A quick entry with a recipe for fancy butter…

1 stick of salted butter at room temperature
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary chopped
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon honey
2 cloves of roasted garlic
1/8 heaping teaspoon hot pepper powder

Combine ingredients into a small storage container and enjoy all week while you use it to make all your breads and crackers taste more exciting ;)

Of course you’ll need something delicious to dip your homemade crackers into… how about a roasted red pepper & olive spread?

Ingredients used : 2 roasted peppers (1 red & 1 orange), 2-3 cloves roasted garlic, 1 cup chopped olives spliced with capers if desired, and 1 8oz. package of cream cheese.

Preheat oven to 425°

This dip is simple to make and extra delicious.  Begin by roasting the peppers and garlic. Roasting peppers may seem like a lot of work, however that turns out to not be the case at all.  In fact, roasting peppers has become a staple in our weekly meals as of late because it’s so easy.  Once a week we make a roasted pepper sauce to use in various meals — enchiladas, pizza, chiles relleños, and anything else that requires a sauce.  SO, roasting a couple peppers for this dip is even easier when you’re already roasting something anyway.  Whether you plan to make a sauce or not, roasting a couple of peppers & garlic takes very little attention and no skill at all.

Brush or spray peppers with a little bit of olive oil and place on a baking sheet lined with tinfoil. Wrap a head of garlic in foil and drizzle a small amount of olive oil over top.  Place in oven and roast for 20-40 minutes, flip peppers a couple times throughout the time as you keep a loose eye on them; you’ll know when they’re done because they will be slightly blackened, shriveled, and softened. Remove from the oven and allow them to cool before handling.

Before you chop up two peppers for this dip, peal off the skin of the peppers and remove the seeds. It’s not terrible if you leave the skin on, but once removed the diced pepper bits will be nice and soft which is perfect for the texture of a spread.

Dice about a cup of olives and include some capers if desired. The olives we had came with capers and pimentos so it was easy to incorporate them. Just green olives will be delicious but adding some capers to the mix makes it even better.

Combine all ingredients to make the spread complete.  I like to start with the cream cheese first and add the roasted garlic before the other ingredients so it’s mixed in evenly throughout. You can chop the garlic up if you’d like but it’s often soft enough to break up while mixing. Next add the olives, capers, and peppers and mix to finish the process.

Enjoy with crackers, pita, bread, or chips!