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Mexican Sweet Potatoes

2014-09-09 17.23.15I had to post this recipe, because this is another one of those that has reached the vaunted “family favorite” status. I know, from the photo, it kind of looks like a hot mess, and even when I reveal the ingredients, you’ll probably think we’re nuts, but seriously, TRY IT. It hits all the right notes and when I serve this, EVERYONE licks their plate clean.

The original idea for this came from Iowa Girl’s Smothered Sweet Potato Fries and that recipe is AWESOME in its own right (it’s even got a great trick about stretching ground beef with mushrooms). But we like the health of the plain ol’ sweet potatoes and we so often have regular ol’ taco meat left over, I just usually use that.

Ingredients

  • 1 lb lean ground beef (soy crumbles? you decide)
  • 4 sweet potatoes
  • 1/2 C shredded cheddar
  • 2 avocados
  • taco seasoning (we use garlic salt, cumin and chili powder)
  • guacamole seasoning (garlic salt + cayenne pepper for us!)

Directions

Bake the sweet potatoes however you do … partial time in the microwave? Use your crockpot? Whatever works. We usually just shove them in a 350 oven on a cookie sheet lined with foil (they leak sweet potato juice, yo) for about an hour. They need to be tender.

Towards the end of sweet potato baking, brown the ground beef and season with the taco seasoning. Then halve the avocados, pull out their flesh and mash it in a bowl. We actually  have a mini-sized masher just for this job. It works swell. Season it as you do any old guacamole. We are very basic with the garlic salt and cayenne but I know lots of folks who do lime juice, onions, tomatoes, salsa, siracha, and on and on.

Once the potatoes are baked, halve them and mash on a plate to form a nice bed of sweet potato. Top with taco meat, cheddar cheese and let it melt a bit (you can nuke it if you don’t have enough residual heat from meat/potato). Then serve with the guacamole.

It’s filling, satisfying and pretty darn good for ya!

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Avocado Chicken Burritos

2014-07-29 19.16.19The whole family is in agreement – it feels so so good to be back in the routine of cooking at home! The hours we spent in the car, going back and forth between our permanent neighborhood and our temporary neighborhood nearly every day, really took it out of us and home cooking was one of the big things we cut out. Well no more! We’ve had little besides home-cooked meals for the past few days and we’re all appreciating it very much.

These burritos are an amalgam of various recipes I’ve seen on the interwebs and others I’ve done before, but this combo turned out especially well. It made a lot of extra too and I froze some with avocado and some without, so we’ll see how that turns out.

Ingredients

  • 2 lg boneless skinless chicken breasts cooked about any way you like
  • 1 lg can pinto beans or about 3 cups cooked pintos
  • garlic salt
  • cumin
  • chili powder
  • about 1.5 cups of shredded cheese of your choice (colby jack, mozzarella, cheddar, queso fresco)
  • 2 ripe avocados
  • flour tortillas
  • oil/butter for browning (optional)
  • salsa, sour cream, etc. for serving (optional)

Directions

As a note, in this case, I slow-cooked a large packet of chicken breasts at the beginning of the week with some chicken stock for about 6 hours on low and then shredded them. I also have great success with dicing chicken breast, seasoning with S&P and browning over medium-high heat in a little olive oil. Pre-cooked from the deli meat or freezer sections would probably work great as well and I’d even try canned.

Heat chick and beans in a skillet over medium high heat. As they cook, season to taste with garlic salt, cumin and chili powder. Meanwhile, halve avocados and remove the pits. Slice in the skin in a grid-pattern and then scoop the newly-created chunks out with a spoon. Once the filling is hot, remove to a separate plate/bowl, clean out your skillet and heat it again over medium-high heat.

As the skillet heats, assemble the burritos. Take about 1/3 cup filling and lay it in a line in the center of the tortilla. Top with cheese (2-3T?) and avocado. I am thinking a squeeze of lime or maybe some chopped cilantro would be a nice addition as well. I’ll try that next time. Roll as you do with a burrito, pulling the sides in to seal the deal.

Next, place the little donkeys back in the skillet for browning. Some folks like to use a bit of oil or butter for this step and I must admit it’s tasty, but I usually omit it for health reasons, but if you’re feeling indulgent, give it a go. Heat/melt your oil/butter before you add the burritos. We can fit about 4 in our skillet and we lay the lid of one of our other smaller pans over the top to keep them smooshed down a bit. Cook for a couple of minutes then flip. This step makes a huge difference between pretty meh burritos and haute burrito cuisine (is there such a thing?? must be because I just said it. QED).

If you’re creating some frozen assets with the extras, skip browning and avocado (I’ll report back on that later) and wrap them tightly in foil before sticking them in a freezer bag. When you’re ready to heat, set your oven for 375 and place foil wrapped burritos inside for around 35-40 minutes. If you like, pull them out a couple of minutes ahead and give them the skillet treatment. It’s just that much better.

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Polenta Stuffed Peppers

Hard to believe March is almost done! We always start out the month with the next month’s calendar page looking clear and end up with it jam-packed with activities. Next month we will celebrate Ben’s 3rd birthday, start new activities for each kid (Ben is doing tumbling, Tabby ballet), run our 7th (?!!) half marathon, have a visit from Matt’s mom and a big bunch of other activities, including prepping for our camping trip in May. I will also tackle the 4th cookbook of the year, Thai Street Food.

But March isn’t out just yet. And I have a couple of recipes left to share with you from Moosewood Simple Suppers. Today I bring you tales of polenta stuffed peppers. I am always a fan of stuffed veggies, be they squash or peppers or pumpkins! There is usually a bit more cooking time, but the prep is usually pretty easy and the results are usually delicious. This recipe was made doable even for a weeknight. You start cooking the peppers without stuffing, while you are prepping the stuffing, then stuff them and finish off the cooking. We opted to prep these the night before, but they easily could have been done in the evening.

Polenta Stuffed Peppers, adapted from Moosewood Simple Suppers

  • 4-5 red, orange or yellow bell peppers, sliced lengthwise through the stem, ribs and seeds removed
  • 2 T olive oil
  • 4 C water
  • 1/2 t red pepper flakes (optional)
  • 1 C cornmeal
  • 1.5 C corn kernels (frozen works fine)
  • 2 C cheddar cheese, divided
  • 1/2 C chopped olives (Spanish are recommended, but they do not seem to be readily available in my normal stores, and the kids LOVE black olives, so that’s what we used)
  • 16 oz salsa of your choice
  • can of black beans, drained

Heat oven to 450. Put 4 cups water in a medium sauce pan on high to boil, with red pepper flakes if desired. Rub peppers inside and out with olive oil (or use your mister if you’ve got one!) and roast at 450 for 15 minutes. While the peppers cook, prepare polenta. When water comes to a boil, slowly whisk in the cornmeal and continue cooking, stirring until tender and thickened.

Remove from heat and stir in 1 cup cheese, corn kernels, butter, and olives. Season with S&P to taste if desired. Fill peppers with polenta mixture and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Return to oven for 5-10 minutes until cheese is melted. While peppers cook, mix salsa and beans.

Serve peppers with beans and salsa on the side or over top. We also topped our green salads with the mixture and a little cheese – YUM.

For the kids, we cooked just the mixture in ramekins and topped them only with some beans (no salsa). Of course they each had to take a no-thank-you bite of the pepper. They’ll be up for it some day!!

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Spinach Cheese Burritos and March Cookbook

So I’m already three recipes into the March cookbook, Moosewood’s Simple Suppers and as expected, I’m finding it delightful. Moosewood, for the uninitiated is a fairly famous co-op restaurant in Ithaca, NY. Basically a group of hippies came together to make awesome, tasty, whole food that is frequently vegetarian, though they do use fish here and there. The restaurant pioneered a lot of creative vegetarian cooking. Though I did not grow up vegetarian, some of our extended family is vegetarian or pescetarian and we were exposed to these recipes through them and my mom owned and sometimes cooked from the original Moosewood cookbook. When Matt and I were married, I received Moosewood New Classics from my mom’s cousin and when everything I tackled from it from it turned out awesome, I bought the original (with hand-drawn illustrations) and some others. Just a few years ago my sister gave me the latest in the series, Simple Suppers. But of course I’ve been busy and internet recipes are distracting, so this is a prime opportunity for checking out all of the whole food goodness Moosewood has to offer.

The first recipe I tried was Spinach Cheese Burritos. This little gem went from prep (including chopping) to oven in exactly 20 minutes – I timed it. The original recipe has a hot sauce that you can make in the blender, but I am such a fan of the organic salsa we buy at Costco, that I served it with that instead. I also used low-carb tortillas because that’s how we roll. This is one I dare anyone not to like. It is creamy, cheesy and delicious. The kids were a bit suspicious of the green stuff, but both ate about half their burrito which is not bad in my book!

Spinach Cheese Burritos

  • 8-10 flour tortillas
  • 3 cups monterey jack or cheddar cheese (pepper jack would be awesome here too), shredded
  • 1/3 C cream cheese (3 oz)
  • 10 oz fresh baby spinach
  • 1 bunch scallions, chopped
  • 1 T cooking oil
  • 3 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 1 pinch nutmeg
  • salsa of your choice for serving

Directions

Heat oven to 350. Lightly oil a 9×13″ baking dish. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook scallions and garlic in oil for 2-3 minutes. Add in the spinach and cook until the leaves have wilted and there isn’t water left in the bottom of the pan. Remove from the heat and stir in cheese and spices thoroughly, using the residual heat to melt everything together.

Place a good bit of filling on the edge of each tortilla and roll, then place in the pan seam-side down. Cover with foil and bake for about 20 minutes. Serve immediately with generous quantities of salsa.

Along with this little gem, there are seven other recipes from this cookbook I’m testing out. A preview of what’s (hopefully) to come:

  1. Spinach Cheese Burritos
  2. Banana Cupcakes (we made these for Tabby’s class on Monday night – mmmmmm)
  3. Po’ Boys (had these last night – awesome!!)
  4. Winter Squash Pie
  5. Mexican Polenta Stuffed Peppers
  6. Creamy Lemon Pasta
  7. Shrimp Curry with Snow Peas
  8. Baked Tofu
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Tex Mex Meatloaf

Last night we tried the first recipe from Zone Meals in Seconds. I always love it when the first recipe I try from a new cookbook is a winner and this one was a MAJOR winner. Though this is Zone specific, Matt and I both agreed that we would eat it anytime. It’s your basic meatloaf, with a few interesting additions and served with a side of guacamole. Best of all, both kids loved it! Really, what’s not to like?

The full zone recipe has a side salad with romaine (we used baby greens), 1/4 C low fat cheddar per person, thinly sliced celery, shredded carrots and a 1/4 cucumber. Adding the salad makes it a full 4-block Zone meal if you’re interested. I added just a little salsa for dressing. I love me some salsa.

Ingredients

  • 2 eggs
  • ¾ cup  black beans
  • 1 tablespoon chili powder blend
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • ¼ teaspoon ground red pepper (optional)
  • 1 tablespoon tamari soy sauce (optional)
  • 1/3 cup non-instant rolled oats, uncooked
  • 15 ounces lean ground beef  (ground turkey works too)
  • 2 tablespoons dried onion flakes
  • ½ cup fresh or frozen corn
  • 1 cup minced yellow or red bell pepper
  • 1 cup no-salt diced tomato with jalapeño
  • avocado

Directions

Mix and mash as you would any meatloaf. Place yummy mash in a 9×5 loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 60 to 75 minutes or until thermometer regisiters 160 for beef or 180 for poultry. Mash/chop avocado and season as desired for guacamole (we use chili powder and garlic salt). Serve slices of meatloaf with guacamole. Groan and say “oooh” a lot while eating.

We actually made this the night before and baked it about 15 minutes extra to compensate for the chillier meat temps.

 

 

 

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Fish Tacos

 


A looooong time ago, bloggy buddy Kjersten, who I got to MEET just a couple of weeks ago, wanted to know more about my fish tacos. I am happy to spill!

 

The fish I use in fish tacos is one of two things: either white fish from the freezer section at Target. Yes, that sounds sketchy, but it’s great fish and it comes in individual fillet portions, ready to cook up as desired (I get their salmon too). The other source I use is (don’t laugh) fish sticks. Fish sticks require just slightly less prep/thought and I keep a bag of them in the freezer (Target again) to have on hand. I honestly cannot say I like one more than the other … both good, just depends what you’re in the mood for. The fish sticks somehow seem more like comfort food. My kids eat both and don’t whine about either.

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To make the white fish, I heat the oven to about 400, put the fillets on a baking tray and cook them for a couple of minutes to start the de-frosting. Spices stick better when they’re not bricks.

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Then we sprinkle on garlic salt and chili-lime seasoning (my mom brought that back from Mexico, but I’m told you can get it in the grocery store too, spice or Hispanic foods aisle). This is what we use, but others simply opt for salt and pepper sometimes with olive oil, which is very tasty as well.

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Then I continue to broil them until they’re flaky as fish should be. To assemble, we use small flour tortillas, beans, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, sour cream, etc. etc. and a squeeze of lime. The lime is particularly important to me and to Tabby as well (go figure). … we serve Ben’s in the same manner, just deconstructed a bit.

 

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Black Bean Quesadillas

from: Adapted from Slashfood

Ingredients
1 14-ounce package of extra firm tofu
1 1-ounce package of taco seasoning, without MSG
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 15-ounce can of black beans, drained, well rinsed
1 cup vegetable broth
Non-stick cooking spray
8 (9-inch) corn or whole wheat soft tortillas
8 ounces of grated part-skim mozzarella

Directions
Place the tofu a large colander inside the sink and set a heavy saucepot directly on top of the tofu. Allow to drain about 1 hour until the tofu has shrunk slightly in size and a lot of the moisture has trained off. Cut into 1-inch cubes and set aside.

Heat a large skillet over high heat. Add the oil and the tofu. Sprinkle taco seasoning over the tofu and reduce the heat to med-high.

Cook the tofu with the spices for 3-4 minutes, flipping occasionally with a spatula. Reduce the heat slightly if the spices begin to burn. Add the beans and the vegetable broth and simmer for 10 minutes or until the liquid reduces a sauce begins to form.

Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Cover a baking sheet with foil. Spray one side of half the tortillas with cooking spray and lay on the baking sheet. Divide cheese amongst the tortillas and spoon the tofu mixture over the cheese. Place the remaining tortillas on top and coat with cooking spray.

Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until the tops are golden and the cheese has melted. Slice and serve immediately.

Nutritional Info (1/2 quesadilla)
113 calories, 5 g protein, 8 g carbohydrates, 6 g fat (0 g saturated), 0 mg cholesterol, 5 g fiber, 318 mg sodium.

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Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas

from: http://phemomenon.blogspot.com/

Ingredients
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup lime juice (about 2 large limes)
2 teaspoons to 1 Tablespoon chili powder
2 large cloves of garlic, finely minced or 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 2 large breasts), cooked and shredded
12 corn tortillas
2 cups of Mexican cheese blend, shredded (1 small bag usually is 2 cups)
1 14-oz can of green enchilada sauce (mild or medium, to your taste)
1/2 to 3/4 cup of heavy cream
nonstick cooking spray
1 Tablespoon of chopped cilantro, to garnish

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place the cooked and shredded chicken in a medium sized bowl. Set aside. In a small bowl, place the honey, lime juice, chili powder and minced garlic or garlic powder. Whisk together thoroughly to combine. Pour this mixture over the chicken and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to marinate while you prepare the tortillas, 30 minutes or up to 1 hour, in the refrigerator.

Heat a large griddle till a drop of water skitters across (about 350 degrees F). Spray the surface with non-stick cooking spray or a oil it with a little bit of canola oil in between each round of tortillas. Heat tortillas about 20 seconds on each side till warm and flexible and some golden brown spots have appeared. Remove the tortillas from the griddle and keep them between a couple of paper towels until ready to use.

Spray the sides and bottom of a 9×13-inch baking dish lightly with cooking spray. In a medium bowl combine the enchilada sauce and the heavy cream. Spread about 1/2 cup of the mixture in the bottom of the oiled baking dish. Add a large spoonful (about 2 tablespoons) of the chicken mixture to the center of each tortilla in a line. Cover the chicken with a large tablespoon (or big pinch) of cheese, then roll the tortilla up from one side to make a rolled enchilada – it will be more of an over lap on the seam side that rolled tightly. Place the enchilada seam side down in the baking dish starting at one end with the long edge parallel to the longest side of the pan so that you end up with two columns of six enchiladas each.

Repeat with the remaining chicken, cheese and tortillas. You will use about 1 1/2 cups of the cheese for the filling and set the remainder aside for topping the enchiladas in the pan. Add the remaining marinade mixture to the enchilada sauce and cream mixture, if desired. Pour this mixture over the top of all the enchiladas. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

Bake the enchiladas for 30 to 35 minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbly and starting to brown on top. Serve with sour cream, black beans, and rice or a green salad for a great meal.

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Mexican Beef & Rice

 

adapted from Parenting.com

Ingredients
1 envelope taco seasoning mix
1 cup salsa
1 cup corn kernels
1/2 cup lowfat cheese
3/4 pound lean ground beef
1 cup dry instant rice
1 1/2 C water
pepper
lettuce & tomato to serve

Directions
In a large skillet, brown ground beef over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to break up the chunks. Drain off any fat. Add taco seasoning mix, water, salsa, and corn; cook, uncovered, stirring until mixture boils.

Stir in rice and pepper; cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand for 6 minutes.

Fluff rice-and-beef mixture with a fork. Sprinkle with cheese, cover, and let stand for 2 minutes, or until cheese melts. Uncover and serve with lettuce and tomato.

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Mexican Beef over Polenta

from: Parenting

Ingredients
4 mini­whole-wheat pitas, split
1 cup chopped cooked chicken (such as Perdue)
1/2 cup grated carrot
1 cup frozen corn kernels, defrosted
1/2 cup barbecue sauce
1/2 cup shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place split pitas on a baking sheet. Put chicken, carrot, corn, and barbecue sauce in a mixing bowl and stir to combine. Spoon 2 tablespoons chicken mixture onto each pita. Sprinkle 1 Tbs of cheese on top of each, and bake until cheese is bubbly, about 8 minutes.

Nutritional Info (1/4 recipe(
238 calories, 5 g fat (2 g saturated), 523 mg sodium, 38 mg cholesterol

from: Parenting

Ingredients
1/4 cup orange juice
3 tsp lemon juice
1 tbs white wine vinegar
2 tbs canola oil
1 tbs honey
1 tbs peeled, grated ginger
Salt and pepper to taste

4 small flounder fillets, 4 to 6 ounces each
4 cups snow peas (about 3/4 pound)
Lemon wedges

Directions
Whisk the first 7 ingredients (OJ through S&P) together to create the dressing.

Place each fish fillet on a large square of foil and turn of the edges of the foil. Top each fillet with 1 cup of snow peas and 2 tablespoons of dressing. Fold the foil around the fish to form a pouch, and crimp so it is sealed.

Put the foil pouches on a baking sheet and bake at 425 for 15-20 minutes, until fish flakes easily with a fork. Service with rice and garnish with lemon.

Nutritional Info (1 packet(
273 calories, 11 g fat, 118 mg sodium, 68 mg cholesterol

from: Parenting

Ingredients
2 1/2 lb beef brisket
1/2 tsp pepper
1 package dried onion-soup mix
2 tsp dry mustard
3/4 cup water
12 baby carrots

Directions
Brown the brisket on all sides in a large skillet over medium heat, about 5 minutes per side. Sprinkle with pepper. Place in a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker.

In a medium bowl, combine the soup mix, mustard, and water. Stir well. Pour over brisket. Add carrots to pot and stir. Cover and cook on low for about 6 hours — meat will be soft and tender, almost falling apart.

Remove from cooker and let stand for 15 minutes before slicing thin. Serve on sandwich buns, with ketchup or mustard.

Nutritional Info (1/8 recipe(
237 calories, 12 g fat (4 g saturated), 385 mg sodium, 83 mg cholesterol

from: Parenting

Ingredients
Cooking spray
6 oz-package stuffing mix
4 cups broccoli florets
4 chicken cutlets (approximately 4 oz each)
1/2 cup jarred chicken gravy
Pepper

Directions
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Spritz center of 4 sheets of foil with cooking spray. Prepare stuffing according to package directions, excluding butter. Place 1/4 stuffing in center of each foil sheet. Top with 1 cup broccoli and a chicken cutlet. Drizzle 2 tablespoons gravy over each cutlet; sprinkle with pepper.

Seal packages and place on foil-covered baking pan. Bake 25 minutes or until chicken is cooked through (to 170 degrees). Reheat remaining gravy and serve on the side.

Nutritional Info (1 packet(
318 calories, 5 g fat (1 g saturated), 880 mg sodium, 66 mg cholesterol

from: Parenting

Ingredients
1 cup rice
2 Tbs butter
½ small onion, finely chopped (about ½ cup)
1 clove garlic, minced
10-oz package frozen peas
Pinch salt
¼ cup chicken broth or prepared bouillon
30 basil leaves (about 1 cup loosely packed)
cup grated parmesan cheese

Directions
Prepare rice according to package directions. Meanwhile, melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and cook, stirring frequently, until quite soft but not brown, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 2 minutes more. Add the peas and a pinch of salt, stir thoroughly with the garlic and onion mixture, then add the chicken broth. Cover pan and bring to a boil; boil 2 minutes (not more, or the peas will be overdone).

Remove from heat and transfer contents to the bowl of a food processor. Add the basil leaves. Process for about 15 seconds, until the peas are beginning to be mashed and the basil is chopped but there are still many whole pieces of pea in the mixture. Combine thoroughly with the cooked rice and parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.

from: Weight Watchers Shortcuts Cookbook

Ingredients
1/2 C plain fat-free Greek-style yogurt
1 T lemon juice
1 T chopped fresh mint
12 oz packaged fully-cooked turkey meatballs
4 6-inch multi-grain pitas
1 tomato, chopped
1/2 cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped

Directions
Combine yogurt, lemon juice & mint in a bowl and set aside. Spray large non-stick skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium. Add meatballs and cook, covered, turning frequently until heated through, about 5 minutes.

Cut a pocket in each pita. Fill with 3 meatballs, tomatoes, cucumber and about 3 T of the yogurt sauce. Serve immediately.

Nutritional Info (1 pocket(
353 cals, 9 g fat, 787 mg sodium, 43 g carbs, 4 g fiber, 26 g protein, 144 mg calcium

from: adapted from Rachael Ray's Recipe

Ingredients
grilled or roasted chicken breast, cut into small chunks or strips
buffalo sauce (we like Frank's best)
scallions
monterey jack cheese
bleu cheese crumbles
finely chopped scallions
pizza crust of your choice

Directions
Toss the chicken in the sauce and assemble the pizza as you would any pizza. This seems to work paticularly well if you put the jack cheese on last since it contains the bleu cheese crumbles.

Bake it up … and enjoy (possibly with celery and carrot sticks and a beer?)!

from:

Ingredients
1 pound uncooked lean ground beef (with 7% fat)
1 small onion(s), chopped
14 1/2 oz canned diced tomatoes, with chiles, drained, reserve 1 Tbsp of liquid
1 cup canned yellow corn, drained, or frozen, thawed corn kernels
10 items olive(s), Kalamata, sliced
2 Tbsp canned jalapeno peppers, pickled, chopped (optional)
3/4 tsp table salt, divided
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/8 tsp black pepper
3/4 cup polenta, quick-cooking
3 cup canned chicken broth
1/3 cup salsa
1/3 cup shredded reduced-fat Mexican-style cheese
2 Tbsp cilantro, or scallion, fresh, chopped (optional)

Directions
Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Cook beef and onion, stirring frequently, until meat is fully cooked, about 5 to 7 minutes; drain off any liquid. Stir in tomatoes and reserved liquid, corn, olives, jalapenos (if using), 1/4 teaspoon of salt, cumin and pepper; simmer 5 minutes to allow flavors to blend.

Meanwhile, in a small pot, combine cornmeal, broth and remaining 1/2 teaspoon of salt; stir well. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring constantly, until cornmeal is thick, about 5 minutes.

Spoon polenta onto a large serving plate and top with beef mixture. Top with salsa, cheese and cilantro (or scallion). Divide into 6 portions and serve.