Creamy Baked Polenta

Last Saturday was a gloomy and cold day. It was so nice to be at home, and relax. But as a matter of following our budget, I cooked us some lunch.
There is one thing that reminded me home and it always makes me smile. It is Polenta. My Mom makes the BEST polenta, but her recipe involves a big (and heavy) iron pan and at least one hour of steering.
I like to cook, but I like to do more simple things. So, when I found Chef Kathleen's recipe, I was in heaven. I served with some (ground) meat sauce and freshly grated Parmesan. It was perfect.

Creamy Baked Polenta
Recipe from: Chef Kathleen Daeleman.

1 quart water
1 tsp. coarse grained salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1 cup coarse ground polenta
1 TB butter

Preheat oven to 350º F.

Pour the water into a 1-1/2 quart baking dish. Add salt, pepper and polenta;
stir. Add the butter.
Place dish on center oven rack and bake uncovered for 40 to 50 minutes,
stirring after 20 or 25 minutes.

Polenta is done when almost all the liquid has been absorbed. Taste it. It it's cream and delicious, it's done. If it's granular and unpleasant, let it cook a little longer.

Makes: 4 to 6 servings.



And the left overs were eaten with some Butirro (fresh provolone cheese).

The Help

As I said before, even tough I've been working like a crazy person, I've been reading a lot.
I guess it is time for me to start to do some book review, before I start to forget all about the books.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

This book really got my attention when I learn it was about the maids that have worked during the 60s in Southern US. I am not American and I am not familiar with Junior League or Sweet Tea. But I, too, come from a country where slavery were really strong until late 1800.
It was interesting to see how the maids were treated by the white ladies, how they received hand me downs and they were (most of the time) looking good with their employers clothes. But they refuse to wear the pieces with monograms.
The characters and their stories were perfect and It was a good way to understand the race relations in the 60s, in US.
On the other hand, I lived 4,5 years in Bahia, where the Brazilian Slavery was born. I can tell you through out the book, I could name the characters with real people names, that I met while I was living there. Sad, but true.

It was a great book.

Did you read this book? If you read it, what did you think?

I hope you are having a great week, the weekend is only three days away ; )

Miscellany Monday

Welcome to another edition of Miscellany Monday. I am slowly trying to come back to the blog land.

1. We had a pretty quiet weekend.
2. Work has been really taking a toll on Paulo's energy and in myself.
3. Why we have such crazy jobs?
4. I cooked a lot this weekend.
5. And I baked too.
6. I had a lot of tests and blood work done these past few weeks.
7. I'm reading Cutting for Stones.
8. It has been more difficult to read than I thought.
9. It has too much back ground.
10. Does any of you read it?

I hope you have a great week.

Randoms!!!

My Dear Blog Friends,


It has been a while..... But life has been hectic and I do feel I have nothing really exciting to write.
1. We had a fun birthday party a few weeks ago. It was nice to see old friends.
2. We have a wedding in August and I finally decided on my dress.
3. This dress is my inspiration.


4. My life has been something like this: wake up, breakfast, gym, get ready for work, traffic, work, work, work, work, traffic, dinner and bed.
5. Brazil is playing Latin American Cup Semi Final and of course the game is YUCK!!!
6. My nephew is about to be born any day now. He will be called Bernardo.
7. I joined Pinterest and Google +.
8. Pinterest is nice and addicting.
9. Google + is only for (nerds) co-workers who love Android and Java.
10. The weather is crazy down here.
11. We had about a month of upper 40s temperatures and this past week the temperatures were about mid-80's.
12. I've been cooking a lot on weekends and getting ready for the week.
13. I even started to do some menu planning.
14. And I've been reading a lot!! I hope I can do some book review this week.

I hope you have a wonderful week.

Commenting Challenge

Last year, Jenna from Jenna’s Journey promoted the commenting challenge. It was a way to encourage bloggers to comment especially on those blogs which we usually stop by and never comment.

I think it was a fun idea back then and I still think it is a great idea.

If you want to join, please, go to this post here!