Beer Girl Cooks

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heart of palm

Heartthrob Salad

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Happy Friday, y’all!  I don’t know about you, but I sure am relieved that the weekend is almost here! What are you getting into this weekend?  Do you have any fun plans?  If so, let me know – maybe I’ll crash your party!   I’m totally not kidding.

 

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I’m seriously hoping to have some chill time this weekend.  Maybe hang out with Luke and Laura and totally binge on General Hospital.  Don’t judge me.

 

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Let’s talk about this salad.  I realize that salads are not the sexiest topic in the world, but this one is absolutely hands-down worth discussing.  I came across the original Heartthrob Salad recipe in a Valentine’s Day issue of Cooking Light Magazine about 10 years ago or so.  We made it, loved it, and have been having it pretty regularly ever since. It’s so simple and delicious.  You just have to plan ahead a bit and sometimes I just throw together the tomato dressing part the day before and stick it in the fridge overnight.

 

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Normally I make this salad with cherry, plum or Roma tomatoes, but you can use whatever tomatoes you like. Jennifer and I went to the farmer’s market outside of our work the other day and they had these gorgeous little heirloom tomatoes.  Most of them were cherry size, but some were tiny and some were the size of small Romas.

 

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Like the crazy lady that I am, I snatched up 3 or 4 pints.  I was so out of control grabbing all these tomatoes I can’t remember how many I bought.  Based on my produce hanging basket I’d say I was nuts slightly out of control.

 

Have a fantastic weekend, y’all!

 

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Heartthrob Salad

Ingredients

  • 1 pint heirloom cherry size tomatoes sliced in half or quartered for larger ones
  • 2-3 garlic cloves minced or pressed
  • 2 tablespoons pitted and chopped kalamata olives
  • 3 pieces of heart of palm cut into 1/2 - 3/4 inch pieces plus 2 or so more to garnish, sliced into 2 inch long and 1/4 inch wide pieces - these sizes are approximate - do what makes you happy
  • 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 head of romaine lettuce cut or torn into bite sized pieces
  • Optional items - grated parmesan obviously not a vegan option and parsley

Instructions

  1. Combine tomatoes, garlic, olives, small pieces of heart of palm vinegar, olive oil, Dijon, and salt and pepper to taste in a container with a lid, stir to mix well, cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
  2. Add lettuce to a large bowl, top with tomato/olive/dressing business and garnish with remaining pieces of heart of palm
  3. Top with parsley and parmesan if using

Inspired by and adapted from Cooking Light Magazine

Summer Cold Corn Soup

by 28 Comments

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So we’ve had these little talks about my food blogger weight gain, button blowing, and (hopfully) losing weight by making better food choices during the week.  Basically, I’ve been trying to exhibit some self control and eat only plant based foods during the week while allowing some flexibility on the weekend.

Here is a random piece of advice: do not eat vegan during the week and then on Saturday have a hot dog, brisket, mac n’ cheese and potato chips.  Trust me.  Cheat if you will, but not all at once. Draw your own conclusions.  That’s all I’m going to say about that.

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We wouldn’t be talking about this if Jennifer hadn’t bullied me into confessing.  Don’t get me wrong – I think a vegan lifestyle is great.  I just don’t have the kind of will power to sustain it. Seiously. I have zero self-control. None.  CHEEEEEEEZE!

 

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I actually was a pretty hard-core vegan for about three years before I went to law school.  A stressed out law student doing a weekly 3 hour commute each way from Charlotte to Buies Creek, NC with a kid and one Food Lion did not make for vegan friendly eats.  We talked about the slippery slope into mac ‘n cheese.  I don’t feel the need to confess to that again.  Please still be my friend.

 

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Soooo, I have all these vegan and raw cookbooks that I absolutely love to read because the pictures are stunning and they make me want to eat better. I’ve been going through them recently and making some of the recipes that look fun, delicious, and/or interesting.  This is a raw cold corn soup that I adapted from one of the raw food cookbooks on my shelf.

 

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It’s the perfect summer don’t want to be fat anymore cold sweet refreshing soup.  If you have a dehydrator and approximately 2.6785 hours of your life to dehydrate corn, go for it.  Seriously, be all you can be.  Me?  Nope.  I sent Chris up to the 200000000 degree attic to fetch my food dehydrator and when I saw the amount of cleaning necessary – full disclosure – I said a big oh hell no!  So we went with raw corn, heart of palm, and avocado garnishes up in here.

It was delicious.

Adapted from Raw by Charlie Trotter and Roxanne Klein

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Summer Cold Corn Soup

Ingredients

  • 3 cups fresh corn with a handful of reserved for garnish - I used 4 cobs and sliced off the corn
  • 2 cups filtered water
  • Sea salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 avocado diced
  • 3-4 pieces of heart of palm diced

Instructions

  1. Combine corn and water in a food processor (or high speed blender) and puree until smooth (ish)
  2. Season with salt and pepper to taste
  3. Transfer to a fine mesh sieve and strain into a serving bowl
  4. Garnish with heart of palm and avocado
  5. Serve chilled or at room temperature

Note:  I do not possess a fancy pants high speed blender, so I used my food processor.  If you have such a fancy machine, you may not need to run your soup through a sieve.