A Baker's Dozen

A lazy Sunday full of cooking became the inspiration for this egg-y image. Brown, freckled, smooth ovals. 

Christmas Chili

We made some fantastic chili this weekend. The christmas portion? Green and Red peppers! Sliced finely with onions and sauteed with spices it isn't all that Christmas-y, but before it went in the pot I snapped some shots of these pepper-flowers and holiday colors. Happy December!

"We Are Happy To Serve You"

I'm not sure how I feel about December yet. I haven't had any excess time to cook wonderful things (although I am dreaming of a fantastic Cuisinart PINK ice cream maker!) but I do make my coffee (almost) every morning. I love mixing the cream into the coffee and watching it swirl into the dark. Especially black coffee in my ceramic pushcart style mug. So many fun things to do with my coffee! I promise an ice cream post soon - maybe pink or purple ice cream?

 

"We Are Happy To Serve You"

I Think I'm Still Full

How about you? Thanksgiving this year was a fun adventure that involved street-side at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and a trip to the farm in Canada. The continual theme throughout? A lot of delicious food and fun photo opportunities! This week I want to share a couple of photographs that don't directly include edibles, but do contain a whole lot of color (yellow and orange) and flavor. Hope everyone enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend and got some much needed respite from work and/or school!

Sunny Side Up!

I would say that this is a fair warning to cut back on McDonalds . . .

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Always in search of the perfect, chewy, simple chocolate chip cookie recipe. I think I got pretty close last night, in my attempt to create a delicious addition for Thanksgiving tomorrow. They certainly came out pretty at least! Unfortunately, that chewyness is still just barely out of my grasp, these are soft and sweet but slightly more cake-y than I desired. I was quite happy with the results however: round, golden, and with molten chocolate abounding!

Buttermilk Cornbread with Butternut Squash Bisque

A nice and mellow meal for November: gluten free buttermilk cornbread with a creamy butternut squash bisque. If you like yellow, this is a perfect supper for you! yellow cornbread, yellow soup - what better way to follow up the feisty-flavored pomegranates than with butternut squash and cornbread?

I was delighted with the results of this cornbread. I have been experimenting with gluten free flour for some variety, and surprisingly this cornbread was light, fluffy, and not too crumbly! (I altered a non-gluten free recipe but you can use all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, or gluten-free flour for this recipe).

Recipe for 9X13 pan
Preheat to 375* F

2 Cups Gluten Free Flour (I use Bob's Organic All-purpose Gluten Free flour)
2 Cups Cornmeal, Corn Flour, or combination of the two.
1 TB Baking Powder
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Salt

Mix dry ingredients together

2 Cups buttermilk (or regular milk witha tsp of white vinegar)
1/4 Cup Canola oil (or butter if you wish)
1/3 Cup Honey
2 Eggs

Mix wet ingredients together and slowly add to dry.
Mix all together until smooth (do not overmix)

Grease pan, pour in, and bake! (about 30 min. or until golden)

Fresh from the oven!

Butternut Squash Bisque

An Unlikely Pair: Crimson Pomegranates and Green Olives

The pomegranate is a messy, gorgeous, tasty, tart, and awkward old fruit. It is an interesting fruit to cook with - good on salads, in sauces, in desserts, in sangria . . . versatile! Pomegranates have a relatively short season that falls around the holidays. You always start to see them at the grocery store before Thanksgiving in that big, four foot high box in the produce section.

I might be a strange one, but I like to eat pomegranates fresh. Cut them open and get nice and messy with all the crunchy seeds and crimson colored juice that gets everywhere (all over me, all over the table, possibly on the walls from an errant seed . . .) Pomegranates can be rather tart. Although when they are ripe they look a little uglier on the outside and begin to lose some of the vibrant color (of the skin). The unique sour/sweet taste is a combination of raspberries, lemons, and sour grape.

Burnt orange and yellow leaves, brisk air, Christmas decorations (already??) and pomegranate seeds are making this November feel a whole lot like the holidays.

Olives, another one of my favorite foods (up there with avocados!) make their debut here tonight. These particular olives may not complement the pomegranate directly, but serve as a fabulous addition to a delicious meal and a gorgeous mate for a food photo shoot.

This is how a pomegranate should look when it's ripe and freshly cut

I wouldn't recommend the flavor of green olives and pomegranate however . . . This unlikely pair provides the most delightful Christmas colors. Vivid greens and reds without cranberries or pine bows, who knew it was possible?

In addition - these bright green olives (with pits!) have the most fantastic olive flavor. So juicy and so pretty.

The murder scene.

This became a delicious addition to my seasonal Sangria: Pomegranate seeds, pears, and plums, with cranberry-apple sparkling cider and dry Portuguese red. Yum. 

The end product? Olives with aged goat cheese and whole grain crackers, and pomegranate sangria. A perfect and light fall meal.

Avocado Dreamy

Avocados are one of my all time top five favorite foods. Avocados are winning in texture, color, flavor, and versatility. I don't think there's much tastier than creamy guacamole or an avocado sandwich with hummus! Unfortunately though, avocados have that fleeting, short-lived shelf life - one minute it's unripe and the next it's a rotten mess. You have to catch the avocado in that perfect moment of creamy, smooth, greenness.  But when you do, how perfect it is! Yum. A great substitute for mayo, an unlikely but delicious addition to smoothies, and a delightful ingredient in most sandwiches.

The other fun fact about the avocado, besides the multitude of nutritional benefits is that it is super pretty to look at. Weird yes, but strangely pretty. Especially on camera!

I hope you will enjoy my colorful little avocado adventure!

Comfort Food (and Drink)

Lunch at my most favorite restaurant in the Hudson Valley this past Sunday (all of you upstate New Yorker's know that the Hudson Valley is a haven for good quality cuisine). We had this fantastic late afternoon lunch the day after the abominable Saturday snow storm - a nice field trip in the snow with a super comforting meal: Nachos with organic jalepenos, cheddar, spicy black beans, avocado, fresh pico de gallo, and sour cream - crispy olive oil french fries with wasabi aoli - refreshing grapefruit cocktails. It was a colorful and delicious event that helped to ease the pain of the early snowfall!

The pensive & bold drink. 

Crisp & Golden Grapefruit.

Jalepenos 

Perfect meal. Perfect color combo. Christmas reds and greens. Autumn crispy golds and yellows. 

Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup - Food Network Style

One of my guilty pleasures is a delicious, mouth watering little show called "Best Thing I Ever Ate" on the Food Network. Every episode makes me drool. The show consists of various chefs describing in painstaking detail their favorite meals from different restaurants. Beautiful photography, beautiful filming, and lots and lots of attractive food. What could be better in a food show?

Another guilty pleasure of mine is creamy tomato soup and crispy grilled cheese sandwiches (preferably on sourdough bread with sharp cheddar and spicy mustard). I would happily eat this for lunch every day. This video comes from a delightful episode entitled 'Hidden Treasures' all about delicious meals in little, lesser-know locations. Don't lie, you won't be able to watch this video without getting hungry . . .

Cupcakes and Pumpkin Bread and Snow in October

The weather has apparently put me in hibernation mode... Yesterday was cupcakes from Magnolia and tonight I'm making pumpkin bread with maple glaze. All amidst the rain and snow that continues to fall outside.

It's cozy indoors tonight with a comfy couch and sweet, fluffy, spicy, golden, pumpkin bread baking...

Hot Apple Cider

October has been a beautiful, sunny, crisp, and enthusiastic month so far. I have been inspired to cook more and more, although I think this is because I am craving distraction from the hideous mountains of non-food related work that is far less satisfying.

This weekend we made apple cranberry pie (two of them) and enjoyed some hot spiced cider during the process of rolling out the dough and shaping the pies. The results were highly successful (but it's hard to beat hot cider and homemade apple pie!) and I thoroughly enjoyed documenting the event.

For those of you that are interested in the Perfect Pie Dough recipe it is as follows:

For two 9" crusts:

2 1/2 cups pastry flour
Pinch of salt
1 and 3/4 stick of salted butter (cold!)
Ice water (as needed)

1.Mix the flour and salt

2.Cut in the butter - with a knife or fork (a food processor on the "pulse" setting is ideal, but the fork or pastry cutter is a more labor intensive option)

3.When the flour butter mixture is well mixed with a sandy/pebbly texture, add a little ice water just to get the dough to stick

4.Divide into two equal sections, wrap and chill for at least an hour.
Yum!

Pie - Still in need of a top crust

Pie  - After baking, the Queen of Hearts would have been proud

Hot Cider - with cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and vanilla

Be Happy, Eat Healthy

I didn't expect much of my late night cooking fiasco. However, to my surprise the results were creative and delicious. Below are a few photographs from my haphazard, thrown-together, made up on the spot, yummy, organic, vegetarian Pad Thai:

Ingredients: Rice noodles, Shanghai bok choy, leeks, ginger, soy sauce, chilis, egg, my special secret sauce (that I won't be able to replicate because I made it up on the spot . . .)

Be Happy . . .

. . . Eat Healthy

What a delicious experiment this was! I'm looking forward to my next trip to the Korean grocery by my work - an excellent place to find fresh, delicious vegetables and asian noodles. 

Unfortunately I was so eager to begin cooking that I neglected to get any pre-cooked shots. The greens and yellows of the bok choy and leeks are not nearly vibrant enough after sauteeing. I guess the inspiring chop sticks will have to do to liven up these photographs.

Free Time? Nahhh . . .

I forget what free time is like, but I remember how to waste time! This is why I've been going through older photos, in search of time wasting. Here are some samples of my foodie art from the last couple years. 

Summer Lemonade 2011

(I love the floral textures and off-kilter colors)

A Mimosa Brunch 2010

(One of the accidentals that appeared with such rich texture and and precise haphazardness)

Tomato Still Life (a la Warhol) 2009

(Part of a still life project of weird vegetable/fruit/object combinations - focus on texture and unlikely pairs)

Missing Vacation

It's starting to get a little chilly and darkness is setting in earlier and earlier. I am very much missing September's vacation to Portugal! Here's a little reminder: breakfast al fresco (tea, coffee, cream, French toast) on the veranda. Mmmm free time and tasty food....

Miso Soup for the Congested.. Soul?

Suffering from a bad cold this week . . . Haven't had a cold in well over a year and I'm not a happy camper.

I did however, take time out from being sniffly and cranky to make some miso soup with fresh leeks, bok choy, carrots, garlic, and tofu. The result was a delicious and soul-warming soup. Hopefully I'll be on the mend soon, but until then I will subsist on hot soup and tea.

This photo does the leeks no justice, but it is hard not to appreciate their vibrant green and yellow spirals sautéing in the pot.

French Toast

Because the French toast was so delicious (organic whole grain french toast with mascarpone, cinnamon sugar, bananas, and Vermont maple syrup) it was eaten too quickly to take a picture. Devoured at light speed.

I leave you with the aftermath: buttery cast iron pan for the washing.

More coffee...

And so continues my obsession with hot coffee. I can't help it, it's just so pretty to look at!

Eggs on Toast

Egg sandwiches for breakfast are very comforting for me. As the weather gets crisper, I find myself craving a hot, home made, organic egg sandwich in the mornings again.

Eggs are not all that pretty. Well, at least not when they are fried up and slapped on toast. This being said, I couldn't help but take a picture of this sandwich. Perhaps because of the beautiful pink plate it was on, or the inviting mug of coffee next to it. I hope you can visually appreciate my eggs on toast at least half as much as I enjoyed eating them!