Hearty Fall Soup with soy sausage

Hearty Fall Soup

(white bean, kale, carrots, yam and soy sausage)

Harry is my big old man dog (nearly 11) and he is happily saying "I'm tired after running on the beach.  Don't I have a HUGE tongue?!"  Like most of us, as he has aged, Harry's slowed down and doesn't do as much chasing squirrels into the forest or endless rounds of tennis ball repeats!  The consequences of this are... he's getting kind of fat.  With his aging arthritic joints I need to be careful to exercise him enough but not so much that he ends up limping! One of the lessons I learn from him and my other two doggy beasties is to just enjoy every darn day whether you limp through it or not!  Amazing teachers.

Yesterday I had a big work day with a 2 hour slot in between my morning yoga class and a 3 hour Inversion workshop I was teaching in the afternoon.  I came home and put together a hearty fall soup between those two events so that dinner would be ready when I got home.  It's not that unlike other soups/stews I have made with lots of vegetables and beans.

I decided to chop the carrots really big this time so they would be more "stew-like" chunky.

 I used basic seasonings - garlic, thyme, oregano, and salt and pepper.

I was extremely generous in my use of kale.  I rough chopped about one and a half bunches.

Great Northern White beans were the beans I choose.  I used canned beans this time.  I usually freeze a portion of whatever crock pot bean I make during the week but it seems I haven't made any white beans lately!  Pintos or garbanzo beans (plenty of frozen baggies living in the bottom drawer of my freezer!) just didn't seem like the right fit for this soup.

I decided to use big chunks of yam in the soup rather than potato.  It's fall and the color reminded me of the leaves on trees right now and I had several yams just waiting to be used. 

 Sweet potatoes are so good for you!  Full of fiber and phytonutrients.  You can bake a yam in the oven for about 35 - 40 minutes and throw in on a plate next to a pile of quinoa, beans, and greens.  It's a mighty meal  ----- and a mighty simple meal.  Add some tahini dressing drizzled over the quinoa and greens or a side of salsa next to the beans, maybe even some kim chee and you got yourself something special! But here I am off topic again.

Recipe for 

Hearty Fall Soup

Feeds 2 of us at least 4 times or more/huge soup pot full

1 - 2 chopped onions

4 - 6 chopped garlic cloves

4 - 8 chopped celery stalks

6 - 8 large chopped carrots

2 large yams, chopped

1 and 1/2 bunches of any kale, rough chopped

2 cans of Northern White bean (or bean of choice)

2 soy sausages, chopped into bite sized pieces

4 cups vegetable broth

4 - 8 cups additional water

1/2 cup or more tomato sauce, canned tomato, or chopped  fresh tomato

1 Tablespoon thyme

1 Tablespoon oregano

salt and pepper to taste

1.  Saute on very low heat the onion, garlic, and celery until cooked through and very soft (maybe 10 or more minutes)

2.  Add chopped carrots, thyme, and oregano, some salt and lots of black pepper and cook another 5 - 10 minutes

3.  Pour in the vegetable broth (have I spoken to you about how easy it is to make your own vegetable broth and keep it in the freezer?  So worth it!  Most store bought broth is full of salt and really, do you know what they used?  My homemade stock is full of the vegetables I purchase at the Farmer's market and off the organic refrigerator shelves at the grocery.  Making stock is well worth it! )

4.  Layer in the kale, soy sausage, white beans, yams, tomato sauce, canned tomatoes or fresh,  and add water to cover. Bring to a boil and then turn the heat down and simmer for another 30 plus minutes until the carrots are soft.

Recipe Notes:

----- Have I spoken to you about how easy it is to make your own vegetable broth and keep it in the freezer?  So worth it!  Most store bought broth is full of salt and really, do you know what they used to make it, where the veg came from?  My homemade stock is full of the vegetables I purchase at the Farmer's market and off the organic refrigerator shelves at the grocery.  Making stock is well worth it! I'll blog it soon.

----- I think the yams might work a bit better if they went in about 10 minutes or more after the other vegetables.  Our yams broke down a bit. Perhaps cooking the carrots for a bit longer before adding all the other stuff is a way to go too.

----- I used a lot of kale.  I would make this soup again for us or for my friends Deb and Bryce or Laurie and Bob or my niece, Julie, but regular folks who don't eat kale like we all do might think there is a wee bit too much in this soup!  Cut back a bit if you think you might scare someone with kale. But remember... kale is a super food.  A super duper food and you should probably eat some each day!

----- This soup is sort of sweet.  Thank you, yams.  If you'd rather, use chopped potatoes.

----- This was a big whooping pot of soup.  I would add another soy sausage.  There is a certain snappy spice to the soy sausage that mixes well with the kale and the sweet yam.

----- Be creative.  Use leeks instead of onions, add some winter squash, use chard instead of kale, add some parsley.  It's soup with vegetables and beans so go crazy with creativity.

----- I added a few splashes of balsamic vinegar to my bowl of soup prior to eating.  It gave the sweetness just a bit of "acid" and saltiness and was really yummy.

Here's the finished product.  A big bowl of goodness.  Eat and enjoy!

Lentil Shepherd's Pie

Lentil Shepherd's Pie

Fall is here and it's time for stews and casseroles and warming yummy food.  I made us a huge lentil shepherd's pie the other day and it fed us for days. 

Lentil Shepherd's Pie Recipe

2 - 3 cups of lentils (or  2 or 3 cans of pre-cooked)

5 - 6 baker potatoes or a whole bunch of little red or yellow pots 

(with skin, that's where the fiber is, folks!)

onion

carrots

garlic

kale or greens of some type

Big can of roasted chopped toms or a couple cups of fresh chopped toms

tomato paste

green peas (fresh or frozen)

cooking oil

soy or almond milk

Italian Herb or Herbs de Provence

Salt and Pepper

This recipe is not an exact science.  I make this casserole a bit differently each time.  Sometimes I add more vegetables like broccoli or fresh parsley.  You can be very creative.  The great thing about a casserole like this is it can be stuffed full of vegetables and we all know that vegetables are where it's at!  Full of micro and phytonutrients.... it's the perfect place to be generous.

1.  Wash the lentils thoroughly.  Trust me, you really gotta do this.  We crunched some rocks in this last casserole and that just sucks.  I like to use black lentils or french lentils because they are "meatier" in texture for the casserole.

2.  Put lentils in a big pot of water and bring to a boil.  Cook until just tender - maybe 20 - 30 minutes.  Watch and taste.  If they get mushy then the casserole is less pleasing to your mouth.  Once cooked, drain and set aside.

3.  While the lentils are cooking, chop an onion, some garlic, and some carrots.  Put them in a saute pan with oil and cook until just tender (again, don't overcook!).  Add in a couple heaping tablespoons of Italian herb or my favorite, Herbs de Provence which has lavender in it!  The H de P is the ticket, if you ask me. 

4.  As those are cooking, chop up a big bunch of kale, chard or collards and throw into the pan with onion mix.  Cook for a bit until it's all looking good and then add tomatoes, about 2 - 4 tablespoons of tomato paste, and 2 or more cups green peas.  Cook a bit longer.  Remember  ---- this will all get another 30 - 45 minutes of baking time so you don't want to make it mushy.

5.  Add lentils to the vegetable saute mix.  Add some salt and pepper and taste.  Does it need more H de P or tomato paste?  Be creative and add what you like at this point.

6.  While the vegetables were in saute mode, I hope you were washing, chopping and boiling your potatoes for the mashed potato bit.  Come on, you can do it ---- three pots on the stove.

             1 pot for lentils

             1 huge saute pan for the vegetable mixture

             1 large pot for potatoes to boil

All we need is love!

7.  Once the potatoes are cooked, drain them and put them in a big mixing bowl, add some soy or almond milk, and salt and pepper and turn the mix master on.  Or.... you can build yourself some upper body strength and mashed those things yourself.  I prefer pull ups to hand mashing, myself.

8.  Lay the lentil mix in the bottom of a giant casserole dish and flatten slightly.  Add a thick layer of mashed potatoes on top.  Put this in the oven for 30 - 45 minutes at 350 degrees.  Watch it and look for a slight browning on the potatoes.  Remember, everything is really already cooked, now it's just marrying and combining until bubbly goodness.

9.  You can make the vegan gravy near the end of cook time for the Shepherd's pie.  Recipe to follow after some photos.

                                                                                                     

This is the saute pan full of onion, garlic, carrots, tomatoes, spices, and kale.

Blurry photo of the lentil vegetable mix laid into the bottom of the casserole dish.  No need to use any extra oil to grease the casserole dish.  Just layer in the goodness and add potatoes.....

After mashing the potatoes with almond milk and salt and pepper I scooped them on top of the lentil veggie mix and then popped the whole thing in the oven (uncovered) for about 30 minutes or so.  It browned right up and we slathered it with vegan gravy and ate it next to a HUGE side of broccoli.

Yum Yum Yum!  

                                                                 

Vegan Gravy

1 vegetable bullion cube

2 cups water

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

few good dashes garlic powder

2 - 4 heaped tablespoons Nutritional Yeast

 few good dashes soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon yellow mustard

1/4 - 1/2 cup flour (as needed, use brown rice flour if gluten sensitive)

1 tablespoon vegan margarine

sea salt and pepper to taste

Here's a little succulent spot I love.

 1.  Combine all ingredients in pot and bring to a boil.

2.  Cook on medium heat until thick.  I use a whisk and stir stir stir so it doesn't get lumpy.

You can add a pinch of sage, rosemary, or oregano to the gravy.

Easy peasy to prepare.  Maybe 10 minutes.

OK, that's it on the food front.  Now if you want a bit more entertainment and a little hint about who else I am (other than this really big advocate for eating lots of vegetables and good things like lentils) then keep reading.....

I always put photos of my dogs in my blog posts.  Here is our little old lady cat, Momo.  I was taking a photo of the new art I framed. I got this silk screen print from a yard sale.  It was in a frame and the mat had been signed by the artist.  The frame was old and yucky.  I took the print to our local frame shop and had a new mat cut and framed it up.  While I was taking a photo to send to my daughter, Momo appeared and decided to be in the photo too.  Her orange coloring kind of matches the print.  She misses my daughter (who is allergic to her, by the way!)

My husband recently spent an entire weekend helping a friend put in skylights.  While he was gone I sewed and sewed and sewed!  This is the Farmer's Market bag I made.  I love it.  I have about 10,000 yards of fabric in my sewing closet and I plan to make everyone I know a FM bag for Christmas!  Then, see, you have to go to the FM and fill it with kale, peaches, radishes, lettuce, beets, peppers, etc....

And finally... the purse I made myself.  It is reversible but I like this side the best.  I have a request or two in for these as gifts.  I guess I better send my husband off again so I can sew to my heart's content!

Gotta make some dinner.  We are having baked yams, green sorrel soup, brown rice, and a huge salad with garbanzo beans, olives, and nuts.  What are you having?

Be well, everyone!  Namaste'

Getting Ready for the Work Week.....

Buddha Dog with heart rocks and succulents.

Getting Ready for the Work Week.....

I admit that I love to putter in my home.  As a child I used to spend hours in my bedroom making "arrangements".  This consisted of creatively and thoughtfully setting up my knick knacks in a way that was pleasing to me.  That childlike love of putting things in a way that is pleasing is still very much with me ---- now I just have much more space and many many more things to arrange!  So many, in fact, that my home is a bit unorganized.  It's usually clean and presentable but fairly unorganized.  Still, I love to have things around me that are pleasing and calming like the Buddha dog, heart rocks that my family has found on various hikes, some rocks from my friend, Laurie, and a couple succulents given to me as gifts.  I have these sitting by the little sink on my kitchen island. 

Sunday mornings are a time I am often at home with no agenda (except the one in my head which is often large and unattainable!).  I often prepare food for the upcoming week.  This is a wonderful form of puttering for me.  I wash, chop, cook, and in between do laundry, write some e-mails, a blog, play scrabble. Some of my friends and family think that we eat extraordinary things all week long but the reality is that we live on a fairly simple diet of green smoothies, grains, beans, fresh fruit, and vegetables.  Every week we eat bowls and bowls of fresh green salads, a stir fry or two, rice and beans, tons of kale and other greens, a soup or stew, nuts and seeds, green soup of the week and seasonal fruit and berries.  It's fairly simple food but there is a wash, chop, fix component that can sometimes be overwhelming on a week night after a long day of work. So Sunday morning puttering is a good time to put some of it together.

Today I prepared things for the upcoming week.  It was easy and took me about an hour.  This will save me lots of time during the week and more importantly there will be food here at home to tempt me rather than following my very hungry gut to some food source outside my home which may not be quite so healthy and organic.

The first thing I did was wash a bunch of lettuce, chop some fresh farmer's market carrots, and a big organic red bell pepper.   I combined all of it into two large gallon zip lock bags in the fridge.  Easy peasy.  Now we have 2 or 3 big salads that simply need some additions.  Our salads usually consist of:

A base of lettuce and other vegetables that keep for a few days once cut

Chopped vegetables that don't keep once they are cut - cucumber, tomatoes, etc

Some sort of bean.  Right now we are loving garbanzo beans.

Some sort of nut or seed - sunflower seed, pumpkin seed, hemp seed, chia

Live food like sprouts (easy to buy at our local Farmer's Markets and even easier to do yourself!)

A healthy fat like avocado or green olives

A simple dressing of flax oil, vinegar, salt, pepper and nutritional yeast

 Here's a sampling of a salad I made for myself the other day.  This is a "meal" salad and consists of all the things I listed above.  It's huge but that was my entire dinner. So Yum!

 Here's the big salad prep I did for the next few days.  A head of romaine chopped, a big bag of mixed greens from the farmer's market, 5 or 6 chopped carrots, and a huge red bell chopped.

And into two big bags it goes.  This photo doesn't do it justice.  It's like the color of Christmas in a bag and there is actually tons and tons of salad here. 

While I was chopping and washing the salad I had a big pot of lentils cooking.  Lentils are full of protein and a fast cook.  I'll use these lentils in a Lentil Shepherd's pie later this week.  They'll keep just fine in the fridge for a couple days before I mix a bunch of lovely tomato and veg into the lentils and cover it with super delicious mashed potatoes.

The lentils cooked and rinsed and ready to sit in the fridge until I use them on Monday or Tuesday.

The other things I got ready were:

Kale and Beans.  I washed and tore 3 huge bunches of kale in preparation for a big stir fry and a kale and bean soup.  I started soaking some lovely beans to add to that kale and bean soup (which will be made in the pressure cooker - quite a quick way to make a big soup for the week).  I'll bag the kale for future use and just be able to pull it out.

When I wash kale my three dogs sit at the kitchen screen door and look at me adoringly.  With their beautiful eyes they are saying, "Please give me the kale stems.  I love you but I really love kale."

I also made a big batch of brown rice in the rice cooker.  We'll use this for "rice bowls" (a stand by meal for us - rice or grain, beans, Annie's spread, avocado, fresh vegetables, kim chi, etc).  We'll also use this for the stir fry tonight.

I believe strongly that I make better food choices if I have food ready to eat and use.  I think one of the ways we stay healthy and strong is to eat as close to home as possible.  Although we do love to eat out at some of the local restaurants that cater to healthy eating, we just eat better if we have some stuff here and ready.  I urge you to consider spending an hour or so in your kitchen getting stuff ready to use for the next few days or week.

Monday Night Stir Fry with Almonds, Edamame, and Sprouted Beans

Monday Night Stir Fry

with

Almonds, Sprouted Legumes, & Edamame

OK, ok, it's been a long time since I've blogged. I'm sorry that I've neglected this aspect of my life.  I keep meaning to blog but then I get caught up in other things.  Plus, we were gone most of August on vacation and then taking our daughter to College for her freshman year!  So exciting.

This is Maddie the bulldog mascot for Gonzaga University!  Go Zags!  Isn't she cute?

Last Monday was my first full day home after teaching a yoga retreat with my good friend and co-retreat leader, Kelly Blaser.  I knew there was good stuff in the fridge and cabinets so I didn't stop at the grocery on the way home from work and walking Lilly in the forest.

It was hot on our hike so at the top we rested and Lilly panted.  Doesn't she have an amazing tongue!?

When I walked into the kitchen, after giving a big love session to the two brown dogs who didn't get to walk with us, I did three things right off the bat.  
1.  I put a bunch of brown rice in the rice cooker.  See, the rice cooker is this wonderful machine that takes care of everything once you've put the stuff in! 

2. I also put a small pan of water on the stove to boil so I could cook the edamame. 

3. I also put a bunch of pinto beans in a bowl of water to soak overnight so I could crock pot cook them on Tuesday while I was teaching my College classes.

I pulled kale, bok choy, carrots, almonds, sprouted beans and red peppers out of the fridge.  I pulled onion and garlic out from the pantry drawer (noticing that I have some yams to cook up pretty soon in that same drawer!)  Then I set about to some serious chopping.  Chopping takes some time and I know this is why more people don't cook for themselves from scratch.  I try to use the chopping/cutting part of cooking as a meditation to be here now. (and I can always use the "be here now" thing)

Bowls of ingredients: chopped kale, chopped bok choy, chopped onion, chopped red bell pepper.

Chopped carrots and plain almonds.

Sprouted beans (I did it myself and it's really really easy!) and toasted sesame oil.

Here is most of everything except the chopped garlic and the edamame.

I have a large very expensive wok (it was a gift!).  I don't, though, really know how to use a wok.  I use mine to make giant stir frys but I don't think I probably make it hot enough to be actually "woking".  That's ok because really I'm pretty confused about how hot is ok with most oils!

I begin by pre heating the wok and then carefully adding 1 - 2 tablespoons of oil.  I used toasted sesame oil for this particular meal because I like the richness of the toasted sesame flavor in stir fry.

Here is the wok with oil, onions, garlic and red bell.

After I heat the oil I layer things in one at a time:

1/2 onion chopped
2 cloves of garlic chopped
2 small red bell peppers chopped

Cook for a bit until everything begins to soften and then:

Add many carrots, chopped

Cook for a bit more and then:

Add chopped kale (1/2 bunch or more because it cooks down like nothing else!)

Cook for a bit more and then:

Add almonds  - just dump them in and let them cook with everything else

Cook for a bit more and then:

Add bok choy (or any of the lighter greens like chard or spinach), sprouted beans, and edamame

I let it cook, stirring it all around until it looks ready.  I like to cook the kale before adding greens like bok choy or chard or spinach because kale does take a bit longer.

After I let it all cook, I push it up around the edges of the wok and add 2 - 3 cups of cooked brown rice (yes, right out of the rice cooker!  It was cooking while you were!) and about 2 tablespoons of soy vay which is a nice sweet soy kind of sauce.  I stir it all around and then pile it into big bowls for us.

There was a lot lot more in that bowl - my husband's second serving!  It is so yummy!


This is one of our standard meals.  There is no real recipe.  I always use some kind of onion and then any vegetable that I have on hand from the Farmer's Market or from my own garden.  There is so much protein in this meal....protein from all the veg and rice and then edamame, sprouted beans, and almonds.  There is also an abundance of fiber and because of all the vegetables an amazing amount of micronutrients!

Enjoy yourself a stir fry as soon as you can.

Minty Melon Mid Summer Smoothie

Minty Melon Mid Summer

Smoothie

So let's be clear... I have a great and wonderful life full of places I love.  One of my real "happy" places, though, is the Farmer's Market.  I have my favorites but I am happy to go to any Farmer's Market and often try to seek them out when I am traveling.  I remember a Farmer's Market in a small little village in Italy where I bought fresh vegetables to make a homemade soup in our rented apartment.  I was so ready for some home cooked food and this market provided me with all the veg I needed for that. And it was local!!!!!

Recently I have been swept right off my feet by the abundance of melons at my local Wednesday Santa Cruz market.  Oh my goodness!  These melons are so good and so bloody cheap!  I have been buying and consuming Crenshaw melons by the pound at only $4 each!  Not $4 a pound, but $4 for the entire huge larger than a football melon!  There are a bunch of other flavors as well but I am in love with the ginormous Crenshaw.

For years now we've been drinking the same basic smoothie every morning - it has some super foods, nuts, berries, banana, an orange or lemon, lots of green vegetable, an occasional cucumber or carrot or celery stalk (even broccoli when I have some to spare).  I have decided that it is time to start experimenting and branching out seasonally in our smoothie consumption.

(And can I just say that it is entirely RUDE to say to someone, "What is that?", "That looks awful.", "I would prefer to eat my food", "It's so green it looks disgusting".  You really gotta try a green smoothie before you can judge, people!  Come on..... dig deep and drink it up. And... I do eat my food, a lot of it, actually.)

Here is my newest smoothie.  One might call this a "dessert" smoothie because it is so darn good.  Really, really good, folks.  And yes, it is very green but a beautiful light sweet kind of green, kind of like a grassy meadow.  Light and delicious!

 
Look at that!  Isn't it pretty?

Minty Melon Mid Summer Smoothie

2 cups almond milk

4 cups of melon

small handful fresh mint

4 - 6 cups spinach

1/2 cup raw cashews

1 cup frozen grapes

Put this all in the Vitamix or blender and blend until smooth.  Then drink it all morning or share it with a friend.  This makes 2 full quarts of smoothie.  It keeps well in the refrigerator for the next day, too.

Two sweet little bowls of cashews and frozen grapes.  Have you ever eaten frozen grapes at night when you are really desiring ice cream?  It's an amazing treat but I encourage you to only buy organic grapes.  Grapes are one of the dirty dozen.  I've added a section at the bottom of this blog post about the "dirty dozen".

Here is my blender full of the smoothie fixings - almond milk , then melon,  cashews, grapes,  mint, and handfuls of spinach.

There are so many variations on this theme.  I've made this smoothie with watermelon.  I've added parsley and a cucumber.  I've used frozen or fresh strawberries instead of frozen grapes.  There is a light quality to this smoothie so I try to use really "watery" fruit and vegetables - spinach, beet greens, sprouts, parsley, grapes, orange, lemon, cucumbers, etc.  I really like the consistency of the cashews in the smoothie rather than almonds or walnuts.

And finally....
Could I possibly write this post without a photo of one of my dogs?  Here is Harry watching the stove top popcorn maker like it is a God of some sort.  He is hoping against all hope that some will spill on the floor for him. Fat chance, fat doggy boy!  Keep dreaming, though.

The following excerpt is from the web site,  http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/ART02985/Foods-You-Should-Always-Buy-Organic.html

The following "Dirty Dozen Plus" had the highest pesticide load, making them the most important to buy organic versions - or to grow them organically yourself:
Apples
Strawberries
Grapes
Celery
Peaches
Spinach
Sweet bell peppers
Nectarines
Cucumbers
Potatoes
Cherry tomatoes
Hot peppers

Plus these which may contain organophosphate insecticides, which EWG characterizes as "highly toxic" and of special concern:
Kale/collard greens
Summer squash

Cherry Tomatoes with Fresh Herbs over Pressure Cooker Polenta

Cherry Tomatoes with Fresh Herbs Served over

Pressure Cooker Polenta

 No, these sweet beasties did not get any cooked tomatoes with herbs served over polenta.  However, the one on the far right in the photo is the biggest tomato thief in the history of all dogs!  If I allow her into the garden with me she will walk right up to the tomato plant and pick off the juiciest reddest most ripe tomato in the whole garden.  And then she'll help herself to the next one.  Almost as bad as a gopher but much much cuter!

Tonight we had the easiest and most lovely summer dish... Sauteed cherry toms with fresh herbs.  Easy peasy.

Sauteed Cherry Toms

with Fresh Herbs

List of ingredients:

 -  About 2 cups of cherry tomatoes (red or orange), rinsed and stems pulled off

 -  1 or more tablespoons of olive oil

 - 1/2 cup or more chopped fresh herbs (I used mint, basil, and parsley)

 - salt and pepper

1.  Put the olive oil in the saute' pan and heat over low.

2.  Add the cherry toms and cook until they begin to burst and split apart.

3.  Add the fresh herbs and stir to incorporate.  Add some salt and pepper.

4.  Serve immediately over warm polenta. (See polenta recipe below)

 Here's the pan of orange and red cherry tomatoes with olive oil and salt cooking over low heat while I get the polenta started.

A pile of fresh herbs to be chopped and added to the tomatoes near the end of cooking time. Mint, basil, and parsley. I usually buy my mint at the Farmer's market and I always have some left over.  I used the extra mint in an amazing super green smoothie with watermelon, strawberries, almond milk, cashews, parsley, cucumber, and kale.  This is a smoothie you will love!

Pressure Cooker Polenta

(from "Recipes from an Ecological Kitchen" by Lorna J. Sass)

List of ingredients:

 - 4 1/2 cups water

 - 1 teaspoon salt

 - 1 cup yellow corn grits

 - 1 tablespoon olive oil

 - 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary or Italian herbs

1.  Bring the water and salt to boil in the cooker.  Gradually sprinkle in the corn grits while stirring with a long handled spoon.  Stir in the oil and herbs.

2.  Lock the lid into place and bring to high pressure.  Lower the heat enough to maintain high pressure and cook for 5 minutes.  Allow the pressure to come down naturally for 10 minutes or so.  Quick release any remaining pressure.  Remove the lid, tilting it away from you to allow any excess steam to escape.

3.  Stir the polenta well to incorporate any liquid on top.  You can continue to cook and stir if it is too watery.

4.  Serve polenta in bowls with cherry tom mixture dumped on top.

Now, listen, some of you are afraid of using a Pressure Cooker... I was too and I have even have a bad pressure cooker experience in my old tiny little kitchen in the Seabright house.  There were yellow split peas decorating my entire kitchen - all the cabinets, the counters, the sink, the frig.  It was awful and a total mess to clean up and I had a new born baby at the time so I was totally absolutely sleep deprived (which may have been the reason I had the pressure cooker issue?????)  At that point I decided to spend the money and buy a good well made reliable pressure cooker and I have never looked back.  If you love to make soups, stock, polenta, grain, or risotto you really need to get yourself one of these fine kitchen tools!

If you want to make polenta the traditional way, please feel free to do that, as well.  The cherry tomato dish could be served over pasta or rice but it is pretty freakin' amazing over polenta.  Well worth it!

We had the cherry tom saute' over polenta with a side of baked yam and a bowl of Potage St. Germaine soup ( lettuce and pea soup - yep - lettuce and pea amazing soup!)

Totally delicious!

 And the labs were perfectly content with the fact that they didn't get any polenta.  Really. (not)