Olive Tapenade - Napa Inspired

My husband loves olives! So today I made him some homemade Olive Tapenade. This is so simple to make - it invokes a little minimal chopping and pulsing in a food processor.  And he loved it!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup chopped shallots

1/4 cup finely chopped sundried tomatoes

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons red vine vinegar

 6 ounce can green olives, well drained

6 ounce can black olives, well drained

1/4 cup fresh basil, lightly packed

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Place shallots, sundered tomatoes, olive oil and vinegar into a food processor. Pulse until everything is finely chopped and well combined. Add olives, basil, salt and pepper. Pulse again until everything is well combined and finely chopped.

Place the tapenade into a serving bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Chill for a least 1 hour or overnight.

Serve with toasted baguette slices or crackers. The perfect summer appetizer to serve at your next BBQ.

Picnic I Brought To the Ball Field

Christian has been playing two to three baseball games a week. It is really gross to eat snack bar food two to three times a week. So I always try to pack a healthy picnic dinner to bring to the ball field.

While I was trying to pack the picnic - my husband took the picnic basket and skipped around the house. He thought he was super funny.  Needless to say I did not think he was funny at all. However I must admit his Yogi Bear imitation is spot on! Apparently he was Yogi Bear and I was Boo Boo and he was stealing a Pic-a-nic basket.

I put some jars of pasta salad into the picnic basket.

So after I packed the jars of pasta salad, I added some bags of potato chips and mini candy bars (both from Trader Joe's).

Then I made turkey sandwiches. I made these sandwiches on a fresh baguette. First I wrap them tightly in plastic wrap. Then I wrap them in parchment paper and tie with some kitchen twine.

I forgot to tell you what I used to decorate the top of the pasta jars - cupcake liners! So the next time you go to the ball field - instead of bringing takeout - pack a picnic.  Oh and don't forget the drinks and napkins.