Healthier Ambrosia

Where I found this recipe I am not sure, but it looks like it may have come from the Hallelujah Acres Diet website. If you have not been there, then go and take a gander. They have some really great things over there. I made this at one of my cooking classes (on a raw class) and let me tell you this was fantastic, and for many reasons. It has basic ingredients and is simple to make. Plus, it is not overpowering to the taste buds. Let me explain that last statement.So many recipes can be in-your-face, but not this one. This is delicate and simple  But simple in a good way,  not a plain boring way.

Make this and use it at anytime you desire. It could easily go form a breakfast food to a dessert. Top it with some cashew cream...yummo. So now let's get down to business.

1 apple chopped
1 orange, peeled seeded and chopped
1/4 cup blueberries
1/2 cup raisins (or any small dried fruit)
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans will do in a pinch
1/2 cup flaked or shredded coconut

Dressing
3 T agave or sweetener of your choosing
Juice form 1 lemon
1 T chia seeds
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combine all salad ingredients in one bowl. In a separate bowl whisk together the agave and lemon juice.Stir in the chia seeds and pour over the salad. this si divine and so delicious. It is one of my favorite dishes to prepare. And as always, make...eat...enjoy!!

Golden Spicy Cauliflower

Wow, I cannot believe I have not posted in such a long time. Never fear, all is good. But suffice it to say I have been very busy, and in a good way. But you don't want to read about all the fun stuff in my life, you want new recipes, and man do I have more than a few to add here. So let's get started.

I have rejoined an organic co-op. It is a bi-weekly pick-up and the produce rotates every time. the prices are very comparable to what is out in the store, but what I like most about it, is that every time you are getting different items. Which means you are forced to try new dishes. Awwwww, what a shame. NOT!

I have already gone through at least 1/3 of my produce already and 1 week has not gone by. I may have to bump to an every week pick-up. But now on to this lovely new dish I discovered. Cauliflower. LOVE-IT! In any way, shape, or form. But I of course, wanted something new and different. Enter Dr. John McDougall. I had picked up one of his and his wife's cookbook at a flea market. Best $2 I ever spent.

I went scouring for something with cauliflower and found it, but I was on crunch time and had to make sure I had all or at least most of the ingredients. Viola! In comes this recipes, save for the onions, I had everything in my pantry or fridge. Wow! I loved this dish. I got home late last night after having made the dish, ran out for a meeting that ran Waaaay too late and had dinner at 9:30 at night. Served it over some brown rice and I just may have it for breakfast this morning...just kidding.

Make this, but do not be fooled by how spicy it looks, for the flavors end up melding together and coming off brilliantly for sure. Make it and call me in the morning.

1 medium cauliflower, cut into florets
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2-3 T grated ginger
1 cup water
2 medium tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 bunch scallions, chopped
2 T rice vinegar
2T soy sauce
1/2 t ground turmeric
Freshly ground pepper
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Place the cauliflower, garlic, and ginger in a saucepan with 1/2 cup of the water. Cook, stirring, occasionally, for about 10 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, covered, until the cauliflower is tender, about 10 minutes longer. Stir occasionally during cooking to prevent the cauliflower from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Now, one would think that with not 1 drop of fat in this dish it would taste bad. Oh no, this was divine and I cannot wait to make it again and again and again. Make...eat...enjoy!

All American Cole Slaw

I cannot believe I have not posted this recipe. I looked all over my own blog, for I was wanting to make it thee other day. And since we are revamping our recipe book here at our house, our papers were a bit scattered. Since I did not find it here, I had no choice but to ruffle through the papers. Luckily for you folks we found it.

This is as All American as you can get. I have always loved cole slaw. But they are either dripping in regular mayonnaise, or made by companies I no longer support. (Case in point, KFC)

When we found this, oh so long ago, we fell in love. The simplicity and thee ability to veganize it was simple stupid.

1&1/2 pounds green cabbage(purple if you feel adventurous)
3 T malt vinegar (I have substituted with rice wine)
1/4 t salt
2 medium carrots, peeled and grated
2/3 cup vegan mayonnaise (We use Veganaise)
1-2 t celery seed (Optional, but I find it is must)
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In a small bowl, mix together the vinegar, salt, mayo and celery seed. Set aside. This way it mixes more smoothly into your slaw.

Chop or process your cabbage to the consistency your family likes. Add to a medium/large bowl. Pour your mayo mixture over the slaw. I recommend at least 30 minutes of sitting time, but you can just as easily put it right on the table. Enjoy this, we love it here.

Raw Cranberry Salad

Well, it is getting to be that time of year again...the dreaded holidays. I have to admit, that I still enter them with a bit of trepidation, but only because we have been so ingrained to believe that any meal, and especially Thanksgiving cannot continue without a slab of dead flesh. I am here to prove those folks wrong.

I recently volunteered at a local high school and talked to them about vegetarianism and told them some startling numbers about meat-eaters and cancer. I also told them their parents would say that I was a whack job. But that they did not have to believe me, do the research. And that is my new motto now. If you don't believe me, go see for yourself. For most of these numbers are form our own AMA or ACA, so I don't need to make this stuff up.

So as I was talking to these kids, the one big question was,'What 'DO' you eat?', and my tried and true answer was,'Everything you don't.', which always gets them thinking. For like many people out there, most folks do not have a varied diet, and if they would make a food diary, they would see that. So, I used Thanksgiving as an example. I asked them to think about the Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving portrait, but they all looked at me like I was Medusa, meaning that not one student knew who Normal Rockwell was...Google him.

With that said, I told them to envision a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, but, we were going to take away the turkey. Now, tell me what is left on the table. Well these little dynamos were able to rattle off names of food in a matter of seconds a minimum of a half a dozen dishes that were meat free and that all of those dishes could not possibly fit on my plate all at once, so, 'I' was going to have to go back for seconds, possibly thirds, and that was only because I stopped them from naming 'side dishes'. I showed them that their side dishes became my main dishes. And then it hit them that anyone, not just me, could easily survive at Thanksgiving and never eat a dead animal. Eureka!!

Now, on to this brilliant dish that one of my bosses gave me. We will be using this at my job for our upcoming Customer Appreciation Day where we will be serving organic turkeys and a plethora of side dishes that yours truly will be making. So any and all side dishes will be vegetarian if nothing else. And this little gem is for the raw foodists out there. This is to die for and it will most definitely be on my Thanksgiving table for sure.

1 container of cranberries (8-16 ounces)(frozen is all right if fresh is not available)
2 navel oranges, peeled and roughly chopped
1-2 red delicious apples, peeled, cored and roughly chopped
Raw honey or agave to taste (start with 1 tablespoon and work your way up)
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Make sure you have washed all fruits and dump them into your food processor. If your honey is hardened, then you can easily melt it in a double broiler type set up as not to bring above 118 degrees. Once your sweetener is ready, add to processor and hit your pulse button...if you have one. If you do not, then do not turn on your processor and walk away, you want this salad to have some consistency, but small enough that is not quite minced, but pretty darned close.

Play with the size of chunks you are willing to eat and let it be done. This is better if done the day before, for the sugar will draw out some of the water and make it a bit soupier. I may never cook a cranberry ever again.

Mashed Potatoes - NOT

I found this recipe quite by accident. Where I work, (Nutrition S'Mart) there is a small little raw food book that is a great introduction to the raw food world. What I mean by that is, it is simple, and easy read, common ingredients, and the instruction lines are three lines at the most. Now who cannot get into a recipe that has only three lines of instructions. I am all over that one.

The name of the book is Rapid Raw and it is loaded with tons of recipes. Oh, by the way, we sell it at the store but are currently waiting for the latest shipment. From soup to nuts. No really, I mean that. One day when I was having a slow moment at work I was scouring through the book and this one dish caught my eye. I love cauliflower. And I had no idea just how versatile it truly was until I started messing around in the raw world.

Try this recipe and see what you think.

2 avocados (they need to be EXTREMELY ripe, or this recipe will not work)

1 cauliflower head, chopped

1/4 cup lemon juice, (about 2 lemons)

1 sweet onion, chopped (I used a half of one for it was huge)

1 t salt

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

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Wait for it....Process all ingredients in a food processor until smooth and creamy. All right, there is a bit more to it than that, and here is what I have found. I process the cauliflower down to the consistency of cous cous. Transfer it to the bowl you will be serving it in and then process thee other ingredients...THEN put back the processed cauliflower. If you do not do it this way, you will be doing ALLOT more bowl scraping and time is of thee essence with this dish.

After my husband ate this version (my first attempt tanked badly) he mentioned that this could also go as a guacamole dish, all you have to do is add some tomatoes. And you do not even have to inform your unsuspecting public what is in the dish. then when they are raving about it, tell them cauliflower has been added, and watch their faces. Yes, I have a streak of evil-ness in my blood.

Me at my raw food class preparing said dish.

Corn Fritters

I have no clue how I found this young woman, Vegan in Louisiana, but I am loving her recipes. They are simple and for the most part, easy to make. And even though I love being in the kitchen, there is nothing like a simple yet delicious recipe. Well here you have it folks. So dig in and try these. You will not regret it one little bit.

And before you say it, yeah, I know they are not super healthy, for they are fried, but hey, I don't smoke, I don't drink so I fry foods once in a while.

1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
3/4 t salt
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t Tony Chacheres or Old Bay Seasoning (I had neither so I used a Mrs. Dash blend)
1/4 t cumin
1/4 t paprika
1/2 cup soy or rice milk (we used almond)
1/4 cup water
1&1/2 -2 cups fresh corn(I had bough a bunch a while back and cut it off the cob and froze it. I am a genius)
1-2T oil for frying
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Combine flour, cornmeal, salt, baking powder, Mrs Dash, cumin and paprika in a bowl. Add milk and water to dry ingredients and whisk until combined.
Fold in corn.
Heat skillet with oil to med-high heat. When oil is hot, spoon out fritters, about 1 T at a time and flatten with the back of a spoon. Cook until golden brown. (Edges will turn brown and bubbles will form on top, similar to pancakes)
Flip and cook again. Drain on paper towel and enjoy.

These are a keeper for sure. They were simple, easy and a wonderful comfort food.

Zippy Zucchini & Carrots

Well, at my raw food class last night I made two recipes. Both were from Rita Romano's book Dining in the Raw. I found it at a book bin at my local flea market that is funded by Martin County Library Systems. I go there specifically looking for cookbooks. And I have found quite a few different books. Granted, I only look for vegetarian books, but I am finding them all the same.

This recipe I made because the first one also had carrots. This was thee other recipe I made. Now you have to remember that the zucchini salad I had not made of yet so my audience was the guinea pigs. But hey, it is a free class and you can see the ingredients, you decide. And I liked the different taste the dressing gave, but if I had to do it again, I would not julienne the zucchini. I would either shred it or use a potato peeler to get it to the consistency I like. So without further adieu, here comes last nights recipe.

2 zucchini, shredded or julienned
3 carrots, shredded
1/2 cup fresh parsley, minced
1/2 t nutmeg
1/8 t cayenne pepper
2T tahini
Braggs to taste (this is soy sauce...basically)
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Julienne zucchini and carrots. (I preferred to shred mine. I think they vegetables absorb the flavors of the dressing better.) Combine remaining ingredients in a blender with 1/2 cup water. (If I did this one again, I would put the dressing ingredients in a small mini chopper and whirl it around) Pour over vegetables, mix well and serve.

I really like how this dressing broke the traditional mold of oil with lemon or oil with vinegar. So many of us, even if we prepare food from scratch, get into a rut with food. This recipe definitely made me think out of my own little food box. I will make this at home and hope everyone likes it as much as I did.

Faux Egg Salad

This was made on a whim and spur of the moment type night. I am so not a wing it person, and my cookbooks are always close at hand. I had 2 tubs of tofu that I needed to get used up. So I skimmed through my How it All Vegan and Viola, up popped this faux egg salad recipe. All I can say is, my-oh-my. This is definitely a keeper. Just one more reason to buy a tub of tofu.

1lb medium tofu, mashed (we used firm)(please remember to squeeze out the excess water first)
1/2 cup soy mayo (we make our own with this recipe)
4T chopped parsley
1/4 cup relish (we used sweet relish)
1&1/2 T prepared mustard *We like Ba-Tampte. It is thee best mustard on the planet*
1-2 stalks green onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced (I put mine through a press)
1&1/2 t salt
1/4 t turmeric
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Ina medium bowl, mash the tofu with your hands (I used a potato masher) or fork and add the remaining ingredients. Mix together well and chill before serving. (We had to get dinner on the table and it was still fine served immediately) Makes 2-4 servings.

Wow, this was so good that my husband prefers this one over my fake tuna salad. And I would have to agree with him. And this was so close to the real thing that my daughter would not eat it. Scary, huh??

Kimchi~~Korean Sauerkraut

This is another recipe that I cannot believe that I have not posted. Am I nuts? Do not answer that. So, now that I am moving into a more raw type diet, I will surely be adding these types of dishes. If you do not know, fermented food is one of the best foods to ingest, and for many reasons. It is a natural preservative and it beats the heck out of store bought pickles. Again, they have turned a beautiful type of food and turned it into garbage.

Try this and you will not regret it. They are simple and easy to make. And my son tells me, as long as I can keep up production, he will fore go store bought and eat mine on his subs!! Yeah to me.

1 head green or Napa cabbage, cored and shredded
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1 cup grated carrots
1/2 cup grated daikon radish (optional, but I used it and liked it)
1-2T freshly grated ginger
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1/2 t dried chile flakes
2 t sea salt
1/2 cup filtered water
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Place vegetables, ginger and red chile flakes in a bowl and mash down with a wooden pounder to release juices. Stuff into a 2 quart-sized wide-mouth mason jars and press down with pounder. The top of the vegetables should be 1 inch below top of jar. Mix water with salt and pour over cabbage mixture. Add additional water if needed to bring liquid to top of cabbage. Cover tightly. Keep in a warm place for 2-3 days before transferring to cold storage.

I did not have a 2 quart mason jar so I put it into two 1 quart-sized jars and it worked out just fine. You may leave the jars out on your counter and they will ferment just fine. Remember, you may hear a bit of hissing as the veggies are doing their thing. So don't think you have a snake in your kitchen, it is just veggies expanding.

I found this recipe from Nourishing Traditions. And even thought she does have many a meat recipes in this book. Her philosophy is all about traditional cooking and no processed foods. I would recommend this book, even with the meat recipes in it. Tons of information in this book.

Black Bean Vinaigrette

I cannot believe I have not posted this salad yet. I had one of my husbands buddies come over for dinner tonight and I had not made this salad in eons. So before going to work this morning, I soaked the beans then came home, and was able to cook them in about 30 minutes. Darn I love soaking beans and moreso in baking soda.

Anyhow, I knew it called for two ingredients I did not have at home so I made sure I picked them up before leaving to come home from work. And those were cilantro and tomato juice or vegetable juice. today I used tomato juice. Plus thee extra can be used in Bloody Mary's.

This is best served warm or at room temperature. I have had it cooled and it is not the same. Not bad, just not the same. Make this and know there is something else to do with beans.

1&1/4 cups dry black beans, soaked over night or all day long
4-5 cups water
1 bay leaf
1/2 t salt
1 T red wine vinegar
1 clove garlic minced (we used our press)
1/4 t cumin
1 t hot sauce
1 T chopped cilantro
2 T olive oil
1/4 cup vegetable juice
1/2 green, yellow and red bell pepper diced
1 red onion, diced
4 scallions, thinly sliced
sprigs of cilantro for garnish
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Drain soaked beans and rinse well. Put in a large saucepan with water and bay leaf. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Lower heat, cover and simmer until soft, about 1-1&1/2 hours. Drain beans, remove bay leaf and return beans to saucepan.

In a small bowl, combine salt, vinegar, garlic, cumin, hot sauce, cilantro and olive oil. Pour over beans. Toss well. Add remaining ingredients except cilantro sprigs and toss gently. Serve warm or at room temperature. Garnish with cilantro.

This is one of those salads that will do well in any season. Make it and enjoy it like we do.

Garlicky Caeser Dressing

I love not having to buy bottled dressings. Now, if I cold only get my husband to stop buying them. That is not to say I have not fallen off the wagon and used bottled dressing when it is in the house, but my preference is to stay clear of those processed things in a bottle. I went to the produce market today and felt inspired to cook, prepare something...anything. I also keep seeing this picture of a cold pasta salad in the grocery stores I work in. And due to the fact it is a chain of stores the picture is the same in every single store. That is not a complaint.

It is a basic elbow noodle salad, and for color there are black olives, red onion, grape tomatoes and possibly some green peppers. But suffice it to say it is your basic colorful pasta salad. Now I have not had the time to devote to cold pasta salads as I would like to, but I am getting rolling now. For both my husband and I do not have access to any way to warm our noon meals if we are working. So, salads it is. But even for us vegetarians, that can get old after a while. So I thought I would take a whack at this cold pasta salad thing tonight.

The salad ingredients were simple enough, but now it was to the dressing part. I had to get it just right or the salad would die if they, meaning the salad and dressing, did not get along. Along comes the Cooking Lady and I saved the day. I found a scrumptious dressing to pair wonderfully with any salad, greens included. So try this salad out for size and see what you think.

This dressing came from the book I snagged at the withdrawn section of a library down in Fort Lauderdale for $.50...who knew!! Vegetarian Times Complete Cook Book.

Approximately 2 cups cooked elbow pasta
1/2 cup grape tomatoes, cut in half
1/4 red onion, sliced to your liking
1 stalk celery, cut to your liking
Black olives would be perfect for this dish, but we had none
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4-5 cloves garlic (I put them through the press)
1 t virgin olive oil
1 t red wine vinegar
2 t balsamic vinegar
Juice of 1 lemon
1 t water
1/2 t dry mustard
1-2 drops hot sauce (I added a bit more)
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With a fork, mash garlic in thee olive oil. Whisk in the remaining ingredients. Let the dressing sit overnight in your frig if you want a stronger garlic flavor. Trust me this is strong enough without having to sit overnight, but it is your call. This was a grand way to use cold pasta that we had no idea what to do with. Thank you cold pasta recipes. **Make sure your pasta has completely cooled before adding the dressing.**

Raw Cauliflower Cous Cous Salad

Let me start out by saying that most of the raw dishes I make are not all that time consuming. But this one did take a little more time that usual. But fear not, for it was/is , well worth the effort.

If I may make a suggestion, unless you have the time on your hands, is to wash all your herbs ahead of time and maybe make this salad the day after. Again, your choice. I had four different herbs to wash and cut. So, if not for my daughter, we would have eaten at midnight.

I had this recipe sent to my Email box, looked at it and wanted to make it. But I deleted it, thought I had saved it somewhere, but did not. Thank the stars above for thee Internet. I kept searching for the title and found it after about three hits. And this lovely young woman had it on her blog, who I happen to subscribe to on YouTube. And she goes by the name of Meghan Telpner from Making Love In The Kitchen

If you have not visited her on her blog, or anywhere else, then get off your hiney and go see what she has to offer. She is such a breath of fresh air that you will want to keep on visiting her again and again. But now on to the recipe you have all been waiting for.

1 head of cauliflower
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup olive oil
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 bunch parsley, chopped
1 bunch mint, chopped
1/4 cup basil, chopped
2 cups cherry tomatoes, quartered and seeded (we had to use regular tomatoes, but the cherry tomatoes would have been nicer)
1 red bell pepper, chopped(We used green)
1/2 cup black olives, seeded and sliced(Had none)
salt and pepper to taste
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Process cauliflower in food processor with ‘s’ blade to achieve cous cous like consistency (can also chop finely by hand).
Place in bowl and add lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.
Mix in herbs, tomatoes, pepper and olives.
Stir well and serve chilled.
This is great to enjoy on a bed of greens.

This dish will definitely be on our table a whole lot more. It was a lot of food, so plenty for left overs. It definitely looks like cous cous. But when my husband came home and saw the bowl on the table, he thought it was Tabouleh salad. But this dish was so good, that I fell in love. All thee herbs are very powerful and yet none of them take over the dish. The simplicity of the salad is scary. You would think it would have too much of an over-powering taste, but it is nothing like that. This is just one of those things that you just have to make and see for your self how good a dish it really is. And trust me, you will not be disappointed one little bit.

Wheat Berry Salad

I thought I had posted this one, but I cannot seem to find it. This recipe I found just by searching thee Internet and did not bookmark where I found it. As I have said before I try to give credit where credit is due, but this is one of those times that I completely goofed. With that said, I would like to post this salad for all those who do use whole grains, but think you can only grind them in to flour. Oh no no no, my little darlings. What we have here is another way to use those lovely little jewels. We made this salad only once and classified it as a tweaker, but alas we have not tweaked it since that day. This could be the push I need to retry this salad.

It is not a raw salad, but definitely a whole food salad and that my dear friends is second best. Why buy pre-packaged salads when it only takes a few moments to chop up a green, toss it in a bowl and add your own homemade dressing. Brilliant I say (insert evil scientist laugh here). I am one for using ingredients that are not all freaky and whacky, so this salad fits into that category. Try this one, and let me know what you think.

1 cup hard winter wheat berries (wheat kernels/grain)
Kosher salt (we used sea salt)
1 cup finely diced red onion (this adds such great color, that we now make sure red onion is on every produce list)
6T good olive oil, divided
2T balsamic vinegar
3 scallions, minced, white and green parts
1/2 red bell pepper, small diced
1 carrot, small diced
1/2 t freshly ground black pepper
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Place the wheat berries and 3 cups of boiling water in a sauce pan and cook, uncovered over low heat for approximately 45 minutes, or until the wheat berries are soft. Drain.

Saute the red onion in 2 T olive oil over medium-low heat until translucent, approximately 5 minutes. Turn off heat and add the remaining 4 T of olive oil and the balsamic vinegar.

In a large bowl, combine the warm wheat berries, sauteed onions, scallions, red bell pepper, carrot, 1/2 t salt and the pepper. Allow the salad to sit for at least 30 minutes (very important!) for the wheat berries to absorb the sauce. Season to taste and serve at room temperature.

I have always loved room temperature salads over chilled ones. I personalty think it is better for the digestive tract, but that is my opinion. Try this and see what you think.

Paula Deen's Potato Salad

This was refreshing if you are tired of the tried and true as well as heavy mayonnaise potato salad. Not to take away from mayo, for I could swim in it, use it as a body lotion and just eat it right out of the jar. With the said, you should try this lighter version form Paula Deen. We found this on Food Network and will make it again for sure.

Ingredients:
12 cups cubed red potatoes
1 cup chopped green bell pepper (about 1 medium)
1/2 cup minced red onion
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions:
Cook potatoes, covered in boiling water, 10 minutes, or until tender; drain well and cool.
In a large bowl, combine potatoes, bell pepper and onion.
In a small bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients. Pour over potato mixture, tossing gently to coat. Cover and refrigerate.

We even at this while it was warm and it was still delicious. Paula Deen rocks. And yes she is loaded with fat, and meat, but every once and a while she comes up with something I can make as a veggie meal. Hey y'all, it's worth the try.

Pan Seared Grits

This was/is a delicious dish to make. We did make a very slight few changes, but it did not deter form the flavor of this dish. You would think it to be a breakfast dish, but that does not have to be so. You could easily make this a side dish for dinner.

In fact the next time I make this dish, I will make a bowl of gravy and pour it over the grits, but you do not have to do this to complete this easy, simple dish to make.


Food for Laughter: Pan-Seared Parmesan Grits: "Pan-Seared Parmesan Grits

5 cups water
3 cups 1% milk or soy milk
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups stone-ground corn grits
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese (We used Munster cheese)

* First, make the grits and have them as usual for breakfast. (I made them at night and let them cool in the frig overnight)You could make the whole batch and put them straight in the fridge to chill for pan searing later, but I find it much more enjoyable to have the whole grits experience - traditional soft grits for breakfast one day, and the sliced version the next morning...

~ In a saucepan, bring the water, milk or soy milk, and salt to a boil.
~ Reduce the heat to medium-low, whisk in the grits, cover, and simmer for around 7 minutes, stirring and recovering frequently until the grits are thick and creamy,
~ Remove from the heat, and stir in the Parmesan.
~ Enjoy some for breakfast, nice and warm, and then place the leftovers in a square dish in the fridge...
~ After the grits are well chilled and firm (letting them chill overnight is best), turn the square container upside down to flip out a solid square of grits. (We had to run a knife along the edge to loosen the grits, but easy schmeazy they fell out of the pan)
~ Using a sharp knife, cut the grits into 3/4' slices.
~ Season both sides of each slice with salt and black pepper. (This is where I goofed, I sprinkled a bit too much salt, but other than that, they were perfect)
~ Coat a large skillet with cooking spray.
~ Over medium high heat, sear the slices until well-browned on each side.
~ Serve immediately, 'piping hot...'"

There is nothing left to say about this classic Southern dish. Simple ingredients and simple cooking/planning. Enjoy and let me know what you think. *this dish makes enough for a family of 4-6 or for 2 different meals*