Marinated Apéro Olives

A little spicy and full of flavor from garlic, lemon zest and herbs, these marinated apéro olives are perfect for serving with cocktails, beer and wine.

If you read my post from last Sunday, you saw the inspiration for this recipe in the photo of our shopping when we were in France last month. My husband chose some mixed marinated olives at a local market because when you are in France, you have to have l’apéro, short for l'apéritif - an aperitif, a drink that is meant to spark the appetite - in the evening. 

L'apéro is a daily tradition there and includes getting together for drinks and nibbles with friends and family to unwind at the end of each day, usually taking place between 5-7 p.m. The supermarkets all have generous sections devoted to l’apéro, with cold cuts, sausages, crackers, cheese cubes, olives, pickles and other snacky food. One of my favorite areas of some of the best supermarkets in the world.

Marinated Apéro Olives

I’ve given the amounts of olives I used for this below but you can certainly mix and match more than one type of green and black olives. Use your favorites. My one strong recommendation is to use unpitted olives. They always taste better than already pitted ones. Simply set out a small bowl for the discarded pits when serving.

Ingredients 

1 lb or 450g good quality unpitted green olives 

8 oz or 225g good quality unpitted black olives

2-3 small chili peppers

3 cloves garlic

2 sprigs fresh rosemary

2 sprigs fresh thyme

1 lemon

1 large chili pepper

½ cup or 120ml good quality extra virgin olive oil

Method

Mince the garlic and the small chili peppers and put them in a bowl that will be large enough for all of the olives.

With a sharp knife, pare the zest off of the lemon, taking care to leave the white pith behind as best you can.

Add it to the bowl. Cut the lemon in half. Squeeze the juice from lemon halves into the bowl.

Strip the leaves off of the rosemary and thyme. Chop them roughly.

Slice the large chili pepper and add it to the bowl along with the herbs. Give it all a good stir.

Gently warm the olive oil to about 100°F or 38°C. Pour it in the bowl and leave to infuse and cool for a few minutes. 

Add in the olives and give the whole thing a good stir. 

Leave to marinate for an hour or two unrefrigerated, then store in a glass jar or airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3–4 weeks. I put mine in a container and tossed it around to mix again the next couple of days, when I thought about it. 

Best served at room temperature with drinks of your choice! L'apéro at home! 

Enjoy!

Welcome to the 15th edition of Alphabet Challenge 2026, brought to you by the letter O. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the O recipes below:

• Apple Cider Old Fashioned from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• BBQ Deviled Eggs with Crispy Fried Onions from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Gumbo-laya Stew from A Messy Kitchen 
• Marinated Apéro Olives from Food Lust People Love
• Olive Oil-Cured Chevre-Filled Cigarillos from Culinary Cam
• Onion and Olive Oil Focaccia with Sea Salt from Sizzling Tastebuds
• Onion Swirls from Magical Ingredients
• Orange Blueberry Waffles from Jolene’s Recipe Journal
• Pumpkin Olan from Mayuri’s Jikoni
• Rhubarb and Strawberry Baked Oatmeal from Karen’s Kitchen Stories

Here are my posts for the 2026 alphabet challenge, thus far:

A: Ají de Cerdo aka Peruvian Pork Stew

B: Baby Cos Peach Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing 

C. Traditional Cullen Skink 

D. Coconut Cream Date Caramel 

E. Edamame Summer Salad 

F. Lamb Feta Mint Patties 

G. Ricotta Gnocchi à la Poêle 

H. Hazelnut Vodka 

I. Italian Sausage Stuffed Mini Peppers - this post!

J. Jägersuppe - Hunter's Soup 

K. Easy Chicken Kapama 

L. Easy Lamb Shoulder Roast 

M. Miso Chocolate Cookies 

N. Duck Egg Narjissiya 

O. Marinated Apéro Olives - this post!

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Kirsebærkage - Danish Cherry Cake

This kirsebærkage aka Danish cherry cake is baked with fresh cherries. It is easy to make and even easier to eat, with a tender crumb and golden top.

Last month we spent a week in France reveling in the fabulous fresh produce, shopping and cooking and eating extremely well in our little cottage with a sea view.

The very first day, before we even checked in to the Airbnb, we stopped at a supermarket to pick up dinner supplies and came across a great sale on cherries. Only 4 euros a kilo! So about $2 a pound. Now, I know that’s not super cheap in the States where during the summer, cherries can get as low at $1 a pound but on the island of Jersey, we aren’t so lucky.

Anyhoo, all to say, we bought cherries and then before we headed home, we bought even more to take back. 

We’ve got builders in right now, working on an extension to the house so I baked this cake to share with them. Went down a treat!  

Kirsebærkage - Danish Cherry Cake

This recipe is adapted from one on BenedictesMad. She says it’s so easy, even her six-year-old can make it if she preps the ingredients.

Ingredients

8 oz or 225g fresh cherries

3 eggs 

1 1/2 cup or 150g sugar (I used golden caster)

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

½ cup or 113g butter, softened, plus extra for the pan

1 ¼ cups or 156g flour, plus extra for the pan

½ teaspoon baking powder

2 pinches fine sea salt

For topping:

1 tablespoon sugar

Method

First, the hard job. Pit the cherries. Even if you have a cherry pitter, this is a messy job so protect your clothes and work surfaces. We are still in a relative construction zone, cooking in a makeshift kitchen and I couldn’t find mine so I just cut the cherries in half around the pit and removed the pits by prying them out. 

If you pitted yours whole, cut the cherries into halves.

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C. Butter and flour a round baking pan about 9 inches or 23cm in diameter. 

With electric beaters or in the bowl of your stand mixer, beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla until light and aerated. 

Add the softened butter and beat again. The batter will look a bit curd-ly but don’t worry. It will turn into a lovely, creamy batter once the flour is added.

Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt.

 Beat again briefly.

Spoon the batter into your prepared pan. Distribute the cherry pieces over the batter. I put them round side up because I thought that would be prettier. If you can’t be bothered, don’t. Taste will be the same! 

Sprinkle with the extra sugar for topping

Bake in your preheated oven for approximately 35-40 minutes or until a wooden skewer comes out clean. The aroma while it bakes it ah-mazing! It brought my husband through to ask how the cake was going. 

Turning it out onto a wire rack and leave to cool before cutting into wedges to serve. 

This cake is often served with whipped cream or a scoop of ice cream. We enjoyed it just as it was. 

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing cakes from around the world in celebration of International Cake Day tomorrow. Many thanks to our host Camilla of Culinary Cam. Check out the links below. 

• Carlota de Limon from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Kirsebærkage - Danish Cherry Cake from Food Lust People Love
• Kyiv Cake from A Messy Kitchen
• Madeira Cake from Sneha's Recipe
• Persian Love Cake from Mayuri's Jikoni
• Taiwanese Castella Cake from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Topfen-Obers-Torte from Culinary Cam

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join. 

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Cauliflower Spinach Mac and Cheese

With extra protein from cottage cheese and extra creaminess from Laughing Cow triangles, this cauliflower spinach mac and cheese is a tasty delight! And a somewhat healthier comfort food dish. 

When we lived in Paris back when our daughters were little, I used to buy La Vache qui rit - Laughing Cow - cheese as snacks for them because 1. It was creamy and delicious, and 2. The little triangles came individually wrapped which made handing them to small children a breeze, plus 3. They didn’t need to be refrigerated if I was packing them for a trip to the park. Bonus: They are high in the calcium needed for growing bones.

Nowadays, you do find them on display in the refrigerated section of the supermarket but the official website assures me that they are actually shelf stable due to the high temperature at which they are created. 

When I was developing this recipe, I was looking to up my protein intake and cottage cheese came to mind. But cottage cheese, even blended till smooth, isn’t all that creamy and that's when I remembered the triangle cheese and how it's made!

According to the website, “The Laughing Cow cheese is made by mixing milk powder (which is blended with water to bring it back to milk), cheeses and butter with emulsifying salts. The emulsifying salts simply play the same role as the citrate in fondue Savoyarde, stopping separation and creating a lovely creamy texture.” Who doesn't love a cheese fondue? It’s been made that way since 1921!

I also added a good amount of freshly grated Parmesan for more cheesy oomph! This was a hit with my husband who wanted to go back for seconds at dinnertime but restrained himself. But guess what he had for breakfast the next morning. Yep!

Cauliflower Spinach Mac and Cheese

I used the lighter Laughing Cow cheese and low-fat cottage cheese but you can use full fat versions, if desired. I like the little bitty elbow macaroni for this but use whatever kind you can find. Just know that weight will be a more accurate measure than cups, if you do use a bigger macaroni. 

Ingredients

2 teaspoons fine sea salt

8oz or 225g cauliflower florets

8 1/3 oz or 235g baby spinach

6 oz or 170g elbow macaroni (a well-rounded cup)

Olive oil for greasing the baking dish

10oz or 284g low fat cottage cheese

½ cup or 120ml milk

2 tablespoons cornstarch

8 Laughing Cow (light) cheese triangles (120g)

3 ½ oz or 100g Parmesan, grated

Fine sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Cayenne, optional

For topping:

1 oz or 28g Parmesan

3 tablespoons panko

Sprinkle paprika or cayenne, optional

Method

Put a large pot of water on the stove to boil with the salt. 

Chop the cauliflower florets roughly and set aside. 

I'm picky about my spinach so even when the bag says "washed and ready to eat," I go through it leaf by leaf, tossing any bruised ones and pulling the stems off. If you aren't so picky, skip this step.

When the water comes to the boil, add in the macaroni and set a timer for four minutes less than the recommended time for cooking it al dente. 

When the timer goes off, add in the cauliflower. 

Cook for one minute less than the prescribed al dente time. 

My macaroni said 9 mins to al dente, so I boiled it 5 minutes to start then added the cauliflower and set a timer for 3 minutes: Only 8 minutes total cooking time for the pasta.  

Drain the macaroni and cauliflower in a colander, retaining some of the water for possible use later. Rest the hot pot off the stove so it can cool a little.

Preheat your oven to 350ºF or 180°C and grease a casserole dish with a little olive oil.

Blend the cottage cheese, milk and cornstarch in a blender or with a hand blender until smooth and creamy.

Pour the mixture into your pasta pot over low-to-medium heat. Cook for a minute or two, stirring well.

Add in the Laughing Cow and grated Parmesan cheeses. 

Stir continuously until the cheeses melt and the sauce is thoroughly heated through and bubbling. Cook for a few minutes, stirring constantly so it doesn’t catch. 

Add in the baby spinach and give it a good stir. The spinach will wilt quickly!  

Add in the macaroni and cauliflower. Stir well to thoroughly combine.

Taste the mixture and add salt to your taste, as needed. With all that cheese, you may not need any. Add a few generous grinds of black pepper and a good sprinkle of cayenne, if using, and stir again. If it seems a little dry, you can add a little of the saved pasta water. 

Spoon the mixture into your prepared casserole dish. 

Mix together the topping ingredients.

Sprinkle them evenly on top with some paprika or cayenne, if using.

Bake for 30 minutes in your preheated oven or until the dish is hot and bubbling and golden on top. You can put the broiler/grill on for the last couple of minutes to get the top more brown, if you’d like.

Enjoy!

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing recipes for everyone’s favorite comfort food, mac and cheese! Many thanks to our host, Camilla of Culinary Cam. Check out the links below. 

• Baked Penne and Cheese from A Messy Kitchen
• Cauliflower Spinach Mac and Cheese by Food Lust People Love
• Gruyére and Emmentaler Macaroni and Cheese with Ham and Sourdough by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Instant Pot Chicken Mac and Cheese by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Keto Roasted Cauliflower Cheese by Sneha's Recipe
• Spicy Cheezy Orzo by Sid's Sea Palm Cooking

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join. 

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Chocolate Coconut Flour Cookies

These delicious chocolate coconut flour cookies are naturally gluten free but they are also made with Swerve, making them diabetic friendly, low carb and relatively low calorie as well. You won't miss any of those things! 

One of my dearest and oldest friends is on weight loss journey for her health. She is doing amazingly well and we are all so proud of her for the lifestyle changes she’s made and her perseverance in pursuit of better health. A while back, she and her husband were going to be in town for doctors’ visits so I invited them to stop by after for tea before they had to drive the couple of hours back home. 

I made some savory snacks and baked these cookies as our sweet treat. She liked them so much that I happily wrapped up the leftovers for her to take home. I call that a win! 

Chocolate Coconut Flour Cookies

This recipe is adapted from one on today’s Sunday FunDay host’s blog, Cook with Renu. Her original recipe uses honey instead of my Swerve. If you are looking for lovely healthy recipes, many with alternative gluten free flours and little refined sugar, go have a browse! 

Ingredients for 12-15 cookies

⅓ cup or 28g coconut flour

¼ cup or 30g unsweetened cocoa powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

⅛ teaspoon or a generous pinch fine sea salt

2 eggs

¼ cup or 50g brown Swerve

1 tablespoon water

⅓ cup or 75g coconut oil - melted and at room temperature – or vegetable oil

½ cup or 90g 63% cacao extra dark chocolate chips

Method

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and line a baking pan with baking parchment or a silicone liner. I actually used two pans because all my cookies didn’t quite fit on mine, which only holds 12. That said, my cookie scoop was small. You could probably make 12!

In a large mixing bowl sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.

In another bowl whisk the eggs, along with the Swerve, water and melted oil.

Toss the chocolate chips into the dry ingredients and stir to coat. 

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and combine until well incorporated.

Leave the mixture to rest for five minutes so the coconut flour can absorb the liquid.

Use a cookie scoop or a spoon and put dollops of the dough on your prepared baking pan/s. 

Bake in your preheated oven for 12-15 minutes, until the cookies are firm on the top yet give a little if you poke them gently. They will firm up more as they cool. Like with all dark chocolate cookies, you can’t use color to see if they are cooked! 

Cool the cookies on a wire rack. Once cooled, store them in an airtight container, if they don’t get eaten right away! 

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing recipes made with coconut flour. Many thanks to our host, Renu of Cooking with Renu. Check out the links below.

• Chocolate Coconut Flour Cookies - Diabetic Friendly from Food Lust People Love
• Coconut Crusted Chicken from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Coconut Shortbread Cookies from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Gluten Free Chocolate Banana Coconut Flour Cake  from Cook with Renu
• Gluten Free Coffee Cake from A Messy Kitchen
• Keto Flaxseed & Coconut Flour Flatbread Sneha's Recipe

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join. 

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