Big River Pizza at the Fulton Farmers Market

Posted on June 26, 2012 by photoappetite

I officially started my farmers market season this past weekend. Tho this is a late start for me, I usual buy my plants for the garden from the farmers market. My goal this summer is to expand my farmers market horizons and try out some new locations. I started with the Fulton Farmers Market at 4901 Chowen Ave South it’s open every saturday till 1pm.

http://www.fultonfarmersmarket.org

My friends wood burning pizza oven, is what got me over to the market and I’m glad I did. “Big River Pizza is a hand-craft artisan Neapolitan-style pizzas using local, fresh, regional and organic ingredients wherever possible.” Steve Lott is from chicago so he has a pretty good pizza heritage. He uses a lot of his ingredients sourced from the fellow vendors at the Fulton Farmers Market, so it’s local and organic. The tomato sauce is handmade from organic tomatoes. The chewy hand tossed crust, well one bite will tell it all.

Home

breakfast menu-Lil Red Rooster. It had bacon and egg on the pizza which came from the Sunshine Harvest Farm vendor at the Fulton Farmers Market. It was fantastic, fresh tasting ingredients and awesome crust. With the sunny side up egg just how I like it. I think this might become a regular saturday stop.

The Fulton Farmers Market is a nice quaint size with that home town neighborhood vibe. Lots of great food, bakery, produce, delicious coffee and flowers to shop.

I wanted to leave with this cool sign – When will the vegetable be here?

Ginger Crumble Rhubarb Pie

Posted on June 14, 2012 by photoappetite

I have one more Rhubarb pie recipe to share with you. And my super cute niece, enjoying some desert pretty much says it all. The joy of a delicious dessert, I believe she is working on her seconds.

This pie is easy to make and I added fresh chopped up ginger to the crumble, you can never have enough ginger.

Rhubarb Cocktails

Posted on June 5, 2012 by photoappetite

It’s time to harvest the rhubarb, and I am looking for something new to try. I had tried a friends rhubarbtini last summer, so after some research I came up with this rhubarb simple syrup. And then use the rhubarb simple syrup as your mixology base, the combinations are endless-have fun. We tried several different recipes and I will share with you the top two, and they are equally fabulous.

The first is a version of the Farm Girl Cosmo ..from The Huffington post but with a twist.

Farm Girl Martini

3/4 cup vodka
1 cup Rhubarb Syrup
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
2 tablespoons orange liqueur
Thin slices of lime twists, for garnish
Shake over ice and serve straight up in a chilled martini glass

The next cocktail I would not have imagined I would have liked it, since it is made with Gin. But I really enjoyed the sweet and spicy combination of this cocktail.

Rhubarb – Ginger Cocktail

1oz rhubarb syrup, 1oz ginger liqueur and 1 shot of Gin served over ice

this cocktail was from www.savor-the-rhubarb.com this web site has endless information on rhubarb and recipes:) I’m already waiting for my next batch of rhubarb to grow so I can get mixing up some more. enjoy

Hmong Chicken Laab

Posted on June 1, 2012 by photoappetite

The first time I tasted Chicken Laab it was made in the kitchen by the author of the Cook Book. I was immediately addicted, I had never tasted anything with so much flavor and fresh tasting. Chicken Laab is eaten like a lettuce wrap, the best lettuce wrap you have ever tasted.

Cooking from the Heart The Hmong Kitchen in America

Authors: Sami Scripter and Sheng Yang

I had the honor of shooting the food photography for this cookbook. It was a cultural experience, from shopping at the Hmong market in St. Paul to having the food prepared in the kitchen and hearing all the history and family tradition behind each recipe. I got to try alot of new things and one of my favorites is the chicken Laab lettuce wraps.

I used fresh ground chicken at the grocery store and lots of herbs. This is a great fresh summer recipe. Packed with lots of flavor, light and no fat. All the herbs and fresh citrus juices is an amazing combination. It is a regular dish at my house this summer.

We worked with a food stylist and a prop stylist who pulled alot of the dishes, linens and backgrounds. And then we got to play on set the idea food photography job. Here are some of the samples from the book.

Please check out alot more great information on the book and the authors at their web site

http://www.hmongcooking.com

Spicy Dark Chocolate Bacon Popcorn

Posted on May 15, 2012 by photoappetite

Fresh popped popcorn is always a good snack or dinner. I had a roommate in college who used to make peanut butter popcorn, ooo that was good. Till she went on a diet and we didn’t have much peanut butter popcorn after that. This recipe is in honor of the good old days, before the freshmen 10 lbs; that still won’t go away.

What could be better than chocolate and bacon on your favorite snack.

There is a local movie theater that serves bacon popcorn. -sounds interesting- A tip I learned from a friend; next time you’re at the movies order some junior mints with your popcorn, and mix the junior mints in with your popcorn..mmmmmm

I think this recipe is worthy a try if you like to experiment with your popcorn.

Pumpkin Peanut Butter Smoothie

Posted on May 9, 2012 by photoappetite

Smoothie season is upon us, It’s getting warm out and I crave something cold and creamy. Instead of grabbing the ice cream I’m gonna change a habit and make a smoothie. This smoothie is great, tastes like pumpkin pie with lot fewer calories one might say healthy. It has protein and even some fiber from the pumpkin. What else can you ask for.

Roasted Balsamic Strawberry and Blueberry Shortcake

Posted on April 27, 2012 by photoappetite

I have been intrigued by these roasted and grilled fruits, so far all I’ve ever done is grill up some pineapple. I was ready to expand my horizons. I teamed up with Maggie the Food Stylist and we came up with this recipe. We started by going on-line and searching for some ideas. We found these recipes for roasted strawberries.

Recipe from leite’s Culinari

The roasted berries are savory and sweet. It punched a lot more flavor into each bite. Sometimes the store-bought strawberries can be a disappointment, they look great but have no flavor. Roasting fruit extract the natural sweetness and caramelizes the juices. We decided to make a shortcake dessert out of the berries. I like to keep it simple and do what I know, and that’s Betty Crocker Original Bisquick just like mom used to make.

In medium bowl, stir 2 1/3 cup Bisquick mix, 1/2 cup milk, 3 tablespoons sugar and 3 tablespoons butter melted, until soft dough forms. On ungreased cookie sheet, drop dough by 6 spoonfuls.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.

Make some fresh whipping cream and garnish with mint. A new twist to a classic dessert.

Food styling by Maggie Stopera www.maggiethefoodstylist.com

Meat and Cheese Bouquet for your Man

Posted on April 20, 2012 by photoappetite

What do we get him for his birthday? This was the question the other day; he doesn’t like cake, dessert, sweets or even carbs for that matter. What can we do to celebrate? How many times have we asked this same question for a lot of holidays. Well, I know he likes meat and cheese. How about some meat and cheese sticks?

That was the plan, the next morning Karla comes to the studio with all the goodies. She brought: salami, cheese, olives, beef sticks, cherry tomatoes, bell peppers and green onions. Karla Spies is a food stylist here in Minneapolis and this is her creation; The Manly Meat and Cheese Arrangement. What guy (or gal) would not love to receive one of these? Karla went to work in the kitchen, and as you can see she did go over the top and made these beautiful meat flowers.

We are now working out our business plan. So let me know if you would like to order a meat and cheese bouquet for your special someone. We are also taking suggestion on what to name our meat and cheese flowers. Please submit your suggetions:)

Thanks and have a great weekend.

Chicken Pot Pie with Roasted Red Peppers

Posted on April 12, 2012 by photoappetite

This is a classic comfort food, Chicken Pot Pie. I’ve made this recipe several times, what makes this so good is the combination of white wine and chicken stock with a little bit of heavy whipping cream. Which makes it slightly lighter than your traditional pot pie. Short on time as usual I bought a rotisserie chicken and the pre-made pie crust can make ahead the roasted red peppers and then the pot pie comes together pretty quickly.

I shot this cover photograph several years ago for this republished Pot Pies by Beatrice Ojakangas. I highly recommend this cookbook it has lots of great recipes. I would like to share this recipe with you.

Beatrice Ojakangas is a Duluth local and has published something like 27 cookbooks. She started her career when she won the pillsbury bake-off.

“The year was 1957, and a young cook, wife and soon-to-be first-time mother living on a military base in England entered her recipe for cheese bread into the Pillsbury Bake-Off. Beatrice Ojakangas didn’t win first place that year — the top prize went to Mrs. Gerda Roderer of Berkeley, Calif., who received $25,000 for her “Accordion Treats,” a delicate horn-shaped walnut cookie. But Ojakangas’ bread took the second grand prize and helped launched an enduring career that has included 27 cookbooks on a wide range of subjects, from whole grain breads to casseroles to pot pies to her specialty, Scandinavian cooking and baking.”

“Passing on the culinary secrets of her heritage in twenty-two cookbooks and hundreds of magazine and newspaper contributions, Beatrice Ojakangas has been the voice of Scandinavian cuisine in America for over 20 years. Influenced by her mother’s love for the kitchen, Beatrice learned about her culinary heritage and the art of baking from an early age. ”

She has a blog with lots of recipes to check out.

http://beatrice-ojakangas.com

I’ve never met her but I have photographed several covers for her cookbooks for The University of MN Press. Here are some other covers I’ve worked on:

Egg Potato Pie for Brunch

Posted on March 28, 2012 by photoappetite

Hosting a brunch I always look for a one dish recipe. I like the egg bakes with the potatoes, cheese and eggs all baked together in one dish. So when I saw this recipe I had to try it, if not just for the pretty puff pastry and egg on top of the dish. You just layer up all the ingredients and crack the whole eggs on top and pop in the oven. The first time I made it the potatoes were slightly under cooked, so the second attempt I pre-cooked them for about seven minutes in the microwave. I’ve had one comment that it would be good served with some hollandaise sauce on it, sounds tasty to me, just add a few hundred calories. Never made a hollandaise sauce, perhaps next time. It’s a very pretty egg potato pie, serve with a fruit salad and a glass of mimosa. cheers

recipe from sweet paul magazine