Like I said in IRC, I will post a recipe tomorrow. Can't quite get it together to do it now.

I personally like plain old cooked grits sprinkled with pepper.

As a southern girl, you probably already know about cheese grits.

My son loved grits pancakes. Beat together an egg, a dash of milk (1/8 cup - I never measured), and a heaping tablespoon of flour. Stir in a cup of cooked grits. If the batter is too thin, add some more grits; if too thick, add some milk. Cook like a pancake. Spread with melted butter, and cover with real maple syrup.

I think grits are treated a little differently than polenta in the milling process, although I'm not sure how.

Most of my polenta experience has been with the instant stuff*. When you're going from scratch, I think you generally use chicken broth as your liquid. I have added goat cheese and sun-dried tomatoes (a cliche, yes, but a tasty one) with no ill effects. If you go that route, use the tomatoes you reconstitute in hot water rather than the ones packed in oil. Dried porcini (again, reconstituted in hot water) would also be a good choice.

*I bought the kind that comes pre-made in a plastic sleeve once. Never, ever again. It tasted just like the plastic.

Polenta is one of the few things I like that comes in an "instant" form. My experience with pre-made was the same as yours.

oooh, honey, warm up your tastebuds for Shrimp and Grits! Unfortunately, my cookbook with this recipe is still packed in a box somewhere, but here's a recipe from "Southern Living" that seems quite similar. This version also looks delicious. I'm sure the recipe I have calls for cheese in the grits, though you can find many versions that leave the cheese out. (But I wouldn't!)

Shrimp and Grits is apparently a Charleston thing, which you can read about in this blog post from someone who apparently really, really likes shrimp and grits. I do, too, but I keep forgetting to ask people coming from the U.S. to bring me grits, so this is a delight I haven't had in many, many years.

/jealous

please keep 'em coming! Yay!

Creamy Havarti grits.
Fried grits.

Cheese grits and grit cakes (with chopped herbs and scallion) come to mind. Haven't time to look anything up, but both are excellent.

I adore grits.

Taz, even I have a grits stash! I'll bring you some!

(ask Yahoo on polenta vs. grits)

Y'all okay on shellfish?

(Olive oil is for Brie-chewing Yankee sapsuckers, though. We Sandlappers prefer using a dab of bacon grease and crumble bacon into the grits.)

It's a great glue substitute, or possibly caulking around window sills. signed, non-grit fan

Shrimp & grits - I grew up on that. Cook the grits, saute garlic in olive oil, toss in a big handful of chopped fresh basil, a drained can of chopped tomatos and then the shrimp. When the shrimp are just turning pink add heavy cream. Yes. Seriously; it's my ex sister in law's recipe and it's divine. And then serve it over grits.

I make a kind of weird mexican grit casserole - use them almost like you'd use lasagna noodles but, you know, more vaguely latin. Into the casserole dish and/or one of those big old pyrex lasagna pan thingies goes a layer of (cooked)grits, a layer of black beans cooked with peppers & onions & garlic & corn & so on, then a layer of salsa, then a layer of grated cheese - queso fresco & pepper jack & cheddar or whatever and then repeat the whole thing, end with salsa on top, bake at 375 for an hour. This is really good.

But then I love grits, just plain grits or grits with bacon or yum, cheese grits with eggs.

Thass right, girl. I forget, mgl, you've actually been around my old stompin' ground. Ever get over to Poogan's Porch in Charleston?

There used to be this cook in Columbia who did an entire year of showing up on WVOC talk radio with a ten-minute segment about "grits recipe of the day" -- I vaguely remember something similar to your casserole. One other variation -- we have a lot of Greeks in the Midlands, inexpicably -- is substituting grits for potatoes in moussaka.

Cheeeeese! Lots and lots of cheeeeese!

cheese grits: make grits (@ 2:1 water:grits), and at the end add several handfuls of yummy cheese. stir mightily, serve fast; sets up like concrete.

fried grits are made w/ leftover grits that have set up like concrete. Make regular grits, serve w/ salt, pepper, butter. MMmmmm. Immediately put leftover grits in loaf pan. You want at least 1.5 - 2 inches thickness, and rectangles slice nice. Next day, slice grits really thin, fry in corn oil or bacon fat if you're seriously Southeren. Your arteries are already a wreck anyway. The fried grits should be fried until they are crispy edged and golden brown. Drain on newspaper. I salt them lavishly, and my son eats them as they are done. Some people put syrup on them instead of salt.

I have not ever tried fried cheese grits, as we never have leftover cheese grits.

Fried chicken, grits, and cooked greens is a fine, fine meal.

Lots of good suggestions already. Here's a "Seoul Food" (groooooaaan) twist.

My dad's from Mississippi so he'd make grits for breakfast on the weekends a lot when I was a kid, but my Korean mom figured out that grits kinda of taste like rice porridge, just less gluey and watery so in a pinch we'd sometimes treat it like that. Make grits your congee bitch!

Basic: soy sauce and sesame oil for saltiness and flavor.

Additional mix-ins:
-toasted sesame seeds
-chopped scallions
-shredded roasted seaweed
-scrambled eggs
-canned tuna
-...and many more!!! (just look up some jook and congee recipes)

I won't recommend abalone (super special Korean rice porridge), because that's just ridiculous, but if you had maybe some mussels or clams I don't see why these can't be added as well.

Oh yeah paxdigita, didn't you know I was a Charleston girl? Hell yeah I've been to Poogan's porch - I grew up on Queen Street behind the Dock Street theatre.

Pesto!

mygothlaundry, I think I've begun to fall in love with you...

Sweet potatoes cut up in chunks with a bit of brown sugar sprinkled over. Not kidding.

Heavy butter and salt. That's really all you need.

Or fry an egg or two, leaving the yolk runny, and mix into the grits, on your plate. Yum!