So it Begins... Again

 This is Radicchio (Rah-DEE-kee-oh)! A new start... a new blog title. Recently I've wanted to rekindle my love of cooking and thought that sharing that love with you all might help keep me motivated to be creative in the kitchen.  Since each one of you support my passion by constantly sharing recipes or cooking experiences with me, I felt it was time to repay the favor. While downstairs looking for some canned tomatoes, I came across my old apron from college!
For those of you who didn't know me in college, my roomies and many sorority sisters called me "the hostess with the mostess". ( note the wicked awesome apron Jane and Anna made me for graduation)  Well, needless to say, I saw this and knew I needed to get back in the groove and start cooking (and sharing) more.  All you girlies were showing me up with your cooking dinners and posting pictures it was just starting to make me look bad! So fear not dear friends, you will wait no longer.
This blog will not only be about food, of course, because I am also married, manage a restaurant, and have the cutiest child EVER! Each of these things consume a good portion of my life... so you'll hear about those too. So, lets kick this off right, tonight's dinner: Tapenade-Filled Burgers.  I usually put my homemade mixture right on top of the burger, but I got the idea to "stuff" the burger from my wicked sweet Epicurus app. on my phone, Thanks Hunny :-)  What exactly IS a tapenade? Well, it's defined as finely chopped olives, capers, anchovies and olive oil. If any of you know me really well, you know the one thing I am NOT fond of, is olives. However, I always keep trying and in this case put my own twist on a tapenade. One thing before I get going, I don't measure, EVER, unless I'm baking.... so if you can't handle winging it, than you can't handle this blog! Now that we got that settled... lets have a go at it.
Amanda's Twisted Tapenade
small handful of olives ( I use Kalamata because those are Joe's favorite)

Pickles ( we make our own bread&butter pickles, but dill of course work fine)
Frank's hot sauce 4 dashes
Worcestershire sauce 4 dashes
Salt & pepper
Everything should be chopped nice and small... I like there to be a little bit though so not to fine. Once you've got your tapenade made, your going to make a well in your burger patty so that you can put your mixture right inside, cover with another patty and seal the edges. To complete- Gotta have sliced red onion, lettuce, I love me some cheese, also mayo and a nice Dijon mustard for the ultimate burger. Don't you DARE touch this burger with ketchup, seriously it would be wrong. I accompanied mine with a homemade tater tot or home fry. Idaho potato chopped small and boiled till softened but still with a bite. Toss in olive oil, garlic powder, and steak seasoning. bake 450 until crispy and brown... sometimes I broil them the last 10min. or so to help crisp them. The final result: 9   This is some good burger!!! Don't get bogged down by a recipe or what a particular item is labeled as. Be adventurous and give it a try. Turkey or chicken burger? sure! Store bought REAL tapenade why not?! Go for it!