Bernadette Petrotta's Carrot Cake

Bernadette used to make this with butter. Now, it is much healthier, using Graber Extra Virgin Olive Oil!

Bernadette's tip? "To make the recipe healthier, I used the amounts shown in parenthesis, instead what the recipe called for originally. I do this all of the time with most all recipes."

Ingredients

2 cups flour (whole wheat)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 l/12 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 cups sugar (l/2 cup)
1 l/2 cups Graber extra-virgin olive oil
4 eggs
2 cups grated carrots
8 ounce can crushed pineapple
l/2 cup chopped pecans (3/4 cup)

Directions 

Sift together flour, baking powder, soda, salt & cinnamon.
Add sugar, oil, eggs. Mix well.
Add carrots, drained pineapple, nuts.

Bake 350 degrees for 45 minutes
Remove from oven and let cool


Cream Cheese Frosting

8 ounce cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla
l/2 cube butter
5 tablespoons powdered sugar
5 tablespoons milk

Blend in blender until rich and smooth.
Spread on cooled carrot cake.

Refrigerate and just cut pieces as you desire!

Jens Rivera's Rotisserie Chicken

Ingredients- 

One, 3 to 4 pound, fresh whole chicken, prepped- rinsed and trimmed of any excess fat.
3-4 Tablespoons of Graber Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
Sprigs of fresh or dried rosemary.
Sage, salt and freshly ground pepper, along any other seasonings you prefer.

Directions-

The Rosemary, Sage and Graber Olive Oil make this chicken a flavorful winner!

Preheat the bar-b-que to medium-high. Rub the entire chicken, inside and out, with 3 to 4 tablespoons of Graber Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Stuff the cavity of the chicken with fresh rosemary. (Dried rosemary can be used too, but I prefer fresh sprigs.) Then add the other seasonings and herbs all over the outside of the chicken and up under the skin where you are able. Slow cook on either the rotisserie for 2 hours (my preference), or bake in the oven until done. Add roasted vegetables or any other side dishes that will complement this wonderful, tasty chicken.

Maura J. Graber's Olive Pizza

Either olives or grapes can be used with this non-traditional dish!

My recipe first appeared published in the California Farm Cookbook, by Kitty Morse, after a request from the author for my favorite recipe with Graber Tree-Ripened Olives. It is also fantastic with grapes, instead of the olives and both have a unique, different flavor. This intro below is from Kitty Morse's book.

"Visions of a quiet Midwestern town come to mind as you drive up to the Graber Olive House on a tree-shaded street in Ontario. However, if you look carefully among the pines, lanky palms, and elegant magnolias, you can discern the dark foliage of an orange tree or the spiny limb of a native succulent. At the Graber Olive House, one venerable olive tree dates back to 1892, when Clifford Graber, the founder of the Ontario’s oldest existing business, migrated west from Indiana for health reasons.

Much of the original Graber ranch still remains in use, from the stately family home to the original bar, where the olive curing process still takes place. On the verdant grounds, a small museum shelters the old-fashioned wooden olive grader that Clifford Graber devised to sort his olives. The family-owned business produces only one hundred and fifty tons of tree-ripened olives every year. The painstaking harvest entails hand-picking only three ripe fruit at a time, and setting them gently into padded buckets. Pickers may have to return to the same tree on seven different occasions to select only the most luscious of the Grabers’ fruit.

The sugar called for in Maura Graber’s recipe enhances the mild and juicy flavor of the green olives." – Kitty Morse

3 cups pitted Graber Olives (#12 or #14 can size)

1 tbsp. Graber of California extra virgin olive oil

2 1-lb. loaves frozen bread dough, thawed according to package directions (I prefer Brigford Bread Dough)

2 tbsp. fresh or dried rosemary

2 tbsp. granulated sugar

Cut olives in half, or leave whole, as desired. On a floured board, roll out thawed bread dough to ½ inch thickness, and transfer carefully to a greased 10 x 15-inch baking pan. Brush dough with olive oil, and let rise in a warm place for 15 to 20 minutes, or until puffy.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Top dough with olives set in a decorative pattern, and sprinkle with rosemary and sugar. Bake in a preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until dough turns golden. Remove from oven, cool a few moments, and cut into squares. Serve warm.


Yield: 14 generous servings.