Sale on Toms!

I’m an affiliate of Zulily and since they have such great deals I thought I would share this one with you to get geared up for Spring!

Did you know that with TOMS One for One program its Giving Partners and customers like you, TOMS has transformed everyday purchases into a force for good. Every time you purchase eyewear, TOMS helps give sight to someone who needs prescription glasses or medical treatment. And with every pair of shoes you buy, TOMS gives a new pair to a child in need. To date, that’s over 10 million pairs!

Whoaaa we’re half way there…20 WEEKS!

Whoaaa we’re half way there…20 WEEKS!.

12 weeks…1/3 of the way there!

12 weeks…1/3 of the way there!.

The Inspired Plate – Food on Black – Monthly Food Photography Challenge

I came across a Halloween dessert online and thought it would be perfect to pop the orange on a black background! So alas here are my Halloween cupcakes.  I also have a confession to make…this was my first time EVER using a frosting bag with a tip. I’m not a huge baker, I prefer to make entree’s because I’m not huge into sweets but my husband is and he is forever grateful 😉

Now please go check out Tammy Bilodeau, Whitecourt AB photographer http://tbilodeauphotography.com/blog/food-photography/black/

The Inspired Plate monthly food challenge-Textures

This month brings a challenge for sure…TEXTURES! I bought a couple texture packs from Jessica Drossin a couple years back so these came in very handy for this month’s challenge. While I don’t use them for my client portraits, I do like to play around with them for personal use. This month I chose something simple and something I didn’t have to cook. I drove to Panera Bread and bought some Broccoli Cheddar soup in a bread bowl along with their Frontega sandwich…viola! The sandwich was NOT put together very well, in fact I couldn’t tell if it was put together at all when I got home. It looked like 4 pieces of bread were thrown into a box with chopped chicken, tomato, etc…you get my drift (not photo worthy unfortunately). I envisioned warm tones, hearty soup and texture. Here is what I came up with as my final submission.

Now go check out Allison Jacobs, Orange County Photographer

http://www.allisonjacobsphotography.com/?p=2514

The Inspired Plate – Summer Dessert

Wow this month’s challenge was so much fun to make and shoot.  Although I had a few different ideas, I chose to go with something that I’ve been wanting to try out; Frozen Yogurt! Because I bailed on last month’s challenge am an over achiever I decided to shoot a couple different frozen desserts…one easy peasy and one a little more challenging.

Peach Frozen Yogurt

Ok so these chocolate covered Bananas were supposed to be the easy dessert BUT trying to get the chocolate neatly on the frozen bananas and lollipop sticks were tricky!!! I should have used popsicle sticks but I improvised with what I had on hand. They are delicious though and licking chocolate off my hands was worth it 😉

Now please go check out Kay Pickens | Columbia MO Food Photographer

http://kaypickens.com/cinnamon-peach-frozen-yogurt/ post and continue on to all the other wonderful food photographers in our circle of friends 🙂

Lemon & Garlic Roasted Chicken

The Inspired Plate – Seafood two ways.

This month’s challenge was Seafood two ways; raw and cooked. Well this is a perfect challenge when you live in a coastal state and I had an idea immediately to work with Scallops. Then I saw their price tag: $14.99/lb! Now here me out, I would normally pay that if 1. I wasn’t cooking to feed a grown man who loves his seafood and my teenage godson and 2. this other idea didn’t come to mind when I came across Maine Mussels for only ONE DOLLAR PER POUND. I came up with a combination of a white wine, lemon and garlic dish. I added some tomatoes and parsley and it all came together so well!

The raw seafood I chose was a nice New England Lobster roll grilled on a buttered roll ( Mussels just aren’t that photogenic when they’re closed). Yes the Lobster is technically not raw because it’s cooked and then chilled but I’m sure the talented food photographers in our group will let this slide 😉 Please follow along and check out Tiffany Dahle http://www.peanutblossom.com/develop/2012/06/quick-and-spicy-shrimp.html

Farm Fresh

Our local farm’s CSA started and I’m just loving all these organically fresh vegetables and fruit that are filling my kitchen (and belly )!

Mexican Vegitarian Casserole

This dish was very simple to make and really only consisted of layers of goodness; quartered tortilla wraps, black beans, roasted red pepper, cheese, cumin, more cheese, corn and green enchilada sauce. I think we’ll be taking a break with the Mexican dishes as of late we’re getting pretty tired of the tortilla wraps. If you have some Mexican recipes to suggest that don’t require these I would love to hear them!