Mindful Munchies: Olive Tapenade

If you've been hangin' with me here for a while, you've likely noticed that I stop posting recipes a while back. This lack of recipe sharing isn't because I stopped loving cooking (it's actually one of my most powerful tools for getting myself back into alignment!), but because measuring and precision in cooking is so not my zone of genius. I'm much more a little of this, a handful of that, a pinch of this type of chick, and trying to put my cooking process into a perfectly measured recipe was making me dread cooking (and thus, hindering my alignment, which wasn't doing anyone any favors). So, I'm flippin' the script to make this more fun for e'ryone.

To me, cooking is a super intuitive, creative, personal process - and who am I to steal that experience from you by assuming I know what your taste buds, body, and mind what in a food - know what I mean?  Enter, Mindful Munchies - a series where I'll share super simple, nourishing recipes with loosely measured ingredients and suggested directions on how to make them all come together.

I'm hoping this will inspire you to get creative in the kitchen, be super mindful of what your body's asking for, get better acquainted with your intuition and taste buds, and empower you with some easy AF healthy treats that you can add to your repertoire. Boo yah!

First up, the easiest olive tapenade in all the land. YUM.

Kyle and I developed an obsession with this stuff from a little gourmet store downtown, and then decided that it would be way easier and less expensive to whip up our own at home (plus, I think they put anchovies in theirs, which strangely skeeves me out a little bit).

We pretty much always have the ingredients needed for this in our kitchen, so we whip it up all the freakin' time.  It's amazing as a dip, on sammies, as a pasta sauce, etc. Plus, it's full of healthy fats and makes you feel super satiated if you ever need a quick pick-me-up.Alright, now let's get all olive-y up in here!

INGREDIENTS:

• Stuff you need:

  • Olives with pits removed (whichever kind you like best)

  • EVOO

• Stuff that'll kick it up a notch:

  • Pepper

  • Red pepper flakes

  • Capers

  • Rosemary essential oil

DIRECTIONS:

• Pop the olives in a high-power blender or food processor

• Add any other fun ingredients you want: a couple grinds of pepper, a couple shakes of red pepper flakes, a few capers, swirl in a toothpick dipped in rosemary essential oil (if it's approved for internal use, of course), etc.

• Start blending/processing on low speed (or pulsing) while pouring a bit of EVOO through the top, you just need a little bit to help it come together

• Blend/pulse until it's reached a consistency that looks good to you - I like a little texture, but some people prefer it super smooth

• Scoop it into a bowl and serve with veggie slices, crackers (Simple Mills almond crackers are bomb with this), or anything else you like