Time for a Change

Truthfully, I'm not yet sure where this blog is going. I keep coming back to it and perusing it like a canvas with the thought that it really ought to be put to use. What purpose it may serve is unclear to me at present. It may be that it has no real purpose. For now, I'm happy to let it evolve or morph into whatever it will. It's not something that I often let happen; usually I know exactly what outcome I want and I work towards it.

As my colleague (sensei, really), Paul, said to me: 'Oh - you're one of those goal-oriented people' - followed by a notorious Paul eye-roll/near-smirk. Needless to say: best sensei a yr. 6 teacher could have.

Keep in mind that Paul has run both the NYC and Boston marathons and was dismissive of the change that Boston is bringing about next year. He waved his hand and said 'Well that's still fine' when we were talking about the qualifying times being shaved by 5 minutes (http://bo.st/hS24GX).

He's right though. The qualifying times for NYC are definitely tougher (http://bit.ly/idPkMK).

Still, he's not goal-oriented - ha, ha. Actually, in all fairness he probably isn't. It's just that it's hard to believe that he could be a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kinda fella given that he's got salt and pepper hair and is a fantastic teacher.. then again, he does sneak out the backdoor of staff meetings like his pants are on fire. I am more and more often on his heels.

I think Paul would be pleased to have me announce that I was going to spontaneously run a half marathon.

Well, there's some food for thought.

For real food, I've been making this easy (see below) dish for some weeks now and have started to adapt it. Always delicious.

POLENTA AND VEGETABLE BAKE

Ingredients -
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium eggplant, diced
1 small zucchini, finely diced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup water
10 ounces baby spinach
1 1/2 cups prepared marinara sauce
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
14 ounces prepared polenta, sliced lengthwise into 6 thin slices
1 1/2 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella, divided

Directions -
1. Preheat oven to 450F. Coat a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add eggplant, zucchini, salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender and just beginning to brown. 4 to 6 minutes. Add water and spinach, cover and cook until wilted, stirring once, about 3 minutes. Stir marinara sauce into the vegetables and heat through. 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in basil.
3. Place polenta slices in a single layer in the prepared baking dish, trimming to fit if necessary. Sprinkle with 3/4 cups cheese, top with the eggplant mixture and sprinkle with the remaining 3/4 cups cheese. Bake until bubbling and the cheese has just melted, 12 to 15 minutes. Let stand for about 5 minutes before serving.

Adapting -
The best thing that I've done to this recipe is to add cooked quinoa to the eggplant mix so that there's some solid protein in there. In addition, I've now tried replacing the polenta with cooked rice and that worked very nicely. I've also frequently used cheddar instead of mozzarella because I really like that sharp taste. One of the great things about this recipe is that all kinds of veggies can go in in lieu of the onces suggested; no need for anything to go to waste. One last adaptation that I've successfully tried is to replace the marinara sauce with 8 ounces diced, canned, tomatoes, and 8 ounces canned tomato sauce - no problem, easy peasy, and still a great flavour.