The Polenta...

This polenta is literally my favorite thing to make of late. It's ridiculously easy (you make it in a slow cooker), but it reads complicated and special (which is really the best combination, no?)

I'd love to be able to report that my girlies love it (or would even try it for that matter) but (because they are clearly nuts) sadly, I can't. But I can attest to some level of kid friendliness, as (sans the mushroom and leek topping) my four-year old friend Gracie lapped it up.

The polenta easily stands alone (it's rich and hearty) but it's great as a side with roasted chicken or tenderloin for a more special meal...

Slow Cooker Polenta with Leeks and Mushrooms (from my friend Lisa Greene)

• 1 cup organic polenta (I like Bob's Red Mill)
• 2 tbs. butter
• 3 cups organic chicken broth
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 small log goat cheese (room temperature)
• 2 cups sliced baby portabella mushrooms
• 1 medium leek thinly sliced
• a bit of white wine

Coat the inside of your slow cooker with cooking spray, then add the polenta and 1 tsp of the butter. Bring the chicken broth to a boil on the stove and add to the slow cooker, wisk together until slightly thickened.

Add parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Stir well and cover. Set slow cooker to low and the timer for 3 hours.

At the 2.5 hour mark, add the room temperature goat cheese to the slow cooker, stir well and cover.

While the polenta is cooking, heat the remaining butter in a sauté pan and saute the leeks for a few minutes until slightly browned, add the mushrooms and continue cooking over high heat until softened and deeply browned. Deglaze the pan with a splash of white wine. Set mixture aside.

Serve polenta immediately when ready with a generous scoop of the mushroom/leek mixture.

What Do You Cook For Christmas Day?

image via dwell studio

I posed this question over on my other blog last year, as I was seriously torn about what to cook for the big day. After much angst, I eventually decided on a sort of Thanksgiving redux, and I'm pretty sure I'm going there again this year. (I love the Thanksgiving meal so much it seems a shame to only have it once a year.) We'll do a very small bird, + boursin mashed potatoes from the Neiman Marcus cookbook (amazing), green beans sauteed with almonds and fresh cranberry sauce. Simple, yummy...

For Christmas Eve we're planning some sort of meat, this salad + the most amazing goat cheese polenta topped with sauteed mushrooms and leeks. (I had this polenta at my new friend Lisa Green's house and have made it multiple times since. Seriously friends, this polenta recipe will change your life.)

I love hearing about what other people make for their big holiday meal, as rather than following a "prescribed" menu, meals tend to be more a nod to heritage, family traditions and favorite foods... We have friends who do lasagna every year, others that have tamales, and some that do lobster. You get the idea...

So, before I give you that polenta recipe (soon I promise), what do you cook for your Christmas/Holiday meal?

Putting the Meyer Lemons to Work...

Despite the fact that I'm a huge fan of Christmas baking, we're a full week into December and I've yet to turn out a single thing. I even showed up to a cookie exchange party Saturday empty handed (shameful I know, but it was largely due to being stranded in Cincinnati overnight the day before...but that's a whole other story.) So itching to bake and needing to put the two (precious) Meyer Lemons from my little tree to use, Audrey and I cranked up the Christmas tunes last night and set to work...

We decided on Lemon Bars...or more accurately "I" decided to make lemon bars, as she was skeptical* that anything delicious and dessert-like could be made of lemons, but given the fact that she was about to get to crack multiple eggs, she was in, despite her doubts.

* which in turn made me skeptical of the fact that she was actually my child, as I just don't see how someone who came from my womb (sorry to be graphic) could not love lemons with every ounce of their being...but I digress.

We went with this recipe, and the bars were pretty divine, although I think I was a bit heavy handed with the salt and, refusing to taint my backyard lemons with shoddy store-bought ones, I could have used more lemon juice... but otherwise perfection.

I even managed to convince Audrey to take a big bite of one of the bars and she didn't gag, didn't spit it out, and declared them..."pretty good."

Nice.

What do you love to bake during the holidays? I'd love to try something new!

The Divine Leftovers

Suffice to say, I ate a lot of turkey last week. A lot.

Even Audrey partook in the customary bird despite her earlier protests… (I didn’t pressure her, I promise.)

There was of course the big meal, which went quite well for our first time if I do say so myself ;-) but then there were the turkey sandwiches after.

Oh my, the turkey sandwiches.

My go-to was turkey, cranberry sauce, arugula and brie with a smidge of honey mustard on toasted wheat bread. It was incredibly yummy… I ate no less than four of these sandwiches last week and nearly cried when we ran out of leftover turkey. I think I might cook another (much smaller) bird just so I can continue making these sandwiches.

So spill it…what’s your favorite meal from the Thanksgiving leftovers?