Olive Crazy

Yes, I may be OLIVE CRAZY right now, but there is no need to worry about chemical dependency! Actually this is just the text book I started to read yesterday for my next course in my University of Oklahoma program. I wonder if the prof will let me choose olives for my topic, haha!

I of course had to start at the commissary yesterday to pick up a few things. As I unloaded my cart I started to wonder how my selection of goodies must look to an outsider. I mean really...I bought canned pumpkin, rye flour, dried cranberries, apple cider vinegar, and an olive mustard. Good thing these were ingredients for a variety of prjects I am working on.

Let's talk about olives. I have always loved olives, and by love I mean I really could eat them all day if I didn't know that would result in a probable stomach pumping and/or extreme case of illness due to acidity. Good thing in smaller quantities olives are really good for you. Packed with monounsaturated fats, these babies are super healthy. Keep in mind too much of a good thing is still too much. While a regular portion of olives is low in calories, eat the whole jar and they add up fast. This has to do with them being higher in fat, which gives 9 calories in each gram of fat.

We can benefit from olives in a variety of ways. One is to eat them whole and then it is also available as olive oil. Traditionally olives come from areas around the Mediterranean Sea, but in the US they grow in California (though mostly those standard big black olives, like you would get if you ordered them on pizza). Well I love all kinds, but kalamata are great and available at the commissary. These have been sitting in my house for a while, so I decided to crack the lid and let the good times fly!
I decided to make whole wheat olive rolls. In order to do that I had to chop up some of these yummy olives. I don't have a pitter so I had to do it the old fashioned way, which really wasn't that bad.
Ok, 1/2 cup olives ready to go.
It looks so nice before it is even made!
Then came the dough! This is another nice feature of the bread machine. I can make various doughs for use elsewhere.
So I shaped them into smaller pieces for my rolls.
Boy did they turn out nicely.

Oh yes, they tasted as good as they looked, even better. Ryan loved them, although next time I may wait so they are still hot when he gets home from work.

But the olive fun didn't end there for me yesterday. I have this which I insisted on registering for. I really wanted to be able to make my own salad dressings and since I don't usually hang out in the litchen I thought this gadget would give me some incentive to play. Boy was I right about that...

I was in an olive kinda mood so when I spotted this as the commissary I HAD to buy it. This is an olive mustard made using green olives. It was made in Greece, but sold by a German company.

I was trying to make a variation of the cumin vinaigrette recipe that was on the dressing mixer bottle.

Of course I got added olive love from the olive oil. In the end it was the oil, cider vinegar, some of the mustard and some (ok, more than I planned) cumin.

Thank heavens for weddings! We also got this great salad spinner as a gift. And we really needed salad to go with the dressing.

Oh yeah, more olives for me. I still had a bunch of green guys so I added them to my salad. This meal (since we ate the rolls too) was heavy on the olive side, but not outrageously so. More like subltely infused with olive!

I think I will lay off the olives for today!

Speaking of today, it is Veteran's day, so I would like to take this time to thank all the veteran's who have served our country, including my husband, and also to those who recently lost their lives at Ft Hood.

QUESTION: Do you like olives?

Last but certainly not least I have a give away update for you. You have to check out this blogversary grab bag of goodies from An Apple A Day .