Cooking for Seven

Today for lunch I had a salad of organic baby greens and radicchio topped with cheddar cheese, pomegranate seeds, and honey french & blue cheese dressings. Absolutely delicious.

Recently I acquired a few things that make food photography a pleasure: A new tripod, a couple sheets of card stock (one black and one white), and white foam board. I’ve been having fun experimenting with them. The card stock I use as backdrops, and the foam board for a reflector.

Here I demonstrate different reflectors. All photos were taken with the exact same exposure settings. The only thing that’s different is the reflector used. All photos SOOC (straight out of camera).

1. No reflector | 2. White foam board | 3. Silver reflector | 4. Gold reflector

I ended up using #2 for the final shot.

Now for the Giveaway Winners!

Commenter #33: Michele, who said: “I baked whole wheat buttermilk biscuits!”

and

Commenter #158 garysgirl, who said: “The last thing I baked was some delicious bread.”

Thank you so much to everyone who entered the giveaway!

Please share what you had for lunch today in the comments!

What I do for you guys.

Yesterday, I was out shopping at lunch time. I was pretty sure this would be the case, so I made sure to bring along my big ‘ol DSLR. I felt just a little silly bringing my boxy camera bag into the restaurant, but I wanted to share my lunch with ya’ll.
Know what? Photography in a restaurant is pretty difficult and a bit embarrassing. First, in a crowded restaurant, you have to move around until you find a table with good light. Then, you have to furtively take out your huge camera and pretend to casually take photos of your food. Everything within you cries out as you want to bend over your food, finding the best angle. But everyone around you would think you were crazy.

What I do for you guys.

Here’s what I had: Crostini (toasted baguette) with a cheese spread, topped with bacon and scallions, and a side salad (one of the best salads I’ve ever had at a restaurant). It was excellent.

What did you have for lunch today?

I must admit that I used to avoid creamy salads. They were usually filled with marshmallows and candy bars. This seemed so wrong in a salad. Then, some good friends of ours introduced us to this delicious salad.

Continue Reading for the recipe » »

I was introduced to this salad by my cousin Krista.

She has graciously allowed me to publish it here.

Delicious Asian flavors are combined in this bright, healthful salad. Rice noodles are tossed with lettuce, vegetables, & chicken. Served with peanut sauce, fish sauce, and chopped peanuts. How could you go wrong?

Continue Reading for the recipe » »

……As I glanced through Simply Summer by Angela Tunner, this recipe caught my eye. You see, I’m a sucker for anything involving coconut. Not only does it taste so wonderfully exotic, it is also very healthy. Granted, the sweetened shredded coconut used in this recipe is not the most healthy variety of coconut products, but it still tastes delicious.

……This recipe is perfect for that scorching summer day when you don’t feel like adding any extra heat to the house. You could cook the chicken the night before, or on some day that’s pleasantly cool. It is very filling, so you can serve it as your main dish. Or spread it on a piece of you favorite bread to create a very different chicken salad sandwich.

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Mango & Coconut Chicken

From Simply Summer

Ingredients:

• 4 cups torn or shredded cooked chicken (about 3 medium chicken breasts)
• 1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 3 tablespoons Major Grey mango chutney*
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt (I used sour cream)
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped Italian parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• Pepper, black, to taste

Directions:

1) Place the chicken pieces in a medium bowl. Add the shredded coconut, lemon juice, mustard, chutney, and yogurt and toss until well combined. Add the parsley and toss to combine.

2) Stir in the salt and pepper. Taste and adjust seasonings, if necessary. Serve immediately or refrigerate until needed.

Serves 4

*Angela’s Tip: Major Grey is no a brand of chutney, it is a style of chutney. Look for it under various brand names in your supermarket in the condiments or ethnic section