July 2011

Pardon {the Interruption III}

by Lisa on July 31, 2011

We are in the home stretch! I am due to give birth to our baby girl this Saturday, if not before and will be induced shortly thereafter if she does not arrive on her own. We are both doing well, she just seems to be on her own timetable, which is fine by me, except that I am dying to meet her!

I’m going to continue to post for as long as I can, but I’ve also arranged for several guest posters over the next few weeks. I think you’ll love their posts—from recipes to a photography 3-part tutorial.

I don’t think Dixie will be writing a post, she’s busy keeping an eye on the birds. And napping.

Please don’t think I’ve abandoned The Splattered Apron, we just need some time to settle into our new normal. I can’t wait to share our experience with you and introduce you to our girl!

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Simply Summer {Grilled Vegetables}

by Lisa on July 28, 2011

I’m almost embarrassed to post this recipe as a “recipe,” because it is so simple and adaptable. We make this all summer, every summer—it’s not very pretty to look at, but it is delicious!

Despite the heat, we ventured to the farmer’s market pretty early on Saturday morning. Even if we don’t need a lot of produce {but let’s face it, that doesn’t happen} we like to go and walk around. I have a feeling this will be a fun family activity once our baby girl joins us! While there, we snagged some delicious summer produce and a buffalo steak for dinner.

Ingredients

1 zucchini, chopped
1 summer squash, chopped
1 eggplant, sweat, rinsed and chopped
1 red onion, chopped
1 package of mushrooms, rinsed and quartered
1/2-3/4 cup of olive oil
garlic
assortment of herbs, rinsed and minced {whatever is on hand, we used tarragon, sage, rosemary, oregano and thyme}
salt
pepper
2 lemons, juiced

Method

Mince all of the herbs and garlic. Use whatever herbs you want—Jeromy just went out back and picked these out of our garden.

Prepare all of the vegetables, then combine with the herbs, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper in a bowl. Stir well to coat all of the vegetables.

Using a grill pan {or tinfoil if you don’t have a grill pan} cook the vegetables on the grill for 3-4 minutes. Then stir them up and continue cooking for another 3-4 minutes. They should be cooked through and slightly browned when removed from the grill. Only a grill or high-end range can put out the BTUs necessary to cook this much vegetable in 6-8 minutes. A regular range is going to need longer. Also, cooking on a grill gives the vegetables a nice smoky flavor that can be imitated with liquid smoke if this is cooked indoors.

Before serving, mix in the lemon juice.

This is a great side dish for a crowd and you can adapt it to suit what you like. Don’t care for eggplant? Sub with tomatoes! Don’t care for onions? How about peppers instead? Make this recipe your own—have fun with it!

We always end up with more grilled vegetables than we can eat in one sitting, but luckily, they make great leftovers. I love eating them for lunch over arugula with some feta cheese.

Enjoy!

{ 3 comments }

My {7 Links}

by Lisa on July 27, 2011

Over the past couple of weeks there has been a fun post floating around the blog world, it’s an opportunity for a blogger to look back through old posts. I was wondering if I could manage to pick out these 7 links when Callie and Amanda tagged me to participate! I’ve been blogging for less than a year so this was a challenge that I was excited to take on–thanks so much for tagging me, ladies!

Most Beautiful Post: Checking In {After 3 Weeks}
This was my first post after coming back from our wedding and honeymoon, little did we know that I was also pregnant when I wrote it! Which is what makes it beautiful to me—so much happened in 3 short weeks.

Most Popular Post: On Pregnancy {Weighing In}
I wrote this post thinking that it would get some negative feedback, but instead I was surprised by the support I received! It is the highest viewed post I’ve written and I think it struck a chord with a lot of women who are used to taking care of their bodies and staying in shape—recognizing that your body is not just yours while pregnant is a hard adjustment, but completely worth it in the end.

Most Controversial Post: On Pregnancy {Weighing In}
This wasn’t actually a controversial post, like I mentioned above, but I expected it to be. It’s hard to find a controversial topic when the whole point of my blog is the share recipes and make cooking accessible to everyone.

Most Helpful Post: This Week {In Groceries} series {and here}
Readers have told me how much they appreciate these posts because of how they help with meal planning. I hope to get back to writing these posts once our baby girl arrives and we have settled into our new normal.

A Post Whose Success Surprised You: A Look Inside {Our New House}
I know everyone loves looking inside houses—how else is HGTV so successful? I just wasn’t expecting so many people to check out this post and the video tour. I still think I have a horrendous voice, so videos will be few and far between. We do have a lot of plans for our house, so maybe there will be another video tour to compare!

A Post You Feel Didn’t Get the Attention It Deserved: On Pregnancy {My Dos and Don’ts}
I expected there to be a lot more commentary on this post than I received and all of the commentary was positive! Not that I was trying to start a controversy, but it seems like everyone, down to the checkout guy at Trader Joe’s, has an opinion on pregnancy that they want to share, I just figured there would be more of that. I’d love to hear what you think if you haven’t shared already!

{That’s my sister giving the baby a kiss—she is already so loved!}

Post You’re Most Proud Of: Something Sweet {Chai Spice Cookies}
I’m really proud of this cookie post because it was one of the first times that I shared a recipe that I made up myself. If that weren’t enough, I made the cookies vegan, which I had never done before. And they were delicious—success!

Now it’s my turn to tag other bloggers!

The Vegetarian Salmon
Chase @ The CHASE Project
Erin @ Travel Eat Repeat
Emily @ Daily Garnish
Katie @ Shared Bites
Ashley @ (never home)maker
Amanda @ Sistas of Strength

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Something Sweet {Blueberry Ice Cream}

by Lisa on July 26, 2011

As my readers know, we are in the last couple of weeks before we’ll meet our baby girl. Which means that I am taking as much time as I can to rest now and not be on my feet. It’s just not very comfortable. The weather has been unbearably hot and I don’t know about you, but when the temperature hovers around 100 degrees, I want ice cream. While I have my stand-by Trader Joe’s vanilla in the freezer {have you tried this?? Delicious!} I wanted to make something a little different, something with berries. So I made blueberry ice cream.

Ingredients:

1 cup 1% milk, chilled
1 cup heavy cream, chilled {we bought this at the farmer’s market—what an incredible difference than the grocery store.}
1 pint blueberries, rinsed and chilled
1/2 cup simple syrup, chilled
1 tsp vanilla

Method

In a blender or a food processor, puree the blueberries. Place the blueberry puree in a sieve over a bowl {do not clean out the blender or food processor}. Pour the simple syrup over the pureed blueberries then push the mixture through the sieve with a spatula. Be sure to squeeze out all of the blueberry juice, discard the solids.

Pour the blueberry simple syrup mixture back into the blender or food processor. Add the milk, cream and vanilla.

Combine the ingredients until well mixed.

Set up your ice cream maker. I use the ice cream attachment for the Kitchenaid mixer, so I turned it on to the lowest setting then slowly poured in the ice cream base. Churn for 10-12 minutes, or until the machine will no longer churn.

Transfer the ice cream to an airtight container and freeze for at least 4-6 hours, depending on if you prefer softer ice cream.

I love this way of preparing ice cream because it doesn’t involve cooking and cooling the base. It literally took me 8 minutes to put this together before it went into the ice cream maker. For a very pregnant girl, that’s the perfect amount of prep time!

This ice cream hit the spot—the combination of the blueberries with the hint of lemon and mint from the simple syrup gives this a refreshing, summery flavor. Because I didn’t clean out the blender between pureeing the blueberries and making the ice cream base, blueberry solids were able to make their way into the ice cream, exactly what I wanted to happen!

Enjoy!

{ 1 comment }

A Food Blogger’s {Reading List}

by Lisa on July 24, 2011

As much as I would love to say that every recipe I make is original, that is definitely not the case. I read a lot of food blogs, cookbooks, the Food section of the Washington Post every Wednesday and food magazines. Sometimes recipes look so good that I follow them to the letter, other times I’ll modify them slightly. In any case, when I do share them with you, I always give credit where credit is due and indicate my modifications.

Here are some of my favorite blog resources for recipes, in no particular order:

The Smitten Kitchen
I can literally get lost for hours on this blog, looking at the amazing dishes Deb has created.

Daily Garnish
This is a great resource for vegetarian and vegan cooking as well as fitness and pregnancy information.

(never home)maker
I love reading (never home)maker for creative and new ideas for flavor combinations. Plus, I love reading about Ashley’s craft projects for inspiration for my own!

The Vegetarian Salmon
My friend writes this blog and shares her vegetarian recipes. Her food is delicious and often simple to put together, which is great for healthy, weeknight dinners.

Make It Naked
Not only does Krissy provide delicious recipes, her photography is absolutely gorgeous! Be sure to check out this blog.

Eat, Live, Run
This blog is not afraid of butter, cream and sugar, in moderation. One of the things I love about it!

Macheesmo
Macheesmo is one of the first food blogs I started reading. I like how he can take some complicated recipes and break them down into easy to understand pieces.

Joy the Baker
I love Joy’s recipes and the way she writes. Her posts are always entertaining, even if food isn’t involved.

Peas and Thank You
Mama Pea and her adorable daughters Gigi and Lulu provide creative vegan recipes, often taking a favorite and recreating it without animal products. Plus, the posts never fail to make me laugh.

Shared Bites
My friend Katie writes, cooks, photographs and bakes over at Shared Bites. Her photography is outstanding and her commentary is fantastic. I have several recipes from here bookmarked to make while on maternity leave!

Aside from The Splattered Apron {wink, wink} what are your other favorite recipe resources?

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