Not Your Average Shrimp and Grits

I'm a southern girl.  Born and bred.  One of my favorite southern meals is shrimp and grits.  Between being out of the country for almost four months and hitting up the paleo diet before we left, I hadn't made shrimp and grits in a loooong time.  My craving hit, I was determined to make it for dinner and then I looked in the freezer.  NO SHRIMP!  I had everything else I needed but the shrimp.  So what does one do when you have a craving for something specific but don't want to brave the cold to go to the grocery store...improvise!  So here is my new play on shrimp and grits....

Italian Sausage and Grits!  It would actually work out perfect.  We had a huge pack of Italian sausage in the freezer and the hubs has been requesting that I try out making paella sometime soon.  So I used half the sausage for this and bagged the rest to save for paella later in the week.  I still missed the shrimp, but this was a good, yummy and (best of all) quick alternate!  Everyone cleared their plates!  Try it out sometime and let me know what you think!

Italian Sausage and Grits - Serves 4 (adapted from Baked Polenta from Spoon, Fork, Bacon)

1 lb Italian sausage; casings removed
1/2 red onion; diced
4 garlic cloves; minced
4 oz cremini mushrooms; cleaned and sliced
2 T thyme; minced
1/4 c chicken or beef broth
4 1/2 c water
1 1/2 c yellow cornmeal
3 T unsalted butter
6 oz goat cheese; crumbled
3 T parmesan; grated
salt and pepper

1 - Heat a skillet over medium high heat.  Brown the sausage.  Remove from the pan reserving the drippings in the pan.
2 - Add red onion and garlic to the skillet.  Cook until transparent.  Add the mushrooms.  Cook until slightly softened.  Add thyme and broth.  Reduce heat to medium and cook until slightly reduced, 5-10 minutes.
3 - Meanwhile, bring water to a boil in a pot.  Whisk in yellow cornmeal in a slow stream.  Reduce heat to medium low and cook, stirring constantly, until thickened (about 5 minutes).
4 - Add butter and cheeses to the pot and stir until melted.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.
5 - Return sausage to the skillet and heat through.  Serve sausage mixture over polenta.

What's on your plate for the big game?  See what was on mine soon...