Food is Joy Link-up: Pretty Food!

1 Jun By

It’s week three of the Food is Joy linky and I’m so grateful to those of you who’ve linked up or participated via comments!  Today’s prompt is all about the beauty of food – it’s colors, presentation, aromas…all the things that make our meals lovely!  Grab a button from the sidebar over there and add your pretty food link here:

 

This link-up is inspired by a favorite website, but I share it with a warning:  If you are hungry, you will be made ever more hungry by this site!  I introduce to you:

Food Gawker

You’re welcome.

Okay, now on to my own food photos.  Let’s just start by acknowledging the French as the arbiters and world champions of all that is pretty food.  When traveling in France, I’ve always taken more pictures of the food than I have of historic monuments or people.  Why?

Because this is hot chocolate:

And because this is a quick snack:

And these?  I don’t need to speak, do I?

I’m inspired.  I’ve begun really making an effort to put beautiful (and delicious, and healthy) food on our plates.  This usually means that my husband gets stuck waiting for his dinner while I “stage” the plates.  But he eats pretty food.  And probably doesn’t care.

Here are some foods from our kitchen

Veggies

Roasted Tomatoes, chicken salad

Sweet corn, cotija cheese

Homemade Pizza

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Food is Joy Link-Up: I will never feel guilty eating____

24 May By

Happy Food is Joy Day!  I know many of you are interested in linking up and today is an easy chance to do it. The prompt is “I will never feel guilty eating_____” and you get to fill in the blank however you want:  with words, a photo, a recipe, whatever you’re stirred to share.  Link up here:

One of the most common conversations I’ve seen among women is the one that goes like this:

Gal 1: “I shouldn’t have eaten that cupcake!  Now I have to spend an extra hour at the gym.”

Gal 2: “I know what you mean.  I’m still paying for the donuts I had a breakfast.”

It’s frightening if you really think about it – that we let an inanimate object like a cupcake or a donut dictate how we feel and how we act.  That we are guilted by our food choices.  Certainly some foods are better choices than others, but guilt is such a demoralizing feeling.  It’s overwhelming.  It’s unnecessary.

I’ve been thinking lately about the foods that can result in guilty feelings for me and I’ve decided to take that power away from them.  After all, they’re just foods.  So today, I complete the sentence “I’ll never feel guilty eating_______”

HOMEMADE FOOD!

Homemade Enchiladas, for example. Really good enchiladas are labor intensive.  I made them the other night and it took me about 2 hours start to finish.

I blended my own seasonings for the meat. I made my own smoky enchilada sauce.  I shredded the cheese the old-fashioned way and added fresh jalapenos.  And then I loved every cheesy, spicy bite.

They look really unhealthy don’t they?  Not really, actually. Two of those delicious rolled up treats came out to about 380 calories and 22 grams of protein.

And they tasted SO GOOD.

I will never feel guilty eating the things I make from scratch – no matter how many calories or grams of fat – because they are made with love.

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Food is Joy: Favorite Food

18 May By

Welcome to the first day of the Food is Joy Link-up!  Today, we’re focused linking up our favorite foods.  Add yours here:


 

I have to admit that deciding which food is my favorite was TOUGH.  Mostly because I like all food.

Still, if I really think about it I know there really is one favorite.  It’s my go-to meal at home, my most favorite thing to order in restaurants (even if it’s just part of the meal) and it’s versatility makes this amateur chef excited.

So, even though it might sound a little odd, I present to you my favorite food:

The Egg.

Whoa.  Really?  Even more than cheese?  Yes.  I think I do like eggs even more than cheese.

I like eggs poached.

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I like eggs fried.

I like eggs atop beef tartare.  (Oh yeah.  I ate that.  In Paris.)

I like eggs baked into a frittata.

And eggs are full of good stuff:  Protein, choline, Vitamin D, Vitamin A, lutein… and all for about 70 calories.

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Food is Joy : Add-ons

11 May By

My blogs about the joy of food paused this week while I battled a cold and bureaucracy, but now that I can breathe through my nose again, I’m dreaming of the things I’ll cook this weekend.  Like most of you, I have a few go-to recipes I use for busy weeknights to keep us fed:  baked chicken and rice, green salads, broiled salmon, etc.

While they’re good on their own, these “same-old” meals really do get boring, so I do my best to mix them up with some simple mix-and-match add-on ingredients. 

Do you have a favorite recipe add-on?  Share it with a comment!

1.  Bacon.  I probably don’t actually need to convince you that bacon makes everything better. Use bacon slices to wrap pretty much anything your going to cook, or chop it and use as a topping or stirred into sauces and casseroles.  For ease, try cooking a whole package of bacon and freezing the slices in a plastic baggie – they’ll thaw during cooking.  And forget turkey bacon – go for center-cut pork bacon or try it’s newer sibling, beef bacon.

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2.  Caramelized Onions.  Thinly slice an onion, and cook it in butter over low heat (this is key – cook the onions too fast and they won’t caramelize).  For particularly strong onions, you can add a little sugar as you cook.  I use these guys to top everything from roasted chicken to mashed potatoes to salad (yes – GREAT in lieu of dressing) and they only take a few minutes to prepare!

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3. Sauteed Mushrooms.  Just like those onions up there, these can top pretty much anything.  Use a high quality olive oil or butter (I prefer butter!) to saute mushrooms until they release their liquid.  I like to add in some chopped garlic too – the mushrooms absorb the flavor so nicely!

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4. Capers.  Oh ignored little gem, I love you capers!  These are literally the simplest addition to any recipe – just open the jar and sprinkle them on.  But that salty-savory addition of flavor is unmatched.  I love sprinkling a few capers on to fish, salads and chicken.

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5.  Mrs. Dash®.  You don’t have to be on a salt-limiting diet to enjoy these seasoning blends – just a couple of shakes and you’ve totally changed the flavor of your go-to dish.  My favorites are : Southwest Chipotle (really nice smoky-spicy flavor), Extra-Spicy (for a good kick!), and Garlic and Herb (awesome on steamed or roasted veggies).  Easy.  And no, Mrs. Dash doesn’t pay me or know I’m writing this.

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