Roasted Olive Dip

   Company is coming!!!  We're having a little dinner party, and I want to have this cold cheese dip ready technically as an appetizer but truly so I can snack indulgently all day leading up to the fun gathering.

   About halfway through making this exceedingly simple yet exceedingly decadent appetizer, I thought maybe someone else might want to know about this and make it.  We are, after all, fast approaching Labor Day weekend, a great time to roll out a snazzy new recipe.  This qualifies as snazzy in my book.

   You only need a handful of things from the grocery store and about half an hour in the kitchen plus a day or so to let the stuff meld its flavors in the fridge.  It makes you feel a little fancy to serve this, a  little bit gypsy or something.  Now while these ingredients are a bit pricey for one finished edible item, do try to factor in how far this goes.  One recipe will feed several people for two days or one very gluttonous girl for a week.  

What You Need:

   about two cups total of at least two flavors of olives (I use pimento-stuffed green olives and pitted ripe olives)

   a few Tablespoons of Italian dressing

   3 bricks of cream cheese (8 ounces each)

   2 small buckets of feta cheese (drained)

   dash or three of your favorite hot sauce

   a few shakes of garlic salt

What You Do:

• First, let all of the cheeses come to room temperature.  Have you ever tried to stir cold cream cheese?  Nobody should be that strong.
• In a 400-degree oven, roast the olives in a coating of Italian dressing, for about 20 minutes.  This smells incredible.
• Once they are all roasty and tender and shriveled, pull them out and let them cool a bit.
• Now coarsely chop the little gems and set them aside.

• As thoroughly as possible, mix together all the cheeses and season with hot sauce and garlic salt, to taste.

Yeah, I use cheap seasonings sometimes.  So what?

• Now just add the chopped, roasted olives.  It looks like edible confetti.  I swear, it makes me so happy.  And Handsome doesn't have to worry about finding this particular confetti under the seat cushions or inside the fireplace.  Or in his hair.  Or in the buffalo's hair.  Because we eat this confetti.  At Least I do...

   That's about it!  Now I would place a sheet of waxed paper over the top, wrap it up in plastic like your life depends on it and abandon the fruits of your labor to the cold fridge overnight.  Serve this manna with crackers or just a spoon.  It is so good.

P.S.  This is what a pimento looks like when it's about to explode.