{Food Friday |09.09.11 | Lemon Tartlets}

LEMON TARTLETS

Tart Shells:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/3 cup sugar

1 egg white

1 1/4 cups flour

Filling:

2 eggs

1/3 cup sugar

1 Tbs. butter melted & cooled

2 tsp. lemon zest

3 Tbs. lemon juice

Powdered sugar

Preheat over to 325. Spray 2 mini muffin pans with PAM. In mixer bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg white; blend well. add flour; mix just until well blended. Divide into 24 pieces and drop into muffin cups. Press into tart shells.

For filling, lightly whisk eggs. Whisk in sugar and butter, lemon zest and juice. Mix well. Pour filling evenly into tart shells.

Bake 20-22 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Remove pan to cooling rack for 5 mins. Remove from pan and cool completely. Store tightly covered in refrigerator. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.

{Food Friday | 09.02.11}

{Food Friday | 08.19.11} Belated. :)

I was gone last weekend so this is a semi-belated post.

I did not make these cookies. But not all of these posts will be recipes.... But also food that I really, really love. Such as the case with hot coffee in your new lens mug from photojojo.com paired with Amish Buttermilk Cookies. On a quiet morning there is nothing like it. Heaven. If you really do want to try the cookies you can buy them at the Coppes Bakery in Nappanee.

{Food Friday | 08.12.11}

Two of my favs!!
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Cherry Crepes. They might not be good for you but man are they incredible with lots of butter melted over them. And to counter-balance the crepes - a nice healthy {sort of healthy} summer salad. I love the combo that this salad is below. So good!

{Food Friday | 08.05.11}

I will say, we sure do eat good in this house. :)
Baked Asparagus
I love asparagus. And I love it when Adrian makes it. He uses this recipe. I am not kidding you, this is the BEST tasting asparagus in the world. You HAVE to make it. I will tell you that the main ingredients that make it so amazing are bsalmic vinaigrette, soy sauce & butter. {Secret, you have to brown the butter.} Soooooooooooo good.

He likes to make this with Chicken Cordon Bleu. Which is equally amazing. For today though, I just wanted to share the asparagus. Can't give you too many recipes. :) Chicken Cordon Bleu is a pretty basic recipe that you can search for and it pairs SO nicely with this asparagus.

Pulled Pork
Also in the summer I often make my pulled pork. We have a great butcher here in town, fresh meat and fantastic cuts. I buy a nice pork roast and cook it all day with Pampered Chef BBQ seasoning and a tiny bit of water. Then once it's done I pull it apart and separate the meat, drain the crock pot and throw the meat back in. I add in my sauce. When I bake I use recipes. But if I am making sauce and often just cooking - I am that cook that is a pinch of this, a dash of that. Hey, it works for me. 


Almost every time.


I am now recalling this time when I made something in the crock pot - the meat fell apart too much and seriously resembled dog food. Didn't quite taste bad, but the mental picture we all got when even the kids said, "Mom this looks like canned dog food" wasn't so pleasant. Lol.

We all have our moments. What can I say.
Atleast it tasted ok. :)


Of course I am only sharing with you my favorites... therein my successful recipes. :)


Josephiney BBQ Sauce: 
Ketchup, Apple Cider Vinegar, Liquid Smoke, {tiny bit!} Cayenne, Garlic and Onion, Dry Mustard, Molasses {tiny bit!}, Worcester Sauce, Soy Sauce, Brown Sugar, Honey, Sea Salt and Pepper. 


I like to pair my pulled pork with good old corn on the cob and cucumber salad. That is the summer meal  that is probably one of my favs. :)

{Food Friday | 7.15.11}

Whoo hoo!! It's FRIDAY!!
It has been a WEEK y'all. Heck.of.a.week.


I have two recipes to share. If you notice most of my recipes aren't shown detailed. I am so not the measuring cook. That's not necessarily a good thing but I am so a pinch of this a scoop of that. Hey, it works and I'm not starvin' over here.

Sharing two recipes - Camp Nacho Sauce and Pesto Bagels.

You'll have to excuse the sub-par photo for the Camp Nachos. We were um, literally camping and I took my starter camera with me. My good old trusty Canon Rebel Xti. Started with that beauty 8 years ago and I still love that thing. It's great for little trips like that where I don't want to risk taking my good cameras with me. With this dish you can cook the taco meat there - like we did. OR make it ahead of time and warm it up over your fire. It's a GREAT simple, tasty camping meal. It's one of our traditional camping dishes.

I also wanted to post the Pesto Bagels b/c I am queen of short order meals. I have a husband who is a firefighter so I save the big meals for when he is home and often times I find myself eating meals that are quick fix type of deals. This one below is one such meal. It's not low-fat - but you could certainly make it that with fat-free cream cheese. Hey, you can't get around parmesan. Good fresh parmesan? It's got some fat in it. :)

So! Without further adieu....

{Food Friday | 07.08.11}

Tim McGraw's Chicken and Dumplings with Faith Hill's Cornbread.

This is one of my favorite comfort foods. I mostly make it in the fall and winter but every now and then I get the craving for it during the summer too. This is the kind of soup that your mom makes for you when you have the sniffles. :) It's pure homey bliss. Best part about this recipe in my opinion are the dumplings. There is nothing like dumpling goodness matched with cornbread. And this is NOT your average cornbread. It has a secret ingredient. And what might that be you ask? Buttermilk - it's in both recipes. Need I say more?

Recipes below!

Tim McGraw's Chicken and Dumplings
1 small chicken or 3-4 chicken breasts on the bone
Water, salt

2 c. flour
3 TBSP soft butter
1/2 c. buttermilk
1 egg

Cook the chicken in the water and salt until done. Cool and debone.

Mix other ingredients to make dumplings. Roll out on a floured surface and cut into squares. Drop into hot chicken broth. Let cook for 15 minutes until noodles are heated through. Add chicken back in. Serve with cornbread. I also put on salt and pepper to taste.

Faith Hill's Buttermilk Cornbread

2 TBSP Butter

1 1/2 c. cornmeal mix

1 egg

1 1/2 c. buttermilk

Preheat oven to 500F. Place all ingredients except butter into bowl. Mix. Melt butter in a small to medium cast iron skillet. Pour butter into bowl. Mix. Pour back into hot skillet and place into oven to bake at 500F until edges slightly golden/brown. About 20-25 minutes. 

{Food Friday | 7.1.11}

It's Food Friday again! :) I must say that I am STOKED about this weekly addition to my blog. :)

My hips aren't, but regardless... :) I eat a LOT of salads in the summer because produce is cheaper and everything is so fresh! Here are two of my favorite salads. The salad below is the MAIN reason I grow fresh basil on my deck. {Outside of Tomato Basil Squares, that is - no worries, I will post that one eventually too! It's another fav!}


Happy Friday!

{Food Friday | 6.24.11}

I am excited to announce that on FRIDAYs I will be *trying* to consistently blog a Food Friday theme.

Those of you who know me personally KNOW I love food. I love to cook, bake and eat. OH, and I LOVE to photograph my food too. :) It's just fun. So, for those of you who have enjoyed my food pictures on Facebook over the years... I will now be posting something each Friday along with the recipe!

These will be traditional dishes from my family, favorites and/or new things I'd like to try!

If you enjoy photographing food too here are a few tips to help you get great food shots:

• Photograph your food while it's steaming - most often it'll represent that the food is hot and fresh, ready to eat! Talk about making mouths salivate!

• Photograph your food by a window. Using natural daylight will provide the most flattering light on your food as incandescent lighting will alter the white balance of your photo making it look orange - if you have shot the file in RAW you can correct this later, but I usually try to avoid it. 

• Photograph your food (if you have it) with a good lens. For starters, those of you who have interchangeable lens capabilities on your camera can find a nice 50mm 1.8 for right around a hundred bucks. This lens will offer so much for you if you are just starting out and enjoying shooting portraits and food! Most of my food photos are shot with my 24-70mm f/2.8

• Place your food on a clean surface - lay a table cloth down if it makes the image better. Make sure there aren't too many distractions - focus should be on the yummy food!

Obviously I am no food expert. BUT I love food and often when I post food photos people ask for the recipe so I think this is a great place to share my love for food AND photography. :)