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Category Archives: food

Friday, March 1, 2013

Food Photography {February Challenge}

Posted in food

It is time again for the Clickin’ Moms Monthly Blog Circle Challenge. The challenge for February was food photography. I was super excited about this challenge because it is one of my personal goals this year to make more time for food photography. In our house, we love to cook and if you have followed my blog for awhile, you know that I occasionally post some of our favorite recipes. Usually I am so into cooking that I forget to take before, during and after photos…then by the time the food is done – everyone is ready to eat, not wait for a mini photo session to take place. So needless to say, my food photography could use some help.

Nothing like waiting until the last possible minute…tonight I made sushi. While living in NYC, I ordered takeout from sushi-ya more often than I would like to admit. Grocery store sushi just doesn’t cut it anymore. So I decided to learn how to make it myself. So far I have made a few variations of a California Roll. Tonight since Hannah was eating them with me, I used her favorites: cucumber, “crab meat” and avocado. We both love fresh tuna but I can only find it frozen locally and it is also more costly for while I am still mastering the technique.

The first shot shows my set-up on my kitchen table directly in front of my sliding glass door. I think my favorite of the bunch is the last one. What do you think?

And after you get a taste for sushi, head over to Linnea Ingrid Photography to get a craving for a fabulous chocolate float and continue around our blog circle.

California Roll - Food Photography

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Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Mine {Leah’s Rainbow Unicorn Party}

Posted in family, food, personal

Mine.  I used to title these posts “mine on monday” with the intention of posting some personal photos every week.  The problem is that life happens and some Mondays I don’t have photos to post.  Or like yesterday, I spent 5 hours making 65 cupcakes for Leah’s 4th birthday today.  They were rainbow and beautiful but took WAY longer than I anticipated.  I may or may not be eating one right now as I type.

On to Leah’s birthday…the majority of these are trusty iphone photos.

 

In Leah’s world…life is full of unicorns and rainbows.  I was a little concerned when she said she wanted a rainbow unicorn party.  But never fear, Pinterest is here!  If you haven’t checked it out yet, Pinterest is a virtual pinboard.  Obviously I could think of rainbow food on my own and had already made a rainbow cake last year, but Pinterest inspired me beyond that.   The unicorn horn hat above was pinned originally from Hostess with the Mostess blog. The rainbow ribbon wands (in the photos below) were also inspired by pinterest – pinned from Style Me Pretty.  The rainbow on the cake was also inspired but unfortunately whoever pinned it did not do it the correct way as to lead back to the original source.  I had bought her a cute rainbow tee from old navy to wear with the rainbow tutu that I made her but she has her own opinions.

The cake.  It definitely takes more time than a basic cake but I love the moment of reveal when you first cut into it.  And homemade butter cream frosting makes it even better.  A couple of years ago I was tired of paying for cheap cake toppers in whatever theme my girls desired…so I invented my current “buy a real toy that can actually be played with” approach to cake toppers.  This year the ever so beautiful Princess Celestia (of My Little Pony fame) topped Leah’s cake.  Yes, I realize she is a pegasus unicorn…but she is still a unicorn.

(Side note: The grammar teacher in my head tells me that that should be “an unicorn” but that just sounded wrong.  So I looked it up…”an” is used before a vowel SOUND and “a” is used before a consonant SOUND.  Long U sounds actually begin with a Y sound – like “yoo”.  And there is your grammar lesson for the day. You are welcome.)

I found a great unicorn pinata at Party City.  It was very entertaining to watch the guys try to hang it from a tree with an orange electrical cord – look out MacGyver.  After some pinata fun outside, Leah wore the sacrificial unicorn on her head:)

Sigh…I can’t believe my baby is 4.

Why yes, there may have been a bit of a hair singe during candle blowing.

More iphone details!

 

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Monday, April 4, 2011

Weekend Dish – Saltine Chocolate Bark

Posted in food

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If you don’t want to be addicted, do not try this one.  I discovered this recipe before Christmas…we have made it many times since.  It always goes fast!

1.  Line cookie sheet with aluminum foil and make a single layer of saltine crackers (one sleeve of crackers works well on my cookie sheet).

2.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

3.  Melt 2 sticks of butter and add 1 cup brown sugar.  Stir until boiling.  Continue to boil for 3 minutes.

4.  Pour hot sugar butter mixture over saltines and bake for 6-7 minutes.

5.  Melt 4 squares of semi-sweet baking chocolate.

6.  Remove cookie sheet carefully (liquidly and HOT!).  Pour chocolate on top and spread with spatula.

7.  Cool and then place in the freezer.

8.  Once frozen, break into pieces.

 

We enjoy it right out of the freezer – less chocolate mess that way too.  Unless you are 3 years old.

 

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Monday, March 28, 2011

Weekend Dish – Ricotta Pesto Pizza and Dough too!

Posted in food, personal

This past summer we discovered grilled pizza.  We made so many different kinds and there is nothing better than grilled pizza.  Previously we bought our fresh pizza dough from Stop n Shop.  The whole wheat dough found by the dairy cases is SO good.  Now we don’t have a Stop n Shop and I couldn’t find fresh dough at the local store.  I debated going into our local pizza shop to see if I could buy some but Andy told me they would probably laugh at me so I chickened out.  Come to find out later from numerous sources that you CAN definitely buy dough at pizzerias.  While it was fun to say I made my own dough, I will be buying it next time.

So I hit up google and found a recipe for a pizza dough using whole wheat flour.  I used this one from allrecipes.com.  Instead of doing it by hand, I used my food processor.  Instead of cooking the pizzas on outside on the grill, we cooked them in a cast iron grill pan on the stove.

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Next up was to decide what kind of pizza to make.  We cut the dough in four pieces.  One would become a traditional pepperoni pizza for Hannah and one would become a cheesy bread that we hoped Leah would eat.  We made the third one with a BBQ sauce (Sweet Baby Ray’s) base and then added ham, carmelized onions, pineapple and sharp provolone.  Andy and I both really liked it though I could have done without the pineapple.  Never have been a pineapple-on-my-pizza kind of girl.  On the last one, we used a pesto base and topped with ricotta cheese and red pepper flakes.  After it was done cooking, we seasoned with salt and pepper.  It looked fabulous.  It was good but I think it needed a little something more…perhaps some roasted red peppers or artichokes and spinach.  Doesn’t it look yummy?!?  We will definitely try this one again but with some added punch and flavoring.

Cheese definitely melts faster on an outdoor grill with a lid.  We used a pot lid to help keep the heat in the grill pan once we added the toppings but it wasn’t as efficient.

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Saturday, March 19, 2011

Weekend Dish: Cheddar and Apple Grilled Cheese

Posted in food

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With my obsession of roasted tomato soup, we decided to branch out with our grilled cheese sandwiches.  This is our first attempt.

2 slices bakery stoneground whole wheat bread
horseradish mustard
1 granny smith apple, sliced thinly
1 slice orange cheddar
1 handful of shredded extra sharp white cheddar

butter for the outside

This sandwich was FABULOUS!  I love it.  Definitely worth a try.  Branch out your grilled cheese!

We cooked it on a cast iron grill pan from IKEA (love IKEA!) and since we don’t have the panini press to go on top, we improvised.  If you have heavy pots and pans (more cast iron), you can just set those on top of the sandwich.  Unfortunately our pots are lightweight so I added weight with a full water bottle.  I have also used a can of tomatoes in the pot to press it down.  Where there is a will, there is a way.

By the way, I prewrote this and scheduled it to post.  I am currently lying by the pool in Florida.  Cheers!

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