polenta-quinoa

This has been one of my favorite meals that my boyfriend and I can share together. He is going to add lamb to his dish. The polenta is so tasty, but I needed some protein after a 9 mile run today. 

Usually we just chop up the polenta into circles, but I decided to make patties combing the quinoa and polenta. 

Ingredients: pick a green- broccoli, collard, kale, spinach (if you use spinach, cook it for less time)

one tube of polenta

vegetable broth (1 cup or so)

1/4 onion or challot

2 cloves of garlic

1 cup of quinoa 

1 cup of mushrooms (any kind, oyster is my favorite)

1 lemon

spices (maybe rosemary, pepper, thyme, oregano...) We didn't do any spices

or maybe Amino Bragg's (a low sodium alternative to Soy sauce)

Turn oven on to 375

First, sautee onions and garlic. Just a rule of thumb, you never want to cook garlic for more than 10 minutes because the antioxidants begin to convert to free radicals. 

Add the greens and vegetable broth, and lastly, the mushrooms (for only 4 minutes)

Put some vegetable broth in the pan and put the patties on top. I just used my hands to make the patties.  Put them in the oven for about 10-15 minutes. 

I squeezed on the lemon (optional)

Put the vegetables on top of the polenta-quinoa cakes for another 4 minutes. 

There's a lot of freedom with this recipe, with spices and vegetables. So you can really use whatever you have. But I just love mushrooms. If you aren't eating vegan, shavings of parmesan cheese on top is a nice addition. Enjoy!