Tagged: food photography
Frozen summer for the most frigid of days.
This past summer was not the best for berry picking, but I was determined to have a berry stash for the winter. After calling around to all the local berry picking farms within an hour drive of my house, I found one farm with berries left to pick, one. This particular farm had irrigation systems hooked up in their patch and it was probably the only reason they still had some fruit left on the bushes. It was sweltering hot that morning in the berry patch and I only lasted an hour and a half before I surrendered to the hot June heat. I left the farm with 2 pints of blueberries and 1 pint of raspberries. I took this photo after I got home and quickly froze as much of the bounty, all while knowing full well I would eat them all if I didn’t . Thankfully these made it into the freezer and I will enjoy them in the many short days of winter that lie ahead.
Weekend refreshments.
This past weekend we attended a friend’s fabulous outdoor wedding on a farm located just outside of the city. I tried pig roast for the first time and couldn’t stop eyeing up dessert all night, which did not disappoint!
Calm before the tomato storm.
The garden is gloriously climbing to the best part of the summer, harvest time. Our first peek with the tiniest cherry tomatoes. They are the size of marbles, seriously. First pickling session of the season to hopefully happen this week, stay tuned.
A spring roasting.
I still find it funny when people insist they don’t like vegetables, outrageous! Have you tried them roasted? Even the least favorite of vegetables taste better roasted. When we are down to the last of our vegetable supply and don’t feel like eating out, roasted veggies on a bed of couscous or rice is usually a go-to meal. For perfectly roasted veggies there are only three things really needed: oil, seasoning, and a hot oven.
Crash Course on Roasting Vegetables:
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Chop larger vegetables into 1-2 inch size chunks. Toss veggies with oil and seasoning of choice, I prefer extra virgin olive oil. Spread on cookie sheet and cook for 25 minutes or until soft and golden on the edges. Flipping vegetables halfway through ensures even browning.
Any favorite veggies to roast out there?
Cranberries for the other 364 days of the year.
My least favorite side on the Thanksgiving spread was once cranberry sauce. Then it was my turn to prepare this giant feast. Being the budding foodie that I was at the time, I tweaked all the recipes with new ingredients and flavors that peaked my interest. Three years later, I can’t seem to get enough of these things on Thanksgiving, and (gasp) I may make them again. This side dish/ leftover tastes great on bagels, oatmeal, yogurt, and just as is by themselves.
Summer slaw sans the creaminess.
American classics have been at the top of the menu lately in this house. For the last two weeks we have received beautiful cabbage in our CSA box. On a sidenote, if you are an avid farmers market person, I suggest a CSA for next year, best thing I did in 2011. Anyway, my first thought was to freeze it for soups in the winter, or a possible Fall haluski dish (!). Matthew suggested a better alternative so we could eat it now, coleslaw. I am not usually a fan, but I found a lovely little recipe that didn’t have any type of egg in it. With this recipe, the flavor seems to get better the longer it sits.
Why buy Tartar sauce when you can make it?
I had a craving for a spicy fish po boy style sandwich. We didn’t have any dry creole seasoning or tartar sauce but we had tilapia. I have taken to buying less and less condiments when I am at the store. Honestly, I can’t remember the last time I put a bottle of salad dressing in my cart. Aside from disliking all the preservatives in all pre-made dressings, we can’t eat them fast enough to make it economical. Normally, I already have many of the ingredients needed on hand. Nothing compares to fresh 1000 island dressing, tzatziki, or in this case fresh tartar sauce. I have a version below that I first read in Everyday Food. Greek yogurt makes up most of it, and helps to cut the calories down without sacrificing the consistency. Enjoy!
For the grill-master in training…Kebabs
With the 3-day weekend here, a break in the non-stop thunderstorms, and new propane for the grill, how can I not want to cook?!
For those of you who are beginner level grillers (like me), this recipe is unique yet simple enough to make without over charring dinner. I was skeptical about grilling oranges, but it proved to be a great compliment to the chicken. Don’t forget the cayenne pepper! It really pulls the flavors together with that extra heat hot sauce junkies (like myself) are always searching for.
The $18/lb. Magical Fruit
Yes friends you read that correctly, 18 dollars per pound. Goji Berries are the new acai berries. A super antioxidant filled berry claimed to cure almost anything in the right dose. I was attracted to their muted orange-rasberry-ish color when purchasing supplies to make trail mix. Once I got home and put all the ingredients together, I realized they were dehydrated and lacked the flavor I wanted in the trail mix. It wasn’t a total loss, I add 2 or 3 to my hot tea in the mornings.
Luscious window light
Lots of changes in the past couple of weeks. The biggest one being we moved into a new house. We have huge windows in almost every room. The kitchen is amazing, it has more cupboards than I have ever dreamed of having (my apartment had three with one drawer). With such an excess of windows brings amazing light into the house. I getting lots of inspiration from watching the light dance throughout our new home all day. Although we are living in a free-standing row house now, there is surprisingly a ton of light illuminating this place. I haven’t been able to shoot a lot for myself in the past month, but on Easter I was able to make some new images.
Last weekend, we cleaned up as much as possible to have my family over for Easter, and of course there was pie. In our family, any excuse to get together is pretty much an excuse to get a pie out of the freezer. These pies were made at the same time as the ones were featured here.
