CategoriesSalads Vinaigrettes
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Wondrous Winter Bowl

I like to make quick and easy weeknight meals, but it also has to be nutritious and fulfilling especially when I don’t have countless hours to spend in the kitchen. Also, adding ingredients that just need to be roughly chopped or heated in the microwave makes it go that much quicker. Exact measurements are not needed and the options are endless. It’s really about adding what you like. The added vinaigrette is just a classic traditional balsamic and single varietal extra virgin olive oil with a hint of lemon juice.

What you’ll need:

Brown rice, cooked

Black beans, cooked

Sweet potatoes, cooked

Kale

Mushrooms

Red bell pepper

Avocado

Red onion

Feta

Vinaigrette

2 tablespoons So Olive Traditional Balsamic

2 tablespoons So Olive Coratina Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

Sea salt

Here’s how:

Chop kale, mushrooms, red bell pepper, avocado, and red onion. Add all ingredients in a bowl. In small bowl, mix vinaigrette ingredients together. Drizzle a portion of the vinaigrette on top. Mix with hands until everything is well combined. It’s ready to eat!

CategoriesBread
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Blood Orange Pumpkin Bread

This pumpkin bread is a two for one special; you get the benefit of incorporating a good for you fat and you get a lovely taste of orange essence in this loaf. By using the whole fruit fused blood orange extra virgin olive oil, the orange flavor is just right and not too overbearing.

What you’ll need:

1 cup unbleached flour

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour (or only unbleached flour may be used)

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 cup pumpkin puree

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup So Olive Blood Orange Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1/4 cup honey

2 eggs

Here’s how:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9 x 5 loaf pan with olive oil and set aside.

Mix flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg in a bowl. In another bowl, beat together blood orange olive oil, brown sugar, honey, and eggs really well. You may use a cake or electric mixer. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in the bowl. Gently combine the ingredients together being careful not to overmix. Be sure to capture all the flour when mixing. Pour batter into greased loaf pan, spreading evenly. Bake in oven for 45 – 50 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Remove from oven and transfer to wire rack to let it cool for 10 minutes. Then remove loaf from pan and allow it to completely cool. Slice and eat!

CategoriesSides
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Wild Mushroom Sage Stuffing

If I had to choose a Thanksgiving dinner side dish that I cannot do without, it would have to be the stuffing. Thanksgiving just would not be the same without it. Our Wild Mushroom Sage extra virgin olive oil is the star of this stuffing. No sage is needed because the sage flavor from the olive oil really shines through.

What you’ll need:

1 loaf of herb bread, a day old

1 pound mushrooms (Shitake, Cremini, Button)

3 celery stalks

1 small onion

1/3 cup So Olive Wild Mushroom Sage Olive Oil

1/2 cup pecan pieces

3 cups vegetable stock + more to add

Sea salt

Parsley for garnish

Here’s how:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Cut loaf of bread into small medium cubes and spread evenly on a baking sheet. Toast in oven for about 10 minutes.

Finely chop celery stalk and onions. Then roughly chop the mushrooms. Heat olive olive oil in a large pot or dutch oven. Add mushrooms and allow to cook until tender. Add onions and celery and cook until softened. Add pecans and vegetable stock. Bring the stock to a boil. Add toasted bread cubes and fold gently until stock is evenly distributed throughout. Add more stock if needed. Season with sea salt. Transfer stuffing to a greased 9 x 13 inch baking dish, greased preferably with the wild mushroom sage olive oil. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove the foil and bake until the top is golden brown for about 10 more minutes. Remove from oven and allow it to cool for about 5 minutes. Sprinkle on parsley as a garnish.

CategoriesSides Vegetables
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Lemony Roasted Brussels Sprouts

I have Ina Garten to thank for roasted brussel sprouts. Growing up, I could not stand them because they were cooked into mush and very bitter. Sorry, Mom. So years back, while watching Barefoot Contessa, Ina pulled out the brussel sprouts. Oh no, not the brussel sprouts, I thought, but because it was Ina I continued to watch. How she prepared them was so different, it was an epiphany. Wow, I can roast them! Why did I not think of that? So I gave it a try, and it has been a staple side dish ever since. Overtime, I’ve seasoned them in different ways and these brussel sprouts are given a delicious lemon flavor.

What you’ll need:

3 pounds fresh brussels sprouts

2 tablespoons So Olive Lemon Olive Oil + 1 tbsp for drizzling when serving

2 teaspoons sea salt

1 teaspoon fresh gound pepper

Here’s how:

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Cut off brown ends of brussels sprouts and cut them in half. Lay the brussel sprouts on the baking sheet. Drizzle the first two tablepoons of the lemon olive oil over them and sprinkle on the lemon sea salt and fresh ground pepper. Mix them together and then spread evenly on sheet. Roast in oven for 30 – 35 minutes. Pour in serving bowl and drizzle on the remaing olive oil. Best served while still hot. Feel free to drizzle them with a nice dark balsamic vinegar.

CategoriesSides
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Roasted Squash with Balsamic Reduction

One thing I love about winter squash is how versatile it is; from soups to desserts, the possibilities are endless. Sometimes just keeping it simple is the way to go and this recipe is all about that. Just cut up the squash into even sized wedges. No need to peel. Then place it on the pan with a drizzle of olive oil and pop it in the oven to roast.  Balsamic reduction and toasted pecans give it a more fancy touch, which is especially great for the holiday season.

What you’ll need:

Winter Squash (I used Carnival Acorn, Delicata, and Kabocha)

3 tablespoons Varietal Olive Oil such as Picual or Coratina (high intensity)

2 teaspoons sea salt

Fresh ground pepper

1/4 cup pecan pieces

Balsamic Reduction

1 cup So Olive Traditional Balsamic Vinegar

Here’s how:

Preheat oven to 400°F. Cut squash in wedge like pieces. Lay on sheet pan and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place pan in oven and roast for 30 – 40 minutes until squash is tender.

Balsamic Reduction

Pour balsamic in a small saucepan over medium heat. Allow balsamic to come to a gentle boil until it is reduced by half. This should take about 10 minutes. Remove from heat so it can cool, making sure that it does not become to thick to drizzle.

Lightly toast pecans in a toaster oven or in a pan.

When squash is done roasting, drizzle the balsamic reduction over the squash, and sprinkle with the toasted pecans.

CategoriesSauces
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Tangerine Balsamic Cranberry Sauce

Homemade cranberry sauce beats out canned cranberry sauce every time. Once I started to make my own, I’ve never went back. Most cranberry sauce recipes require one cup of sugar, but we cut the sugar in half because of the natural sweetness of the tangerine balsamic and tangerine juice. This recipe is quick and simple.

What you’ll need: 

12 oz. fresh cranberries

3/4 cup tangerine or clementine juice

1/4 cup So Olive Tangerine Balsamic Vinegar

1/2 cup cane sugar

1 tablespoon tangerine zest

Here’s How:

Add the tangerine balsamic, tangerine juice, and sugar to a medium sauce pan. Bring it to a boil and stir until sugar disolves. Add the cranberries. Stir and reduce heat, allowing the cranberries to simmer for about 10 minutes or until the cranberries have burst. You will hear the cranberries pop. Once the cranberries are done, stir in the tangerine zest. Remove the sauce pan from the heat and allow the sauce to cool. Then transfer in a container to be chilled in the refrigerator. The cranberry sauce will thicken in the refrigerator.

CategoriesMain Dish Sides
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Tuscan Bean Bake

As the weather cools, one pot meals are the way to go because you can easily just add all the ingredients together at once and just let it cook. This Tuscan Bean Bake recipe is just one of those dishes. It can be made as a side dish or as the main meal with a nice warm loaf of crusty bread. This recipe also calls for a dutch oven, but if you don’t have one, a large baking dish is fine too. You’ll just need to use aluminum foil to cover the beans. I believe that dutch ovens make the food taste better so it’s well worth the investment. The cheese is entirely optional and bread crumbs mixed with olive oil may be substituted as a topping.

What you’ll need: 

1 pound bag of cannellini beans

3 leeks

5 cloves of garlic

3 tablespoons So Olive Tuscan Herb Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 tablespoons thyme, dried

1 tablespoon oregano, dried

4 cups vegetable broth

Sea salt to taste

1 cup mozzarella, shredded (optional)

1/4 cup parmesan (optional)

Here’s how:

Soak beans for at least 4 hours or overnight in a large bowl of cold water. After beans have soaked, drain the water.

Preheat oven to 225°F. Trim the the dark green tops of the leeks and discard.  Cut leeks in half and rinse out any dirt between the white layers of the leeks. Then thinly slice the leeks. Mince the garlic. I use a garlic press. In a dutch oven, sauté the leeks and garlic until leeks are softened. Then add the soaked beans, thyme, oregano, vegetable broth, and sea salt. Place lid on dutch oven and place on third lower rack of oven. Bake for 3.5 hours. In between check on the beans to see how much water has absorbed. Add a 1/2 cup of water if needed. Once the beans have cooked through and water has absorbed take beans out of the oven.

In the mean time, increase the oven temperature to 450°F. Add the cheese, then place the dutch oven without the lid back into the oven for about 15 minutes until cheese is slightly brown. Then take it out of the oven. It’s ready to eat. Goes great with a slice of crusty bread and a garden salad.

CategoriesGuides
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How to Taste Extra Virgin Olive Oil Like A Pro

Olives are stone fruits and just like fresh squeezed juice, olive oil is the juice of an olive. As there are hundreds of variety of cultivated olives, each produces its own varietal of olive oil with its own unique flavor characteristics. Not only that, but soil conditions, weather, and how the olives are processed impacts how the olive oil will taste.

Professional tasters look for three main characteristics in olive oil: fruitiness, bitterness, and pungency. Fruitiness is the olive oil’s aroma or smell. Bitterness is the taste that should appear on the back of the tongue, and pungency is the stinging sensation in your throat after the oil has been swallowed. Note that all three characteristics must be present. If one is missing, the olive oil is defective.

So how does one find those main characteristics and eventually choose a favorite varietal?

This step-by-step guide will help you in discovering your favorite varietal olive oil.

1. Start with a mild olive oil. Olive oil usually comes in three flavor intensities; mild, medium, and robust. After you have gone through the steps of tasting a mild one, work your way to medium intensity and then to the robust olive oils. Sip some water in between each tasting.

2. Pour 1 – 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a small cup.

3. Warm the olive oil in your hands. Nest the cup into the palm of one hand and cover the top with your other hand. Gently twist the cup in your hand for about 20 seconds to warm the oil. This releases the aroma in the oil.

4. Make a note of the nose (Fruitiness). Raise cup to your nose and tuck nose into the cup, then take a deep whiff of the oil. This is the first insight that professional tasters assess when tasting olive oil. The first fragrant notes are clues to its flavor. Is it heavily fragrant? Can you identify the characteristics? Is it fruity or is it grassy? Is there something more subtle? Good quality olive oil should always have a fruity or green, herbaceous smell such as fresh cut grass.

5. Taste the oil (Bitterness). Draw a long, slurping sip while curling your tongue upward, taking a fair amount of air into your mouth along with that first sip in order to aerate the olive oil. This is called strippagio. Roll the oil across your tongue and all the way to the back of your mouth, allowing tongue to identify as many aspects of the flavor as possible. Remember that bitterness should be present.

6. Swallow the oil (Pungency). By now your tongue and your nose have all the information they need to tell you how the olive oil tastes. Is it fruity? Peppery? Pungent? Bitter? What did you like the most? Note the flavor characteristics and any lingering sensations of pungency in the throat. These distinctions will point you toward your favorites and rule out other oils.

When you know how to taste and identify the flavors of an extra virgin olive oil, you can start to narrow your choices down to the varietals you like, and you’re on your way to finding a favorite.

INFOGRAPHIC

how-to-taste-extra-virgin-olive-oil

CategoriesSpreads
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Balsamic Apple Butter

It’s apple season and that means it’s a good time to make apple butter. This apple butter recipe is great to make over the weekend since it requires about 8 hours in a slow cooker. I like to start the process early Sunday morning and just let it be, so that way I can catch-up on whatever tasks that I didn’t get to during the week. Three apple varieties are in this apple butter: Gala, Granny Smith, and Honeycrisp, but any apple variety may used. The cinnamon pear balsamic vinegar gives it a nice, subtle cinnamon balsamic flavor without it tasting like vinegar. You may also substitute any type of balsamic.

What you’ll need:

6 pounds of apples (I used Gala, Granny Smith, and Honeycrisp)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup So Olive Cinnamon Pear Balsamic Vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Here’s how:

Peel and core the apples. Cut the apples in medium sized cubes, and then toss them in a slow cooker. In a bowl, whisk balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt. Then pour the mixture over the apples in the slow cooker and mix. Place lid on the slow cooker and set it on low. In between, check on the apples and stir it a bit, allowing it to cook for about 8 hours or until apples are softened. After the apples are soft, grab an immersion blender, and blend the apples until smooth. If needed, cook for another half an hour. Then turn the slow cooker off and allow the apple butter to cool. Once cooled, put it in a container to freeze or refrigerate it to be consumed within a week. Enjoy with a warm buttery biscuit.

CategoriesSides
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Oven Baked Rosemary Sweet Potato Fries

Growing up as an Airforce brat in Germany, I couldn’t get enough of pommes frites (french fries in German). ‘Til this day I eat my fries with mayonnaise, a popular condiment in Germany. Oh and the curry ketchup! Yum. I’m not exactly sure when sweet potato fries came on the scene but on my first taste, I was hooked. Now the ones I make are much healther since these are oven roasted with olive oil. Rosemary and potatoes are beautiful together, so why not sweet potatoes? Oh boy, the combination is delicious. This recipe calls for both rosemary olive oil and dried rosemary.

What you’ll need:

4-5 medium sweet potatoes, new

2 tablespoons So Olive Rosemary Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 teaspoon garlic salt

2 teaspoons dried rosemary

Sea salt to taste

Here’s how:

Preheat oven to 425º. Cut sweet potatoes into even french fry shaped pieces. If you are using new sweet potatoes there is no need to peel the skin, but you’re more than welcome to peel them. It also depends on the sweet potato variety used. Toss the raw sweet potatoes into a mixing bowl and pour rosemary olive oil over the potatoes. Season with garlic powder, sea salt, and dried rosemary. Mix so that the seasoning and oil are coated around the potatoes evenly. Arrange on baking sheet in a single layer. Place the sheet on the top rack of the oven for baking. After 20 minutes, pull baking sheet out and flip sweet potatoes on the other side. Bake for another 15 minutes until brown and crispy. You’ll notice that the smaller pieces will turn dark brown, do not worry, it’s just caramelization of the natural sugars found in the sweet potatoes. Enjoy with mayo or ketchup!