food photography

Mar

19

Carrot Cake Pancakes

I woke up before my alarm today, excited to start cooking. Oh my. Did I really admit that? Well, it’s true. I didn’t actually get up, but enjoyed laying in bed until at 7:30 my iPod started singing at me. I decided last night to make Carrot Cake Pancakes, and even prepped by grating carrots, and making Cinnamon Honey Butter to go with them. So before the sun came out I tumbled down the stairs, laptop in one hand, camera over the shoulder, and some miscellaneous photography equipment under my arm.

I like the way these turned out. I made sure to grate the carrot extra fine because I didn’t want them chunky with strings of undercooked carrot. They would have been ever better with some cream cheese “frosting”, but we didn’t have any.

Obviously I’m not eating low carb anymore. I’m back to regular eating…. Maybe snacked a little too much on frozen bananas today, but I missed fruit SO MUCH. With eating more comes exercising more. Low carb eating does sap your energy, but now I have no excuses! I ran a good 1.5 miles today around the block, and killed my butt with some inclined lunges. Still feelin’ it!

I have lots of recipes to share with y’all… I whipped up lots of goodies today (Keep an eye out for homemade Laräbars!) and am excited to share some new recipes.

Carrot Cake Pancakes

Adapted from Picky Cook’s Carrot Cake Pancakes

Whisk together:

1 1/4c. Whole Wheat Flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
pinch of ground ginger

And in another bowl mix:

1/4c. Evaporated Cane Juice
3/4c. Keifer/Buttermilk
1/2c.-3/4c. Milk, to thin batter if needed
1 TB Expeller Pressed Canola Oil
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla
2 Eggs

Gently combine your wet and dry from above until well incorporated, then fold in:

2c. Finley Grated Carrot
1 TB Orange Zest (about 1 orange)
1/2c. Toasted, Chopped Walnuts
1/4c. Raisins, soaked in hot water

Cook on an electric griddle or fry pan greased with extra virgin coconut oil, or your oil of choice. These are tastily paired with Cinnamon Honey Butter and real maple syrup!

Combine dry ingredients.

Whisk together.

Combine wet ingredients+sugar.

Soak raisins in hot water to plump them up.

Toasted walnuts=much better than raw in this recipe.

A tablespoon of orange zest gives the pancakes a distinct orange flavor. You could cut it back to a half tablespoon easily.

The batter was a little thick, so I thinned it with about ~3/4c. 2% Milk

***

Special thanks to la madre for cooking the pancakes for the guys while I photographed, and for pouring maple syrup while I got shutterhappy.

Jan

24

Oatmeal Raisin Protein Cookies

Blog Posts / she cooks she bakes / 0 comments

These tasty little protein cookies are, in my opinion, even better than the chocolate almond bites I posted the other day. I’m a big fan of oatmeal rasin cookies to begin with, so making them over into a healthy cookie packed with protein was sure to be a hit =) The only comment from the peanut gallery (Yes, that’s you dad! ;) ), besides that they were tasty, was that they were lacking chocolate chips. =P These are incredibly tasty and very easy to make… Not to mention sugar free and with only healthy fats! (AND made with white beans, which add a ton of extra protein!)

Oatmeal Raisin Protein Cookies

In the blender or food processor puree:

1 14.5 oz can of Great Northern Beans, drained and rinsed
2 TB Raw Honey
1.5 TB Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
1 teaspoon (to taste) Stevia
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Ground Ginger
Dash nutmeg
1/2 tsp Salt
1 teaspoon Molasses
1 Egg
1 TB Ground Flaxseed
1 TB Ground Chia Seed

Scrape contents of blender into a medium sized bowl and mix in by hand:

1c. Oat Flour (grind oats in a coffee grinder, cleaned of course! =) )
1/4c. Peanut Flour

Then stir in:

1/3c. Walnut Peices
1/2c. Raisins

Form the batter, which should be quite firm, into small balls. (1-2 TB size?) If you like, roll them in Sesame Seeds and or Chia Seeds. Roll them in the seeds, then in your palm to make them stick. Bake at 350 degrees for about 12-14 minutes, until the cookies start to crack just a little and have a dry exterior. Break one open if you need to, to check the doneness.

Coming next: A healthy coconut custard pie!

Jan

19

Chocolate Almond Bites

Blog Posts / she cooks she bakes / 4 comments

My alarm sounded at 6:30am, and I rolled around in bed for a few moments trying to warm my toes up and glanced out the window…. White, white, white. So much snow. Not only snow, but it felt like the cold was soaked through my walls. My first thought was “It’s going to be a crummy fight out the driveway this morning”, my little Honda Civic wasn’t built for Michigan winters. My second thought: “Check the college website!” Sure enough, classes were cancelled today. Needless to say I curled back up in bed and went to sleep until my mom greeted me with a cup of coffee, which I set by my bedside with the best of intentions to enjoy but as soon as I blinked I was out cold. I woke up to a luke warm cup of coffee and headed down the stairs, groggily, to heat it up and turn it into a cafe au lait.

It’s been so nice to have a day to catch up and relax. I nibbled on toast with honey and sliced a grapefruit for breakfast, then sat down to do some reading. After that, I conquered my algebra homework, organized some things that I had been putting off and puttered about like a little old lady for a while.

I needed some quick snacks to throw in my backpack for school, and decided to make some high-protein cookies. I was going to make some more Oatmeal Rasin but still have a few of them to eat, and decided on chocolate almond, rolled in coconut. They turned out great, even approved as tasty by the picky little brother.

Chocolate Almond Bites

1 14oz can Great Northern/White Beans
1 sm Egg
1/2c. Oats, ground
1/4c. Unsweetened Coconut, ground
1/4c. Whole Wheat Flour (sub oat flour for gluten free)
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
1 TB Honey
Stevia and Xylitol to taste
2.5 TB Cocoa
1/2 tsp Vanilla
1/2c. Chopped Almonds
3 TB Chocolate chunks (*See below)

1/2c. Finely shredded coconut

mixed with:

1 tsp Xylitol or 1/2 tsp Stevia

Blend egg, vanilla, honey and beans until smooth in a food processor or with a hand blender. Add dry ingredients and stir until combined. Add almonds and chocolate chunks. Shape into small balls, then roll in coconut mixture. Bake at 350 for about 8-10 minutes.

*I like to make my own sugar free chocolate… It’s super easy and not bad for you! Here’s how…In a sauce pan on medium heat mix about 1 TB of extra virgin coconut oil with 1 tsp Stevia or sweetener of your choice. Add unsweetened cocoa powder by the heaping teaspoon full until it is the consistency of cookie dough. Place the mixture on a large sheet of parchment paper and fold or cover with another sheet. Roll it out thin with a rolling pin and pop it in the freezer for a few minutes until cooled. Easy as that! Chop it up into chunks or bars, depending on how you want to use it.

Jan

18

Pesto Feta Salad

Blog Posts / she cooks she bakes / 3 comments

After I came home from work today I needed something fresh and green for a late lunch. I love having warm soups and crusty bread in the winter, but often a crisp green salad sounds like the perfect remedy to a grey, sunless day. I’m supposed to be eating lots of basil via orders from the doc so pesto was first on my list. (Not to mention I can eat that stuff by the spoonful!) I sliced up a romaine heart, half a tomato, added 2 TB or so of feta cheese and a hard boiled egg to make a simple salad. The dressing was easy- Pesto mixed with lime juice and a tiny bit of olive oil. From under the snow I dug out some “fresh” (slightly frostbitten) thyme for a garnish and seasoned it with ground some fresh pepper and coarse salt.

The photos… It is a rather dreary, overcast day so I was a little worried about the light. It ended up just fine, I set up my white board and reflector, set my camera to 400 ISO, f/3.5, using 1/125s. and 1/90s. I used a napkin I bought at the thrift store to add a little color to complement the tomatoes, silverware from the house, and my beaded board to set the scene… I still have yet to find some nice, weathered wood for a backdrop… It would have been perfect for this salad!

All the photos are set up in a gallery below, it’s easier to post them this way. Let me know how you like it compared to individual photos. Click to enlarge.

Oh, previously mentioned Healthy Oatmeal Rasin cookies made with white beans are delish. Sadly, they are pretty ugly and therefore will not be posted until a second, more attractive, batch has been made. Or maybe I already ate all of them… Just kidding, they really are that ugly.

*as you can see from the last photo this salad is worth polishing off to the very last crumb of feta! =)

Jan

13

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas?

Blog Posts / she cooks she bakes / 5 comments

It’s so nice to actually have light to work with when photographing! We got about six inches of snow last night, and it reflects the light beautifully through my bedroom window.

This is what I have going on right now… a folding leaf table covered with a white sheet next to my window. I could use a little more space to move around with but it works!

Make-shift light reflector made for $0.00 =P I took an old binder from school and lined it with tin foil… not so classy but it works until I get the real thing!

$1 piece of white foam board held up with clamps and cardboard to keep the foam board from being dented.

20″x30″

A few linens I have accumulated… From Pier 1, thrift stores, mom’s kitchen… ;)

6″ of snow in one night!

Now on to the edibles… Breakfast today was an egg with quinoa, seasoned with oregano, basil, garlic, and extra virgin olive oil. On the side we have 3 oz of steak and sauteed red onion and broccoli. Garnishes of paprika and parsley. I wanted some fresh thyme but the thyme plant in now buried under half a foot of snow =(

Apologies on behalf of the broccoli. It can’t help that it’s yellowing a tad and is sincerely sorry for irritating the photographer (who can’t pass up a veggie, even if its florets are slightly golden.)

This first photo is my favorite out of the bunch… I kept it simple this morning and focused on showcasing the food and getting a clean, sharp image. I bought this plate yesterday and found the linen in a cubbard (apparently cubbard is not a word? what? my macbook doesn’t like my spelling?) here at the house.

*Update: I stand corrected but not defeated via email and comment. The word is cupboard. Like a board of cups. C’mon. Cubbard is so much more original.

I had a heck of a time with the white balance this morning… I would balance it, take a shot, move a centimeter, take another shot and it would be wayyy to yellow/red. Time to do some more reading on white balance, Liv!