Week 8 ~ A Bad Habit

Spot the Bad Habit...clue: there are two.

I pondered this topic for hours and in the end I concluded, as any reasonable person would, that I have no bad habits at all. Then I spoke to my family, who were more than happy to point out that I actually had quite a few. Not wanting to bore you with what they may be, I chose the very first offending habit they claim I have. Now, I want you to look at the picture I've attached. What do you see? Do you see a bad habit there? No, I didn't think so. I can't see it either. However, my family would like you to know, there are actually two bad habits contained in that diptych.

And just what are these heinous habits of mine? Well...I apparently leave the little tins of salmon (or tuna) and beans (or corn or chickpeas) on the bench while I eat my lunch and I don't rinse and recycle them immediately. Sometimes I wash them up an hour or so later. Really. How. Bad. Is. That.

And the other bad habit? I photograph my food*. Which, according to them is a bad habit. A very bad habit. Let me just be clear on this, I don't photograph all my food, as that really would be silly. But if you love food as much as I do and also happen to love photography, then when you prepare a dish or are served a dish that is a riot of colour, I get this strong compulsion to photograph it and I simply can't enjoy the dish until I've photographed it. Photographing food, for me, serves another purpose - it reminds me of the event and the people where that food was enjoyed. When you view this set, while it may appear to be just a collection of food and drinks, to me they are memories of great times spent with friends and family in places both near and far. Some people collect teaspoons to remind them of places and events, some have the t-shirt. I photograph the food.  Horrid habit? Maybe. Only maybe.

* Ok, ok, so sometimes I also photograph other people's food before they get a chance to dig in and enjoy it. So what.

Strobist Information:

The blue lines represent the semi-opaque storage box I used as a "lightbox" t diffuse the light.

Canon 50D
50mm f1.8 @f7
ISO 200
1/50 sec
430ex to left of camera shot at 1/2 power and Nissin to right of camera shot at auto.

Spelt Fruit Muffins - with a Twist

So, we're in HSC mode in our household at the moment and anyone who has been here will know just how stressful this period can be. Not only do they have exams they need to perform well in, the realisation that their school years have now come to an end smacks them well and truly in the face. Even for those who know exactly what they'll be doing once the exams are over, the transition into the next stage of their life can still prove daunting. I've been trying to keep healthy snacks in the house to ensure that a balanced diet is maintained during this time - feed the brain healthy and wholesome foods and avoid snacks with saturated fats and high calorie sugary foods, right?

I came across the recipe for Spelt Fruit Muffins while watching "Eat Yourself Sexy Australia" and thought it would be a great snack to make - full of wholesome foods and high in protein, so I searched the site and found the recipe. The trouble was, there were a couple of ingredients I felt uncomfortable using. It wasn't the tofu or spelt flour, it was the one cup of oil and 300g of raw sugar the recipe required. Yikes! That's a lot of oil and sugar! Picturing a cup of oil is enough to make me gag and to use that much in a "healthy" snack, just didn't sit right with me. The two alterations I made was to cut the sugar in half and to substitute the cup of oil for a cup of apple puree.

You'll be pleased to know that with those simple variations, the Spelt Fruit Muffins (there were 29 in the batch) turned out a treat and were gobbled up by all. Give them a go - just don't tell your family what's in them!

Lesson of the Day #1

I'm half way through my first week of a two week break. The winter wind is howling and I'm staying within my cosy four walls - hopefully for the duration of my break. I've set myself quite a few tasks, a major one it seems is trying to keep the food up to the growing teen boys that stalk the pantry 24/7. My youngest had asked for some oreo mini cheesecake cupcakes as sampled at the weekend at a do we attended. I had forgotten I even had the recipe for them, and I was fortunate that the ingredients required were at hand, albeit with some minor variations. Substituting the oreos for chocolate montes, whilst yummy, meant the cupcakes were very messy to eat. There's a reason why a round biscuit, rather than an oval biscuit, fits so much better in a round patty pan...hmmm... And leaving out the sour cream and substituting it for more cream cheese - it really was too windy to go to the shops - meant the cupcakes lacked that certain tang.

So, lesson of the day - teenage boys will eat just about anything, no matter how it looks, and it helps if it's in a bright and colourful patty pan. Also, if it can be eaten with your fingers, then all the better. The not-oreo-but-chocolate-monte cheesecake cupcakes were gone in the blink of an eye.

Hearty Soul Food

Sometimes I just can’t help it; I have to photograph my food before I eat it. It’s not because my loved ones will have the evidence of what my last meal consisted of, should I be fatally struck down by food poisoning. It’s more about the colours and textures and aromas - they're simply so appealing. (Yes, I know you can’t photograph an aroma...yet) My family and friends are used to this behaviour now and when I have my camera up at my face it’s hard for me to see their eye rolls. So, this was one of my dinners from earlier this week – a simple minestrone soup. I had picked up the recipe card from my local greengrocer and added it to the other recipe cards I seem to have accumulated over the years. With the chill of autumn well and truly here, it was time to rummage through the recipe cards and come up with my own simple minestrone variation.

My ingredients included:

·         Onion

·         Leek

·         2 carrots

·         Celery

·         Cup of peas

·         Handful of beans

·         Cauliflower

·         2 x 425g tinned tomato

·         Tbs tomato paste

·         1 ½ cups of small pasta

·         1 lt of beef stock

·         1 Tbs olive oil

·         Salt and pepper to taste

·         Fresh Parmesan Cheese grated to garnish and flavour

My method:

·        *  Finely chop the onion, leek and carrots, add to the pot with the olive oil and fry until the onion and leek are clear. Stirring and taking care not to burn the onion and leek.

·         * Add the other raw vegetables and stir frequently until they brown a little.

·         * Add the stock and tinned tomatoes and tomato paste. Lower heat, place lid and allow to simmer. Stir occasionally and as the vegetables begin to soften, you can add the small pasta, stir (you may add a little water or stock at this stage), place lid and simmer until cooked.

·         * Add salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle with parmesan cheese upon serving.

Variations:

·         * You could use frozen vegetables in place of raw vegetables.

·        *  The beauty of this simple minestrone is that any vegetables you have in your fridge, freezer or pantry would be suitable to make this hearty soup. You want to end up with a bowl-full of chunky delicious vegetables and not a light and liquidy soup.

·         * If who you’re serving to, has an aversion to a certain food, you could always omit the pasta and blend the vegetables into a fine puree and serve with a dollop of sour cream. I will be cooking this variation next time as MOTH objected to the ‘ridiculous’ amount of peas in his bowl. Tsk.

·        *  Use your favourite spices, perhaps cumin, to give a different flavour to the soup. Or a generous handful of chopped basil would also be a yummy variation.

·         * If you want a meatier variation, add bacon or ham pieces to the onion and olive oil and substitute vegetable stock for the beef stock.

Importantly, once it’s cooked, don’t forget to take a photo of it before you serve it up! Oh, and if you like, post me a link to your photo. Enjoy!

Christmas Day doesn't need to be stressful...

Long gone are the days when I would stress over Christmas Day preparations. This year I adopted a laid back approach which meant the day was much more enjoyable – which is how Christmas Day should be. So what that I forgot some grocery items, like orange juice, avocadoes and shortbread biscuits to name a few, there was still plenty of goodies to eat and I really don’t think anyone noticed. It also meant I could improvise with some of the recipes.

The smoked salmon & avocado stack was still delicious despite the fact I had forgotten to buy the fresh avocadoes, yet I had some yummy avocado & salsa pre-made dip which worked quite well instead.  So what that I ruined the ham rind by cutting all the way through it – the redcurrant glazed ham was that yummy, it was devoured in two days.  So what that there weren’t the traditional shortbread biscuits to serve visiting friends and family over the course of Christmas Day and Boxing Day – the mini chocolate puddings, the delightfully decadent egg custard and those huge, juicy cherries were enough of a distraction. 

We’ve been spoilt over the years to expect food stores to be open every day and at all hours, and we panic when they are shut for just one day.  You see shoppers stocking up on food as though it will be weeks before the stores re-open.  The world didn’t end simply because I was missing some ingredients; Christmas wasn’t ruined simply because I didn’t follow recipes to the letter.  While it’s lovely to have a table full of delicious gourmet foods to serve your friends and family, we can miss the point if we make that the focus of our day.  It’s so much more important to relish the time spent with family and friends, for they are the essence of Christmas. 

Photographs taken using Lensbaby Muse - a Christmas gift - and textures photographed by me added to the original photos.