better than butter

Love your butter but know you should be having olive oil instead? Have both! In a food processor (or blender)

• 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened to room temperature for easy blending
• 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
• optional: 1/4 tsp fine grain salt

Blend it up and store it in the fridge.  It will harden to a nice spreadable consistency.  When I started making this mixture I used 1 part butter to 1 part olive oil, but kept increasing the olive oil until it's now 1 part butter to 2 parts olive oil.  If this is a new concept for you, I recommend starting out 1 to 1.

We store ours in a glass containers, plastic containers leach xenoestrogens into foods, especially fats.

my favorite glass containers:

http://www.crateandbarrel.com/jump.aspx?t=1&a mp;f=204&c=670&taf=1

http://www.crateandbarrel.com/jump.aspx?t=1&a mp;f=5413&c=850&taf=1

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/ref=br_1 _11/601-9820024-1600136?%5Fencoding=UTF8& frombrowse=1&asin=B000EE1KJW

you know, I will mix up something like this as a spread for garlic toast... never dawned on me just to mix up a fair bit of it and keep it stored in the fridge.  Brilliant!

we sometimes make a whole batch of garlic "butter" too.  can also throw some fresh herbs in there, really anything done as a compound butter can be done mixed with evoo.

p.s. my parents *almost* named me Kirstin, but the doctor talked them out of it, said my last name was bad enough they were going to stick me with a first name people couldn't pronounce either?!

ok, you will LAUGH at this then... middle name is Carter (don't ask me why, but I am stuck with this one.) people often mis pronouce Kirstin... I am Keerstin clearly "IN" and not "Curst"  for the first syllable.  My husband's last name is "Curtin"  I kept my maiden name because I was not about to become "Cursten" Carter Curtin.    Just wasn't happening. 

I usually throw in fresh basil or oregon when I do the garlic toast.  I thin k I will try just keep ing some around for sauteeing veggies and stuff in too.

that did make me laugh!  Mine would have been pronounced "Keerstin" too.  Instead I got boring Tracy and my niece ended up to be the Kirstin in the family.  I wouldn't have chosen to be "Cursten" Curtin either, that would have been some kind of Curse! (sorry, couldn't help myself).

I have no excuse, I kept my unpronouncable and unspellable last name instead of taking my husband's, which is Murphy, just out of sheer stubborn independence!

well, I can relate to the independance too.  My kids have both last names.  yikes.  there is a mouthfull.

stuck my kid with my last name as his middle name.  My ex has a difficult to pronounce & spell last name too.  the things we do to our children!