Biggest Loser Review and Easy Veggie Polenta

I hope everyone had a nice Thursday. Tonight Nick and I are going to attempt to apply for a loan via a website my uncle (a realtor) suggested. I hope it goes well. I'm slightly nervous.

Look, I've finally posted another recipe for my 2010 cookbook!

Healthy and Simple Recipe #8
Spinach Polenta

Ingredients
2 cups skim milk
2 cups low sodium chicken broth
1 cup yellow cornmeal
3/4 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
2 cups spinach

** Cornmeal isn't necessarily the healthiest food, but it's really no different than enriched wheat flour. I need to get my folate and starch fix from somewhere! **

Possible Modifications

• Use any type of milk (Almond, soy, 2%)
• Use any kind of cheese (parmesan, Swiss, American)
• Use any non-starchy vegetable you wish
  

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 inch square baking dish. In a large saucepan, combine the milk and chicken broth and bring to a boil. Once it has reached the stage of a rolling boil, gradually add in the yellow cornmeal and use a whisk to mix. Reduce the heat to a low simmer and mix continuously until thick (between 3 and 5 minutes). Remove from the heat and let sit for about a minute. Then add the spinach and the cheese and mix them in. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish and bake in the oven for about 10 minutes.

The finished product should have a nice, slightly baked top, and a smooth and creamy center!


I served mine with some spaghetti sauce on the bottom.

The recipe makes 8 medium sized servings.
The nutrition facts are for 1 serving.

** Add some veggies on the side for more fiber!! **

Rate: 9 out of 10
Cornmeal is one of the few "flour-like substances" I can eat! This was so rich and creamy and it satisfied my starchy craving.

Nick: 7.5 out of 10
He felt it was just a tad better than "ok". He liked his with extra sauce!

Biggest Loser Review


Likes
The two teams came back at the beginning and I loved the twist they did by giving the winning team immunity and the right to the only vote!

Loved the pre-workout snack suggestion. Smoothies are a great option, especially in the morning when you need an extra kick.

Jillian really worked on Ashley and got her to be upfront and honest with herself, and to let out her emotions about the loss of her father. I think that will help her later down the road.

Bob's Yoga session. Great idea. I'm a fan. Why don't they do that more often? Some of these contestants are so high strung and stressed out, yoga should be a part of every one of their workout sessions.

Dislikes
Bob told Melissa she gained back his respect because she finally lost weight last time. umm..she had no choice! If she would have only lost 1 pound again, they would have a) called her a liar again, or b) made her get tested for a metabolic disorder of some kind. She had to lose that weight, I still don't really respect her.

I guess I liked that they did the demo with the chili and the lean turkey, but what's wrong with lean ground beef? They just had to promote Jenni-O. And they didn't include any information about the beans! Beans are so good for you and they missed the opportunity to share that knowledge with the world.

They had to plug the Yoplait smoothie. Lame. Why would I pay more for prepackaged frozen fruit and yogurt, when I can just get those ingredients separately, and make my own personalized smoothie, for less money??

Coming Up

This weekend Nick's friend from California is in town, so we'll be going out tomorrow night, and having some fun! Other than that I have a lot of work to do for the new business, and of course a lot of grocery shopping to tackle. Tomorrow you can look forward to a guest post by one of my best friends, Amanda, who lives in New York City. She'll be posting her recipe for tempeh meatloaf.

Thanks for reading, and have a great evening/night/weekend, everything!