Flavor Your Life with Herbed 100% Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil Dip

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Olive Oil is one of my favorite cooking oils. Ten and a half years ago, my dad underwent open heart surgery. His cardiologist said that his children needed to be proactive NOW so that we can take care of our bodies and try to keep from getting heart disease. I immediately started looking into what I was eating. I was using really unhealthy oils to cook with, and that is where I started first. Olive oil became my new go-to for cooking. Not only is it so good for us, but it is also so delicious. I was happy to make that switch!

When I was given the chance to try this 100% Italian extra virgin olive oil from flavor your life, I jumped at it. “The Flavor Your Life campaign aims to educate North American consumers about authentic Extra Virgin Olive. We are debunking misconceptions while empowering consumers – and sharing the delicious culinary culture that’s been growing for untold generations.” This quote was taken directly from flavor-your-life.com . This is a mission I can get behind!

Extra Virgin Olive Oil is a cold pressed oil, which allows the nutrition to stay true. Other oils are pressed using heat or chemicals, which is certainly not ideal. It has less than 1% acidity, which is excellent for heartburn sufferers such as me. Probably the best of all is that extra virgin olive oil has a high smoking point. That means you can use it in virtually anything from a salad dressing to baking. It is so much more versatile than one would think. The trick for keeping your 100% Italian extra virgin olive oil pure and delicious is to store it in a cool, dark place when you aren’t cooking or creating with it. I have a small cabinet where I store all of my cooking oils to keep them at optimum flavor.

So, why European? This is 100% Italian extra virgin olive oil. Olive trees have been held high in Europe for centuries. Aristotle wrote about olive trees in the Athenian Constitution in 300 BC. That is thousands of years for olive trees to be loved and cared for. The farmers have evolved hundreds of varieties of olive trees. They know the best way to grow olives for the highest and most delicious yield.

The specific extra virgin olive oil I tried is Le Stogioni d’Italia, which means “Seasons of Italy”. The name represents the connection of land and nature, which are the heart of their entire business. Knowing that this company has great respect for their farmers makes me want to be a lifelong customer. Supporting farmers is something that I am all about. They have a completely traceable supply chain, which is incredible sustainability. That is something that many of us have a goal of being–sustainable. It is harvested in Italy. It is gluten free, vegan, and has no additives or preservatives. Hallelujah! Amen. It has a really robust flavor, which I am a huge fan of. I love flavorful olive oils. One 500 mL bottle typically retails for $19.99.

I am going to share a bit of a different recipe for 100% Italian extra virgin olive oil. When I first started brainstorming what I was going to create, I thought PASTA! I. Love. Pasta. If you haven’t gathered my love of carbs from my other blog posts about food, you haven’t been around long enough. But, then my mind went elsewhere. Story time.

After Scott (my husband, for those who don’t know) and I had our first baby, we didn’t go on a date for quite some time. Scott knew that my parents were going to be in town, so he asked them if they would baby sit. They, obviously, said yes. So, we got into the car, and I tried not to cry all the way to the restaurant. Leaving your first baby is HARD. He had done his research and found this beautiful Italian restaurant for us, knowing that pasta is my favorite food and I find it so romantic. We ordered, and the waiter brought out a loaf of warm crusty bread and dishes of herbed olive oil to dip the bread in. I was on cloud nine.

I decided to create an herbed 100% Italian extra virgin olive oil to share it with you all today. I cannot compare it to that dish from the restaurant– which I am still convinced had some sort of magic contained inside because I cannot get anywhere close to it. I sure do try. But, I did create a pretty delicious dip with a bit of a kick to it. I really wanted this 100% Italian extra virgin olive oil to be the star. If you haven’t tried something like this, I invite you to give it a try and fall in love with the flavor beautiful oil.

For this recipe you will need:

1/2 cup 100% Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon of rosemary
1/2 teaspoon of oregano
1 large clove of garlic
1 pinch of salt

Combine all of your ingredients into a mason jar and shake it up. You can start dipping right away, but I recommend letting it sit for at least 4 hours so that the flavors really meld together. The more crusty the bread, the better! I’ve actually dipped soft bread sticks into this and loved it also. I just love this appetizer any way. It would also make a delicious marinade for chicken. I do want to say that a fresh clove of garlic does add quite a bit of spice. If you do not like a lot of heat from spicy things, I suggest omitting the crushed red pepper.

If you are looking for more recipes for using 100% Italian extra virgin olive oil, you can go to the Flavor Your Life website to be inspired. This olive oil and apple cake is on my list to try.

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The Family Garden

It has been such a busy season around the homestead. Our biggest projects are complete. Is it possible to even say that? Duck house and run, chicken coop and run, garden and fence.. check, check, check! Nothing is ever truly complete, but we like it that way.

I have seen this meme floating around Facebook, and I really like it. We don’t want to rely on the grocery stores for our produce. If the past year has taught anything, we should see how fragile the “food chain” is in our country. Self-reliance is a huge goal of ours. That is why our family garden is such a big deal to us. I’ve been toying with a post all about this, but can’t seem to put my words together well. Hopefully soon I can organize my thoughts. Anyway.. We expanded this year to add a 13 X 24 foot garden on our homestead.

Because we were starting with a section of our yard, we borrowed a tiller to work the ground up. It was tricky to choose a spot. We have many low spots in the yard where water pools when it rains. We also don’t want it too close to the fields where they are spraying chemicals every year. If you know me, you know I’m all about avoiding chemicals. Avoiding too much shade was also important, obviously. It is next to a tree that has lost most of it’s branches. Thankfully what is left of the maple tree doesn’t create much shade here.

We hope to not have to till anymore after this year so that we don’t lose more topsoil. If you are familiar with the back to eden method, that is what we hope to achieve. It won’t be easy, but nothing easy is ever worth it. We have the wood chips to mulch the garden once the plants have a good start. You can get a free wood chip delivery by signing up with Chip Drop. It is a huge truck of chips, so be prepared when they call you!

The whole family got involved in carrying bags of topsoil to the garden. We also did some bags of composed manure. The kids wouldn’t get anywhere near that.

Once we had the topsoil taken care of, we started planting. We had all of our seed starts to put in the ground as well as plenty of direct-sow seeds. We are also going to try growing potatoes this year, which I’m so excited about! We planted foods that we actually eat, which I find to be incredibly important. Plant what you like instead of taking up space with what is popular. We did plant some chocolate pear tomatoes and pink celery just for fun. I have also found that the kids are more likely to try things that we have grown ourselves. They don’t always like it (cherry tomatoes, for example) but at least they try.

Our weather has been all over the place lately, and I am concerned about possibly losing our little plants. We started them too early this year. We are making notes in our homestead planner so that we don’t make the mistake again next year. They were getting root-bound, and we knew we were going to lose them if we kept them inside any longer. If you have seed starts– don’t forget to harden them off! Take them outside for 2 hours and increase the time each day until they are out for a full 24 hours. Otherwise, they get shocked and die easily. Hopefully the weather will stay warm enough for them all to survive.

Succession planting is something that we are excited to try this year. We have several bush bean varieties planted, and we will succession plant so that we have a greater harvest. We are doing the same with our carrots, radishes, etc. I planted some carrot seeds several weeks ago, and we planted a row of rainbow carrots yesterday. Radishes are fun to grow because you can harvest them approximately 25 days after planting. It’s a great encouragement since much of gardening is a waiting game. Then, when you least expect it, you are overwhelmed by your harvest in the best way.

I planted two strawberry plants last year. They have spread and grown a ton this year, and we are seeing a lot of little baby strawberries growing! It’s all so exciting!! We put some new blueberry and raspberry bushes in the ground this year, and it will be fun to see them produce over the next several years.

This has been so much hard work. All of our free time has been spent preparing and working–whether building coops and runs or raking and working the soil. It has been busy and at times overwhelming. It is so rewarding to see it all coming together.