A meatless week? You don’t say.

 

I hope you guys had great weekends! I did. I had a lot of laid back time, I spent some time with friends. I made it to the gym. I did a lot of reading. I’m reading the Sookie Stackhouse Novels…yeah, I’ve been living in a vacuum for about 4 days. I had to force myself to put it down to cook dinner last night!

I have decided to challenge myself to have a week full of meatless dinners! I’m a little nervous, but excited. I’ll share the good recipes with you! Speaking of which…

Last night I made Polenta Muffins! I love polenta but I have never made it myself so I was a bit nervous. There weren’t any fancy ingredients, it seemed simple enough.

Polenta Muffins (6 servings, 4pts per serving)

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups hot water
16 oz. (1 bag) broccoli florets, thawed, drained and chopped
1/4 of an onion minced
1 cup chopped asparagus
1 roma tomato, seeded and chopped
2 cups 1% milk
Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder (to taste)
1 cup uncooked stone-ground yellow corn meal
4 Tbsp grated Parmesan Cheese
1 Tbsp butter

Instructions

Lightly coat a 12 cup muffin tin with cooking spray, set aside. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a large heavy bottomed pot, combine water, milk and seasoning. Bring to a boil. Reduce health to medium-low and slowly add a little bit of cornmeal at a time whisking constantly. Continue to cook, stiring frequently until the polenta has the consistency of mashed potatoes.

Stir in vegetables, butter and 3 Tbsp of Parmesan cheese. Spread polenta mixture evenly into the 12 prepared muffin tins. Sprinkle the reamining Tbsp of Parmesan cheese on the top and place in oven. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the edges begin to brown. Cool for 25 minutes, serve at room temperature.

Packed full of vegetables, 2 of these muffins=1 serving. I made 6 servings, I figured I could have them for lunches or have 1 as a side dish to a meal later on in the week. Adapted from the WW Deep-Dish Polenta Pie recipe.

Now, these sound time intensive, but they are SOOOO worth it. Absolutely tasty and very filling! I can think of a ton of different vegetables to try mixing in. Which is a good thing, since I now have a bag of corn meal to use. :)

Here are the meals for the rest of the week! So, stay tuned! ;)

Tuesday – Baked Tofu with Spaghetti Squash Mac & Cheese

Wednesday – Eggplant Parmesan (I have to document how I make it)

Thursday – Caribbean Jerk Chickpea Burgers (This I will be doing on the fly)

Friday – Leftovers, I’m sure there will be some!

I needed to mix things up a little bit! I think this will be fun.

I just got back from the gym, I did 45 minutes on the stationary bike, with a book in hand! I find that reading on the stationary bike makes the time fly by. A terrific start to Tuesday!

What’s your favorite meatless meal? I’m always looking for new ones to try! :)