Did I feel fear? Sure. But I forged on bravely.

That, my friends, is my dark chocolate peanut butter stash.

The secret to making good chocolate peanut butter is to zip right past the cocoa powder and dive head first into the good stuff.

I mixed in about an ounce and a half of 85% dark Lindt, melted, into my peanut butter.

Oh dear.  Oh my.  Oh dear, oh my, indeed.

It was the texture of thick ganache. Wow.

When I first mixed my batch last night, I timidly added cocoa powder and maple syrup to my pureed peanuts.

I had Amor take a sample, and he said, “Tastes like peanut butter.”

Fail!  Wrong answer.

Ignore my scary thumb. Look how the peanut butter resembles frosting? Heaven.

I would not be thwarted to easily, however.

So, determined, I melted in four blocks of dark chocolate.

Yes.

Victorious!

Looks better than it tasted, alas.

I smeared a generous couple tablespoons of my peanut butter onto a chocolate rice cake — and my mouth sang.

After the music died down, though, my stomach picked up the tune.

Yep, you guessed it.  Still hungry.

I filled a bowl to the brim with a half of a huge personal watermelon.

Still was pretty tasty, though.

The watermelon wasn’t as ripe and juicy as I would have preferred, but it wasn’t too shabby.

However, I think I’m still hungry.

How strange.

I might be eating dinner early tonight.  I’m craving something hearty and delicious, so I’m hoping I’m feeling creative enough to whip up something to satisfy my hunger beast.

Do you ever have those days that you’re insanely hungry and can’t tame your inner hunger beast? Yep.  I could definitely go for another snack.

Thanks for reading!

❤ Kaz