Monday, April 18, 2016

O is for...Orange Olive Oil

Well, Olivas de Oro Mandarin Orange Olive Oil.....but typically I just say, I'm going to add some of my orange olive oil....if you are playing Scattergories it is worth 3 points.  I wonder if I could get 5 points if I used the Olivas de Oro......

Olivas de Oro Mandrin Orange Olive Oile label

So I first got started on my orange olive oil when I was visiting California with my parents and my dad insisted we stop for a hotel earlier than we had planned because it was dark out and we were "missing the scenery".  We ended up staying in a hotel in California's wine country and the lady at the desk that checked us in gave us a bunch of brochures.  As I was perusing the information before I went to bed I joked with my dad that I found the perfect spot for him - it was out of our way, i.e. backtracking - but as soon as I said sheep.....well, yeah...it instantly added to our itinerary, the Olivas de Oro.  I am not a wine drinker, so an olive orchard was much more exciting to me.  We did stop at a winery on our way back to the olive orchard since the tasting room didn't open until 10 AM and the winery opened at 9 AM, so we got a little of both before we headed on our way again, but I fell in love with the orange brownies they made and it wasn't hard to convince me to buy a jar of the orange olive oil to bring home with me.

landscape picture of olive grove on a hillside
Headed for the Olive Grove.
A dirt lane through an olive grove.
A view of the olive grove from the lane.
A delighted dad looking over the fence at several sheep and friendly dog relaxing in the shade of the olive trees.
Dad, aka the Shepherd, checking out the sheep.
That Christmas, they offered some sort of sale and since I was out of what I had purchased I ordered a 3 liter jar, and the last couple months as the oil in the jar gets lower and lower, I am contemplating what I am going to do when it is all gone......I still have enough for several more batches of brownies, so no need to panic quite yet.

However, tonight I made a new discovery...

A small blue lidded crock.
What is inside today?
Not having gotten around to making a batch of my typical orange brownies, with a few strokes of the computer keys I came up with a recipe for a Microwave Chocolate Mug Brownie, and not wanting to use a mug, I pulled out my little Le Creuset and five minutes later, I was enjoying a nice warm orange brownie.

Two of my favorite ingredients...orange olive oil and Wilbur's chocolate.
My very own orange brownie...I suppose I could make you one,
if you happened to stop by.

4 comments:

  1. Living in California myself, I have a favorite place where I shop and restock my orange olive oil. I was just telling my hubby that I wanted to buy some garlic olive oil (from the same store) and he said I should find a good recipe first. Well now, I've got a reason!

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    1. Several of the recipes on this page use garlic olive oil if you are still looking for a recipe http://www.olivasdeoro.com/recipes.html , the pesto, the bruschetta, and the garlic croutons for sure, there are probably some others too...

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  2. You had me at "chocolate orange brownie." You know, it's honestly never crossed my mind that one could visit an olive orchard. Something new to add to my bucket list. :)

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    1. Hope you get a chance to go sometime and the chocolate orange brownies....well they are just amazing.

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