Vegan Mushrooms And Polenta

I had a long break indeed, but yay, finally! Here I am with this beautiful vegan mushrooms and polenta recipe, a dish that we love having on a regular basis.
The holiday in Italy was lovely, with loads of beautiful food, good family times and togetherness. It is now time to get back on track. School, work, my volunteering and of course sharing recipes with you here.

A new year, a new decade so, will take this opportunity to wish you all again a happy, healthy, joyful and balanced 2020!

January diet...?

Hmm, I’m pretty sure the most searched recipes in January must be healthy diets and detox recipes. January diets to me sound a little like trying to get drunk with drinking water. I do not believe in fad diets and quick fixes. Losing weight and being healthy it’s all about a lifestyle.

Detox, yes, cutting down and eventually eliminating the bad habits, yes, lifestyle changing habits, yes, that’s what I do believe in. 

Everywhere you turn you see and hear it’s all about the Veganuary word! Well, I can’t become a vegan but I have definitely cut down on meat consumption. Eating good food,  wholesomeness, cutting down on takeaways, cutting down the portions, going to the gym, exercising it’s all about going in the right direction.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve done diets in the past, quite a few times. I had to. After two pregnancies, dieting it’s a must and they did help but the help was very short-lived. The weight comes back in no time, in fact, it all comes back double or more if not careful.
It helps initially. You lose some weight, then you hit a plateau, the disheartening kicks in, the diet gets ditched and the weight starts piling back up. It piles back pretty fast.

Changing the lifestyle and ditching the bad habits it’s the key and the answer. We all know what we do wrong so initial little changes will start working pretty much straight away. Little steady good habits being employed will also make us feel good.

Good habits .....

Portion matters, eating early enough at the night, binging on vegetables, cutting the meat, trimming fats, ditching sugary and processed foods, it’s not as hard as it looks. Just making pertinent choices that are all shifting weight it’s all about.

I always say, eat the rainbow every day (my kids know this expression since super young), hydrate well enough, no junk and seriously the benefits will not fail to appear.

Glowing skin, great energy, feel-good mood, less bad moods, fewer colds and illnesses and the benefits list can go on. I don’t say nor believe that skinny means healthy or fit at all.

Feeling good means being happy with ourselves and not following others and body shapes that might suit them but not us. 

Ultimately, eating healthy and balanced is the key to happiness and can play a huge role in living a longer life.

More about this vegan mushrooms recipe

Coming back to this vegan mushrooms and polenta recipe now. It is such an amazing combination! This dish can be kept vegan, could be made a vegetarian version by adding dairy products or eggs to it or if you eat meat, or fish add some fish or meat to it. Any kind of fish or meat you may like, it can be grilled, baked or pan cooked.  

This is a beautiful and versatile gluten-free recipe suitable for vegans, vegetarians and any meat lovers because you can tailor it as you wish. I have added some bacon in the past and topped it with a pan-fried egg. Oh, it can make a delicious breakfast or brunch! 

Variations

Vegan: tofu, beans, chickpeas, and grilled vegetables, other types of mushrooms, tomato and herbs sauce;

Vegetarian: any pan-fried fish ( see this delicious sardines recipe), any nice creamy, full-fat cheese, pan-fried, boiled or poached eggs.

Meat: chicken, bacon, beef, any pork cut, particularly pan cooked with a drizzle of garlic sauce (see sardine recipe-link above)

My favourite version of this would be a creamy polenta served with crumbs of cows or goats' feta cheese, the mushrooms and polenta topped with a soft pan cooked or poached egg.

Love it with some pan-fried lardons too? Go for it, yummm!

Here's how to make polenta if you want to watch but it is the simplest side dish to make ever, take my word for it. I like how versatile polenta is by making it as plain as possible with just water, cornflour/cornmeal and salt or adding creaminess to it like real cream, cheese, even egg when cooking it.

You can have easy access to mushrooms in your kitchen by trying a vegan mushroom growing kit that is easily set up on the kitchen counter.

Let’s get cooking this delicious light and totally gluten-free vegan mushrooms and polenta dish, shall we?

Oh, I almost forgot! If you would like some more mushrooms dishes, here are some more mushroom drooling recipes that I am adamant you will greatly love.