Food Photography Tips

I came across this article and thought we could all learn something from it and use it towards our future posts.

http://www.slashfood.com/2007/09/26/food-photography-tips-from-a-pro/

Chili Mac

So last Friday while at Whole Foods I decided that I wanted chili mac. You know the hamburger helper stuff. But I wanted to just try and make it. I think that should give me points. Since it was so long ago since I made it I will just kind of guesstimate on amounts and stuff. This was a measure free meal.

75% lean ground beef
generous shake of macaroni noodles
sea salt
pepper
Mrs. Dash Spicy
palmful of cilantro chopped
one can (14.5 oz) of diced tomatoes
one can (6 oz) tomato paste
one cup of chicken broth
one clove of garlic, minced
half a small red onion, chopped fine
couple drizzles of olive oil
one can of black bean drained and rinsed
a couple shakes of dried oregano
a couple shakes of dried parsley
a couple of shakes of chili powder
1/2 teaspoon of cumin
salsa verde
colby jack cheese
sour cream

Here is what I did:

Put a salted pot of water on to boil. After the water began a rapid boil add noodles and cook about al dente. Don't overcook, you don't want mushy noodles. Drain and return to pot. Set aside.

Browned the ground beef on medium heat seasoned with the a half a capful of spicy Mrs. Dash. after browned all the way through lower heat and drain ground beef. Return ground beef to pan. Push meat aside add a little olive oil and add onion and garlic to pan. Soften onions and mix together with ground beef. Add diced tomatoes and salt. If tomatoes are to chunky for you (mine were) chopped with wooden spoon. Taking a kitchen scissors to the tomatoes in the can works well too. Mix well. Add chili powder, oregano, and parsley, stir well. Add tomato paste entire can and add chicken broth until its an consistency you like. Taste. Salt and pepper to taste. Add cilantro, stir well. Add cumin. Cover for 10 minutes. Stir in cheese.




I served mine with salsa verde and sour cream.

Veggie Chili

So Last night I made Veggie Chili. Picture will be posted later.

Here is how I made it:

1 -Medium sweet onion diced
5-Garlic Cloves diced
1-Green Pepper diced
2-Carrots diced
1-Butternut Squash diced
1-cup frozen corn
1-Can Black Beans, rinced and drained
1-Can of Light red kidney beans, rinced and drained
1-Container of Frozen Homemade Tomatoe Puree, Thawed- made with Paczesny's tomatoes :-)
(or you can buy a can of tomato puree)
1-large can of Tomato sauce
1-small can of tomato paste
1-1 1/2 cups of Water (adjust to how thick you like your soup)
3 TB Chili Powder
1 tsp Smoked Spanish Paprika
1 TB Red Pepper Seasoning
2 TB Hot Sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste

I sauteed the onions, garlic, and green pepper in a LARGE soup pan with a drizzle of Olive Oil. Then I added in the Carots, and squash and sauteed together for about 5 minutes. Then I added in the remaining ingrediants and brought to a boil and covered and reduced to low and simmered for 1.5 hours.

I think I added in a little more than 1 tsp of the smoked paprika, so that flavor kind of took over my chili a little bit, but in the end it turned out super yummy. Be CAREFUL when cooking with Smoked Spanish Paprika....it's a very over powering spice.....or maybe it was just really strong since I bought it from the Spice House at the Public Market....which by the way is my new favorite place to buy all my spices :-) It's VERY reasonably priced, so check it out!

Chicken Pot Pie

I forgot to take a picture......but I decided to make a post anyways.

Here is how I made it:

Ingredients:
3 cups of Chicken Stock
2 Yukon Gold Potatoes peeled and diced
1 Sweet Potatoe peeled and diced
1 cup of Frozen Peas
1 cup of Frozen Veggie mix: Carrots, Corn, and Peas
2 large Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts diced
1/2 Cup Flour
1 1/2 cup Skim Milk
1 tsp Fresh Thyme
1 TB fresh Parsley
Salt and Pepper to taste
1-frozen roll of Phyllo Dough, a few full sheets

I first boiled the ckicken stock in a large saucepan. I added in the next 4 ingredients and brought to a boil and covered and simmered for about 7 minutes. Then I added in the diced chicken and cooked for another 5 minutes until the chicken was cooked through. Then I took a strainer spoon and removed the chicken and veggies from the stock and placed it aside in a bowl. I turned up the heat on the stock to simmer, while whisking the flour into the milk until all flour was dissolved. Then I poured the milk mixture into the stock and cooked for another 5 minutes while stirring rapidly. Then I added in the chicken and veggie mixture into the stock mixture along with the thyme, parlsey, salt and pepper.

From here I poured the mixture into a greased 11x14 casserole dish and topped it with the phyllo dough. I sprayed the top of the dough with cooking spray. Kept it at 400 for about 16 minutes til the dough was crispy.

That's it!!! Turned out Fabulous!!

Best part is that Michael ate ALL the veggies that I put in this dish.....with no complaints!
:-)

Tamara's Beth's Hank's Eggs "Surprise"

Last night at Whole Foods Beth was telling me about Beth's Hank's Eggs and although kind of weird seemed interesting enough for me to make an attempt at making something like it.

The ingredients:
1/2 ham steak (fully cooked)
3 small potatoes
3 large eggs (I think I should have used more)
1 clove of garlic
1/2 small onion (I used white but a red onion would work nice)
1/3 medium yellow bell pepper
1/3 medium red bell pepper (I would have used green to if I felt like looking for one at the store)
tablespoon of olive oil
pat of butter
pepper
oregano
parsley
paprika
couple ounces of colby jack cheese - shredded
seasoned salt
Mrs. Dash table seasoning
sea salt and pepper to taste


I cut my potatoes into thirds and dropped them in a pot of salted water to boil. (I find they fry up better if you do this). I cooked them until fork tender. Cut them into semi-thick slices and let them cool slightly.

Other prep work:
fine chopped the onion
minced the garlic
chopped the bell pepper in bite-sized pieces
chopped ham steak into bite-sized pieces

Heated the olive oil and butter in a pan tossed in the potatoes. Those started to brown and I added in the onion and bell peppers and garlic. Added black pepper (I love the stuff). I let those cook down. The potatoes continue to brown and get a nice crust to them.

I pushed that to the side and added the ham that I seasoned with the Mrs. Dash (liberally). Cooked the ham until it had a nice color then mixed in with the potatoes. I added the seasoned salt and oregano. Stir well to blend flavors.

At this point, I beat the eggs. Made sure the potatoes were cooked like I like them. pushed everything to one side in the pan and added the eggs. Scramble scramble scramble. Before the eggs were fully cooked I mixed everything together. Did a little taste test added some salt. I added about 1/4 of the cheese and stirred together. Topped with parsley and paprika. Finally I added the rest of the cheese on top. Turned off heat and let that melt.



I served Tamara's Beth's Hank's Eggs "Surprise" with slices of green apples and tomato and a piece of butter toast.