Game Day Snack/Meal Week 16 - Pepperoni Polenta Pizza Wheels

So as my husband was getting ready to sit down to THE game, Jets vs Giants, I made him a "game day lunch." I had purchased a polenta log from Trader Joe's because I was really curious about working with it. I know, it's better to make your own fresh polenta, but I really wanted to try this.

I tried searching for recipes using the log, or even just general polenta recipes, but I couldn't find many that used polenta in creative ways. So I decided to do something simple - little pizzas. Also very game day-ish.

So I sliced up the polenta and dipped it into some olive oil that had been mixed with garlic powder, Italian seasoning and a little paprika. Then I grilled it for a few minutes on each side.

Once I felt the flavors were soaked in, I transferred the polenta wheels to a baking tray and topped them with turkey pepperoni, sauce and cheese.

Once cooked for about 10 minutes in the oven, it was ready to eat! I gave my husband his plate first as I made mine and I heard "this is really good," coming from our kitchen table before I even sat down. So I guess it was a success!

It was a lighter lunch, so these can definitely be made and served as a snack for the game, but it packed a lot of flavor.

So here is a run down of the ingredients and the steps - this is just something I threw together, I didn't follow any recipe.

Ingredients:

One polenta log from Trader Joe's
Shredded mozzarella
Shredded Parmesan
Tomato sauce
Hormel turkey pepperoni, chopped
olive oil
garlic powder
paprika
Italian Seasoning

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Slice the log into pieces, no more than 1/2" thick.

Mix the garlic powder, paprika (just a pinch) and Italian seasonings together and then pour some olive oil into the bowl. Stir until well combined.

Dip each polenta slice into the oil mixture and place on a grill pan. Grill on each side on medium heat for a few minutes.


Transfer polenta slices to a baking sheet and top with pepperoni, sauce and cheese.


Bake until cheese is melted.

Enjoy!

Hope everyone has a happy holiday! I am not sure if this will be the last week of game day snacks, or if I will make one for week 17. It this is the last, it's been fun. Hopefully I have time to do this next season with a little baby in the house!

I'll try to have some Superbowl snacks up though!

Game Day MEAL Week 11 - Hearty Mac n Cheese Bake

Sorry for the delay, but with our team on at 8:30 pm (EST) tonight, my husband found no reason to hurry me along in making a snack for while he was watching football. So instead, we have something we can eat for dinner! A hearty Mac n Cheese bake - yum!

It's definitely very easy and it could be even easier depending which route you go. I cheated today (after cleaning up our backyard and getting all our patio furniture into the shed for winter) and used Kraft Mac n Cheese as my base.

If I wasn't feeling so lazy, I probably would have made the Mac n Cheese from scratch - so if you do that, just start with making your favorite recipe with nothing else in it besides the noodles and cheese.

The other ingredients we used were frozen mixed vegetables, chopped up turkey pepperoni (Hormel!), mango chicken sausage (from Trader Joe's, my favorite, but you can use whatever sausage you like), breadcrumbs and a little shredded cheddar.

Once the Mac n Cheese was done, we used half a bag of frozen mixed vegetables that we nuked slightly in the microwave to get them a little softer and mixed it into the noodles. Then we added the chopped pepperoni and sliced sausage and mixed everything until it was evenly distributed.

Then we sprinkled some breadcrumbs on the top, along with some shredded cheddar and baked it at 350 degrees F for about 20-25 minutes, until the breadcrumbs looked golden and crunchy.


The end result was deeeeelicious! (We stole some bites since it is for dinner). The pepperoni we have has a slight kick so it added that, while the sausage gave it a sweet element. It's definitely a heartier way to eat Mac n Cheese that will keep you full for a long time.

Although quick and easy, this turned out well and we'll definitely be making it again. Though I might try making my macaroni and cheese from scratch next time when I am not feeling so lazy!

Enjoy and happy game day!