Curried Chicken Salad

Chop rotisserie chicken, mix with mayo, curry powder, cucumber, red pepper, S&P.  Serve on Triscuits with fresh avocado and chives!  Yum!!

It's chili time!

Tis the season for stick-to-your-bones home cookin...so I broke out the crockpot! 

This wasn't anything fancy.  Just your normal chili ingredients: 

1 1/2 C. Dry Black and Great Northern Beans (I was out of Kidney Beans)- soaked overnight

1 Sm. Onion and 4 Cloves of Garlic - sautéed in EVOO

1 Lg. can of Crushed Tomatos + 1 can of Water + 1 TBLS of Sugar

1 Red Pepper - finely chopped 

1 1/2 lbs. Cubed Venison (Beef or Pork) - browned in EVOO and a generous coat of seasonings:

Chilli Powder

Ancho Chili Powder

Chipotle Chili Powder

Cayenne Chili Powder (in moderation) 

Garlic Powder

Black Pepper

Salt

Cumin

Oregano

Add everything to the crockpot and cook on low all day. 

Remove and shred the meat, if you desire. Return to the pot and season to taste.  I usually need to add more chili powder, garlic powder and salt at this point. 

Serve with your favorite toppings: cheese, onions, sour cream, etc...

Or over macaroni noodles (these were gluten free)

Stay warm! 

More photo experiments...

Bowl-O-Pistachios with a side light (unedited)...

Adding a little pattern and a cool little square picture setting I found on my iPad (also unedited)!

I have been obsessed with food photography technique sites lately.  So much so that I have successfully procrastinated on completing my final projects, for my final courses, to finally be done with school, FINALLY!  Oops!

I'm going to have to take tomorrow off of work now to get my paper done.  Oh well!  

A 3 day weekend sounds delightful...

P.S. I may have also been completely enthralled in the live broadcast of The Sound of Music tonight, just maybe.   

Take 2

Pasta Carbonara with a few different angles...

I think I need to stick with the close-ups until I get some tabletop props. 

Light Box Testing

Take 1

I don't have a "normal" tomato picture to compare this to but I think it looks pretty good.  

More testing to follow!