hazelnuts – Mel's Mosaic

Pretty much my favorite place to do grocery shopping is Trader Joe’s. Well, that is because there isn’t a Wegmans close by (DC residents, have you heard the latest rumor about the Fannie Mae building on Wisconsin Ave and them looking at the space??).

Anyway, there is of course point-of-purchase stuff at TJ’s and one I opted to grab recently was their Mixed Nut Butter. It’s a blend of Dry Roasted & Salted Almonds, Cashews, Walnuts, Brazil Nuts, Hazelnuts & Pecans. Sounds great. I’m just not a huge fan of the Brazil nuts, but I’ll eat them. It doesn’t say smooth anywhere, which is cool, too.

The flavor was ok, but it was almost too many flavors fighting with each other. When you buy mixed nuts you can taste each one on its own. I also love chunky nut butter and it was a bit too smooth, for me. Not much salt in it, though salt was an ingredient. Not something I’ll buy again, but glad I tried it. Price was $5.99, I think. Not cheap, especially for the size. Totally worth the test.

In the past week I’ve been making a bunch of great recipes that of course called for delicious fresh herbs. But, how much did I need to use? Oh, maybe 1-2 tablespoons. And how much did I have to buy? Oh, that entire huge packet at the store. So, these herbs are on their last legs and I have to use them somehow. So, what to do? Pesto! The main ingredients I needed to use were (flat leaf) parsley, chives and basil. Can you tell I shop at Trader Joe’s a lot based on the packaging?

Got those sort of off the stems the threw them in the mini prep then decided what all to put in there. Opted to use lemon olive oil, tons of garlic (of course!), a splash of lemon juice then opted for hazelnuts for a bit of a different taste. Oh, S&P, too of course. I can’t use the cheese because of the lactose intolerance thing, though if I had manchego on hand, I might have tried it.