Liquid Smoke the Magical Culinary Elixir

I absolutely LOVE the taste of smoked, grilled, and barbecued food, but I do not love slaving over a hot grill and frankly the idea of standing outside in 90+ degree weather overseeing the searing and roasting of slabs of meat(YUM!) when the inside of my house is comfortably cool(all hail the inventor of the A/C!) is less then thrilling. I hate to sweat. Period. And let's face it, it is 90+ degrees in Southern Texas about 8 months out of the year. Yeah, this means I do not spend a lot of time out of doors. My husband Matt has wanted to take me camping since we first got married...and that was 17 years ago(it's not looking too good for you on that front dear!) But I digress! One of the wonderful things I love about Texas is the HUGE selection of Salsas, BBQ sauces, Meat Marinades, and my personal favorite: Liquid Smoke! I started out just adding it to things like the hamburger for tacos or Goulash(for you Yankees this is what you would call American Chop Suey) but I have since expanded that to pretty much any meat dish, Soups, and even dips! I find it can also pleasantly change the taste of foods my children would normally turn their nose up at, like the tomato and beef stock based soup I made for lunch and added some frozen zuchini I needed to use up and some chickpeas. Once it was heated through I used my handy Braun Immersion Blender and pureed it as smooth as I could. Then I added about 2 T of grated Romano and about 10 drops of liquid smoke. The kids never saw me making the soup so they had NO CLUE about all the hidden fiber in there and they LOVED it!

Now I know you are all just leaning forward in your computer chairs saying, "Hello? Get to the recipe will ya? Ok, here is a fantastic Dip I made for a Church Dinner that went over so well people demanded the recipe.

*Please note some of the measurements have some leeway to allow for personal taste. Obviously, if you dislike Thyme, but love Rosemary, that would be a great substitution. Also if you are not a big fan of Roasted Garlic(Is that even possible?) Carmelized Onions would be great in this dip! If you don't care for olives, why not try some chopped sundried tomatoes?

Roasted Garlic and Olive Dip

2 blocks of Cream Cheese-room temp

1 16 oz contanier of full fat Sour Cream

4 cloves roasted Garlic(you can use garlic powder in a pinch but it's not as good)

1/4 tsp or more Coursely ground black pepper

1 tsp kosher salt

1/4 to 1/2 tsp dried Thyme leaves

6-8 drops Liquid Smoke

1 1/2 cups black olives

In a food processor pulse together cream cheese, sour cream, roasted garlic(minus the skins,) kosher salt, black pepper, Thyme and liquid smoke until well blended. Sample to test for seasoning levels, and when ready add the olives and pulse in short bursts until the olives or roughly chopped and distributed evenly in the dip. Refrigerate for 2-4 hours to allow the flavor to develop and serve with raw veggies and sturdy crackers like Melba Toast.