Friday, July 15, 2011

Mint Summer Fruit Salad

This was my third dish for the baby shower, my new favorite fruit salad and a little something to maybe entice you to try making over the weekend. I'd never really worked with mint before, but it was exciting to have a good reason to buy a bunch of it at the Farmer's Market that weekend. Plus mint is a fantastic summer flavor! Even though I was a bit nervous about it beforehand, it got rave reviews from everyone at the shower and I highly recommend it!

Monday, July 11, 2011

Spinach-Feta Flatbread Bites with Tzatziki

A few months ago I received an email from TastingTable with a recipe for Spinach-Feta Cigars, a twist on the Greek grape-leaf wraps, which sounded delicious but I decided it was a recipe worth saving for an event rather than to whip up for a random dinner. Aaaand then life got really busy and various social events like dinner parties and game nights stopped happening, nevermind the general lack of time to make something slightly more complicated than throwing random veggies in a bowl and dousing them with olive oil, vinegar and calling it a 'dinner salad'. But these bite-sized tastes of Greece were definitely worth holding on to the recipe for!

Friday, July 1, 2011

Blackberry-Mint Lemonade

With temperatures reaching above 100ยบ this week in Iowa, and a heat index well above that, I thought a refreshing beverage post was in order, especially with the long holiday weekend ahead! I have to credit my aunt Mary with leading me to this particular blog - she sent me a big list of them, which was wonderfully entertaining for my last night shift of clinicals when my baby was actually being good and sleeping most of the night. This recipe takes a little bit of prep time to make the mint syrup and let it cool, but is definitely worth it. The lemonade got rave reviews at the baby shower I co-hosted last weekend, and the leftovers were equally delightful when mixed with vodka for a breezy summertime drink on a very sweltering night.