Creamy Polenta with Garden Veggies

Summer is in full swing now. I have two or three new zucchini and yellow squash ready to harvest every other day. My kale is PACKED in its bed under the netting. We’ve been enjoying delightful, crisp, fresh turnips and juicy, white ribs of bok choy for a couple of weeks, and last night I picked about ½ pound of green beans. Come on tomatoes!

Tonight I needed to shake things up a little and find something new to do with the squash. I found that Trader Joe’s has a few different varieties of frozen risotto and polenta that make a quick and easy dinner, so I gave one try.

This is their Creamy Polenta with Spinach and Carrots. Of course, I couldn’t stop with frozen, store-bought veggies though. The star of this show is really the fresh garden veggies! I cut a beautiful head of bok choy, one bright, sunny squash and a handful of basil from the garden. I also used one package of extra firm tofu for extra protein. First I pressed some of the moisture out of the tofu using a tea towel. Then I cubed it and browned it in a little olive oil. I added some Braggs liquid amino as it was cooking to give it a little more flavor since the veggies watered it down a little. I chopped the veggies up and tossed them in after the tofu was browned and then steamed it until it was tender. I cooked the polenta in a separate pot and then folded the veggies and tofu into the polenta to mix it all together.

I stretched this one package of polenta into four meals, after adding the tofu and all of the vegetables. Another economical vegetarian dinner! It was really quick to make, packed full of nutrition and tasted great. Plus it went really well with a glass of chilled, white wine!