Polenta With Lentils

Special things can happen when you look inside the pantry and take out refrigerator contents.

Snow Day has left me at home two days in a row.
I wasn't smart about going to the grocery store prior to Philadelphia's first big snow of winter season. Most creations were pantry fare.
I spent Saturday enriching my mind. Just thinking, reading, writing, painting, and eating:

Knowledge from random places: Zora Neale Hurston's autobiography "Dust Tracks on a Road" purchased from Schomburg Center's bookshop, an autographed Mary Gaitskill's "Bad Behavior: Short Stories" book bought after her reading at Free Library of Philadelphia and artist books on Paul Klee (from a thrift shop in Dayton) and Marc Chagall (PAFA's library bookshop).

Black Rice with Walnut Cream. The recipe is walnuts pureed with almond milk, nooch, salt, and pepper.

Also baked homemade pretzels. Yum.

Watercolor study of a future oil painting for an upcoming series, " African Diaspora Diastema."

Whenever I looked in the pantry to start a meal, I saw little. Yet potentially a lot could be crafted and consumed. A sack full of whole wheat flour can make endless stacks of pancakes (or pretzels). I had no maple syrup. Yet I had a full container of medjool dates-- that of which a few of them will soak in water with cocoa powder and vanilla for a nice, rich chocolate sauce.
Snow Day does not stop kitchen creativity.
Lentils and polenta were a bonafide match this morning. Just Mayo's Chipotle element offers a creamy invisible sauce that truly tied the two star ingredients together. Smoked flavor is delivered in each addictive bite. Crunchy walnuts add nutty flare and extra protein.
It's always a huge plus to be full, but not stuffed after a grand meal such as this one. A real keeper, snowed in, or not. 

Polenta With Lentils Ingredients and Preparation

1 cup TruRoots Accents Sprouted Lentil Trio
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 cup red onion, chopped
1/2 polenta log
1 tablespoon Chipotle Mayo
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon Frontier Bac' N' Bits
handful of walnuts (optional)

Prepare lentils according to package direction. Drain and set aside.
In a skillet, set in medium high heat, pour in olive oil, garlic, and onion. 
Add polenta, Just Mayo, and other ingredients except Bac' N' Bits and walnuts.

Cook for 7-10 minutes. Add Bac' N' Bits and walnuts.

Serve. Like a pyramid.

Eat and be merry.