hEArT ohio | Hartzler Milk

HOOKED | HARTZLER MILK

"All milk tastes the same." you might say, if you haven't tried Ohio milk. Ohioans care about milk, as clearly evidenced by the amount of ice cream produced here every year. Columbus is best known for Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams, Cincinnati's known for Graeter's, Utica for Velvet Ice Cream, Granville for Whit's Frozen Custard, and so on. If it weren't for great milk, there would be no great ice cream.

And this is some great milk. 

What's to love about Hartzler Milk?

1. It comes in a cool glass bottle with two convenient handles.
2. Return the glass bottle, collect the $1.50 deposit, and Hartzler's will REUSE the bottle.
    Not recycle it, they actually reuse the very same bottle.
3. Glass bottles keep milk colder. Yum.
4. It's Non-Homogenized. (keep reading, there's more about this.)
5. It's available at many chain grocery stores, small local stores and farmers markets, meaning it's easy to find. 
6. No chemicals, pesticides, herbicides, GMO seeds, or hormones have been used on the farm
    or added to this milk since 1964, surpassing organic standards.
7. It JUST TASTES BETTER.

It tastes how milk should taste. Creamy, cold, and nutritious.

This has a lot to do with the milk not being homogenized. Homogenization was developed to mix the natural layer of cream that forms on the top INTO the milk, for overall consistency of product. Hartzler milk leaves the layer of cream on top, which can be shaken and distributed before pouring or eaten on its own. (This may just become your favorite part.) The cream gives the milk a clean, full-bodied flavor.

Just like how Coke tastes different in a can vs. from the soda fountain, plastic containers affect the flavor and temperature of milk. We drink out of glasses because glass has the least influence on flavor. An added health benefit of Hartzler's? It's easier to digest. Individuals who'd given up drinking glasses of milk long ago due to upset stomachs can possibly enjoy milk as though they're kids again. 

Get hooked on Hartzler milk. Can be found at:
Green Bean Delivery
Raisin Rack
Westerville Farmers Market
and many more

Want to see more delectable food photography in Columbus? Browse the blog or hop on over to Photo Kitchen.

Photography Internship Columbus Ohio

Photo Kitchen's looking for an intern! Know of someone who loves food and photography? Send 'em our way.

Availability Requirements
10 or more hours a week
Minimum one Saturday a month
3 month commitment
Must have your own form of transportation throughout the city of Columbus

Job Description
This is an unpaid internship. In exchange for your time and efforts, you will receive experience and knowledge in a variety of skills related to the business of commercial and portrait photography, introductions to job opportunities, and a bunch of free meals. If your school requires an internship, we can discuss how to get credit through this internship.

Desired Skills and Experience (must qualify for at least 4 of the following)
File management and basic editing through Adobe Bridge and Mac OS
Styling (clothing, product or food)
Directing people on a photo shoot
Cooking/Kitchen Prep
Prop Shopping
Graphic Design (designing promotional materials)
Blog Writing
Natural Light Photography
Studio Lighting and Equipment
Video (Shooting and/or Editing)
Marketing/Advertising
Brainstorming Photo Shoot and Marketing Ideas

Preferred
Currently enrolled or recently graduated from college with a major in art, photography, culinary, design or marketing.

Key Traits
Excellent Communication Skills
Reliable and Prompt
Multitasking Skills
Diverse Interests
Creative
Organized

To Apply: Please send a resume along with a short introduction describing your interest in the position and qualifications for the position to Catherine Murray at contact at photokitchen dot net.

What's Your Jam? | Columbus Ohio Food and Product Photographer

Your “jam” is the thing you can’t wait to get up in the morning to do. It’s the reason you do all those other things, so you’ll get to do that one thing - the thing you really love.

Kyla and Mark are the makers behind Sweet Thing Gourmet jam. We bet you can guess what their jam is. Yep, it’s jam. Our jam is taking photos good enough to eat, like this photo of jam. You can almost taste it, right? Well, that’s what we do.

Let's take how you FEEL about food and turn it into a 2D photo. Doesn't sound hard. Point and click. When you sit down to devour your next meal, think of all the senses you're using BESIDES your eyes. You smell the food, touch it, even hear it. You turn the plate, lift the lid, stir the sauce, sprinkle on some more cheese, squeeze the bun so the barbecue juices run down your fingers, crack the hardened sugar on your creme brulee. It's easy to take for granted all the little things that collectively become a food experience. 

There's a bit of magic in creating photos to mimic real life. That's our jam. Tell us, what's yours? 

I eat Sweet Thing Gourmet jam by the spoonful, no accompaniment necessary. Need something to go with your jam? Try this simple biscuit recipe, topped with jam and homemade whipped cream. 

Classic Baking Powder Biscuits

2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold butter, cut into 1/4-inch dice
2/3 cup cold milk

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

Sift together dry ingredients. Work the cold butter into the flour mixture with your fingertips until it resembles coarse meal.

Form a well in the center. Pour in milk and stir gently to just incorporate. Knead gently 3-4 times to bring dough together in a ball. Be careful not to overwork (stern voice!)

Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Using the palms of your hands, flatten into a disk roughly 1/2 inch thick. Use a 2 inch cutter (or a drinking glass) to cut out biscuits. Gather up scraps and repeat process. Makes about 10 biscuits.

Place on baking sheet, evenly spaced. Bake until golden, about 13 minutes.

Serve with your favorite Sweet Thing Gourmet jam!
(Featured: Strawberry Champagne Jam)

Check out some Behind-the-Scenes from this photo shoot! 

*What's even cooler about this particular jam company is they'll print personalized labels for you. Jars of jam make great wedding favors, gifts for teachers, employees or your favorite clients.

Six Degrees of Bacon | Ohio Food Photographer

Setting up to do a promotional piece for Photo Kitchen, bacon seemed like the obvious choice. It's so popular right now, put bacon on ANYTHING and people will eat it. So I put it on paper. Yum. 

This post is mostly eye candy, but there is a recipe in here for you to try. It's for Candied Bacon. One of my clients Bleu and Fig, a catering company, introduced me to this wonderful idea. Give the people what they want: bacon on top of bacon. Simple sweet and salty candied strips of bacon.

Irresistible Candied Bacon
(warning: this recipe is simple, but time-consuming and requires much dishwashing.)

12 slices bacon, about 1/4-inch thick Center Cut bacon
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1//2 tsp finely ground black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.  You’ll want 4 rectangular baking dishes, such as  casserole dishes. Metal dishes will cook the bacon faster than glass dishes. Either is fine. Put all of the dry ingredients into a medium bowl and mix thoroughly.  Take each bacon slice and toss it into the bowl, making sure to coat the slice thoroughly. Lay the bacon slices flat into the dishes without overlapping. Sprinkle any sugar left in the bowl over the bacon.

Bake for 20 minutes. Check the bacon. If it is not golden brown and fairly crispy, resist the temptation to turn up the oven temperature, and cook it for 10 to 15 minutes longer. Check it again. When you remove the tray and transfer the bacon to a serving platter or individual plates, the bacon will "crisp" up a little more.

Let sit only 2 minutes after pulling it out of the oven. The sugar needs to solidify somewhat so it doesn't slip off the bacon. If you wait too long, it will stick. Transfer each piece onto a cooling rack. Let it sit on the plate another 4-5 minutes. Then you can eat it or transfer it to an air-tight container. Bacon can sit outside the refrigerator for up to one day. After that, refrigeration is best, but eat at room temperature.

Parchment paper may make the clean-up easier. Pouring hot water into the pans made the sugar melt and sped up the cleaning process.

Pita Pizzas | The Perfect Lazy Dinner

I've been making this simple twist on a Greek classic for over 10 years. Everyone I've shared it with has fallen in love, so now it's your turn. My very first job in high school was at a small family-owned deli around the corner from my house. While most of my friends were busy hating their jobs, I loved mine so much I stayed for 7 years. What can I say, I fell in love with food.

After going vegetarian, I was getting pretty bored of my grilled cheese options. We had a wonderfully convenient sandwich oven at this deli, and typically we'd throw a pita in it for a minute or two before topping it with standard gyro toppings-sliced lamb, feta, lettuce, tomatoes, onions and tzatziki sauce. Well, I wanted my cheese to be melted, so I topped my pita before throwing it in the oven. A pretty simple adjustment, but it made a world of difference. So the next time, I decided instead of rolling the pita up into a wrap, I'd leave it flat and top it like a pizza. 

Lazy Pita Pizzas
(serves 4)
4 large pitas (not pocket pitas)
8 oz. feta (I like a lot of cheese)
8 slices cheddar cheese
8 slices of tomato
a few handfuls of lettuce
gyro sauce (recipe below)

gyro sauce:
6 oz sour cream
chopped up garlic (I use jarred garlic)
salt and pepper to taste

optional topping variations:
chopped lamb meat
red onion
kalamata olives
mild banana pepper rings

Mix up the gyro sauce a day ahead, if possible. Lay pitas flat on a cookie sheet or pizza stone. They can even be frozen if you forgot to take them out of the freezer in time, just cook them a little longer. Spread a liberal amount of the gyro sauce on the top of each pita. Sprinkle feta over it, then lay cheddar slices on top of the feta. Place in the oven at 400 degrees for 7-12 minutes, until cheese is fully melted and bubbling a little. Take out of the oven, cut each pita into 4ths and top with lettuce and tomato.

This is a great family meal, because each individual can choose their own toppings. I've made these into Italian pizzas, Mexican pizzas, and Reuben pizzas. Best part is, you can keep the pitas in the freezer for whenever you want them and there's no pizza dough to wrestle with.

Grilled Cheese Croutons | Best Food Photography in Columbus

This is a fun, quick spin on a typical lunch. Grilled cheese and tomato soup is boring, you say? Not anymore. You'd think it'd taste exactly the same, but it doesn't. I've never really liked dipping my sandwich into soup, but this I LOVED. It helps that the soup was homemade, too.

Over the last few years of honing my cooking skills, I've noticed how even the smallest of changes can make a big difference. This includes how things are cut. When you make a potato salad and dice the celery and onions really small, it tastes different than when they're rough chopped. We make fun of kids for having their sandwiches cut diagonally instead of straight in half, yet it does change the experience they have eating it. The same principle applies here.

Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Croutons
Serves 4 Adults

Ingredients
1 (28-ounce) can chopped tomatoes (with green chiles)
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 stalk celery, diced
1 small carrot, diced
1 yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup vegetable broth
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons butter
1 tblsp dried basil
dash of ground cayenne pepper
1/2 cup heavy cream, optional
12 slices of sharp cheddar
12 slices of white bread
spreadable butter for grilling

Directions
         Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
         Strain the chopped canned tomatoes, reserving the juices, and spread onto a baking sheet, season with salt and pepper, to taste, drizzle with 1/4 cup of the olive oil and roast until caramelized, about 15 minutes.
         Meanwhile, in a saucepan, heat remaining olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the celery, carrot, onion and garlic, cook until softened, about 10 minutes. Add the roasted chopped canned tomatoes, reserved tomato juices, vegetable broth, bay leaf, basil, cayenne and butter. Simmer until vegetables are very tender, about 15 to 20 minutes. Add cream, if using. Puree with a hand held immersion blender until smooth.
        The simple explanation for the croutons is this:
Make a double-decker grilled cheese. Cut the crusts off then cut into 4x4's. Place in the soup and eat!
        The long explanation goes like this:
Before eating (or reheating) soup, begin making the grilled cheese croutons.
For each serving, you'll use 3 pieces of bread and 3 pieces of cheese. Butter one side of 3 pieces of bread. Place first slice butter-side down in a large skillet over medium heat on the stove, then lay two pieces of cheese over it then place the other piece of bread butter-side up. When first side is browned and the cheese is starting to melt, flip the sandwich over with a spatula. Then add another piece of cheese on the top and the last slice of bread butter-side up. Once the other side is browned, flip again. When the grilled cheese is done, cut off the crusts, then cut into 4 sections each way, so it creates little cubes. Place onto the hot soup and eat!

Some tasty variations:
Havarti and Thyme on Multigrain with Creamy Potato Soup
Goat Cheese on Sourdough with Creamy Fennel Soup

Eye Candy for a Food Photographer | Fine Art in Columbus, Ohio

When I decided to redo my kitchen, I knew I wanted a collage wall. I've seen them all over Pinterest, and have been drooling over them for months. With the help of a cutting board, a flowery platter, old disks from a food chopper, recipes and cutouts from my mother and grandmother, and 7 Photo Kitchen prints, I had my collage wall. The varying shapes, sizes, textures and colors really pop together. All of the  photos you see here, and many many more, can be purchased from our online store.

Not sure what size to print photos for your wall? Simply take white copy paper and tape it to your wall and combine more pieces until the size looks right for from a distance. Then measure the combined pieces and choose a frame that size. As you can see, framed pieces don't always need a mat. Photos with a lot of detail can use the extra "breathing room" while photos with less detail can be framed right up to the edge. You can't really go wrong, it's all a matter of preference.

When creating a collage, measure the wall space you'd like the collage to remain inside, then lay all of the pieces on the floor within that same measured space.  This will help you get a sense of how they'll look best arranged together before putting them up on the wall. Once you choose the general composition, have one person hold the pieces up to the wall while the other person is judging distance and composition. Since I did mine by myself, I took a pencil and drew the general shapes and sizes onto the wall. This worked fine, too. You can remove pencil off of semi-gloss paint with a washrag, dishwashing soap and water. NOT AN ERASER, as I found out, um, after I tried it.

 

1. Peach Cobbler $20

$12 5x7 Print

$8 Storebought frame

2. Wheatberries $62

$20 8x12 Print

$42 Silver Curved Frame, Non-Glare Glass, White Mat

3. Raspberries and Cream $56

$20 8x12 Print

$36 Silver Ornate Frame, Non-Glare Glass

4. Sage $20

$12 5x7 Print

$8 Storebought Frame

5. Apricots $45

$35 11x14 Print

$10 Storebought Frame

6. Beeting Hearts $45

$35 11x14 Print

$10 Storebought Frame

7. Buddha’s Hand $45

$35 11x14 Print

$10 Storebought Frame

In case you're wondering what my kitchen looked like before, here's a view into the past.

The green and teal served me well for 4 years, but it was time for a change. 

Bite-Sized Photo Shoots: Hug-Your-Mom Day

If your mom is anything like my mom, she's always wishing she had more family photos but never wants to impose on us to actually do it. She thinks it'll be uncomfortable to force a family moment or that we won't want to spend the money.

Well, every once in a while you should indulge your mother. She's worked hard, she deserves it. For this Mother's Day, give your mom the gift of your faces together, in a photo, to remember forever. Even better? It's CHEAP and FAST! Spend a half hour mini session with us and then take your mom out for a nice meal.

And let's have fun with it! No stiff posed shots, just you and your family interacting and being yourselves. Give your mom a hug-on camera. I bet she'll put it on her fridge.

Two Booklovers in Love | A Librarian Wedding

What does a wedding for two librarian book lovers look like? Well, there are lots of paper hearts cut from old books, a good handful of owls, a beautiful barn, green apples, terrarium centerpieces, succulent bouquets, burlap chair sashes and old window panes, all put together by friends and family.

The best part? Children's book readings during the ceremony and an impromptu request by a little girl at the reception for storytime from the bride-who happily obliged.

Vegetarian Family Meals | Food Photographer Columbus Ohio

Casseroles, tacos and spaghetti are still great staples for feeding a family, but one week you'll be desperate for something different. Here are two great vegetarian dishes to feed you family--or in my case, my single self and three hungry, willing friends.

It's always smart to do two recipes in the same week that require at least one of the same ingredients. In this case, it's brown rice. Cooking rice takes a bit of time, so if you only have to do it once and you can make two meals with it, then that's one less thing to think about.

Many people are either afraid of tofu or have tried it once and didn't like it. Tofu can be prepared in many, many ways, and not all of them will appeal to you. It comes in a different consistencies and can be used in anything from smoothies to faux egg salad to a dish like this. I've had bad tofu dishes and good ones. I find the easiest way to experiment with food is to try a bite of someone else's dish when you're at a restaurant. I'm not a big fan of mushrooms, but I have found many dishes that have changed my mind. I don't always like to be the guinea pig, so when my friends order a mushroom dish, I take a bite.

This tofu dish was a huge hit. The sauce of this dish is like something straight out of a fine dining Asian restaurant and the tofu was perfectly crisp and firm. The second time I made this dish, I adjusted the original recipe and what you see in the photo. The black pepper that was originally added to the sauce is better showcased if the tofu is rolled in it before being fried.

Black Pepper Tofu
Adapted from the book Plenty: Vibrant Recipes from London's Ottolenghi by Yotam Ottolenghi

4 cups cooked brown rice
2 packages extra firm tofu (I like Trader Joe's tofu)
vegetable oil for frying (about 3 cups)
1/4 cup cornstarch
6 tblsp butter
4 small shallots, thinly sliced
3 fresh red chiles, thinly sliced
6 garlic cloves, crushed
1 1/2 tblsp chopped fresh ginger
6 tblsp sweet soy sauce
1 tblsp sugar
2 1/2 tblsp coarsely crushed black peppercorns
2-3 green onions, diced, green part only

Pour enough oil into a large frying pan, wok or electric skillet to come 1/4 inch up the sides and heat. Mix together the cornstarch and black pepper. Cut the tofu into large cubes, about 1x1 inch. Toss tofu in the cornstarch and shake off the excess, then add to the hot oil. You'll need to fry the tofu in a few batches so they don't stew in the pan. Fry, turning them around as you go, until they are golden all over and have a thin crust. As they are cooked, transfer them onto paper towels to remove excess oil.

Remove the oil and any sediment from the pan, then put the butter inside and melt it. Add the shallots, chiles, garlic, and ginger. Saute on low to medium heat for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the ingredients have turned shiny and are totally soft. Net, add the soy sauce, green onions and sugar and stir. Serve hot, with steamed brown rice. Serves four.


Greens with Carrots, Feta Cheese and Brown Rice
From Whole Foods

4 cups cooked brown rice
2 carrots, shredded
2 bunches dark leafy greens (kale, collard greens or Swiss chard), tough stems removed, leaves very thinly sliced
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
2 tblsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 pound feta cheese, crumbled
fresh lemon, to taste

Put carrots, greens, onions, 1/4 cup water, salt and pepper into a large, deep skillet and toss well. Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring once or twice, until greens are wilted and tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Toss with feta cheese and lemon juice and spoon over brown rice. Serve with lemon wedges. Serves 4.



The great thing about this recipe is it is so easily adapted to what you have on hand. Use any cooking greens you like, you could add tomatoes, turnips, radishes...just like a casserole, anything goes. Pull from what you have and presto, dinner.

Raspberries 'n Cream | Columbus Ohio Food Photographer

Sometimes there's a photo I HAVE to get out of my head. I'll think about it for days, weeks, months, sometimes years (yes, years) until I finally it comes to life. This photo of raspberries and cream was imagined 11 months before it came to life--from the moment I bought the Globe Amaranth dried flowers from the farmers' market, I couldn't get this picture out of my head. The colors screamed raspberries and cream, and the red ones even look like raspberries.

I waited until I had the right props, found the best way to control the spilled cream, and had a free Sunday to put it altogether. There's a huge relief when finishing a project: Relief in seeing the idea through as opposed to abandoning it when a new idea comes along, and relief in watching it come together as I'd imagined it for so long. Have you ever had an idea like that?

Daikon Radish and Blue Cheese Wrap | Central Ohio Food Photographer

Daikon radishes are my favorite CSA/Farmer's Market find from last summer. I was so sure I wouldn't be able to find any at the grocery store when I started craving them this winter, but yet there they were, both at Whole Foods and Meijer. They're so refreshing in the dead of winter--a break from the hot, dense dishes I find myself making.

Daikon radishes are long, white radishes. They look a lot like carrots or parsnips. There's a very thin skin on the outside of them that I quickly and not too carefully peel off. They're really crisp and mild without much of a spicy bite to them, yet they  definitely belong in the radish category.

The three best ways I've found to use them:
1. In a Simple Salad of shaved daikon radish, shaved cucumber, salt, pepper, red wine vinegar and olive oil, along the same trend as the one seen on Top Chef Texas with pickled vegetables.
2. In a fancier salad like this one with watercress, avocado and pomegranate
(Even I'll admit, this is a truly beautiful post.)
3. In the recipe I'm going to share with you here, one I made up all on my own, a blue cheese and vegetable wrap with daikon radish, cucumber and chicken.

Daikon Radish and Blue Cheese Wrap 
I eat large portions, so I say two wraps makes one serving.

2 small flour tortillas
4 MorningStar Farms Chik'n Nuggets, optional
        (just as good without any meat product, or with real chicken nuggets,
         boneless buffalo wings or grilled chicken strips)
handful of shaved daikon radish
handful of shaved cucumber
4 tablespoons blue cheese dressing
2 tablespoons crumbled blue cheese
4 lettuce leaves

Use a simple peeler to shave the radish and cucumber. Microwave the tortillas for just a few seconds to make them pliable. Place heated chicken nuggets/chicken strips in the middle of each tortilla and divide the cheese, dressing, radish, cucumber and lettuce leaves between the two tortillas. Serve with a side of celery and blue cheese dressing for dipping.

This would make a great menu item for say, Whole World vegetarian restaurant here in Columbus. Often I find myself munching on cheese and crackers for lunch because I'm too lazy to fix anything. This was so super quick and easy, I ate this for lunch 4 days in a row and never got sick of it.

What were a few of my other favorite CSA/Farmer's Market finds last year? Napa Cabbage and Shishito Peppers were also at the top of the list. Maybe those recipes will make it to the blog this summer. What were your favorites?

Commercial Food Photographer | Best Lemon Curd Recipe Ever

Lemon curd: A dessert spread topping, made from a combination of egg yolks, sugar, fruit juice and zest that's cooked on the stove. It's soft, smooth, tart and served cold. It's similar to a custard and is often served with scones or used in pastries and tarts.

My reason for making lemon curd? I had a bunch of Meyer lemons, so I went searching for a recipe to try out. I love lemons because they're so tart they help cut desserts I would normally find overly sweet, like cake, and since I'm repainting my kitchen from green to yellow, this seemed like the perfect time for an all-yellow post. The new kitchen color is highlighted in red below. By the way, it's really hard for a food photographer to not choose a color based on its food name. I overlooked  "Spun Honey, Lemon Twist, Butterscotch Cream, and Fruit Compote" to find the perfect color without any outside influences, which is "Chickory Chick". Beautiful color, but the name is tragic.

I made Lemon Curd twice. The initial recipe was a bit of a train wreck for me. I can't necessarily blame the recipe, it was my first attempt and it's possible I just did it wrong. I considered giving up on lemon curd, but I didn't want all my hard work to go to waste, so I found a different recipe and tried again.
The biggest differences between these two recipes are:
The order the ingredients are combined.
The second recipe called for butter while the first didn't.
For the second recipe I ditched the Meyer lemons for regular lemons instead.

The two attempts are shown next to each other at the bottom of this next photo string. The one on the left (in pink bowl) was the failure and the one on the right (in clear Tupperware) was the winner. The first batch wasn't clear and shiny and tasted powdery, bitter and perhaps a little burnt.

Lemon Curd

2 1/3 cups sugar
1 cup fresh lemon juice
4 large eggs
4 large egg yolks
3/4 cup butter, cut up in 1-inch pieces
2 tablespoons lemon zest
1-2 teaspoons cornstarch (optional)

1. Place sugar in a medium-sized pan over a pot of simmering water in a double-boiler. Add cornstarch (if desired) to help the thickening process. Gradually whisk in fresh lemon juice.
2. Add eggs and egg yolks, continuing to whisk steadily. Whisk over medium to medium-high heat, 10 to 18 minutes, until mixture thickens. (If it’s not thickening, increase the heat, being careful to continue whisking.) It should be about the consistency of hollandaise sauce.
3. Add butter, whisking to blend. Cook, continuing to whisk, one to two more minutes. Remove pan from heat. Stir in lemon zest. Transfer to a bowl and place plastic wrap over it, pressing over the top to prevent a skin from forming.
4. Chill. The lemon curd will continue to thicken some as it cools. This recipe makes about 3 cups lemon curd. Store refrigerated for one to two weeks. After the lemon curd is thoroughly chilled, you can fold in whipped cream to lighten the texture and mellow the flavor, if you wish. I prefer it full-strength.

Tips: Use a large whisk. It helps avoid froth and bubbles from forming on the top.
Make sure not to remove the mixture from the heat until it's really thickening, when it'll stick to the spoon and become a little more difficult to whisk. It will thicken more in the fridge, but not like Jell-O would.

Lemon Curd is great on top of cornbread, biscuits or scones. Other ways to eat Lemon Curd?

Lemon Curd Trifle
Ricotta Pancakes with Lemon Curd and Raspberries 
Lemon Curd Stuffed French Toast
Blueberry Lemon Curd and Quinoa Parfait 
Mini Lemon Tarts
Lemon Doughnuts
on top of pavlovas
on top of fresh berries and whipped cream
and last but not least, by the spoonful!

Lemon Curd makes a perfect gift, just spoon into any cute glass container like the one above. A little goes a long way, 4 tablespoons could be a serving--if you eat normal portions, which I don't. I ate about 3/4 cup in a sitting. I made this for a dinner party. One of my friends looked so sad when her bowl was empty that I spooned out seconds. There's no better testimonial than seconds.

You can purchase these images and more through our online shop.

Bleu Cheese Chips | Lifestyle Food Photographer

I've made these chips many times over the years, thanks to my friend Jenna who introduced them to me long ago at Cap City Fine Diner. They are so addictive, I've eaten an entire plate for dinner before.

If you're making them to take to a party, I'd suggest getting the ingredients together, than assembling and baking on-site-if there's an oven available, of course.

Love this picture? Buy a copy from Photo Kitchen.
My recipe is as follows:

Bleu Cheese Chips

1 large (approx $3.79) bag of Kettle Style Potato Chips
1/2 jar of store-bought Alfredo Sauce
1/4 lb. crumbled bleu cheese
2 green onions/scallions, chopped (optional)

Pour the chips into a rectangular oven-safe casserole dish (metal or glass). Top the chips with the alfredo sauce (in dollops, try to distribute evenly across the chips.) Sprinkle the bleu cheese (and optional green onions) over the chips. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and the chips are slightly browned on the edges. Serve immediately.

Now, this is not a follow-the-rules kind of recipe. You can adjust and experiment with these 3 simple ingredients until you've found the right mix for you. I've tried homemade bechamel sauce in place of the alfredo sauce. (I felt it was bland and much more labor intensive.) You can buy a really nice bleu cheese and add more or less bleu cheese to suit your tastes.

Want more variations? What about Kettle Chips topped with Barbeque Sauce and Cheddar Cheese? Or Thousand Island Dressing and Swiss Cheese? Try out your own creation, and make sure to tell us how it turns out!

Lemon Ricotta Cookies with Lemon Glaze | Midwest Food Photographer

You could call this a palette-cleansing cookie. That's Top Chef talk, right there. See, reality t.v. is educational. The reason I was drawn to this cookie is because of Northstar Cafe's Cloud 9 Pancakes. Baking with ricotta is not something I would've considered before trying their incredible pancakes. I can't do sweet without savory for breakfast. Adding cheese to pancakes seems to bridge the gap for me, so I thought, why not try it in a cookie? Besides, I love all things citrus. Lemon is so refreshing and light.

Love this picture? Buy a copy from Photo Kitchen.

Lemon Ricotta Cookies with Lemon Glaze
www.foodnetwork.com

Ingredients
Cookies:
* 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
* 2 cups sugar
* 2 eggs
* 1 (15-ounce) container whole milk ricotta cheese
* 3 tablespoons lemon juice
* 1 lemon, zested

Glaze:
* 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
* 3 tablespoons lemon juice
* 1 lemon, zested

Directions Cookies:
In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In the large bowl combine the butter and the sugar. Using an electric mixer beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating until incorporated. Add the ricotta cheese, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Beat to combine. Stir in the dry ingredients.

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Spoon the dough (about 2 tablespoons for each cookie) onto the baking sheets. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Bake for 15 minutes, until slightly golden at the edges. Remove from the oven and let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for 20 minutes.

Directions Glaze:
Combine the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest in a small bowl and stir until smooth. Spoon about 1/2-teaspoon onto each cookie and use the back of the spoon to gently spread. Let the glaze harden for about 2 hours. Pack the cookies into a decorative container. Yields 2 dozen (or more)

Egg Nog Snickerdoodles | Commercial Food Photographer

Two perfect reasons to make these cookies:
1. You love Egg Nog.
2. You hate Egg Nog but someone left it at your house.

Either way, you'll like these cookies! If you don't, take them to work and make your coworkers eat them. They're really light and the flavors are subtle, a nice contrast to the majority of holiday treats.

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The paper trees in the background have been my favorite part of this holiday season. I've really enjoyed making them, thanks to fellow photographer and blogger Davina Fear, who happily shared the idea. Those of you who are parents, Davina has some of the cutest crafts and activities I have EVER seen.

Eggnog Snickerdoodle Cookies
www.whatkatiesbaking.com

1 ½ c flour
½ stick butter
½ cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup egg nog (I used soy Silk Egg Nog, and it worked perfectly.)
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 cup sugar + 1 tbsp cinnamon for rolling

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Sift together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine butter and 1/2 cup sugar. (I used the paddle attachment like it says, but I used a regular beater for my next cookie recipe (also to combine butter and sugar) and it worked just fine.
4. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl.
5. Add egg and eggnog, and beat to combine.
6. Add dry ingredients, and beat to combine. Don't overmix.
7. You can chill the dough for an hour or more to make the dough easier to scoop, or go ahead and scoop them a little messier.
8. In a small bowl, combine 1/8 cup sugar and 1 tbsp ground cinnamon.
9. Use a small ice-cream scoop or a tablespoon to form balls of the dough, and roll in cinnamon sugar.
10. Place about two inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
11. Bake until the cookies are set in center and begin to crack, about 10 minutes, rotating the baking sheets after five minutes. The cookies will feel a little doughy when you touch them, but trust me, they're finished.
12. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack as soon as they are cool enough to not fall apart. Yields 18-20 cookies.

Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies | Midwest Food Photographers

Sugar cookies are the most versatile cookie for decorating. Perfect for any shape, icing, and sprinkle you can imagine. I can't say this is the best sugar cookie recipe in the world, but it might be your favorite. How do you know unless you try it?

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For a little while when we were younger, my brother and I spent a LOT of time icing cookies. His was done at Cheryl's Cookies and mine was at a deli that had a large variety of pastries and sweets. We both got really good at it, and I still find it comforting to take out a tray of cookies and smear the icing on. Maybe he and I will do a How-to video someday.

Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

* 1 cup white sugar
* 1 cup butter, softened
* 1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 egg yolk
* 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine the sugar, butter, cream cheese, salt, almond and vanilla extracts, and egg yolk. Beat until smooth. Stir in flour until well blended. Chill the dough for 8 hours, or overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
3. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough 1/3 at a time to 1/8 inch thickness, refrigerating remaining dough until ready to use. Cut into desired shapes with lightly floured cookie cutters. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Leave cookies plain for frosting, or brush with slightly beaten egg white and sprinkle with candy sprinkles or colored sugar.
4. Bake for 7 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until light and golden brown. Cool cookies completely before frosting.

Thumbprint Cookies | Food Photography Columbus Ohio

Thumbprint Cookies are maybe the easiest cookies in the world to make. I don't eat many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but I often find an open jar of jam in the fridge that needs to be used up. This is my preferred way to get rid of unwanted jam.

OR, if I feel like splurging, I use Sweet Thing Gourmet's jam. This jam is so good, I can't see myself ever wasting it on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I often eat it on a banana or with cream cheese and crackers, or of course, in these cookies, so I can truly enjoy how fantastic it is without covering it up with other flavors. My favorite (shown here) is the Brandied Apricot Jam. I swear, I don't love it just because it's orange.

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Thumbprint Cookies
from Betty Crocker

 

¼ cup packed brown sugar
¼ cup shortening
¼ cup butter or margarine, softened
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 egg, separated
1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup finely chopped nuts (optional)
Jelly of your choice

Heat oven to 350ºF. Mix brown sugar, shortening, butter, vanilla and egg yolk in medium bowl. Stir in flour and salt until dough holds together. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Beat egg white slightly. Dip each ball into egg white. Optional: roll in nuts. Place about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Press thumb deeply in center of each.
Bake about 10 minutes or until light brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes. Fill thumbprints with jelly.

Homemade Orange Rolls | Columbus Ohio Food Photographer and Stylist

Pillsbury Orange Rolls have always been an all-time favorite of mine. I'd eat the entire can in a sitting if no one was watching. So, when I had leftover orange icing (recipe included below), what better to make than Homemade Orange Rolls? They would beat the store bought kind, right? Yup, they did. And I had just as hard a time  sharing them with others.

Warning: This is one of those recipes you have to let "rest." Which means work, then wait. Work some more, then wait. There's a wait time of an hour and fifteen minutes, then another wait time of 25 minutes, so don't expect to do this in a hurry.

Here's a picture to entice you.

Making the dough was easier than I thought it would be. Historically, I don't have much luck with homemade dough. This one came together just as the recipe said it would.

This recipe has you roll each of the rolls (I couldn't see how to avoid saying that!) individually. Since I'd never made rolls from scratch before, I followed the instructions, but I recently watched someone else make cinnamon rolls, and they laid the dough out in a rectangular sheet then poured the filling over it, and rolled the whole sheet up and cut it into pieces. This seems much faster. The knife might smoosh the rolls as they're being cut and the butter might squish out the ends, but I will try it that way next time anyway.

I might cook them just a little less next time. I like them a little gooey-er and less brown on top, but once I put the icing on and it all melded together, there was little that could be done to make them more perfect. The dough TASTED homemade, in the best way, and the icing was amazing. The rolls grew HUGE, so each roll was equivalent to 2-3 of the store bought kind.

A special recipe to share around the holidays, but consider making them on a normal weekend. Whomever you choose to share them with will be indebted to you. 


Homemade Orange Rolls (from myrecipes.com)

Ingredients

   Dough
* 1 package dry yeast (about 2 1/4 teaspoons)
* 1/2 cup warm water (100° to 110°)
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream
* 2 tablespoons butter, softened
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 large egg, lightly beaten
* 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
* Cooking spray

   "Filling" For Dough
* 1 stick butter, melted
* 3 tablespoons grated orange rind
* 3 tblsp cinnamon
* 1/2 cup sugar

   Icing (from Wilton.com)
* 1 stick butter, softened
* 1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
* 4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (about 2 lbs.)
* 1 tablespoons milk
* 1 tablespoon orange juice
* 1 tablespoon orange zest

* You can prepare icing ahead of time and refrigerate, covered. (Icing directions are listed at the end.)

* To prepare dough, dissolve yeast in warm water in a large bowl; let stand 5 minutes. Add 1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 cup sour cream, 2 tablespoons softened butter, salt, and egg, and beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Add 2 cups flour to yeast mixture; beat until smooth. Add 1 cup flour to yeast mixture, stirring until a soft dough forms. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes); add enough remaining flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, to prevent dough from sticking to hands (dough will feel sticky).
 
Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, 1 hour and 15 minutes or until doubled in size. (Gently press two fingers into dough. If indentation remains, dough has risen enough.)