YogaGlyphs

Recipe With a Little "Heart"

We are excited to have guest blogger Kindy Girdley (owner of The Chickpea Catering Company, www.chicpeacateringco.blogspot.com) share one of our favorite recipes this week.

Hello everyone! 

Well, in Nashville today we had ridiculously beautiful weather… kind of disturbing to have temperatures of 70 degrees in December but also kind of lovely.  I’m not a cold weather girl myself, but this kind of weather leaves me feeling rather concerned about global warming and how we may be the next mars! 

Ok… enough of the dramatics, let’s dig into our first food post!!  I’ve chosen a lovely appetizer that goes with any temperature, is always a huge crowd pleaser, and really pretty easy to whip up.  You can also get really creative with the shape.  I have chosen hearts this time, but you can simply use a small ice cream scoop and pop it into a sprayed mini muffin pan, and it takes a lot of the work out of it.  But if you have time, I recommend having fun with it.  Enjoy!!

Polenta Hearts with Caramelized Onion, Goat Cheese & Local Honey

Ingredients: 

For the polenta:

2 cups almond milk

2 cups water

1 tsp. kosher salt

1 cup polenta

1 tsp. onion salt

For the topping:

1 T. extra virgin olive oil

1 T. butter

1 yellow onion, halved and sliced in 1/4" slices

2 oz. goat cheese, crumbled

Local honey to drizzle

Thyme leaves

Method:

Bring the water, milk, and salt to a boil.  Slowly whisk the polenta into the mixture. Turn the heat to low and continue whisking for 5 minutes or until polenta is smooth and creamy.  Add the onion salt.  Spread polenta in a 9x9 baking dish and set aside to cool.

While the polenta is setting up, add the butter and olive oil to a heavy bottomed skillet and set to medium-low heat.  Add the onion, a sprinkle of salt, and cook, stirring occasionally until soft, golden and caramelized.  About 20-25 minutes.

When the polenta is set up, cut out your desired shape (I had a heart shaped cookie cutter) and place on a greased cookie sheet.  Broil until browned and crispy on top and flip to brown the other side.

Place your polenta shapes on your platter and add the onion mixture on top along with the goat cheese, drizzle of honey, and thyme leaves.

*If you are using mini muffin pans, do not broil.  You can bake them at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes until slightly browned.  Then remove and garnish.

A Note From Kindy:

Hello!  My name is Kindy Girdley.  I live in Nashville TN and have a personal chef and catering company.

I began cooking at a very young age as assistants to my parents and grandmothers.  I enjoyed everything from planting and picking to cooking food right from our garden!  You just can’t beat that kind of freshness.  I am originally from Indiana and I remember traveling with my parents to our Kentucky property they rented out to a cattle farmer.  They were able to use the land for a minimal price and we received local free range beef in exchange. Only in the last few years have I remembered how important it is to keep my ingredients as local as possible.  Not only to lower my carbon footprint and for better health, but also to help support our local farmers and communities. Cooking has always been and still is my favorite creative outlet.

Now I get the pleasure of being a part of Yogaglyphs.com as a guest food blogger each month and I am very excited to share some wonderful recipes that are healthy and delicious along with some other useful information.  I hope you enjoy and thanks for reading!