Sundried Tomato Tapenade

A couple of weeks ago we stopped by to visit my husband's Nonna's house for dinner. We brought my homemade calzones with us and she put out this amazing sundried tomato tapenade. I honestly could have sat there and ate the entire bowl of it myself, but I refrained from saying so or his Nonna would have actually made me eat the entire thing by myself.... And if that's not an Italian grandmother for you, then I don't know what is!

We asked her what was in this delicious spread and she gave us the list of ingredients, it's a one bowl mixture and easy to whip up in less than 5 minutes. I suggest making it a day ahead and letting it sit overnight to let the flavors meld together a bit, but if you can't it will still taste delicious if you make it and eat it the day of making it.

The recipe calls for toasted almonds which I didn't have on hand so I just tossed my sliced almonds in the toaster oven quickly and got them all nice and toasty. What's nice about this recipe is it seems really fancy and hard to make but in actuality you might have all the ingredients on hand already.

French Macarons

I learned about real macarons during our visit to France last year and then I spent an entire year wishing a local bakery sold them and that they would taste even a quarter as good as the ones I had in France. They didn't, in fact no one did and the closest I found was frozen ones at Trader Joe's which were good but not quite right. Then one day I decided it was time to buckle down and make them myself, get over my fear of them and take on the challenge. And you know what I found out? They weren't so difficult after all, in fact they were quite easy to make. French macarons require patience and following very precise directions. There are multiple steps involved and they all need to be followed exactly, don't skip or try to rush the process, do it all, do it right and you will be amazed at how delicious these little cookies are, you will amaze all your friends too with your talents.

Almond Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Breakfast is probably my favorite meal of the day; pancakes, waffles, crepes, omelettes, hash browns, you name it, I love it all. Up until today I had always thought I made good pancakes, then after watching The Pioneer Woman's new television show I made one slight adjustment to my recipe and voila, my pancakes just got kicked up to a whole new level. It was amazing, who knew that just a little bit of melted butter in the batter would make the pancakes so much more delicious. I owe you Pioneer Woman, this is the second of your tips I've followed just this week and both have turned about to be amazing.

Onto the recipe, who doesn't love a chocolate chip pancake? For me it makes me feel like I'm a kid again. I like to add sliced almonds into the recipe to class it up bit, plus the almonds really add a nice flavor profile to the pancakes. These pancakes are delicious, the next time you have a free morning you must make them.