Crustless Three-Cheese Tart with Spinach & Hearts of Palm

For the past week or so I have been moving a container of cottage cheese around in my fridge. I don't eat cottage cheese, mind you, I bought it to use in a recipe. The trouble is, after I got home, I couldn't remember what recipe it was, and searching efforts were fruitless. So today, a particularly cold and gloomy day, I decided I was going to do something with that cottage cheese. I wanted a nice warm lunch, so decided to make some sort of crustless quiche/tart, using it to get rid of all of the errant ingredients in my fridge.

Basing this upon the Cheese Peta recipe of my late aunt (you can find that recipe here), I whisked together eggs, cottage cheese, half a package of frozen chopped spinach that I had thawed and drained, then stirred in some cheese, sliced hearts of palm, and baked it. It was wonderful! I had it with a nice warm crusty roll slathered with butter, and it was the most satisfying late afternoon lunch.

This was so good that I'm thinking it could probably be baked in an 8” x 8” square pan, cut into squares (or diamonds if you're feeling fancy), and served as a hot hors d'oeuvre. Consider this post as an encouragement to get you imagining what you can do with the items that are in your fridge. In the meantime, I encourage you to try this recipe; it's delicious. Cut small slivers to serve as a side dish alongside baked ham, or larger portions to serve as a main dish. You’re going to love it.

Crustless Three-Cheese Tart with Spinach & Hearts of Palm

 3 eggs

1 c. small curd cottage cheese

½ of a 10-oz. pkg. frozen, chopped spinach

½ of a 14-oz. jar Melissa’s Hearts of Palm, sliced into ½” rounds

1 c. freshly grated pepper jack cheese

1 c. freshly grated sharp cheddar cheese

2 T. flour

Few gratings of fresh nutmeg

¼ c. butter, melted

 Preheat oven to 350° F.  Spray a 9” pie pan with Pam.

Thaw spinach and drain very well. Whisk together the eggs and cottage cheese. Stir in spinach, hearts of palm, cheeses, flour and nutmeg. Pour butter over all and stir to combine. Pour into pie pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool ten minutes before slicing.

 NOTE: This recipe can be made the day prior to baking.  Just mix it together, pour in into a pie plate, cover, and keep refrigerated until ready to bake.This is a nutritious, home-cooked comfort food that's definitely healthier than most restaurant quiches, cheesy casseroles, or takeout options—thanks to the protein punch, veggies, no crust, and real ingredients. It's not a "light salad" level of low-calorie, but it's a wholesome, satisfying choice for lunch, brunch, or dinner, especially if you're prioritizing protein and vegetables over ultra-low-fat eating.

If you'd like to make it even healthier:

Use low-fat or 2% cottage cheese.

Reduce cheese to 1½ cups total or swap in part-skim varieties.

Cut butter to 2–3 Tbsp or use olive oil.

Add more veggies (e.g., extra spinach, mushrooms, or zucchini) to bulk it up. 

Two Hearts Salad

 

Here is a simple salad for Memorial Day Monday. There really isn’t much to this considering how delicious and elegant it can be; it can also be dressed down for an every day meal. You can serve it as a side dish in a custard cup or in an ornate bowl. You can serve it over lettuce leaves as I have done here, or chopped mixed greens. You can also serve it in individual leaves of Boston lettuce for easy pickings on a buffet. If you have any of this salad left over (not likely), rinse it and use it in a quiche. I am not kidding! SO GOOD!

Two Hearts Salad

1 14.8-oz. jar Melissa’s Hearts of Palm
1 14.75-oz. jar marinated artichokes, drained, reserve juice
½ c. thinly sliced red onion
1 T. Dijon mustard
1 t. red wine vinegar

Slice hearts of palm on the diagonal in bite-size pieces, approximately ½ to ¾ inches. Cut artichoke hearts in halves or quarters, depending upon the initial size. Thinly slice red onion (I use a mandolin). Put all vegetables into a medium bowl.

Measure out ½ cup of the reserved juice from the marinated artichokes. Into that stir in 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard and 1 tablespoon cider vinegar. Whisk together until fully emulsified. Pour over vegetables and toss gently. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

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Avocado Hearts of Palm Salad with Parsley Vinaigrette

We all have our favorite ingredients, those that we tend to use again and again. Two of my favorites are avocado and hearts of palm. My fridge is never without at least one avocado; my pantry is never without a jar of hearts of palm. Up until now, however, I had never combined the two. Wow! What an impact it made in this fabulously good and company worthy salad. The combination of the two, along with the peppery red onion, and fabulously tangy dressing made with fresh parsley from my garden makes this a total winner!

Avocado Hearts of Palm Salad with Parsley Vinaigrette

For vinaigrette

1 small garlic clove

1/4 cup fresh parsley

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

Few gratings black pepper

1/2 cup good olive oil

For salad

1 14.8-ounce jar Melissa’s Hearts of Palm, drained

4 ripe avocados

1 small red onion, sliced thin

1 large head Romaine lettuce, broken into bite-sized pieces

Make vinaigrette:

Toss all ingredients into a mini food processor, and process or 30 seconds until emulsified. I’m not kidding, if you don’t have a mini food processor, you have to get one. Get this one right here. I use it all the time, and it works beautifully for salad dressings in particular, because once it emulsifies them, they stay that way.

Make salad:

Slice hearts of palm into coins and avocado into cubes and place, with onion, in a large bowl with vinaigrette. Combine gently and mound on top of plates of lettuce.

Serves 6

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Hearts of Palm Salad with Champagne Vinaigrette

One of these days I’m going to get a tiny heart-shaped pastry cutter and cut thick slices of hearts of palm into heart shapes. Wouldn’t they have been adorable in this easy and refreshing Hearts of Palm Salad? Today, however, a day that found me running errands and cleaning my hardwood floors, I wanted something simple, but unique.  I decided to throw my favorite salad “add ins” into a bowl without the lettuce, and toss it with champagne vinaigrette. It’s pretty fancy food to be enjoying during the playoffs, but around here there is more to baseball watching than hot dogs and a bag of peanuts!

Hearts of Palm Salad

 

1 14.8-oz. jar Melissa’s Hearts of Palm

1/3 cup sliced black olives

1/3 cup sliced stuffed green olives

1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/3 cup thinly sliced red onion

4 slices bacon, fried crisp, crumbled

Slice hearts of palm into coins. Lightly toss with remaining ingredients. Drizzle with vinaigrette just before serving. Store in fridge. Makes 4 ample side salads.

Champagne Vinaigrette 

 1/3 cup champagne vinegar

½ teaspoon salt

1½ teaspoons sugar

¼ teaspoon dry mustard

¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

½ cup vegetable oil

Place all dry ingredients into the bottom of a medium size mixing bowl and whisk together until blended.

PRINT RECIPE

If you prefer more greens in your salad, check out this Hearts of Palm Salad with Coriander Vinaigrette.

This post is linked to:

Happiness is Homemade Sunday

What’s for Dinner Sunday

Over the Moon

Smells Good Sunday

Dishing It & Digging It

Cooking & Crafting with J&J

Amaze Me Monday

Busy Mondays

Over the Moon

Celebrate Your Story

Inspire Me Tuesday

Full Plate Thursday

This post contains affiliate links.

Crustless Three Cheese Tart with Spinach & Hearts of Palm

For the past week or so I have been moving a container of cottage cheese around in my fridge. I don't eat cottage cheese, mind you, I bought it to use in a recipe. The trouble is, after I got home, I couldn't remember what recipe it was, and searching efforts were fruitless. So today, a particularly cool and gloomy day, I decided I was going to do something with that cottage cheese. I wanted a nice warm lunch, so decided to make some sort of crustless quiche/tart, using it to get rid of all of the errant ingredients in my fridge.

Basing this upon the Cheese Peta recipe of my late aunt (you can find that recipe here), I whisked together eggs, cottage cheese, half a package of frozen chopped spinach that I had thawed and drained, then stirred in some cheese, sliced hearts of palm, and baked it. It was wonderful! I had it with a nice warm crusty roll slathered with butter, and it was the most satisfying late afternoon lunch.

This was so good that I'm thinking it could probably be baked in an 8” x 8” square pan, cut into squares (or diamonds if you're feeling fancy), and served as a hot hors d'oeuvre. Consider this post as an encouragement to get you imagining what you can do with the items that are in your fridge. In the meantime, I encourage you to try this recipe; it's delicious. Cut small slivers to serve as a side dish alongside baked ham, or larger portions to serve as a main dish. You’re going to love it.

Crustless Three Cheese Tart with Spinach & Hearts of Palm

3 eggs

1 cup small curd cottage cheese

½ of a 10-oz. pkg. frozen, chopped spinach

½ of a 14-oz. jar Melissa’s Hearts of Palm, sliced into ½” rounds

1 cup freshly grated pepper jack cheese

1 cup freshly grated sharp cheddar cheese

2 tablespoons flour

Few gratings of fresh nutmeg

1/4 cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350° F.  Spray a 9” pie pan with Pam.

Thaw spinach and drain very well. Whisk together the eggs and cottage cheese. Stir in spinach, hearts of palm, cheeses, flour and nutmeg. Pour butter over all and stir to combine. Pour into pie pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool ten minutes before slicing.

NOTE: This recipe can be made the day prior to baking.  Just mix it together, pour in into a pie plate, cover, and keep refrigerated until ready to bake.

PRINT RECIPE

This post is linked to:

Dishing It & Digging It

Cooking & Crafting with J&J

Amaze Me Monday

Busy Mondays

Art of Homemaking Monday

Celebrate Your Story
Inspire Me Tuesday

Tuesdays At Our Home

Tuesdays with a Twist

The Scoop

Dream, Create, Inspire
 Homestead Wednesday

Wow Us Wednesday

Wine’d Down Wednesday

Moonlight and Mason Jars
Full Plate Thursday

Foodie Friday & Everything Else
Share Your Style

Summery Hearts of Palm Salad

Salads? I love them, and like to have some type of leafy goodness with every evening meal, but frankly, they can get a little boring. Changing up the dressing can help, but so can adding some interesting ingredients. This simple green salad has been made company fancy with the addition of hearts of palm. If you don't have a jar or two in your pantry, you'd be wise to remedy that because this versatile vegetable can brighten up many a salad and makes an excellent dip.

 Here I have taken a simple bag of mixed greens, tossed them with slices of cucumber, thinly sliced red onion, and chopped tomato, added my favorite vinaigrette dressing, plated it and topped it with slices of Melissa's Hearts of Palm and feta cheese. Delicious!

Seasonal adjustments can be made by adding or substituting any or all of the following ingredients:

Sliced fresh strawberries

Toasted walnuts, almonds, or pecans

Diced avocado

Crumbled bacon

Homemade croutons

 The mixed greens can be replaced with spinach or romaine, depending upon your taste or what you happen to have on hand.

The dressing is up to you, but this simple vinaigrette is one of my favorites:

5 tablespoons cider vinegar

2 tablespoons finely chopped onion

2 teaspoons granulated sugar

¼ teaspoon Kosher salt

Pinch of dry mustard

Pinch of freshly ground black pepper

4 Tablespoons olive oil

Whisk together vinegar, onion, sugar, salt, mustard and pepper in a small bowl.  Add oil in a slow stream, whisking constantly to emulsify.  Serve immediately or store in the fridge for up to a week. 

This post is linked to:
Sunday’s Best

Melt In Your Mouth 
Inspire Me Tuesday

Totally Tasty Tuesdays

Try a New Recipe Tuesday

Tasty Tuesdays

 

Baked Hearts of Palm Dip

Remember the artichoke dip that was so popular in the 90s (and appears to remain popular at a lot of the chain restaurants today)?  There was a reason for its popularity, it was good!  Well, move over artichokes, hearts of palm are here.  If you haven’t tried these, go out and get yourself a jar, you are in for a real treat.  

More versatile than artichoke hearts (think chicken salad, green salads, snacks, appetizers, dips), less chewy (don’t you hate it when you get one of those tough artichoke leaves in your mouth and have to chew it endlessly to no avail), and the flavor is more intense.  Because the texture is both tender and crisp, they can be sliced, diced, or chopped, always retaining a nice shape. 

Low in Cholesterol, hearts of palm are a good source of dietary fiber, Vitamin C, Folate, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Zinc, Copper and Manganese.  They are rich in potassium, providing 38 percent of the intake recommended for most adults and, as such, important to muscle, heart, and nerve cell function.  Did I mention they are delicious?  I first introduced you to them here, but since then I’ve been using them in endless ways, most recently this delicious hearts of palm dip.

Baked Hearts of Palm Dip

1 (14.8 ounce) jar Melissa’s Hearts of Palm, drained and chopped

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

¼ grated Asiago cheese

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1 cup chopped green onion

¼ cup sour cream

3/4 cup mayonnaise

Chopped fresh parsley for garnish

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Spray a 9” glass pie plate with Pam.

In a medium bowl, mix together the hearts of palm, mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, Asiago cheese, garlic, green onion, sour cream and mayonnaise. Spread into the greased pie plate.

Bake uncovered for 25 minutes, or until light brown and bubbly. Serve with crackers or tortilla chips.

This post is linked to:

On the Menu Monday

Foodie Friday

Sunday's Best Party