Week 6 of the BSI (Blogger Secret Ingredient) Party!
Oooohhh I was so super excited to receive an email from Jenn of eatingbender last night letting me know that I was the Judge and Manager of this week’s Blogger Secret Ingredient Party! Ok, yes, I gave myself those titles, but can’t a girl dream? Yipee! Boy was it hard to choose what to pick!
There were so many options that just seemed natural to follow the last two weeks of fun, but I decided not to go that route. Instead, I was a little selfish, and decided on…..
POLENTA!
I feel like lots of people are afraid to cook with polenta, so it is in of some serious lovin! I love polenta and you all should too! My grandmother has so many stories to tell about polenta, and I am going to share the most interesting one.
During World War II nonna lived in Trieste, Italy (she still lives there). They had salt, but no polenta or any kind of flour, and a neighboring town had polenta, but no salt. A trade was in order! So one day my nonna and her sister in law loaded up their backpacks with salt and headed into the other town to make a trade. They had no problems on the way there, but on the way back they sure did. The trains were packed and there was no room for them! With their backpacks full of polenta, but little money in their pockets, they weren’t sure what to do. So, they started walking. A short while later an army truck came by. Following the lead of others around them, both nonna and her SIL started running after it to jump onto the back and hitch a ride. Nonna made it and took the long ride back to Trieste. Now, the only problem was that by the time she made it back it was dark out, and curfew had begun at sundown. Nonna had to hide in the shadows of the night to sneak back to her apartment. Luckily, she and her sister in law both made it home safely that night, and had polenta to cook for the next several weeks.
All this, for a backpack of polenta. And since nonna and her family regarded it so highly in that time, when food was scarce, it is really the only option I could have chosen for BSI this week.
Have fun with it, and report back your findings!
Here are the basic rules:
You have until the end of the day on Sunday to post recipes using the BSI. Please link back to this site, and also email me either the link or the recipe to rhodeygirltests@gmail.com so I don’t miss anyone. I am going to keep the fun of winners alive and send the winner (selected by PhillyBoy) a mini fall surprise basket (well, box, but use your imagination haha). It will be a nice little box filled with fun fall things and treats!
I’m so excited!
Here’s the BSI history, for anyone who wants it:
Week 5:
Who: Jenn from eatingbender.wordpress.com
BSI: Butternut Squash
Week 4:
Who: Andrea & Erin of www.caretoeat.net
BSI: Apples
Week 3:
Who: Rose of onalobsterplacemat.blogspot.com
BSI: Mushrooms
Week 2:
Who: Heather of hangrypants.com
BSI: Tomatoes
Week 1:
Who: Christie of sportsnutritionliving.wordpress.com
BSI: Quinoa
40 Responses to “Week 6 of the BSI (Blogger Secret Ingredient) Party!”
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I tried polenta for the first time this past August, and LOVED it!! GREAT choice for this week’s BSI challenge, Sabrina!!
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Oh! I’m excited. I thought about choosing polenta actually and hoped that someone would choose it down the road
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Yay! I’m assuming it doesn’t matter if we use loose polenta or the kind that comes in a tube – but I just wanted to check! Is that the case/
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Hi Allison- Please use any kind of polenta you like!!!
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Yum, I’m excited to see everyone’s recipes, since I love polenta… I had some last night! (But I just made it plain, with soymilk and a little salt.)
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i’ve never had polenta but i can’t wait to try it!!! thanks for forcing me to get over my fear
how many z-bars do you want? i’m making an orlando trip this weekend and will happily pick some up for you! just let me know what flavors and how many of each you would like!
have a great day!
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Polenta I can do!
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question:
does the recipe have to be posted this week? because i have an outrageous amount of polenta posts but they are from the past.
and i’m too broke to buy more polenta.
andddd can i enter more than one recipe?
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Caitlin- you are making these hard here! I thought about it for a long time.. welll 10 seconds actually.. and decided you may do both! more than one recipe is GREAT, and in the past is ok too… would you mind emailing me all the links at once if you can? or even if you do a recap post and list them all? both ideas are great!
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I’ve had polenta on my grocery list for weeks but have been to afraid to buy it, I guess now is my excuse to buy it and try to make something yummy with it. Thanks for the new challenge.
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hahah thanks, i’ll post a recap and send you a link.
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Nice ingredient! I’ve made it from scratch and it’s always been a bit lumpy, so maybe I will do better this time.
http://www.seejessrun.wordpress.com
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what a great story! that is serious dedication. i’m excited to see what people make with the polenta.
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Cool! I actually really like polenta, but have only made it once, so I hope I can use it this week.
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I am all over this one! Looking forward to see what people come up with!
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Ahhh yay!!! I’m so glad that you’re glad to be Judge and Manager
Polenta is a GREAT choice because it’s yet another food that I have NEVER tried before! Can ya believe it? I must be living under a rock. I’m thrilled and can’t wait to go out and get some! But of course, I also can’t wait to see what everyone else does!
Thanks also for posting a recap of the BSI so far! I had forgotten some of the weeks and it was nice to see them all in one place!
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Jenn- Thank YOU and you’re welcome! I was actually surprised that no one had done a recap yet!
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This has be wanting to try polenta…. I’m nervous… what if I ruin it? haha
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I need to get on this! I’m so out of the loop!
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Here’s my recipe – http://www.thesaladgirl.com/?p=596
Yay for polenta!
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I really love that you provided a history. We should make that a rule going forward!
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Okay, I posted my recipe – do I still need to send it to you via email?
All I know is my daughter LOVED my recipe! Thanks for letting me think outside the box!
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wow. I just came across your blog today and it is marked as a favorite because of your BSI!!!Reading about the polenta and your story made me an immediate fan! Polenta also has very strong family memories. My nonna from Genoa, also used to make up big batches, served soft and with gravy and homemade sausages. Thanks for a great blog and good luck on your wedding plans!
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thanks caroline! and re: garmin… thank you so much, it is on my wish list for next year but i just can’t invest that much right now!!! it looks so cool though! oh! and check out http://www.tri2cook.blogspot.com for this week’s BSI… it is lentils!
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Although the dog was dog shoes principally associated dog shoes with The Shoe it is also recorded that it made appearances througout the parish of North Wraxall. The dog shoes village of Ford has a parish narrate from April, 1794 that claims the dog was heard surface the vicarage shortly in advance of the expiry of Richard Wooley, the vicar. http://www.lovelonglong.com
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Although the dog was dog shoes mostly associated dog shoes with The Shoe it is also recorded that it made appearances througout the parish of North Wraxall. The dog shoes village of Ford has a parish make a notation of from April, 1794 that claims the dog was heard surface the vicarage by in the past the ruin of Richard Wooley, the vicar. http://www.lovelonglong.com
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