Polenta with pumpkin and kale

1 servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
Water
4 cups Loosely packed chopped kale
(or spinach)
1 cup Chopped onion
1 tablespoon Minced fresh jalapeno
¾ teaspoon Ground cumin
¾ teaspoon Ground cinnamon
6 Cloves garlic, minced
1 cup Sliced mushrooms
1 14 5 oz can (no salt added)
Tomatoes, undrained and
Chopped
½ teaspoon Salt
½ teaspoon Pepper
1 16 oz can mashed cooked
Pumpkin
Basic polenta (see below)
Cooking spray
1 cup (4 oz) shredded no-fat swiss
Cheese (totally optional)

Directions

Heat a large Dutch oven, non-stick or sprayed with Pam. Add onions and push around to brown a little. Add a few Tbsp water and stir to unstick from bottom. Add Chopped Kale or spinach and stir about 5 minutes until all is wilted and onions are translucent. Add more water as needed to prevent burning.

Add jalapeno, cumin, cinnamon and garlic, saute 3 minutes. Stir in mushrooms, cover and cook 5 minutes, Stir in tomatoes, cover and cook 5 minutes, Add salt, pepper and mashed pumpkin and stir well. Cook uncovered 3 minutes, stirring well. Remove from heat.

Prepare basic Polenta, spread half in 11x7x2 inch baking dish coated with non-stick spray. Spread pumpkin mixture evenly over polenta.

Sprinkle with Swiss cheese (optional) Spread remaining polenta evenly over. Bake at 375 F for 30 minutes or until lightly browned..

Let stand 5 minutes before serving. Yeild 6 servings.

Basic Polenta:

1¼ cups cornmeal ½ teaspoon salt 4 cups water 1. Place cornmeal and salt in large saucepan. Gradually add water, stirring constantly with a wire wisk. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium, cook uncovered 15 minutes, stirring frequently. Yeild 4 cups.

2. Microwave method: Place cornmeal and salt in a 3 quart microwave cassarole. Gradually add water, stirring until blended. Cover, microwave on HIGH 12 minutes, stirring every 3 minutes. Let stand covered 5 minutes.

I made this two times, the first time I couldn't find kale in the particular grocery store that I went to so I used spinach. I used the microwave method for polenta since I tend to scorch things and it worked great. The first 2 times I stirred I wasn't sure it was going to thicken by the time it finished it was perfect and it sure is easy to just set the timer for 3 minutes and stir when it beeps. The non-fat cheese is totally optional, in fact I shredded it then forgot to put it in the first time . In is fine without cheese, but the cheese tasted good on the microwaved leftovers too. (The only edible non-fat cheese I've found is called Lifetime brand and they don't sell it in every store here). The effect is rather like lasagna but different.

From: maoh@... (Maureen O'Halloran) Fatfree Digest [Volume 1 Issue 1] June 22, 1994 Formatted by Sue Smith, S.Smith34, TXFT40A@... using MMCONV : From Cooking Light magazine (Jan/Feb 1994):

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