Mission Monday: Round Two

Hey Guys! happy Monday....feels like it should be Friday to me. Lots of work this weekend but worth it. Anyway, Bre is back and was finally able to break in her new stove with our last Mission Monday Tuscan Chicken and Polenta Recipe.


So, without further adieu....here's Bre!
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Mission Monday- Tuscan Chicken & Polenta Mission was to make a quick and easy pre-race or long training session meal. In the last week, I’ve moved into a new apartment & drove to Knoxville, TN which was about 12 hours away to race at the Rev3 Olympic Triathlon. It’s been a pretty crazy week so far, and needless to say between packing for the race, packing my apartment, working and my thesis- life has been a little chaotic! My kitchen is currently in boxes so cooking tonight was rather interesting. Pic for your entertainment of my kitchen table which currently has every appliance, cutlery, dishes.....everything. So as I’m cooking this I’m scrambling through various boxes trying to locate the one item I needed!.

Polenta- Lindsay had a pre-made polenta, however I couldn’t find a pre-made one like that but I did find Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Corn Grits. So I rolled with it and made my own. My friend came over to help with this dinner, both of us had a hard ride this morning so were very excited for a good dinner. She suggested using the fresh basil in the polenta as it was cooking and the Italian seasoning. Great idea on her part.

Next- chicken...I hate raw meat. I’m not vegetarian but do tend to choose vegetarian protein options, unless the meat is cooked for me (i.e., I go home to my parents place for dinner!) and touching raw meat creeps me out. I wasn’t the only one in the kitchen with a bit of a meat phobia so instead of rubbing the chicken we came up with the idea of putting the meat in the pan (off the heat) with the spices and using utensils to rub the meat into the spices. Then we browned both sides of the chicken for about 1 minute before pouring the stewed tomatoes over top.

I also learned that stewed tomatoes are not the same as crushed tomatoes. I figured that one would be interchangeable..I mean they are both tomatoes right?? Hahaha my friend made me go back to the grocery store and get stewed tomatoes (I swear they weren’t there when I looked which is how I ended up with crushed tomatoes!)

After the polenta cooked and cooled in the fridge, we sliced it and toasted it under the broiler!) and topped it with some pepper.


And finally the finished product, we used steamed kale instead of spinach and arugula because I had kale in the fridge!


Total cooking time was under an hour which was great (including cooking the polenta!) so I was impressed that it didn’t take longer to make. Obviously it was all gluten free and it was fresh whole foods and light and easy to digest! I’m not sure I would make it with all the spices the night before a race, I would likely leave off the sauce and spices out of the polenta, but that is a personal preference of not having any spices the night before I race! :) Both my friend and I loved the meal- it was full of flavour, light meal after a hard ride (I tend to have a supressed appetite post-hard workouts) and I ate this up and went back for more! And there is leftover polenta in my fridge which I’m already excited for tomorrow! Mission Monday- completed!! Stay tuned for what’s next.
BRE

 Hope you guys enjoyed Mission Monday. Stay tuned for monthly recipe updates!

 
Cheers,
LC