Tonight, we dined on Chili and Polenta Casserole from Vegetarian Times: Fast and Easy. I can't believe it's been almost a year since I've made this. I did manage to escape injury this time around and though I don't have such an amazing memory that I can recall a dish last made in the first week of this year we're about to kiss goodbye, I am pretty sure it was very different from the first time I made it. It sure looks different!
I haven't made it sans deviation yet. This time around, I did not include any pepper - neither jalapeno nor red bell pepper colored this dish, to its detriment, I believe. It was also very hot, which is certainly helpful on the coldest day of the season so far, but I wasn't expecting it and could have done with a nice glass of Riesling to chase it. At the last minute before putting it in the oven, I was incredibly disappointed by the bland appearance of the polenta, and I knew nothing much would change during the brief bake, so I sprinkled some extra chili powder over them. Finally, for reasons I may never know, Whole Foods was 100% out of Yves meatless ground and it's the only brand of soy crumbles my stomach tolerates. I didn't have it in me to check Essene and it's been too cold last night and tonight to detour past Whole Foods on my way home. Fortunately, I had two Tofurky Italian sausages left over from last night's rice and beans, so I used them instead. They worked in a pinch, but I won't do it again [on purpose].
Mister was pretty darn happy with dinner - apparently the polenta was an acceptable substitute for the usually mandatory tortilla chips we didn't have.
Time for a bedtime snack and then I'm taking my exhausted self to bed! We were kept awake past 2am last night thanks to our less-than-considerate downstairs neighbors, but that's another rant for a more energetic time. Sweet dreams, sweethearts.
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