This Sun-Dried Tomato Tapenade with Garlic and Herbs is the perfect appetizer. Serve with low-carb pita bread or veggie dippers for a low-carb option. And this tasty tapenade is vegan, low-carb, dairy-free, and South Beach Diet friendly.

Click here to PIN this tasty tapenade so you can make it later!

I'm having a series of dinners and parties to invite people to come and see my finished house, and this Sun-Dried Tomato Tapenade with Garlic and Herbs is something I made a big batch of to serve at the various parties. It seemed perfect to post today, since I used the food processor to make this, and if you're a member of Costco, you can read in the September Issue of Costco Connection magazine about how much I love my food processor. 

Thanks to Nannette from Cooking in Color, who interviewed me for the piece. Of course, my overwhelming love for Costco is well-documented on the blog, but just for the record, Costco has never paid me or given me any free products for saying nice things about their store.

This is a great thing to make when you have fresh basil in the garden, but if you plan ahead and freeze some basil or basil pistou, you could use either of those to make it in the winter, just adding them to the food processor with the other ingredients. If you have to buy basil, I think you could change the proportions a bit and use more parsley and less basil, since parsley is pretty inexpensive year round. (This could also be made using commercial basil pesto in place of the basil, but that version would not be dairy-free or vegan.)

These photos are double the amount of the recipe, since I was making a lot for the parties. Start by chopping the basil and parsley in the food processor, using the steel blade. You can chop it really fine, or leave it a bit chunkier, depending on how you want the finished tapenade to look.

Then add the slow roasted tomatoes (or drained canned tomatoes), sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, parmesan cheese, tomato powder (if using), white balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper, and process until all ingredients are well blended together. Serve with crackers, flatbread, whole-wheat pita, or Socca.

Sun-Dried Tomato Tapenade with Garlic and Herbs
(Makes about 2 1/2 cups, recipe created by Kalyn. This will keep in the fridge for several weeks, and can also be frozen.)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup basil leaves, packed (or use about 1/4 cup frozen basil, basil pistou, or purchased basil pesto. Use more basil if you have a surplus!)
1/2 cup flat-leaf or curly parsley, packed
2 T olive oil (or more as needed)
1/2 cup slow roasted tomatoes (or use 1 can organic tomatoes, well drained)
1 cup purchased sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil (drain the oil if there is a lot)
2 T minced garlic (or more)
1/4 cup finely grated parmesan cheese (or more)
1 T tomato powder (optional, but a nice addition or you could add 2 T tomato paste)
1 T white balsamic vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Instructions:


Serve with whole-grain crackers, whole-wheat or low-carb pita bread, whole-grain flatbread, or Socca. This tapenade will stay good in the fridge for about two weeks, and it can be frozen.

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Low-Carb Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:

Find More Recipes Like This One:

Nutritional Information?

More Tasty Ideas with Sun-Dried Tomatoes
(Recipes from other blogs may not always be South Beach Diet friendly; check ingredients.)

Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto or Spread from Kalyn's Kitchen

Parsley Pesto with Sun-Dried Tomatoes from Elana's Pantry

Baked Chicken Stuffed with Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto, Basil, and Goat Cheese from Kalyn's Kitchen

Sun-Dried Tomato Hummus from Pinch My Salt

Grilled Salmon with Sun-Dried Tomato, Olive, Caper, and Parsley Relish from Kalyn's Kitchen

(Want even more recipes? I find these recipes from other blogs using Food Blog Search.)