Non-Chickpea Hummus

Posted on January 22, 2017 by melsmosaic

I try a lot to vary hummus when I make it, as in different spices, and then different beans — black, cannellini, kidney, etc.

Then I had some edamame that I wanted to use so checked out some recipes for that to see if there was anything different about it. I finally ended up with one from FoodTV that did not use chickpeas, which was perfect.

Ingredients

1/2 pound frozen shelled edamame (green soy beans), about 1 1/2 cups
1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
1 lemon (about 3 tablespoons), juiced
1 clove garlic, smashed
3/4 teaspooon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Directions

Boil the beans in salted water for 4 to 5 minutes, or microwave, covered, for 2 to 3 minutes.

In a food processor, puree the edamame, tahini, water, lemon zest and juice, garlic, salt, cumin, and coriander until smooth. With the motor running, slowly drizzle in 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and mix until absorbed.

Transfer to a small bowl, stir in the parsley and drizzle with remaining oil. Serve with the suggested vegetables, or refrigerate, covered, up to 1 day.

When I was making this, I was at this great place where I dogsit that has a beautiful, amazing kitchen but lack of ‘stuff.’ As in, no food processor. There is a mini prep and antiquated blender. It was quite a process to make this, or shall I say — entertaining.

The end result was ok. It was just missing something — I added more salt and lemon juice, then some garlic, thinking maybe that would do it. Nothing great. Now, it did get a better after sitting for a bit. But, nothing overly fancy or exciting, but a decent alternative to ‘normal’ hummus.

Avocado, Hearts of Palm & Heaven

Posted on November 25, 2015 by melsmosaic

When you read a recipe where all ingredients are ones that you absolutely love, you must make it. I found this Avocado–Hearts of Palm Salad in Health magazine and had to try it ASAP. And, it could not be easier to put together.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon lime zest
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 large ripe avocado, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/2 cup drained, coarsely chopped canned hearts of palm (about half a 15-oz. can) — I used more than half a huge jar from Costco
3 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro
2 scallions, white and light green parts only, thinly sliced (about 1/4 cup)

Preparation

1. In a small bowl, whisk together oil, lime zest and juice, garlic and salt until combined.

2. In a medium bowl, combine avocado, hearts of palm, cilantro and scallions. Pour dressing over avocado mixture and gently fold together. Season with additional salt, if desired.

This was just so good. Definitely needs that salt. So fresh, so delicious. I ended up making it two days in a row for appetizers. Served it with crackers.

Marinated Mushroom, Manchego and Vodka Tomato Skewers

Posted on May 3, 2015 by melsmosaic

Was going tailgating recently and was asked to bring fingerfoods. Went through various recipes and put a few together to come up with something that ended up way too good. I made mini skewers (used toothpicks) of marinated mushrooms, squares of manchego, and vodka-spiked tomatoes. Delicious! Then, with the leftovers that I didn’t skewer, combined everything and it made a delicious salad(tossed it with mixed greens, too).

Marinated Mushrooms

1 lb mushrooms
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup olive oil
(some) garlic — you can never have too much (I was in another kitchen and had to use dry stuff)
S&P
paprika
2-3 bay leaves

Slice mushroom. Mix all other ingredients together. Mix in mushrooms. Let sit 30 minutes-overnight in fridge.

Vodka Spiked Tomatoes

Ingredients

3 pints firm small red and yellow cherry tomatoes – I use(d) grape ones
1/2 cup vodka
3 tablespoons white-wine vinegar
1 tablespoon superfine granulated sugar
1 teaspoon finely grated fresh lemon zest
3 tablespoons kosher salt
1 1/2 tablespoons coarsely ground black pepper

Preparation

-Cut a small X in skin of blossom end of each tomato. ** I just sliced a bit into each one — I don’t have the patience to make an X into a cherry tomato, make a bigger slice.

-Blanch tomatoes, 5 at a time, in a saucepan of boiling water 3 seconds and immediately transfer with a slotted spoon to a bowl of ice and cold water to stop cooking. **I did them all at once in a huge pan, much easier.

-Drain and peel, transferring to a large shallow dish. **Did not peel, don’t have the patience because I tried it once and it takes forever. Make a bigger cut in step one. And, no you don’t get as much vodka taste, but it still works.

-Stir together vodka, vinegar, sugar, and zest until sugar is dissolved, then pour over tomatoes, gently tossing to coat. Marinate, covered and chilled, at least 30 minutes and up to 1 hour.

When the mushroom and tomatoes were ready, I ‘skewered’ them with cubed Manchego onto toothpicks. It made for the perfect size for tailgaiting. Will definitely make them again!

Baby Eggplant

Posted on December 29, 2014 by melsmosaic

Was roaming around the produce section at Sprouts the other day and saw these random purple, oblong-ish things that I didn’t recognize at first. Stopped and then determined what they were. Whoa — baby eggplant. So neat. They were 1.5″-2″ long and just too good to pass up. And, they were a whopping 5 for $1.

To cook, decided to slice them in half, longways, season with some Italian herbs, drizzle with olive oil and put on the grill.

Cooked for 10+ minutes, turning once. So good. You could eat them in one bite, scoop out the middle, pop the inside out by pressing from the skin. They had just a bit of a different taste from regular eggplant. They would be perfect to serve as appetizers because they can totally be finger food.

Yodeling

Posted on October 28, 2014 by melsmosaic

When you hear the word Yodeling, there are three things you can do.

1) Look up the definition to be sure you know what it really is, or see if it some new-aged term. To save you the time, per Merriam-Webster, it is to sing by suddenly changing from a natural voice to a falsetto and back.

2) Search for videos that feature this action. Again, saving you some time. Found a great one!

3) Go to Whole Foods and buy Yodeling Goat Gouda! A great cheese for lactose-intolerant folks, those who love cheese, anybody who wants to try something new or just easily Yodle, because they don’t want to sing.

I saw this the other day when I was at Whole Foods and picked some up. It’s great because it’s harder than the normal goat cheese and as the sign mentions, has a bit of a nutty flavor. Also, I’ve not purchase that much cheese there and didn’t realize they cut you as big or small of piece(s) as you want to take home. I got a nice small piece to take with me.

HOP Part I

Posted on December 16, 2013 by melsmosaic

There are acronyms for far too many things in this world and I will take any chance to make a play on them. So, for this blog, HOP stands for Hearts of Palm. Ever wonder what they really are? That’s what Wikipedia is for!! Check it out.

I love the things (or swamp cabbage as Wikipedia just taught me). I buy them at Costco where you can get two huge jars for about $8. Anyway, I was having a gathering at my place this afternoon and threw together this great Heart of Palm Salad (HOPS) that somebody gave me the recipe for years ago. It is beyond basic and great for light fare.

Ingredients:

1 lb hearts of palm
1 tbsp lime or lemon juice (lime is better)
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
S&P
3 tbsp olive oil
2 or 3 heads of endive

All you have to do is drain and rinse the HOP then cut them into small pieces. Throw them in a bowl. Then, in another bowl mix together the lemon or lime juice, mustard, S&P. Whisk in the oil until the mixture’s thick and blended. Pour the dressing over the HOP and toss to mix. Divide the endive leaves and fill each one with a bite-size scoop of the salad. Done! Great for parties because they require no silverware for eating (finger-food), are safe at room-temp for awhile, are dairy-free, gluten-free, and vegetarian, and heck, fairly healthy. So, all around, can please many palates.

Let’s Get Crack(er)in’

Posted on November 27, 2013 by melsmosaic

Pre-dinner, appetizers, crackers. Go to store, reach for X box. Get home, open cardboard then bag (or just rip open the bag of pita chips — don’t lie). Why must we always do this?

I am crafting ideas for an event in a couple weeks and wanted to do a test pilot recipe for homemade super crisp crackers. Did some googling and an Alton Brown recipe came up on Food TV‘s site. How can you go wrong with Alton? I used the basics and threw in some lemon zest and vodka to complement some of the fish I aim to serve the crackers with.

Ingredients

5 ounces whole-wheat flour
4 3/4 ounces all-purpose flour, plus additional for rolling

<used all whole wheat because I was out of regular!>
1/3 cup poppy seeds
1/3 cup sesame seeds
1 1/2 teaspoons table salt
1 1/2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder
3 tablespoons olive oil
6 1/2 ounces water
<used 1.5 ounces vodka and 5 ounces water>
added 1.5 teaspoons lemon zest

I went with the awesome Penzey’s dry lemon peel for my zest that I wanted to add. Add water, 15 minutes later, voila!

Then, you just mix the dry ingredients, blend in the wet ones, knead a few times and break into 8 small balls of dough.

You let them sit for 15 minutes then roll them out to desired thickness, based on what kind of cracker you’d like.

Put the entire piece of dough in the oven. You’re supposed to flip them half way but I love baking stuff on oven-proof racks to avoid the flipping need. After 6-15 minutes, depending on what you choose (based on Alton’s specs), take the crisps out of the oven, let cool, then break into desired size of crackers.

The recipe (online) got rave reviews. I think my effort to put my own flavor into it altered it a bit in an off way (the vodka made them a bit ‘soggy’) but they are still darn edible. I just always love tweaking things. But, give them a try! Very easy to make and a fun alternative to store-bought crackers.

Mushroom & White Bean Crostini

Posted on November 14, 2013 by melsmosaic

A cold afternoon can only get better with the amazing aroma of mushrooms and fresh herbs! I was having some friends over the other day and we always enjoy hummus as one of our snacks so had to do something different. I came across a new recipe that has one of their favorite foods in it — mushrooms — and then it has the beans of hummus, too. Perfect! So I whipped up a Mushroom & White Bean Crostini. I made a few changes to the original recipe based on what I had on hand and lactose intolerance.

Ingredients

1 (French) baguette, sliced 1/4 inch thick
3/4 cup garlic infused olive oil — just used the regular stuff and sprinkled the bread with garlic powder
1 Tablespoon butter — didn’t use any
1 Tablespoon olive oil — ‘some’ — accounting for no butter
8 ounces sliced mushrooms, cleaned and patted dry — picked up a pack at Trader Joe’s
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pinch Kosher salt
1 15.9 ounce can Bush’s Great Northern Beans, drained and rinsed — used Cannellini Beans
2 Tablespoons Italian Herbs — went with flat leaf parsley and fresh rosemary — totally more than 2 tbsp
1/4 cup shredded Swiss cheese — nixed that for my own reasons — let me know how it tastes

Time to cook!

I put the slices of baguette under the broiler — translation nice and quick vs. extended toasting.

Next, per the recipe, heat a saucepan over medium heat. Add olive oil, <butter> and mushrooms. Sauté for 5-10 minutes or until mushrooms release their moisture and begin to shrink. Continue cooking until most of the liquid has evaporated. The kitchen started smelling so good!

Then, get those herbs ready! Now, aroma overload. This is one of the reasons we cook!!!!

Next, add minced garlic, salt, herbs and beans. Stir and cook over medium heat until mixture is heated through.

Finally —

I served this in a bowl and let guests dish it onto bread on their own or just put it on their plate and eat it with a fork. Otherwise the recipe mentions…To assemble each piece of Crostini, place a spoonful of mushroom bean mixture on top of a slice of toasted bread. Top with shredded baby swiss cheese.
This was so, so good. Would be great to serve at upcoming parties and can be easily transported if not served on bread if you want to take it somewhere. You can easily make it ahead of time and heat it up when you arrived at required location.

Making Simple (No-Recipe) Dishes to Pair With Amazing Wines

Posted on April 13, 2013 by melsmosaic

I’m catching up with some friends tonight who are more wine lovers than me. They just received their shipment of Oregon wines and they need me to taste some of them. Oh, the things we have to go through in life. Can all things be this bad? I told them I would provide the food this time (since last time they did both food and wine…come on, let me have at least some of the fun and play in the kitchen!).

I have been debating what to make to pair with the amazing adult grape juice I will enjoy in a few hours. I’m assuming it’s Pinot Noir because of where it’s from (will keep you posted). I wanted to make simple snacks/appetizers so we can swirl, sniff, taste, sip, nibble, sip, sip, sip, nibble, sip, and then, next wine…repeat.

I have decide on the following ‘menu’:

-homemade hummus
-homemade guacamole
-store bought (Trader Joe’s) salsa (yes, store bought)
-Manchego (since even those who are lactose intolerant can eat it!)
-veggies for dipping
-tortilla and pita chips
-chocolate covered pretzels

Had a great time making the dips — short, sweet to the point. For the hummus, today I just used the basics ingredients — chickpeas, tahini, garlic (yes, the cheater kind), lemon juice, paprika, S&P.

After I open the can of beans I always put a tiny bit of the liquid from the can in the Cuisinart food processor before emptying the can and rinsing the beans. Then I use ‘some’ of everything else. Today I blended everything much longer than normal and it’s nice and smooth!

Next up, guacamole!! One of my favorites. Everybody has their own ingredients besides very important one — avocados. Sometimes I switch it up, but my basics are the avocados, lime juice, garlic, cilantro (though most of time I go for coriander because I just have it handy), cumin, onion powder, chili powder, S&P.

Then, grab a bowl, something to mix/mash with and go!

I have everything prepared and packed and will be heading to my friends’ place in a few hours. Will keep you posted on the wine we enjoy and how the food pairs.

Testing…1,2,3…Testing

Posted on April 3, 2013 by melsmosaic

The kitchen is my playground. My parents brought my brother and me up in the land filled with spoons, forks, knives, blenders, mixers (go KitchenAid Stand Mixer), stoves (gas is the only acceptable type), BBQs & more. And, we had to eat everything. I have therefore learned not to waste anything. In order to not waste, I love just making stuff…testing. I know various flavors and what can and can’t, or shouldn’t, go together.

I have some fresh herbs left from a dinner last week that I don’t want to them go bad/waste. What to do with them? Thick pesto-like dip, cheese-free is what I came up with. So, ingredients I pulled from various areas of the kitchen, along with the essential mini-prep food processor:

All quantities are ‘some’ — who really measures? It’s all about taste!

-fresh basil

-fresh flat leaf parsley

-1 lemon (ok, measured, but still could be big, could be small)

-garlic — I cheated and used stuff from the jar

-walnuts

-almonds

-S&P

-a great Penzey’s spice with lemony-Italian flavors

-olive oil

Blended, sampled, added more stuff, blended, sampled. Good! Now, will get final reviews after it’s been in the fridge for about 24 hours. Plan to serve with chips, tomatoes and/or mushrooms for dipping.

Testing…1,2,3…Testing.