Olive Tapenade

Last week Jeff and I had a couple friends over for a tasty Mediterranean inspired feast. When I realized that I should have purchased more meat for the main course, I decided I’d throw together a few extra appetizers to fill out the meal. Remembering that I had a good number of olives in the fridge, I decided it was time to try and make my own olive tapenade. This dish was so simple I think it will go on my go-to list for quick appetizers or last minute potluck dishes.


Easy Olive Tapenade
1 cup of kalamata olives, pitted
2 tbsp. olive oil
Skin from 1/3 of a preserved lemon
2 cloves of garlic

1) Roughly chop lemon and garlic.

2) Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until finely chopped and well combined. Add more olive oil is necessary to get it to blend.

3) Scoop your tapenade into a bowl and serve with pretzel thins, crackers or pita!

Notes:
-you are not limited to only kalamata olives. Use your favorite or mix and match. I actually threw a few green ones in mine (minus the pimento) because I had them lying around.
-If you don’t have preserved lemon, you can substitute it for about a tbsp of lemon juice and a little zest.
-Tapenade traditionally has capers in it too; I didn’t have any on hand, but feel free to add a tablespoon of them as well.

Creamy Stuffed Strawberries

I know this isn't the best pic, but I was literally holding a friend back from eating one at the time!

As I said in my last post, this weekend was filled with Irish goodness as we had a group of friends over for an evening of Guinness and savory foods from the Emerald Isle. While I’m not sure if stuffed strawberries are very Irish (hey I had made a loop hole for it by saying the savory foods were authentic), they are very delicious, so I threw them in with the appetizers. These are simple to make, impressive to look at and will quickly disappear once placed within reach of your guests. These would also make a great dessert for an at home romantic evening.

While I made up how to make these, the idea was not originally mine. An old friend of mine used to make a similar dish for potlucks and guarded the recipe with his life because he didn’t want anyone else to start bringing them. I had always respected his secrecy, until we stopped hanging out regularly and having said potlucks. One day I decided that I could probably guess the basic ingredients and gave it a go. Honestly, with these ingredients, it would be hard to make something that wasn’t to die for. Enjoy!

Stuffed Strawberries

Stuffing:
One 8 oz. package of cream cheese
¼ cup of powdered sugar
a few shakes of vanilla extract

several splashes of milk

2 small packages of strawberries
½ cup of chocolate chips, or dipping chocolate

1) Wash strawberries and remove their tops and the white insides. Make sure strawberries are completely dry before moving forward.

2) Use a hand mixer to combine the cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Add the milk a splash at a time until the mixture is completely smooth and just thin enough to squeeze easily through a piping bag. It should be similar to a thick frosting.

3) Use a piping bag or make your own out of a Ziploc bag to fill each strawberry with the stuffing.
4) Melt the chocolate either by following the instructions on the bag (if it’s melting chocolate) or using a double boiler.

5) Either dip stuffed strawberries in chocolate and place on wax paper to dry or use the piping bag method again to do some swirls of chocolate on one side of each strawberry. The second method is quicker and less messy, but it’s really a matter of personal preference and time.

6) Refrigerate the strawberries for half an hour to make sure the chocolate sets.

Notes:

-I bought three packages of strawberries and picked out the bigger ones and had about one package left over of smaller ones. They became part of a fresh fruit salad the next day.

-If you don't have a double boiler, fill a small pot a couple of inches with water and place a glass measuring cup with your chocolate in the pot. Presto! A homemade double boiler. Just be very careful not to get any water in with your chocolate.

Irish Cream Cookies

Just incase you haven't had enough sweets over the last month, or if you are looking to reward yourself for doing good on your New Years resolutions, I've procured a cookie post for you all. This also looks like a great one to keep in mind for St. Patty's Day which is only a few short months away. Thanks for the post mom!

Our church was having a Sunday evening meeting for one of our members to report on a short term mission trip to Ireland. Since good Christians can never seem to get together without food being involved (See Acts 2:46) we decided to have cookies and ice cream. I was one of the women who were asked to make “themed” cookies for the occasion. OK, when I think of Ireland the first thing that comes to my mind is Bailey’s Irish Cream. Since chocolate chip cookies are my favorite cookie, the following recipe was perfect. They are delicious (especially warm from the oven) and were a hit at the meeting. I actually use Carolanns Irish Cream which I like better than Baileys (and is about 40% cheaper) but the added flavor of Irish Cream to a basic chocolate chip cookie is amazing. So grab a few warm cookies and enjoy the cold, foggy weather.

IRISH CREAM CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

½ c butter
½ c granulated sugar
½ c brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
½ c Irish Cream
2 ¼ c flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 (6 ounce) pkg chocolate chips
¾ c coconut
½ c chopped pecans

Cream butter, sugars and egg until fluffy. Add vanilla and Irish Cream. Mix dry ingredients and blend into creamed mixture. Add coconut, nuts and chips. Drop onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 374 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

Peach Salsa

On my way down to American Canyon this weekend, I saw a produce stand advertising peaches for 59 cents a pound. Of course I couldn't pass this up and did a last minute swerve onto the exit ramp. Now I am the proud owner of 45 pounds of peaches. The natural conclusion was that this weekend I made my second try at peach salsa. My first try turned out alright, but it was a bit too sweet for me which isn't suprising since the recipe I based this off of was originally a chutney. This time I added tomatoe, garlic, more onion and halved the total sugar and I think the result was definitly an improvement. While I am still not a huge fan of using sweet salsas as a dip, they are EXCELLENT on salty mexican dishes. Here is the recipe if you would like to give it a try.

3 1/2 cups peaches peeled, pitted and cut into small cubes
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup chopped red onion
3-4 large garlic cloves finely chopped or grated
1 ½ - 2 cups of pureed raw tomatoes (just trim the ends and throw them in the food processor)
1/3 cup cider vinegar
1 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon minced seeded Serrano chile (or sub for your favorite chile)*
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1) Gracefully dump all the above ingredients into a large pot over medium heat.
2) Heat this delicious fragrant (it’s the cumin and vinegar that really make this smell awesome) mixture till it just barely starts to bubble. Keep in at this temperature for 15-20 minutes depending on how ripe your peaches are. If they aren’t very ripe you can extend this time until they are very soft.
3) If you wish to preserve your salsa you can either let it cool then pour it into baggies/tupperware and freeze or you can pour into mason jars and water bath them for 15 minutes. If you haven’t canned anything before, you can find lots of how to pages online. Here's one I found.

*For the peppers you can adjust to personal taste . I’d add it a little bit at a time and then taste it. Remember the pepper is going to taste a lot hotter when your salsa is warm than it will when it cools.