weekend review: it rains, i bake

Figure 1. Saturday night's dinner: pork tenderloin with mushroom sauce, served over creamy polenta made with pecorino Romano cheese, and oven roasted green beans.

For the polenta (which I'm getting pretty good at), I combined 2 cups of water, 1 cup of almond milk, a bit of butter and salt. I brought this to a light simmer over medium heat (you don't want the milk to burn on the bottom). I then added 3/4 cup polenta stirring constantly with a whisk until thickened. Then switched to a  wooden spoon and stirred until desired thickness. Once the liquid simmers, this process takes about 5-7 minutes. Then, I took it off the heat and stirred in about 1 ounce of grated pecorino Romano cheese (you could use any cheese, I think, just make sure it is strong) and cracked black pepper. This amount should serve 4 (~3/4 cup cooked serving size).

Figure 2. In preparation: toasted coconut granola. A mix of oats, cinnamon, coconut, walnuts, almonds, molasses, and butter topped with dried cranberries.

Figure 3. Sunday morning baking: toasted coconut granola.

Figure 4. Sunday afternoon baking: peanut butter cup blondies.

Figure 5. Out of the oven: bacon and butternut pasta. This baked pasta dish was absolutely fantastic and included crumbly bacon, roasted butternut squash, steamed kale, onion, garlic, a creme fraiche-based sauce, and topped with Gruyere cheese

Figure 6. Sunday night's dinner: bacon and butternut pasta, a slice of Italian 5-grain bread, and a spinach salad with red bell pepper, cucumber, tomato, and kalamata olives.