I received this BSI submission from a reader and was so impressed with the entry, that I asked her if I could post the e-mail as a guest post and she happily agreed. If any other reader out there would like to participate in this week’s BSI competition I will be happy to post your entry online for you as a guest post. Please e-mail me at graduatemeghann@gmail.com if you’re interested! J
Hi Meghann!
My name is Caroline, and I’m a non-blogger, slash lurker :D, from Southern California. I just discovered this blog world about a month or so ago, and I absolutely love it! I graduated from college in May, moved back home and have been experimenting and making a mess of my kitchen. From reading these blogs, I’ve tried new foods, new recipes, and twisted up some of the boring regular stuff I already ate!! Everyone seems so friendly and helpful, with a lot of common goals and interests!
Anyways, onto this BSI contest. I was SOO excited to read your rules, seeing as I didn’t think “non-bloggers” could enter!! I feel so included! 🙂 So today, I went out and purchased a pretty purple eggplant, sat and stared at it, waiting for it to inspire me. I grabbed some cherry tomatoes and lemons from my backyard, so awesomely home grown!! So here is a little photo-montage of my BSI creation: Roasted Eggplant-Tomato-Pepper Tapenade!
1. Gatherings from the yard (also a pomegranate thrown in there, I have a tree how cool is that!? Didn’t go in the tapenade though 🙂
2. Chopped up Eggplant, tomatoes, red bell pepper, and onion tossed in olive oil, salt/pepper ready for oven
3. Chopped Veggies, garlic cloves, tomato paste and lemon juice ready for grinding with a handy hand blender!
4. The finished product all blended and ready for crackers, carrots, whatever!! SO delicious!
5. Me! With some leftovers in tupperware and the hand blender! I figured it’s always more fun to “know”, or at least see, who is making this stuff!
Recipe:
Ingredients:
- 1/2 or whole Eggplant, chopped
- 1 chopped Red Bell Pepper
- 1 cup sliced tomatoes (any kind will do, I used cherry)
- 1/4 chopped yellow onion
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 lemon
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- salt/pepper to taste
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees
- Chop up eggplant, tomatoes, pepper and onion and place on aluminum foil (sprayed with cooking spray)
- Drizzle olive oil and salt and pepper, put in oven for 15 minutes, turning once, until they look roasted and smell good!
- Take roasted veggies out, put in a large bowl, add lemon juice, tomato paste and chopped garlic, use a hand blender (or preferably food processor!) and pulse until blended together
Ta da!! Sorry if this email is super long! I was seriously soo excited to join in on the BSI fun, I’ve never even HAD eggplant before, how crazy is that!! This was a really fun project for me, and thanks again for including the non-bloggers. It’s funny how I started off reading one blog, slowly two, then three, now I check about 10 every day! I really think it’s helped me improve my confidence in the kitchen, and makes the world seem a lot smaller if that makes sense. Now I’m off to clean up my disastrous kitchen, and try out that hand blender on some more crazy things!! 😀 See ya!
Caroline
Thank you, Caroline, for a great entry! This looks AMAZING and I can not wait to try and recreate this on my own!!
woohoo, that does look incredible!! welcome caroline 🙂 only 10 blogs? hehe…
nice guest post! and the tapenade looks fantastic. I started out the same way discovering food blogs, then reading a few, then reading a few more, etc., etc. until now – my google reader is overflowing and I have my own!
Great guest post 🙂 I can’t wait to try this!
She’s awesome!
ok love it, I was going to make eggplant hummus so now I am back to the drawing board 😉
Yeah! Okay, I am glad I am not the only one who has never had eggplant before. I am going to attempt *gulp* an eggplant recipe tonight, but have one question if either Meghann or anyone else can answer – do you have to peel the skin or leave it on?
I wasn’t sure if leaving it on would be bitter or not?
TIA!
Thanks for sharing! Caroline, it looks amazing.
Biz – It depends on how you want to cook it. If you are cutting it up then I would suggest removing the skin, if you are roasting it whole I would leave it (mainly becuase its prettier). I don’t really think it has a different taste, but the skin is just a little tough to chew or cut in to .
oh wow, that’s amazing!!
FAAAABULOUS guest post!!
Holy yum! That sounds totally delish. I should really hook myself up with a hand blender, it would make everything so much easier.
wow caroline! SO AMAZING!
Thanks, Caroline! That looks amazing! I am definitely going to make this!! Can’t wait!
amazing guest post!!!
but I missed one thing…what’s this week BSI?
Coco – it’s eggplant!
Comments on this entry are closed.
{ 2 trackbacks }