This week has been especially tough. All of us have been sick in some way shape or form and my mister has been working a lot in between two short vacations. That will be so lovely and we are looking forward to it. But, today…I’m looking for some lovely things (besides my two boys who are great gifts to me – we are going to a park tonight and watching Turtles right now.)
This chantilly cake from Publix. Yes, please, and thank you.
This gorgous hideway in the NC mountains. A sweet friend is there and I just learned about it. Oh my gracious – I will definitely travel blog there any day!
This book. If you are a parent and want to really think about parenting, and cry, and laugh – then this is a must rest this summer. And if you want another book list, check this one out.
I’ve been trying new recipes with farm fresh produce that we harvested last weekend (farm life is a gorgeous, hard, life) – and now I want to make this soon while I have lots of fresh corn!
North Carolina is by far my favorite state. We are going there this weekend. Vacations are wonderful. With small kids, travel can be difficult, but one way to make it lovely is by including these little snack kits for the kids.
I’ve been blogging for 12 years now. I have grown so much in every way over the past twelve years, and so has my blog. It has had many different names, and many different functions. One of the first blogs I had was “Kims State of Food” which you can still go find on Blogspot. The reason I created that blog was because my college girls that I was hanging out with in the RDU area wanted the recipes I was cooking for them. This was an easy way to do it so I wasn’t writing the recipe down 20 different times.
I’ve learned so much over the years with food blogging and some about food photography (still SO MUCH TO LEARN about both), but thought I would share a few tips and send you a few of my favorite sites.
Cook what you love. If you are cooking what you love, that will come across in your recipe writing. You need to be excited about what you are wanting others to make in their kitchen, or no one will want to make it.
If you can, cook and photograph your food in natural light. Now that I have kids it isn’t always that easy, and sometimes that places we live don’t have good natural light options. But, do what you can, and make do. Or just take your food and food props outside! Have your children help you! It may get them to eat more healthy food that way!
Keep learning. Read cookbooks, take TONS of photos, cook lots of food, and keep studying, study other blogs, find a blog you love (or many) and see what they are doing. Fuel your creativity!
Below are some of the best sites I’ve found for food photography:
I wouldn’t say my kids are picky, but they just aren’t the most well-rounded eaters. They could eat fruit and most veggies all the time – but to get them to eat meat is another matter all together. They eat breads and most pastas, and definitely baked goods, but anything outside of chicken nuggets (and those even occasionally) or maybe a cheeseburger (if they eat half of one) is harder to get them to eat.
What’s a Mom to do?
Look to other moms and try things that might or might not work, and hope they work. My friend Jeni that I interviewed a few weeks ago has a great blog full of tasty and healthy recipes and she cooks for her 4 kids a lot. So, this week when I have sworn off fast food I needed some quick go-to meals for them.
She recommended some crescent ham and cheese rolls that she makes for her daughter. My kids will eat anything they can dip: broccoli in ranch dressing, fruit in just about anything including CFA sauce, and these they ate right up when I gave them some honey mustard to dip these rolls into. Never underestimate the power of dipping sauce.
Kid-Friendly Ham & Cheese Rolls
Recipe Type: Lunch
Cuisine: Kid Lunch
Author: kd316
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 8
Easy quick ham and cheese roll ups
Ingredients
1 roll refrigerated crescent rolls
about 4 slices honey ham
1/4 cup shredded cheese
salt and pepper
Instructions
Preheat oven according to rolls pkg directions.
Pull apart ham slices and put a little ham and cheese in each crescent roll.
Roll up and place on ungreased baking pan.
Top with a little salt and pepper for extra savory seasonings.
Bake according to directions.
Let cool. The inside filling will be too hot for most kids right out of the oven.
Serve with their favorite fruits and vegetables and of course dipping sauce.
I grew up in the South. Some folks don’t consider Florida to be the South, but when you live in the middle of the state all your life surrounded by orange groves and muscadine vines, take vacations to state parks and the Suwanee River, and live on Publix fried chicken and church potlucks, you are definitely from the South.
For me, summer in the south meant swimming in our pool (my Mom opened the pool season April 1), playing baseball in our yard with my cousins, listening for our “school bell” to ring to tell us it was time to come home, and heading to the Circle K for ice cream (31 flavors never got old) and watching Mets baseball via WWOR.
For me now, summer is summer. Its hotter. And I love to pick fruit. Strawberries, blueberries, peaches, you name it. If it is available to me, I want to pick it. And I love to bake with it. From peach cobblers to strawberry pizza, and these strawberries and cream biscuits.
Strawberries and Cream Biscuits
Recipe Type: bread
Cuisine: southern
Author: kd316
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 6-8
A mildly sweet strawberry biscuit waiting for some honey and peanut butter.
Ingredients
1 3/4 – 2 cups all-purpose flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/5 tsp kosher salt
6 T cold, unsalted butter
6-7 strawberries (tops removed), mashed
2 T turbinado sugar
3/4 cup full fat buttermilk
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400. A cast iron pan grill pan will be a great cooking sheet!
Mix dry ingredients in a food processor.
Slice butter and put in food processor.
Pulse until small pebbles form in dry ingredients.
Mash strawberries and pour in the sugar. Let sit for 5-10 minutes.
Add in buttermilk.
Pour slowly into the food processor and let it mix well with the dry ingredients.
Turn out onto a floured cutting board and kneed for 1-2 minutes, adding flour if necessary.
Form into a 3/4 inch high circle and cut into biscuits.
Put in cast iron pan and bake for about 20 minutes.
Take out and let cool on cooling rack.
Serve with butter, honey, strawberry jam, or peanut butter – or some of all.
Why not celebrate the little things that make life be a little brighter. I would love to know what you are finding lovely these days.
The Happy Hour with Jamie Ivey : I’ve listened to two of these (Lauren Chandler and Shelley Giglio) and have been encouraged by both (and it helps the workout go by quicker)
Because when you live in the South, you gotta have an ice cream maker. And my husband blessed me with this one a few months ago and we are putting it to good use Right now, in the freezer, an ode to Holly & Flora with Drunken Cherries Garcia.
Splash Pads: My kids love these. It gets them exercise, wet, and so many smiles. I hope you have one in your area. We love them here and are going to hit some up when we are on vacation this month too.
Trip Planning: I think I may have missed my calling. I love trip planning and adventuring, even if it is for someone else. I love to find special things in special cities for people to enjoy. Travel blogging is great too and I always thought it would be fun to combine with food blogging!
