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.

Flag Brownie

I made a m&m Flag Brownie! So easy and really fun! I simply made a 9" x 13" brownie. I let the brownie cool completely. Then the brownie can be frosted in chocolate or vanilla frosting. I used chocolate frosting.

For this project you will need two bags of red, white and blue m&m's. Apparently Target is the only store selling these red, white and blue m&m's. And when you start the design - place the side with the m&m logo face down into the frosting. Place the decorated brownie into the fridge for about an hour to set the m&m's.

Wishing you a happy and safe 4th of July! God Bless America.

Tennis Team Emergency Kits

Tomorrow is our last USTA match of the season - so I made all of the ladies little Tennis Emergency Bags! These were so simple to make and you can get everything you need at Target or a drugstore that carries little travel size items. 

Each kit contains a hand sanitizer, sunscreen, Chapstick, nail file, two bandaids, two hair ties and a granola bar.

I put all of the items in a cellophane bag.  

I tied each cellophane bag with yellow and white ribbon.

Made some simple labels. And my little tennis gift is ready for the ladies on the team.

I hope we win tomorrow! It is going to be HOT!

Heirloom Tomato Soup

Lately I have been ordering Heirloom Tomato Soup whenever it is on a menu. So I decided to try to recreate the recipe at home. I Googled a bunch of recipes and figured out how to make it at home.

I had some awesome Heirloom Tomato Soup last week and it was served with a Lobster Grilled Cheese sandwich. Yum!

This is a really easy recipe and can be made in advance - then reheated before serving.

Ingredients:

2 lbs. heirloom tomatoes, sliced

1 shallot, finely chopped

3 to 4 tablespoons of olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

 1-2 cups chicken stock/broth

3 to 4 table spoons heavy cream (optional)

Directions:

I used cherry sized heirloom tomatoes.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Slice the tomatoes in half and place them in a large shallow pan. 

Add the shallot, olive oil, salt and pepper. Place the pan into the preheated oven for 35 to 45 minutes. 

Once the tomatoes are soft and the pan is full of tomato juice the pan can be removed from the oven. I let the tomatoes cool for a few minutes. 

Then the tomatoes can be pureed. I used an immersion blender - because I am lazy and didn't want to clean a food processor or blender.  Then the tomato puree can be added to a saucepan and the chicken broth and heavy cream can be added to the simmering soup. Add more chicken broth if you want a thinner soup.

I served the soup with some crusty bread and a green salad.

This soup recipe only made about 3 large soup bowls. The next time I make this recipe I am going to double the recipe. 

Tri-Melon Salad

Last week I bought a new melon baller at Sur la Table. And I have been making melon ball salads.

I made this melon ball salad with a cantaloupe, honeydew melons and watermelon. 

I always squeeze a little lemon over my fruit salads. Sometimes I will also add a squeeze of honey.

It is so nice to have a bowl of fresh cut fruit in the fridge. Having fruit ready to eat is always a healthy snack. This fruit salad would be a great dish to make for your next BBQ.

Flag Pins for Meals on Wheels

I made 50 of these pins for Meals on Wheels. I ordered the Flag pin kits from OrientalTrading.com.

Each kit came a little plastic bag withe the pins, beads and directions.

Once I made a few Flag pins I no longer needed the directions.

I made the pins while I watched the French Open. I will need to find a new craft project when I watch Wimbledon in 3 weeks!

Now that I know how to make these Flag pins - I am going to buy the supplies at Michael's and make a bunch for friends and neighbors.

Since I was making these for Meals on Wheels - I packaged them in little bags. These little pins are perfect for Memorial day, Flag day and the 4th of July.