Olive, Garlic and Herb Dipping Oil!

If you have tried Laura's Garlic Herb Dip once, I bet you've made it several times. I still don't have the courage to add as many cloves of garlic as Laura does but we are hooked on that stuff.

It is absolutely amazing spooned over freshly baked crusty bread, but I love to drizzle it over grilled veggies, too.

The beauty of the recipe is that it really isn't a recipe. You just take a handful of fresh herbs of your choice and chop them up with some garlic, drizzle olive oil over the top and season.

Easy peasy.

Last week I had made a beautiful, crusty double loaf of Luce's New Italian Bread.

Charles Luce makes gluten free artisan bread so easy. I tweak the recipe ever so slightly and double it, baking it in a covered casserole instead of his baking bags. It comes out just right. The double sized loaf works better for my family.

We were getting ready to grill some veggies when I remembered Laura's dip.

I went outside to pick herbs and there just wasn't enough to make a nice amount so I grabbed a can of Santa Barbara Olive Company Olives. These are my favorite olives so only about 2/3 of the can made it into the dip. The texture and size of these olives are so perfect and they have several olives that are gluten free. A bonus is Santa Barbara is where my mom's family lived when I was young. The old mission on the label just makes me happy.

The result was really phenomenal. The olive texture and salty flavor worked so well with the garlic. The herbs I had on hand were fresh basil, mint, oregano and a tiny bit of chives. Any fresh herb you love works and the more flavors, the better. Because Laura loves olives I felt she'd approve of this addition. =D

We rounded out dinner with a roasted beet salad and it felt like the perfect summer meal.

Again, this really isn't a real recipe, but here's what I did.

Olive, Garlic & Herb Dipping Oil:

I chopped a handful fresh mixed herbs finely with 3 cloves of garlic.

When they were chopped I added about a cup of drained jumbo black olives and roughly chopped them.

I put the mixture in a bowl and covered with Extra Virgin Olive Oil. I used freshly ground Himalayan Salt, Black Pepper and Hot Hungarian Paprika to season the dipping oil. We have kept extra dipping oil two or three days in the fridge.

Happily shared on Gluten Free Wednesdays over at Gluten Free Easily!

Enjoy!

Luce's Gluten Free Artisan Bread Mixes!

Saturday morning Joe and I headed out to the Gluten Free & Allergen Free Expo together. Our time was really limited and I wanted to make sure we checked out some new-to-us products.

The night before Chris and I had the pleasure of attending a blogger dinner at Bella Monica where we got to know some very interesting people. I want to than Pam Jordan of I'm A Celiac for including me. I hoped to introduce Joe to a couple of the people I'd met at the dinner, especially CPT Ben Adrasik.

In the coming days I will tell you about Moon Rabbit Foods, Stacie Moor of Nature's Radiance Healthy Cosmetics, This is Grub Water Kefir and CPT Ben Andrasik who has written the book Gluten Free in Afghanistan but tonight's post is all about Luce's Gluten Free Artisan Bread Mixes.

Joe and I nearly walked past Charles Luce and his table of artisan bread. We backed up and tried a sample and I was floored. The crust is chewy and the crumb is tender and it tastes like real bread. It's not just really good gluten free bread - it's really good bread period. We tried samples of each of his flavors - New Italian, Bold Buckwheat Premium, OMG Flatbread and Classic Sourdough. (That's the Classic Sourdough above, just minutes after I pulled it out of the oven.)

I purchased three bags of bread mix and I'm glad I did because it will hold us over until our first order arrives. Yes, I placed an order right after sampling our first loaf of bread - it's really that good.

What is really nice is that everything you need to bake a wonderful, crusty loaf of bread is in that bag. The baking flour, dusting flour (doesn't it give the crust a great, authentic look?), parchment, baking bag and precise, easy to follow instructions are all included.

All you have to do is measure one cup of warm water, mix it up, form it into a loaf, slide the loaf into the baking bag and let it rise a bit before baking. Charles has done all the work.

I was concerned it might be hard to slip the dough into the bag but the parchment support works perfectly.

The rice flour for dusting is perfectly measured and easy to sprinkle on.

The baking bag keeps just enough steam on the loaf for a perfect crust.

I love that the ingredients are simple and natural and while I do make my own flour mixes and bread I bake I just think this is a genius product and look forward to trying another flavor.

What I really look forward to is my French hubby getting to enjoy a crusty loaf of bread when he gets home. He can eat anything but chooses to eat gluten free at home to keep the rest of us safe. This is his kind of bread and can't wait for him to try it. I ordered the bulk mixes which lowers the price per loaf to about half making it really reasonable for a good loaf of gluten free bread.

Try it and if you do, please let me know how you like it!