Olive Cheese Bread

My friend, Jessica, made this for a play group a long time ago. She directed me to the website where I retrieved it: The Pioneer Woman. This yummy dish definitely satisfies a pregnancy craving, but could be classified as chick food (with a green salad or soup), appetizer (cut into smaller bites) or a side bread item to any dish. It is rich with flavor, but not too overwhelming in my opinion. However, if you don't like olives, you may think it is too strong. If you don't like mayo or butter in things, be encouraged that it is cooked into this and the cheese and olives out flavor it!

Ingredients:

6 oz green olives, cut coarsely
6 oz black olives, cut coarsely
3/4 lb shredded Monterey Jack cheese
2 green onions, cut
1 stick of butter, room temp (can carefully bring to room temp in microwave on "defrost" mode; don't melt)
1/2 cup mayo
1 large loaf French bread

Instructions:

Cut olives and and onions coarsely. Mix butter, mayo and cheese in bowl. Add olives and onions. Mix well. Cut French bread in half long ways. Spread the mixture evenly onto each loaf half. Bake at 325 for 25 minutes. Make sure cheese is melted nicely

To Freeze one half: 2 half loaves is a lot of olive cheese bread if you are not feeding many. To freeze one loaf half, flash freeze it first. To flash freeze, put the uncovered olive cheese bread on a cookie sheet and put directly in the freezer for 20 minutes. This hardens the mixture just a bit so that it will not stick when you put the bread in a freezer bag. After 20 minutes, place it into a freezer bag and return it to the freezer for later use. I had to cut my bread in half to fit into a gallon size freezer ziploc. I always label my freezer bags with name of item, date, and basic cooking instructions for easy access later.

Used as a dip: Can refrigerate mixture up to 2 days and use as a dip with Ritz crackers.

Cut olives and onions coarsely. I used whole olives.
Mix butter, mayo and cheese together.
Add olives and onions and mix well.
Cut a large French bread loaf in half long ways. This spread makes enough to cover both halves. I literally used my hands to smear and smoosh the mixture onto the bread to even it out. It seemed easier and quicker than using a spatula. It may look like too much on top, but it will melt and soak into the bread nicely.

Final product. YUMMY!!! I only cooked one half as I froze the other half.