I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop for Star Olive Oil at Walmart has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias and its client.
I fancy myself to be a very creative and colorful cook. I blame the show Chopped for my flare. This is the show where professional chefs get a box of wacko mystery ingredients and have to make a dish that uses them all, I’ve pretty much deemed myself an expert at finding flavor combinations that surprise and awe those who sit at my table thanks to this guilty pleasure of mine.
I’m definitely successful at surprising folks with some of my creations. I’m a little more “hit or miss” when it comes to just how edible these surprises are. What can I say? They make it look like if you just want it bad enough, stuff that shouldn’t taste good together magically will!
Of course, I know the truth: these chefs have years (even decades) of culinary training and refined palettes that help them very quickly categorize flavor profiles and textures, and that helps them create magic, even from a box of stuff that wouldn’t ordinarily jive. As for me, I only get to watch them make unlikely duos such as Fruity Pebbles and caviar join forces to make something awesome, and then I head to my kitchen where I have no shortage of really random ingredients just waiting for their chance to shine or flop. But if they are going to flop, they will flop HARD in my kitchen. I don’t make stuff that tastes “ok.” I’m all in, baby.
Chef’s Secret Weapon
This week I added a new secret weapon to my arsenal. A secret weapon is something that you know will drastically increase your odds for success in the kitchen. STAR Olive Oil has just released some awesome new products that are specially made to be used with certain key ingredients. Check out the options that I recently found on the shelves at my local Walmart.
Also note that fabulous $1 off coupon. And it gets better…when STAR receives that coupon back from the store for redemption, it will then donate .50 to Operation Homefront! Win/win/win!
Ok, so back to the secret weapon business. These olive oils have very special extra ingredients that will help infuse awesome flavor into all kinds of foods.
Vegetables: Meet Your Match!
I chose the Arbequena olive oil for vegetables because as you might remember, we are part of a local CSA and we get a great deal of fresh vegetables every Wednesday afternoon to cook up and enjoy. STAR Arbequena Olive Oil will help bring out the flavors of all these fresh greens.
I noticed a few other vegetables in my fridge and on my counter (some broccoli and tomatoes) that were nearing their expiration dates, and so I decided to use them up in this recipe that I found on the STAR website. I switched up the type of pasta I used, but kept everything else the same.
YUM! What a healthy and delicious treat this made for my family’s lunch yesterday. Everyone ate it, and for once I’m really excited about having leftovers! Adding this olive oil to the dish really did seem to elevate the flavors of my veggies. I will absolutely use this oil again the next time I’m in my kitchen pretending to be on Chopped (someone please tell me I’m not the only one who does this!).
In addition to being inspired by all the crazy stuff I see on Chopped, I also adore finding new recipes on Pinterest (who doesn’t?!). And speaking of Pinterest, I just followed STAR Fine Foods there, as they have a kick butt Pinterest site with some seriously awesome boards. Gotta love when someone else does the hard work of finding awesome recipes for you! Getting my hand ready for a serious “repin” marathon! 🙂
If you’d like to try STAR Usage Pairings Olive Oil, be sure to get some now while that sweet coupon is attached. And also check out the giveaways running right now on the STAR Facebook page! They’ve got all 3 of their usage pairings oils, including Hojiblanca and Picual, up for grabs (there will be 5 lucky winners!). Best of luck!