At the heart of this recipe is a completely quirky and off-beat sauce made from pureed green olives. Served with golden, pan-fried gnocchi, capers, toasted almonds and chives. You can easily tweak it to work with pasta or grains as well.

Adapted from a Susan Herrmann Loomis recipe - charming, snappy, salty-sweet olive-flecked shortbread deliciousness. Quirky yet sophisticated, they exist in some middle Earth realm between cracker and cookie.

Trying to keep this pasta casserole recipe on the lighter side, I tossed a rustic farro pasta in yogurt that had been beaten with a bit of egg along with garlic, toasted almonds, chard, butternut squash, and olives. Baked until golden.

A beautiful, spicy hummus recipe made from pureed garbanzo beans, toasted walnuts, and spicy crushed red pepper oil finished with a few chopped olives and a bit of cilantro.

A unique and flavor-packed pasta recipe. Whole wheat pasta noodles, olives, kale, pine nuts tossed in a pan for a tangle with a garlic-charged harissa and olive oil sauce.

A delicious rice gratin recipe - a hearty casserole of baked rice flecked with spinach. The top bakes into a golden cheese crust made even better with a generous sprinkling of black olives, red onions, and toasted pine nuts.

Grilled pizza recipe with an outline of techniques and considerations about the technique it takes to get grilled pizzas right - with topping ideas.

A simple pasta bowl made by tossing a whole wheat fusilli pasta, shredded spinach, and with a delicious walnut & broccoli pesto sauce.

Carrots tossed in a honey-kissed orange dressing, punctuated by toasted pine nuts, black olives and a hint of cumin.

A Paula Wolfert recipe - this is a fantastic Moroccan spread made of a thick mash of herbs and greens, accented with smokey spices, chopped olives, and lemon.