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. 

Simple Cauliflower Cheese Soup | Food Photographer Columbus Ohio

The best meals are usually the simplest ones. This is a simple recipe for a quick, hearty meal. It's helped me through many a cold winter's day. Potatoes can be substituted for the cauliflower, just add a couple of extra cups of water and you're good to go. Though I don't have kids to test it on, I'd imagine as a child I would've been all over this. You could easily throw it in the blender to make an even creamier soup so the kids can't pick out the carrots and celery.

Cauliflower Cheese Soup

1 large cauliflower, chopped into small pieces
1 large onion, chopped
2 large, peeled carrots, sliced thin
4 stalks celery (with leaves), chopped
4 cups water
4 cups half and half cream
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cheddar cheese soup
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups shredded cheese, to sprinkle on top

Directions
1. In a large stock pot add water, cauliflower, onion, carrots, and celery. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer until vegetables are tender.
2. Mash with a potato masher (including cooking water), and add butter and cream.
3. Gradually bring mixture to a simmer. Add condensed cheese soup and blend. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cover with shredded cheese and serve while hot. Serves 8.

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.

Cracked Wheat Berries with Cinnamon and Ricotta | Columbus Ohio Food Photographer

A perk of being a food photographer, you ask? Having an excuse to sit on the couch with a lap full of cookbooks finding recipes to photograph is a perk I enjoy from time to time. This recipe is adapted from The Gourmet Vegetarian Slow Cooker cookbook by Lynn Alley.

I gathered many ideas from this cookbook; interesting ingredient combinations, unique use of spices and many breakfast cereal recipes such as this one. Since I do not own a slow cooker/dutch oven/crockpot at the moment, the recipes themselves aren't as useful to me. Yes, I could go spend $20 on one, but after trying this particular  recipe in the crockpot I borrowed from my sister, I've decided I'm fine with adapting slow cooker recipes for normal stove use instead.

You might think wheat berries is an odd choice for breakfast. Well, the popularity of grains has gone up significantly in the past year or so. I've seen restaurants with breakfast polenta, breakfast risotto, grits, oatmeal, quinoa and yes, wheat berries. They're all delicious, by the way. I've never been a huge oatmeal fan, but when you dress it up with fresh berries, cheeses, and spices, I'm all for it.

All you really need to take from this post is that you can use grains as the base, add spices and toppings and voila, breakfast is reborn. The original recipe didn't include any spices to be mixed into the wheat berries, only added on top. It was pretty bland, so I changed the recipe to include a good heap of spices. Also, the recipe said to cook on low overnight for 8 hours. At 6 hours I checked it and it looked done, but I decided to trust the recipe and let it cook another half hour before checking it again. It was starting to burn on the sides at 6 1/2 hours and was probably done at 5 1/2 hours. I'd say check it every half hour after 4 hours, at least the first time you make it. Once you know what to expect from your crockpot you can change the recipe to read the appropriate time for your equipment.

Cracked Wheat Berries with Cinnamon and Ricotta
(Modified from from The Gourmet Vegetarian Slow Cooker cookbook by Lynn Alley)

1 c hard wheat berries
4 c water
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 c fresh ricotta cheese (For a homemade ricotta cheese recipe, click here. )
1 tsp Ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp sugar (or brown sugar)

Pulse the wheat berries briefly in your blender or food processor, just enough to crack them into pieces, not powdered. (As you can imagine, this is very loud. Your cat might go tearing out of the room.)
Place the cracked wheat, water, salt in the slow cooker insert. Cover and cook on low, about 4-6 hours. When done, mix in the cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar. Dish up servings of cracked wheat, then top each with a scoop of ricotta, and sprinkle with ground cinnamon.

Other suggested toppings: Honey, Jam, Fresh Berries, Cocoa Powder, Sliced Banana, Fresh Cream, Shaved Chocolate

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

While in Yachats, Oregon, I had this wonderful Hot Quinoa topped with berries, syrup, cinnamon and butter at the Green Salmon cafe. My love affair with breakfast cereal began.