Rice Cooker Polenta

Ingredients

• 1 cup cornmeal ( polenta)
• 3 cups water
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese ( grated)
• 3 green onions, finely chopped (optional)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon basil
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon marjoram
• 1/4 teaspoon sage

Directions

1. Place all ingredients in rice cooker.
2. Start cooking cycle.
3. After cycle is complete, wait an additional 10 minutes to allow the polenta to absorb all the liquid.
4. Stir well before serving.
5. If you like firmer polenta, let it stand for 5 minutes prior to serving.

Camilla's Larabar recipe

Camilla at Power Hungry has a lot of suggestions for homemade variants of Larabars.

She starts with this basic formula for two bars:

1/4 cup roughly chopped whole fresh dates
1/4 cup dried cherries or dried cranberries
1/3 cup whole pecans, almonds or walnuts
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

Depending on the variant, she recommends altering the kinds and ratio of fruits and nuts.

She first combines the dates and dried fruit in the food processor to form a paste, then chops the nuts, and smooshes all the ingredients together. I think someone else recommended to do the smooshing in a ziplock bag. 

I tried this with dried cranberries and almonds, then mixed and flattened the whole thing (3-recipes worth) in a quart-sized freezer bag, before cutting it into bars. Delicious. 

a few links

• NPR on porridge
• Super spackle!
• A muffin-in-a-mug recipe to try
• Quinoa spinach bake 
• Quick-Pickled Winter Tomato Salad