Clean Eating Cheese Grits

Makes 6 servings
This blog post is actually my sister's birthday present (Happy Birthday, Anthea!!). I have been making this for about 2 years but just never got around to posting it on the blog. It is actually printed out on a piece of paper and is all crusty and stained from overuse. Anthea probably calls me once a month to ask for the recipe and I tell her to look it up online from the site I got the original idea from and just modify it but then she can't find it online so she calls me back and then I dig it out of the recipe box and sometimes it's crammed way in the back so then I have a panic attack thinking I've lost the recipe but I realize I can just call Danielle to get it from her since she cooked it for us when she was our nanny and made a copy before she left... this is my rambling train of thought while I'm digging in the recipe box. Also, now that I've been doing this blog for a while, I am completely incapable of cooking anything that isn't posted on it. So now you know I do all my blog posting for the selfish reason of making my own cooking easier and more organized :)

Long story short, this post is way overdue (and I'm tired of Anthea calling for the recipe LOL!). These grits are seriously delicious. I am British and I was raised in New York so, no matter how you look at it, there is absolutely no time in my childhood where I ever ate anything called a grit. I will admit to being a snotty Yankee when we moved to Florida and vowing never to eat grits. Ironically, the only reason I cooked this was because my Auntie Anne, who is super posh and high class, actually came all the way from England to visit us in Pensacola and she said she wanted to try grits. (We also had breakfast at waffle house. Picture the Queen of England in Waffle House saying, "And what exactly is biscuits and gravy?" and then ordering it. Insane.) 

So I searched for a grits recipe that would be a bit more gourmet than just plain grits and fully expected it to be revolting. WRONG! This is so good we licked our plates clean and I have made it a million times since then. In fact the only people who won't eat it are my boys. I don't get it because it's basically cheesy porridge and they would live on cheese alone if I let them and eat porridge almost every day for breakfast. I think it's a texture thing for them. I chalk it up to them just being too British for grits hehehe. We have this with Shrimp and Veggie Saute on top, basically Clean Eating Shrimp and Grits. Yum :)

Ingredients:

• 4 1/2 cups water
• 1 cup whole grain grits/cornmeal (This is the tricky bit. Most packages of grits are not actually wholegrain. In fact I have never found something labeled "grits" that was. Instead I use coarse wholegrain cornmeal.)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 cup shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

ONE: Bring water, grits/cornmeal, and salt to boil in a large saucepan, stirring occasionally. Once it's boiling, reduce the heat to low and simmer until the grits are thick, stirring occasionally. (I keep cooking them until I can make soft peaks in the grits with a whisk like when you are whipping egg whites. It usually takes about 10 or 15 minutes.)

TWO: Preheat oven to 350 and coat an 8-inch-square pan with cooking spray. Stir the garlic powder and cheeses into the grits and dump it all into the prepared pan. I like to reserve a little bit of the cheeses to sprinkle on top with an extra sprinkle of garlic powder.

THREE: Bake, uncovered, until bubbling and crusty on top, about 45 minutes.

To make ahead of time, complete step one and two (without preheating the oven obviously). Cover the baking dish and refrigerate until ready to bake.

One serving is 1/6th of the pan. Freeze leftover servings using the medium/large portions method to feed your freezer stash.

Nutrition Info:
Per 1/6th of the pan - 148 Calories (56 Calories from Fat), 6g Total Fat, 17mg Cholesterol, 295mg Sodium, 16g Total Carbohydrates, 1.5g Dietary Fiber, 7g Protein, 3% DV Vit A, 0% DV Vit C, 17% DV Calcium, 5% DV Iron

Bring water, salt, and grits to boil

Cook until thickened
(this is an attempt at getting a picture of the grits forming soft peaks)

Stir in cheeses and garlic powder

Dump in a pan and sprinkle a little extra cheese and garlic powder on top

This is what my kitchen looks like right now since we are still unpacking and have no table yet, LOL! But that doesn't mean we can't enjoy a yummy, Clean Eating dinner! (The boys are eating Black Bean Salsa Soup from the freezer since they are weirdos and won't eat the grits. Just one more great thing about having a good freezer stash.)
(Anthea, it should show you how much I love you that I took the time to post this even though this is what my kitchen looks like. Although to be fair your birthday was almost a month ago hehehe)

:)