{"id":60,"date":"2014-08-23T15:18:52","date_gmt":"2014-08-23T15:18:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thursdayschild.me\/?p=60"},"modified":"2022-01-31T14:56:10","modified_gmt":"2022-01-31T14:56:10","slug":"polenta-with-kale-and-vegan-sausage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thursdayschild.me\/?p=60","title":{"rendered":"Polenta with kale and vegan sausage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I missed southern grits when I left home, especially during the time we lived in Honolulu, when Memphis-bound trips were scarce. One year my daughter sent me a big bag of grits in our Christmas box. By accident, I discovered Bob&#8217;s Red Mill polenta grits. Today when I am craving the comfort foods of home, I&#8217;ll make polenta grits. I&#8217;ve even come to prefer it to the creamier version popular back home.<\/p>\n<p>As my cooking has become more veggie-centric, I&#8217;m always looking for ways to incorporate greens and vegetables in my dishes. Several months ago, I taught myself to make a pretty good risotto, and my favorite addition to it is <em>greens <\/em>&#8211; chicory, mustard, whatever is in season. I usually avoid kale because it isn&#8217;t as flavorful as the others. However, it looked the best, so I bought it.<\/p>\n<p>This morning I was inspired to combine the polenta grits with a risotto-style twist &#8211; adding greens! So here is the recipe. Keep in mind I rarely measure anything and have approximated quantities.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/thursdayschild.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/photo.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-61\" src=\"https:\/\/thursdayschild.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/photo-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"photo\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thursdayschild.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/photo-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/thursdayschild.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/photo-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/thursdayschild.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/photo-624x467.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>1\/2 cup onion, roughly chopped<\/li>\n<li>1 small bell pepper, halved and sliced<\/li>\n<li>2 links of Field Roast chipotle vegan sausage (substitute other if desired &#8211; this one is a little garlicky), cut in half length-wise and sliced<\/li>\n<li>1 c Bob&#8217;s Red Mill polenta grits<\/li>\n<li>3 c water<\/li>\n<li>salt<\/li>\n<li>butter<\/li>\n<li>small ripe tomato, halved and sliced<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Put water on to boil in small saucepan. \u00a0When it begins boiling, add a tsp or 2 of salt, depending on preference. \u00a0Whisk grits in gradually. \u00a0Stir constantly until they begin to absorb liquid. \u00a0Then reduce and cook for 5-10 minutes, until thickened. \u00a0Stir in butter.<\/p>\n<p>While the water is heating, cook onion for a few minutes. \u00a0I don&#8217;t use oil, but I do add a TBSP of water here and there to keep them from sticking. \u00a0Add bell pepper and cook a few more minutes. \u00a0When softened and onion deepens in color, add a couple handfuls of chopped or torn kale. \u00a0Cover and reduce heat.<\/p>\n<p>Saute vegan sausage in a small skillet (I know it means 3 pans, but nonstick skillets clean really quickly). \u00a0I try to avoid using too many pans because I hate cleaning the kitchen!<\/p>\n<p>When sausage is lightly browned, remove from heat. \u00a0Pour thickened grits over kale\/onion\/pepper mixture and stir until evenly distributed. \u00a0Add sausage and garnish with tomato. \u00a0Serves 4.<\/p>\n<p>You can play with different seasonings, types of greens or sausage, to get different flavors incorporated. \u00a0For anyone who likes risotto, rice, or other grains with greens mixed in, this is well worth trying. \u00a0Hope you like it!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I missed southern grits when I left home, especially during the time we lived in Honolulu, when Memphis-bound trips were scarce. One year my daughter sent me a big bag of grits in our Christmas box. By accident, I discovered Bob&#8217;s Red Mill polenta grits. Today when I am craving the comfort foods of home,&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/thursdayschild.me\/?p=60\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Polenta with kale and vegan sausage<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-recipes","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pejBSQ-Y","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thursdayschild.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thursdayschild.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thursdayschild.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thursdayschild.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thursdayschild.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=60"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thursdayschild.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62,"href":"https:\/\/thursdayschild.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60\/revisions\/62"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thursdayschild.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=60"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thursdayschild.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=60"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thursdayschild.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=60"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}