I bought a small bag of grits and ran most of them through my chopper to give them a finer consistency. I then used 1 cup of grits and started off with 2 cups of water. I had to add extra water, stirring to keep most of them from sticking to the bottom of the pot. After they were done (to taste), I poured the cooked grits into a 9 in. glass pie plate and put some plastic wrap over the top and put this in the refrigerator. Went to lunch and several hours later started the oven Broil at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes. Put a little margarine around the edge of the pie plate at the edge of the grits. Then, switched to Bake for about 7 minutes. There was just a little browning (very little), and a fine film of grits formed across the surface. I cut these into pie shapes, put most in a Tupperware storage container and put them in the refrigerator. **The baked grits did not stick to the glass pie plate, and there was just a small amount of moisture in one isolated location on the bottom of the plate.

I had a small amount of Creamed Spinach which I reheated. I had more of my stewed tomatoes (cold), which are like the tomato chutney that the Blue Willow Inn provides for meals. *The tomato chutney (sweet) as excellent with the Fried Green Tomatoes (savory).

I had no meat or gravy, but the grit cake, creamed spinach and the tomato chutney made a delicious meal… I even heated another grit cake with a little margarine on top, but had finished off the spinach and tomatoes. The little bit of spinach & tomato remaining in the bottom of the bowl flavored the grit cake well.

I haven’t had Polenta in a long while, but do like it, and this was my attempt to make a Polenta-like cake from cheap grits. *I’m sure the grit cakes will go well with the Round Bone Lamb Chops and a little of the gravy from the lamb. Glazed carrots, tomato chutney, creamed spinach, steamed cabbage or asparagus.

Actually, I just recalled that my first introduction to a Polenta cake was probably at “Trillium, a Bistro” in Asheville, NC several years ago. It would have been with the Alligator Sausage, and with Andouille Sausage… or with a Lentil soup.

NOTE: Add jalapenos, and or cheese to the grit cakes for alternate flavorings.

In my googling, I came across several articles regarding using a waffle iron with polenta (or could also be used to make a waffled grit cake). I was cleaning my bedroom closet and found my waffle iron.

[04/10/22]: My first attempt at using a waffle iron with the grit cake polenta went okay. I brushed oil on the waffle plates, top and bottom. I then cut triangles (and other shapes) of the grit cake mixture and placed them in each of the four plate sections, closed the lid and waited. There was steam coming from the plate and eventually, the waffle iron light turned green, the signal that the waffle should be ready. Not sure how the waffle iron measures doneness… is it the moisture content of the waffle mixture, and how would you measure that? The temperature?

But, when I opened the waffle iron, the grit cake was still un-browned, but it was a good grit cake that went well with the mushroom gravy I had prepared. *Think I’ll try fixing a few more grit cake waffles, and then brown them in the oven, with cheese on top, just before eating them.

[04/11/22]: Turned out really well! I had some left-over steak, mushroom gravy, glazed carrots (with Cary’s Sugar Free Syrup {has a maple flavor}), tomato chutney {what I am now calling my pot stewed tomato & onion concoction}, and I put some of the 6 Cheese Italian Blend shredded cheese on a couple of the small grit cake waffle sections, and put it under Broil HI for several minutes. The cheese browns nicely. These turned out really well, and grit cake (or polenta) soaks up the gravy and other juice flavors.

Before and after adding the mushroom gravy and the tomato chutney.