Olive Sunshine

Olive Sunshine is how I think of olive oil. This blog post will share three EASY and Mediterranean Diet compliant meals made better with a drizzle of oil. I buy a variety of quality extra virgin olive oils. I suggest buying different brands to grow your olive oil palate experiencing different tastes. Olive oil may be peppery, fruity, and grassy just to name a few tastes to discover. Like wine, one can develop a palate for more pungent and diverse extra virgin olive oil (EVOO).

Choosing a Name

Shakespeare asked, “What’s in a name?” Generating a list of available names to capture the essence of my blog, I had narrowed my choice down to two names. Sunny Table and Olive Sunshine. Sending texts to fifty people, I asked their opinion about my two names. Forty-six people picked the other name. Many shared they liked both but still chose the other name, Sunny Table, because of my name.

The poll process was a defining moment for me similar to a coin toss. After the coin falls, you often realize the choice you really wanted. I too liked Sunny Table, obviously, as it was one of two finalists. As the responses were pouring in, I found myself rooting anxiously for Olive Sunshine.

Accepting feedback, I began the process of registering for Sunny Table, and yes, my research was correct the domain for the other name was available. I found out I had to buy the domain from a private seller. The seller had priced it at $5,548.75! I chose Olive Sunshine and no other name smells as sweet or is more affordable!

Olive Sunshine has many meanings for me. My name is Sunny and my Sweetheart often refers to me as Sunshine. Olives are the quintessential Mediterranean food, reminiscent of my grandmother, Daphne. Her father was born in Greece. The two words, olive and sunshine, represents colors, one light and one dark creating contrasts. Cooking is also full of contrasts, flavor contrasts, creating the most beautiful tastes. Olive Sunshine is short, snappy and hopefully memorable.

Olive Oil is Liquid Gold

I love to pour olive oil in different glass containers and see the light dance off the hue.

On this journey I discovered olive oil will not make me fat. I thought fat was the enemy, obsessed with eating a “low-fat” diet to stay thin, or get thin, depending on the year.  Now I realize fats are not equal. 

Mark and I were participating in an Italian cooking class on Facebook Live from Italy. Ida, our slim and fit Sommelier, was espousing the virtues of the cold-pressed olive oil bottled in the venue in San Gimignano, Tuscany. Ida said, you could drink this all day and never get fat. Refrain from drinking it! Too much of anything, even a good thing, is not good. EVOO should be the primary oil/fat used to cook and bake. I suggest a generous drizzle of it on your food daily.

I feel the olive oil on my skin. It seems to permeate out of my pores. I will leave the scientific explanations to the medical professionals and offer my non-scientific, simplistic view. Eating other fats, butter, margarine, coconut oil, and canola oil etc. can clog your arteries and adding extra virgin olive oil will add to the clog like a grease-clogged pipe in your home. If you have no clog, cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil is unprocessed and will come into the body and exit it, leaving behind only positive elements.

Easy Meal Ideas

Olive oil is good for anytime of the day and on a variety of food. For good health use quality extra-virgin olive oil, often referred to as EVOO. Often people shy away from this way of eating. It may seem too time consuming to make everything fresh. Olive Sunshine will help you find solutions and time saving strategies for fresh food preparation. Here are three meal ideas for all times of day that are quick and tasty and screaming for a drizzle of olive sunshine.

Stuffed Sweet Potato with Roasted Chick Peas

Parsnip Truffle Fries

Easy Egg Wrap