ATTENTION LADIES AND GENTLEMEN...

AHEM....I have an announcement to make. And NO! I am NOT pregnant and NO amazing honors or medals or awards have been bestowed upon me in the recent days. No. My announcement is even MORE profound than any of that news. And my announcement is.....TONIGHT I COOKED! That's right. I cooked dinner. FROM SCRATCH. And it was very, VERY fancyesque! (Okay...so I totally made up that word and my spell check SO totally hates it!). On the menu tonight? Well, that would be Smoky Shrimp and Parmesan Polenta Cakes. Are you dazzled? Well...you SHOULD be! It was a dazzling dinner with a fantastic and beautiful presentation. AND only 231 calories for two polenta cakes! Now...you really should be dazzled when I share with you that when I decided to cook this recipe...I honestly had NO idea what the heck polenta was or where in the world one would purchase it. My only hint was that it came in a 17 ounce tube. And so I ASSUMED it MUST be cold. But cold what? Well...that was the mystery. I set out for Safeway this afternoon, shopping list in hand with all of the necessary ingredients and I started in the produce section. No polenta. Next I hit the hot dog section (just in case!) and no polenta. From there I hit the natural foods and soy section. NO polenta. I did not find it with the chicken, red meats or fish sections either. Nor with the sour creams or yogurts or cheeses. I was starting to get worried. But then I hit the "specialty and gourmet" foods area there right by the deli area....and there it was. Sun Dried Tomato Polenta. It was that or Mushroom Polenta. And I HATE mushrooms. And so Sun Dried it was! I threw it in the cart and we were in business! I should add here that in addition to not knowing what the heck polenta was or what it was made from, I also have no idea if I or anyone else in my family would like it. But it looked pretty and it was in my Cooking Light magazine...and so...polenta it was going to be. Well, I cooked it all up and it was.....DELICIOUS!!! I mean...totally YUMMY! Score one for mommy! Hooray! The totally big kudos for this dish? It was way easy and super quick...even by my standards! This one we will definitely have again. What did the kiddos say? Well....Max didn't try it. He is running a pretty good fever tonight and is a bit nauseaus. He got a couple of immunizations yesterday and he has had a tough time with this set. So he stuck to plain old Ramen Noodles...not that he would really have tried this anyway! And Ben tried it. Loved the shrimp...but told me the bread stuff (aka Polenta) was just disgusting. Clara wasn't here tonight because she is with her friend Sophia again. Chris and I thought it was outstanding. This will DEFINITELY be fixed again in our house! And so...that's my announcement of the day! Aren't you so impressed?! Here's a picture of the culinary creation!