I'm Back!

Hello!  Okay, I was gone for a couple days - like was a little crazy those days, so food was quickly made and quickly eaten (but it was still pretty!).  But I'm back now.  Here is the prettiness from yesterday:

A simple, uber delicious breakfast!  Whole wheat toast, peanut butter, and bananas.  To keep it pretty (and not messy), I sliced the bananas a little on the bias (diagonally) and fit them nicely on the slices.  Come on - 5 minutes to a healthy, delicious, and pretty breakfast?  Yes, please!

For lunch, I made a tuna and egg salad sandwich.  I just mixed a can of tuna with 3 chopped up hardboiled egg whites, a little mayo, mustard, salt & pepper, and herbs de provence (because I put that in just about everything).  Then I just cut the sandwich in half diagonally.  You'd be suprised how much more fun a sandwich is to eat when you cut it diagonally.  I makes you feel like a kid again!  For a little veggie, a sliced up some tomato.  I particularly love mine sprinkled with a little bit of sugar - but that's just me.  :0)

For a quick dinner before I went to work, I just steamed some colorful veggies (fresh carrots and green beans) and tossed them in a little butter and garlic seasoning.  For some protein, I just piled some sliced deli turkey on my plate and I topped off the dinner with a little Ambrosia Fruit Salad ("recipe" below).  Colorful, delicious, simple, quick, and wickedly good for you!


**This is a recipe I adapted from a recipe my grandma always makes.  It's down home and very Southern.  The amounts of fruit are entirely variable - if you like something better than something else, just put more of it in the salad!**

Ambrosia Fruit Salad

1 large banana
1 small-medium apple
3-4 oranges (any variety you like)
1 cup cherries (I like using frozen dark sweet cherries, but the traditional way is marichino cherries.)
Coconut flakes to taste

Slice the bananas thinly.  Cut the apples into small cubes or rectangles.  Supreme the oranges (you can learn how here: http://www.ehow.com/video_2346007_make-orange-supreme.html - I like doing this because I'm not a fan of the white connective fibers in a orange...but you can just use orange wedges if you want to.)  Finally, slice the cherries in half.  Combine all the fruit in a large bowl and add as much (or an little) coconut as you like.  Mix well.

This salad takes a little time to prepare, but keeps really well in the fridge for as long as it takes you to eat it all.  It is fantastic by itself, delicious with a little cottage cheese, and AMAZING over pancakes, waffles, or oatmeal.

I hope you make this salad soon and enjoy it as much as I do.  Have a beautiful foodie day!

Ithimis!

Homestyle Doesn't Have to be Homely!

Hello there fine readers!  Today I had a lot of homestyle food...but that didn't mean I had to eat ugly, monotone food!  Please read on for today's yumminess:

Breakfast was a simple classic: Egg and Potato hash.  Scrambled eggs, seared potatoes, a little garlic, salt and pepper for zest - voila!  It was simple to make pretty as well.  I just portioned my deliciousness into a bowl, sprinkled cheese around the edges to create a lovely circle, and added tomatoes to the center for both color and to complete the concentric circle pattern.  Then, I just perched my bacon on the edge for a little jauntiness.  Yum!

For a delicious snack (amidst cleaning my ENTIRE apartment), I kept it simple with yogurt, fresh blackberries from the farmer's market, and a little honey for sweetness.  This one was really pretty all by itself - as fresh fruit often is, but I made it a little prettier by keeping my honey drizzle in a zig-zag pattern.  It's hard to see - but it's there!

Finally, for dinner, I had some spaghetti sauce left over, so I put it to good use.  I just made noodles, tossed it with the leftover sauce, and then kicked it up a notch by laying swiss cheese over the top and baking it.  I mean, really, it there anything more beautiful that bubbly, melty, carmelized cheese?  I think not.  For a little bit of color and crunch (and vegetables!) I added a small, simple side salad with Italian dressing.  Simple and homey, but stunning and delicious!

I hope today showed you that easy homestyle food doesn't have to be boring or ugly.  Go on, have some pretty food!  Until tomorrow ~

Ithimis!

Strawberries and Spaghetti

Hello everybody!  Today was delicious.  Only two "pretty plates" though.  Lunch was an amalgamation of munchies while doing things.  Here we go!

Breakfast was simple: two scrambled eggs, a piece of whole wheat toast with apple butter, cottage cheese, and strawberries.  To make it pretty, I just cut one of the strawberries up to put on top of the cottage cheese (to break up the extreme white), then I just arranged the food at pleasing angles and garnished with some whole berries.  And a Hello Kitty spoon, of course.



Dinner was delicious!  Spaghetti with meat sauce, and steamed veggies.  I made a super simple (and quick) meat sauce with jarred tomato sauce and ground sirloin.  I just made a nice ball of spaghetti on my plate - simply done by scooping the noodles with tongs and twisting them downward onto the plate - and covered it in the sauce and cheese.  Then I played with my food (yes, you CAN do it!) and arranged my vegetables in a fun way around the edges.  BOOM!  Color contrast, healthy, AND pretty!!

I hope you had a beautiful day, too!  See you tomorrow!

Ithimis!

Nachos and Other Pretty Things

Hello there!  Here was my pretty food day (btw...I'm so NOT a professional photographer...so forgive the photos!):

Breakfast was a yummy 2 egg swiss cheese omlet (seasoned with garlic and italian herbs) with bananas and strawberries sprinkled with cocoa powder.  I simply sliced the banana and strawberries and spread them on the plate, then sprinkled the cocoa powder over the fruit and plate.

Nachos for lunch!  I sliced two flour tortillas into 6ths and broiled them to make them a wee bit crispy.  I then layered them with shredded lettuce, tomato salsa, black beans, cheddar cheese, and fajita seasoning.  Then I broiled them again to melt the cheese...and arranged them nicely on my lunch plate.  :0)

Finally, my after work dinner/dessert was frozen yogurt (french vanilla) from Eco Yogurt topped with strawberries, kiwi, blueberries, pretzels, a few mini chocolate chips to cover the chocolate craving, and something called "caramel balls" that looked interesting.  To make it pretty, I just made sure I kept layering the toppings in a circular pattern, so everything could still be seen.  Yum!  (Ok...in all fairness, I used a BOGO coupon tonight...and totally got two of these beauties!  And yes...I ate both of them.)

I hope your food was beautiful today as well!  See you tomorrow!

Ithimis!

Welcome to My Dinner (and Breakfast and Lunch) Table!

Hey there, everybody!  So here's the 4-1-1 on this here blog:

How many of us eat the same boring food every day?  How many of us eat only ONE color food every day (usually brown and carbohydratey)?  How many of us don't even look at our plates before we dive into our food?  Me, me, and me!  I love food - it is true.  However, my love of food has dwindled lately because I just don't appreciate it anymore.  Well that stops right here, right now!

This blog is my dedication to appreciating the food on our plates.  This is not a "cooking" blog, persay.  There will probably be recipes from time to time (because I love to cook!), and I'll usually tell you how I put the plate together, but this is definitely more of a photoblog situation.  I want food to become a highly visual event for everyone.  After all, we eat with our eyes first!  I will also not feature fancy, expensive foods, so fear not for your bank account.  After all, I am a starving artist fresh out of graduate school - I like my money in my bank account.

An interesting benefit from this blog will be healthier eating habits.  Like many Americans, my plates often consist of foods in the brown and/or tan color scheme (i.e. all carbohydrates).  It will be very difficult to compose a beautiful plate with only one color, that's for sure!  I imagine my fruit and vegetable consumption will rise dramatically because of this blog.

So, join me on this fantastic food adventure, will you?  No more boring bowls of cereal, plain ol' toast, or peanut butter sandwiches.  We all deserve beautiful things in our lives - so why not start with something we see everyday, three times a day?  It's time for a beautiful food revolution!  I hope I inspire a little creativity and beauty in all of your lives!

Ithimis! ("Let's Eat!" in Irish Gaelic)