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Polenta Balls

June 4, 2008

polenta-balls.jpg

Last Sunday I ran into my friend Leslie at the farmers market. We started talking about weelicious and a recipe that she had come up with for her adorable son, August. She said that the rice ball recipe I had made for the website inspired her to try a polenta version. She took me through how she did it and I thought it was a genius and healthy idea. I changed it up a bit, but so can you. Feel free to use greens instead of broccoli or cheddar instead of Monterrey jack. This is a perfect recipe to improvise on. Also, if your little one isn't ready for bites yet, you can do a pureed version.
Trader Joe's (to the rescue, again) sells organic polenta packaged in an 18 oz. tube, which is a huge time saver. Since it's also gluten free, it's a perfect option for little ones with allergies. You only need half of the tube for this recipe, so you could take the leftover portion and pan sear slices for your dinner and serve it with some fresh tomato sauce and cheese.
Kenya loved popping these little bites in his mouth!

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Polenta Balls  (makes 30-40 �bites� or 2 cups of puree)

  • Prep Time:5 minutes,
  • Cook Time: 5 minutes,
  • Total Time: 15 minutes,

Ingredients

  • 1 cup broccoli, florets
  • 1/4 cup red bell pepper, chopped
  • 1/4 cup tofu, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1/4 cup monterrey jack cheese, shredded
  • 2 tablespoons parmesan
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon italian herbs
  • 1/2 tube (9 oz) polenta

Preparation

  1. 1. Heat the olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Add the
  2. vegetables and tofu and saute for 3 minutes. Cover the pan and steam for
  3. 2 more minutes or until broccoli is fork tender.
  4. 2. Place the sauteed ingredients, cheese and herbs in a food processor
  5. and pulse until everything is combined, but tiny pieces remain.
  6. 3. In a bowl mix the polenta with the vegetable/tofu mixture and roll
  7. into bite size balls.
  8. 4. Serve.
  9. *You can also use 1 cup of fresh polenta
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Comments






  1. Martha

    August 21, 2011 at 6:37 pm

    Reply

    We tried these tonight! My son is 4 but hates veggies. We used sweet potato instead of broccoli since I knew he’d freak out at the green bits. We skipped the Italian seasoning. We had my son take part in rolling the balls, which I think helped. He was skeptical as he put one to his mouth but then announced that it was actually good. A hit!

  2. Catherine

    April 7, 2011 at 5:54 pm

    Reply

    I made these for my 22 mo old DS today. They tasted good but too much garlic. My son took a bite and spit it out. Next time I would do 1/4 tsp garlic powder and taste the mix to see if it is ok.

  3. Dani

    March 25, 2011 at 12:48 pm

    Reply

    These sound great, and I REALLY want to make them for my son, but he can’t eat tofu…

    Could you suggest a substitution, or can I just omit the tofu?

    Many thanks :)

  4. Pingback: Cheesy Spinach Polenta Balls : Adventures in Baby Food

  5. Pingback: Cheesy Spinach Polenta Balls : adventuresinbabyfood.com



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