From Breakfast to Dessert: Culinary Secrets with Olive Oil Divine

Let's Get Cooking At Home With The Muellers!

Ever wondered if you could put olive oil in your morning coffee? Or how a dash of balsamic vinegar might transform your vanilla ice cream? Get ready for a culinary revelation as Greg and Shirley Mueller, the passionate owners behind Olive Oil Divine, welcome you into their kitchen for an intimate cooking demonstration that will forever change how you think about these pantry staples.

The magic begins with Shirley's breakfast innovations – brushing butter-flavored almond oil on bread before toasting (something you could never do with real butter!) and crafting vibrant fruit salads elevated with strawberry basil balsamic and champagne vinegar. Her practical tips extend to perfect bread dipping combinations and surprising dessert applications that showcase the versatility of premium balsamic vinegars. The black cherry balsamic drizzled sparingly over vanilla ice cream creates an unexpectedly sophisticated flavor profile that's absolutely divine.

Greg takes over with equally impressive culinary tricks, from transforming Greek yogurt into a creamsicle-inspired breakfast with blood orange olive oil to spicing up pimento cheese with ghost pepper balsamic hot sauce. He confidently debunks the myth that you can't fry with olive oil, demonstrating the technique while explaining the simple rule: high heat is fine for short durations, just don't let it smoke. The demonstration culminates with perhaps the most surprising application – adding butter-flavored olive oil to coffee for a subtle richness that enhances each sip. Throughout, the couple weaves in practical health information, noting the benefits of incorporating just two tablespoons of quality olive oil and three tablespoons of balsamic vinegar into your daily diet.

Ready to revolutionize your kitchen routine with these simple yet transformative techniques? Visit Oliveoildivine.com to explore their exceptional selection of olive oils and aged balsamic vinegars, or stop by their store if you're local. Your journey to becoming a kitchen hero starts with these accessible, flavorful upgrades to everyday dishes!

To learn more about Olive Oil Divine visit:
https://oliveoildivine.com/
Olive Oil Divine
2517 N. Roan Street
Johnson City, TN 37601
423-707-7087

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to the Olive Oil Divine podcast, your go-to
source for culinary inspiration.
Join Greg and Shirley Muller,owners of Olive Oil Divine, as
they share tips, stories andinsights to make you a kitchen
hero.
From authentic extra virginolive oils to rich-aged Italian
balsamic vinegars, We've goteverything you need to elevate

(00:27):
your cooking.
Live divine.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Step inside the kitchen of Greg and Shirley
Muller, where they walk usthrough a room that's equal
parts pantry and playground forthese food lovers.
Welcome back everyone.
Skip Monaco slash producer backin the studio with owners of
Olive Oil Divine, greg andShirley Muller.
Greg, shirley, how's your weekbeen so far?

Speaker 3 (00:57):
Hey, it's been great and welcome to our kitchen.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Oh well, thank you.
I am super excited today to bein uh in the famous kitchen of
greg and shirley muller, and Ihope, uh, assuming greg is
behind the camera- greg isbehind the camera all right.
Hey, greg, hope you're doingwell.
Peachy, peachy, all right.

(01:21):
Well, speaking of peachy, uh,like I said, I'm super excited
to uh get a tour of your kitchenand see the masters in action.
So if you don't mind, let's getthe show on the road.

Speaker 3 (01:34):
I'm ready, skip.
We decided to do some simplethings this morning with our
oils and vinegars.
A lot of people come in and askquestions, so one of my
favorite things to do with abutter flavor almond oil is to
add it to my toast.
But the best part is, all Ihave to do is take a brush.
I'll just take a basting brushand I just cut it all over the

(01:58):
toast.
Really well, just lightly brushit with butter and the best
part part about this stick it inyour toaster.
You can't do that with butterand then I just wait for it to
pop up my next thing I alsowanted to do is a fruit salad.

(02:19):
you know skip.
You asked me what I usechampagne for.
Well, just a little bit ofbalsamic over my fruit and I
like to take our strawberrybasil balsamic because it's
really good over fruit and Ijust take a tablespoon of that,

(02:41):
I just put it in my littletasting cup.
Now champagne, you don't need alot, so I just take a teaspoon
of the champagne.
Almost looks like a shot glass.
Yeah, I like shot glasses to dothis with and I just mix it in,

(03:01):
drizzle it right over the fruitand guess what I'm going to do?
Skip, I'm going to have a biteof fruit.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
You're going to torture Greg and I.
That's what you're going to do.

Speaker 3 (03:15):
Delicious.

Speaker 2 (03:16):
Oh, I bet it's good, and that was strawberry basil,
you said.

Speaker 3 (03:21):
Strawberry, basil with champagne vinegar, and I
like to use a variety ofseasonal fruit Cherries, grapes,
strawberries, blueberries,pineapple, cantaloupe.
It really depends on what fruitis in season and you can go
with any fruit you want to gofor it.
That's one of my favorite onesto add over the fruit.

(03:43):
Now let's talk a little bitabout bread dipping.
That's another popular thingthat people come in and ask me
for.
So I just take Tuscany breaddipping and I use a good any
good loaf of bread or you canalso make sourdough bread is
really good with it and I take ateaspoon of seasoning, just set

(04:07):
it right in there.
Now the oil and vinegar I justchoose how much I want to use,
but I just make sure I haveenough in there to cover the
seasonings really well.
Just to make sure I have enoughin there to cover the
seasonings really well.

(04:29):
Now you can eat it with eitherjust an oil and a seasoning
variety, or you can add thebalsamic vinegar to this.

Speaker 2 (04:37):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 3 (04:39):
Now look how pretty that is.
Oh yeah, but you can also justuse the bread dipping seasoning
with the balsamic too.

Speaker 2 (04:51):
You don't have to have all three in a combination.
Oh, that looks amazing.

Speaker 3 (04:56):
Toast popped up let's go back to the toast now.
My favorite thing is you cannotput that in with real butter in
it in a toaster, because itwould melt down in the toaster
and smoke would come out.
I have toast.

(05:16):
If I want to add a protein,I'll add just a little bit of
peanut butter over that as well.

Speaker 2 (05:22):
Oh wow now, wow Now.
This just isn't right.
You guys are getting to tryeverything.
Not fair.

Speaker 3 (05:31):
Now the best to last.

Speaker 2 (05:34):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (05:35):
Ice cream.
I love a good vanilla bean icecream, but I like to top it off
with a balsamic.
Really, I'm using the blackcherry.
Oh yes, and you don't want aheavenly heavy drizzle it, you
just want to lightly add somebalsamic.

(05:56):
See how thick that is wow, I'venever heard of that which Greg
probably would have used alittle more, but I like just a
little bit of balsamic on it.

Speaker 2 (06:14):
Delicious, oh wow, and you said that was black
cherry balsamic.

Speaker 3 (06:18):
Black cherry.

Speaker 2 (06:19):
Oh, wow.
Now, black cherry is myfavorite ice cream, so I think I
would love what you just did.

Speaker 3 (06:25):
And I'll give you another tip you can take that
black cherry and mix it in withany barbecue sauce and put it
over the ribs.
It's just delicious.
It makes you go wow.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
I bet I bet.
Well, quick, quick question onthe fruit drizzle.
My wife eats a lot of.
She does a lot of shakes whereshe makes a smoothie with fruit
and you know almond milk andthat sort of thing.
Could you use some of thatchampagne in a smoothie as well?

Speaker 3 (06:58):
You sure could, and one of the things I do when I do
smoothies once I get all of mysmoothie mixed in, I will take
because I don't want to blend itin the in the blender when I
put it in a cup I will take twotablespoons of olive oil and
drizzle over that smoothie andthen I will gently stir it in

(07:19):
because I want those healthbenefits.
And if you find, like we havethe zoe, that's really high in
polyphenols and it has thatpeppery taste to it, if you put
it in your smoothie it actuallyhelps you to be able to take it
better.
You don't get that peppernessflavor as strong and I don't put

(07:40):
it in a blender because itactually will separate those
properties, so you're notgetting all those health
benefits.
So I just drizzle it over mysmoothie and then I spoon it in.

Speaker 2 (07:50):
Okay, very good to know.
My wife makes one every day.
But I thought, hmm, we mighttry a little olive oil or
balsamic in there.

Speaker 3 (07:59):
You could do balsamic , you could do an oil.
It's really your choice of whatyou're looking for.
Balsamic has health benefitstoo.
You just take three tablespoonsa day.
Your oil is only twotablespoons a day.

Speaker 2 (08:11):
Gotcha, gotcha, very good.
Well, what else we got?
Or is it Greg's turn?

Speaker 3 (08:17):
It is Greg's turn.
I want to turn you over to Greg.

Speaker 2 (08:20):
All right, all right here, we'll make the swap really
quickly.
Okay, we'll make the swapreally quickly Okay.
All right.
So now we've got the master infront of the camera and the
master behind the camera, so notto trash anybody.
So, greg, what do you gotcooking for us?

Speaker 4 (08:42):
Well, shirley started us off on a breakfast note with
her toast, so you know, one ofthe things I wanted to show you
Skip that I do is my dailyyogurt in the morning.
You know you can take olive oilmy favorite is the blood orange
and mix it in with your yogurtto get a nice yogurt with olive
oil.
This blood orange with thevanilla yogurt makes it taste

(09:06):
like a creamsicle.
Remember those creamsicles whenwe were growing up?
Oh yeah, see that beautiful oneNow, believe it or not, it just
takes a little bit of stirringand that will eventually see how
this just disappears.
It's blending in nicely.

Speaker 2 (09:23):
Is that just Greek yogurt?

Speaker 4 (09:26):
That's just Greek yogurt.
This is vanilla.
I like the vanilla with theblood orange Doesn't take long,
magnificent Blood orange.
This is my breakfast, shusie,I'll take some of that fruit
that Shirley has and put inthere occasionally, oh nice.

(09:48):
But yeah you can take any flavorand put it in with your yogurt.
Obviously, you want a fruityflavor, maybe the lemon or the
lime.
The blood orange is my favorite.
The vanilla would be good ifyou want a really vanilla-y
yogurt.
So don't be afraid to do thatNow, after breakfast.
Of course, you know who doesn'tlike to have a snack in the day

(10:08):
.
One of my favorite snacks ispimento cheese.
You like pimento cheese?
Love pimento cheese?
Oh, I do too, but I love itspicy.
So I like the uh, our balsamichot sauce that we have.
This is just the plain, but wehave several different flavors.
I'll just drizzle a coupledrops of that.
It doesn't take much, becausethis is extremely hot.
This is ghost pepper.

Speaker 2 (10:32):
You do like it hot, don't you?
Oh yeah.

Speaker 4 (10:35):
Now you can take.
You can take, you know, you cantake the chipotle if you don't
like it so hot.
Actually, I like this in thepimento cheese as well, because
it adds a little smoky flavor toit.
But really great, that'sperfect.
Wow, picks it up a nice notch.

Speaker 2 (10:59):
You guys are starving me.

Speaker 4 (11:03):
That's good for breakfast too.
I'll have to remember thatthat's good for breakfast too.
I'll have to remember that,speaking of breakfast, we can go
back to the egg and the oil.
People say you can't fry witholive oil.
I'm gonna show you that you can.
Okay, so while I'm letting thestove heat up for just a minute,

(11:24):
I'm gonna get my coffee going,because we're gonna use some
coffee with olive oil also.
So we'll get that going.
But if you're gonna fry witholive oil, you can fry at a high
temperature for a short periodof time.
Just don't smoke it.
If you see it start smoking,take it off.
But it's perfectly fine to frywith an egg Skip.

(11:50):
We may have to pause.
You're good, okay, we'll goahead and get the pan up to
temperature.
Some people like to go aheadand bring the heat up slowly,
but you know, if you don't anegg it doesn't really matter,
it's still not gonna burn it.
But I've got this onmedium-high.

(12:11):
Wow, smell that chipotle.

Speaker 2 (12:38):
Oh boy, you can see it start to sizzle there that
eggs cooking up nicely and yougonna have it over easy over
easy.

Speaker 4 (12:44):
I'm not the best egg cooker surely easy cooks my eggs
but I can get the job done.
It may not be pretty, but itsure tastes good, that's all
that matters.
So you know.
You see, it's not burning, it'snot smoking.
I've even got it on high rightnow.
Just watch your temperature.
Don't leave it on high for along time and you'll be fine
with it.

Speaker 2 (13:08):
Let's see if I can flip this without breaking that
magnificent, beautiful yellowman.
If we only had smell-o-vision,we could see what that I bet
your kitchen smells amazing.

Speaker 4 (13:23):
Oh, it's delicious, Can you?

Speaker 2 (13:24):
hear that sizzle.
Oh yeah, all right, yeah, sowhat temperature are you cooking
on?

Speaker 4 (13:28):
Well, right now I've got it on just one degree below
high.
You just got to watch it.
You can't walk away from itbecause it will burn if you're
not careful with it, so juststay on top of it.
And there we've got a nice overeasy egg.
With chipotle olive oil.

Speaker 2 (13:52):
Oh boy, Let me grab my spoon here oh yeah, gotta do
the taste test here.

Speaker 4 (13:53):
Hey, hey, I got an idea.
Let me grab one of shirley'spieces of toast oh wow, stealer
toast look at that sopping it updelicious.

Speaker 3 (14:01):
Oh, wow, wow, can't forget the coffee the coffee's
ready.

Speaker 2 (14:04):
did you know you can put Mm-mm-mm.
Delicious, oh wow.

Speaker 4 (14:07):
Wow, can't forget the coffee.
The coffee's ready.
Did you know you can put oliveoil in coffee?

Speaker 2 (14:12):
I did not know that.

Speaker 4 (14:17):
I like the butter olive oil.
Just drizzle a little bit inthere.

Speaker 2 (14:23):
See how it sits on top Now every time you take a
taste, you'll get just a slighttaste of butter.
It's wonderful.

Speaker 4 (14:35):
I would imagine that's good for cholesterol too.

Speaker 2 (14:37):
I would think it's not going to hurt.

Speaker 4 (14:39):
That's what's most important.
So Skip, there we go, we canfry, we can cook, and my coffee
thief is stealing my coffee, Iguess because I stole her toast.

Speaker 2 (14:49):
Well, of course, of course.

Speaker 4 (14:52):
Come eat with us anytime Skip.

Speaker 2 (14:53):
Wow.
Well, everything that you guysdid looked absolutely delicious
and, like I said, I wish we hadsmell-o-vision, because I'm sure
it smells incredible as well,but it was great to see you guys
.
Thanks for sharing some recipeswith us.
We'll have to do this againsometime.

Speaker 4 (15:08):
Oh, it's fine, we love it.
We love to cook.

Speaker 2 (15:10):
All right, well, greg Shirley.
Thank you so much, shirley.
Great job on the camera.

Speaker 3 (15:15):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (15:16):
Have a great day you too, and we'll see you soon,
okay thanks for tuning in to theolive oil divine podcast.

Speaker 1 (15:33):
Don't forget to visit us online at oliveoildivinecom
for our exceptional olive oils,aged balsamic vinegars and more.
If you're local, stop by ourstore and discover how we can
make you a kitchen hero.
Until next time, live divine.