I love Allison’s blog and have been a reader for a long time.  When she put out the call for guest bloggers, I jumped at the chance!

I started blogging, and created Lessons to Learn, because I wanted to document a really exciting time in my life.  After 6 years of working as a counselor in middle and high schools, I am heading back to school myself!  At 31, it feels strange to be in a classroom again, but it’s also incredibly exciting.  I have a passion for food and health, and plan to take my counseling skills and specialize in nutritional counseling…..after I finally complete my prerequisites and a program in Dietetics.  It’s a long road, but it’s an exciting road!

A happy side benefit from all of this blog-writing and blog-reading has been a lot of experimentation in the kitchen.  My husband does not share my interest in food or in trying new and different things.  He likes the old standards, like meat and potatoes, and he likes as much white as possible on his plate!  He’s a good sport, but needless to say, he gets a little nervous when I say that I have a new idea!

In the last several weeks I have tried to adopt a gluten-free diet, after years of stomach trouble and failed experimentation with my diet.    This has led to more experimentation (sorry, Dave!).  I thought I would share with you this week’s experiment.  Polenta may not be new to many of you, but I’ve never had it, and I have, quite frankly, been a little intimidated by this tube of corn-based goo.  After a bit of internet research, I came up with a way for me to enjoy pizza again, without the gluten in the crust.

I bought a tube of polenta, rather than making it from scratch, wanting to make sure I like it before buying a whole bag of cornmeal!  I sliced the polenta into thin slices and baked in the oven at 425 for about 20 minutes.

This got the polenta slices a bit firm.  I arranged them into 2 individual pizzas, leaving as little room as possible between the slices, and “dressed” them…one for my meat-loving hubby, and one for my vegetable-loving self.

I put them back in the oven for another 10 minutes, until the cheese had melted and the “crust” looked a bit crispy

This was incredibly simple and really good.  Even Dave agreed that we should do more with polenta! The “crust” doesn’t become super firm, but the individual slices of polenta underneath made it easy to pick up each circular slice.  I think next time I will try to make it from scratch!

I hope I’ve given you a little window into my world.  One of the other reasons that I started  blogging was to hopefully meet new friends who share my interests in health, nutrition and fitness.  I have been overwhelmed by the amount of support and love I have felt from so many people who were strangers not long ago.  Come visit any time.  I am always happy to make new friends!