Seconds Favorites

Posted on December 3, 2017 by melsmosaic

You love it, you make it. Even it’s seconds. So I was cruising around the Farmer’s Market (yes, this is a few months back based on the ingredients) and trying to decide what to make for a Supper Club dinner coming up. I realized that a couple of my favorites were in high quantity because of the season — (beefsteak) tomatoes and peaches/nectarines. Now, while I love supporting the locals, sometimes those produce items can get up to $4-6/lb. And those beefsteaks can weight 1lb+ each!

So I noticed somebody who worked for one of the stands I usually buy from tossing stuff to the side and I asked her what they were and what was wrong with them. She said they were just a bit bruised, had torn/broken skin, etc, so couldn’t be sold a regular price. They all cost $1/lb! Just takes a little digging to find the one they aren’t totally bad, which isn’t hard. SOLD!

So, while digging, I came up with a good combo idea of tomatoes and peaches then remembered I had some Hearts of Palm at home.

I just cubed all of them, added some spices (I think it was garlic, S&P) and tossed them together. Heaven! The only thing I had to do was drain it a bit because of the juiciness. Leftovers = zero. Too bad I didn’t get seconds from the seconds.

Simple Salad

Posted on May 7, 2017 by melsmosaic

Any salad (or dish) that you can throw together quickly is great. And when it’s with some ingredients you love it’s even better. Fennel and hearts of palm are two veggies (? — are they both considered that) I could eat every day.

A salad I recently made because of the warm temps had two of those in there — fennel, hearts of palm and then some oranges.

Use the ratio of whatever you’d like on all of them. Slice them. Toss them with a little of olive oil, S&P and you’re good to go. Delicious!

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.

Beet Me!

Posted on February 18, 2015 by melsmosaic

Found some lonely beets the other day that I had to use. Didn’t find anything exciting while researching recipes, so decided to just throw some stuff together.

So, first the fun — taking those innocent beets and peeling them.

And getting some beautifully colored hands in return (didn’t have any gloves).

I hadn’t used my toaster oven for ages so decided to put it to good use since I didn’t have a ton of beets. Warmed that up to about 425 and then tossed the beets with some olive oil, oregano, basil and a couple other spices. Covered the toaster oven sheet in foil and put the (quartered) beets on there.

Roasted them for about 30-40 minutes, until they were done enough for me. When they were finished, I tossed them with some hearts of palm and pistachios. So good!

Grapefruit and Hearts of Palm Salad

Posted on January 18, 2015 by melsmosaic

Found this recipe in Cooking Light and it just sounded so good. Many of my favorite ingredients. It just doesn’t seem like something that would be published in a winter issue (Jan/Feb) but I’m happy it was.

Grapefruit and Hearts of Palm Salad

Ingredients

2 tablespoons canola oil (I used olive oil)
1/2 teaspoon grated lime rind
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon canola mayonnaise (nixed that)
1 teaspoon honey
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

4 cups baby kale (I chopped it)
1 1/2 cups ruby red grapefruit sections (about 2 large grapefruit)
1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
2 (14-ounce) cans hearts of palm, rinsed, drained, and cut diagonally into 1/4-inch slices
1 small red chile, seeded and thinly sliced (I just used pepper flakes)
1 ripe peeled avocado, cut into thin wedges

Directions

1. Combine first 6 ingredients in a small bowl; stir with a whisk until smooth.

2. Place 2/3 cup kale on each of 6 plates. Arrange grapefruit sections, onion, hearts of palm, chile, and avocado evenly over kale. Drizzle with dressing. (ok, I didn’t make it that fancy — tossed all that stuff in a bowl and dressed it).

So good! Served it with some pan-seared scallops. I could eat this every night.

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.