what, a real recipe??  say it ain’ so!   yep, it’s true, and just in time for the holidays.  i unearthed one of my favorite recipes from a book binder of veggie recipes put together by a restaurant in Green Bay called The Never Ending Cookbook (which actually ended after the restaurant mysteriously closed and the owners skipped town..).   despite the apparent business sketchiness, the recipes are amazing and it was one of my favorite places to eat- it was all home cooking that even the biggest of non-tree huggers could enjoy (i.e my dad).

so if you’re looking for something hearty and healthy, give it a try.. it’s one of my faves!  and of course it’s super easy to make (except this time around my blender decided to toss it’s entire contents all over me, the walls and the ceiling..).  it’s cheap.  and it’s high in fiber, iron and vitamin C,  and is low in fat with no cholesterol.  yay!

Black Bean Soup

Serves 8,  prep time is about 30 minutes

1    cup black beans (or two cans, though sometimes i use 3!)
1    spray oil
2    onions, diced
2    cloves garlic, minced
¼    bunch scallions (optional)
1    cup carrots, diced
1    red pepper, diced

½    tsp cumin seed, toasted (optional- I’ve never used it!)**
½    tsp sage
1    bay leaf
1     Tbsp vegetable broth powder***
1 ½    tsp salt
¼     tsp pepper
1/8    tsp cayenne
¼    tsp oregano

3    cups water
3    cups tomatoes, diced, canned

In a large pot of water, cook beans  until tender.

Saute onion in spray oil and/or water for a few minutes.  Add garlic for a few minutes more.  Add scallions, carrots, and red peppers and sauté 3 more minutes.

In a dry skillet, toast cumin seeds until browned and fragrant (about 5 minutes).

Add cumin, sage, bay leaf, salt, vegetable broth powder, pepper, cayenne and oregano to sauté.

After a few minutes, add the cooked (or canned) beans, water and tomatoes.  Simmer until vegetables are soft.

Remove the bay leaf and blend half the soup in a blender.

** I’ve used a “small” amount of red pepper flakes instead of the cumin for a little kick.  Maybe ¼ tsp?

***Also, with many of these soup recipes, everyone’s idea of vegetable broth varies. When in doubt, I look at how much water I am using, and use the appropriate amount of vegetable stock according to the package instructions of what I have on hand

Posted in Personal

hello everyone, and hello blog!!   phew!  it’s been quite a couple of weeks.  finished off the year with some amazing weddings and a trip to mexico!  there’s so much on  my plate at the moment i’m not sure where to even start.  the universe did deliver a new square-one to me this week however, and that is my travel plans for december have been canceled.  i was supposed to leave for burma tomorrow, but the turmoil at the bangkok airport managed to snarl up my plans.  but, as with everything there is usually a bright side, and that is i will have more time to get things done at a slightly less breakneck pace.  and as i can’t get tickets home for christmas now, i have even more time.  that’s um, good, right?

my poor computer has simultaneously been uploading weddings, burning discs and exporting edited images for three days solid and the little CPU activity monitor is flashing at me telling it can’t take much more. my two DVD burners have quit in protest and i went to staples and brought in some scabs yesterday so that production may continue.

so, while my processor crunches away i’m starting to think about my new year resolutions- which really, it looks a whole like lot a to-do list.  but i am excited about having time to finally work on some of this stuff!  not sure my resolutions count as resolutions, but they’re things i really want to do!

have i missed anything?  anyone want to join me???

Posted in Personal

some friends go out for food and drinks. photo dork friends sneak out for an hour of their 16-hour work day to find new places to shoot and test out new lenses.

ladies and gentlemen, meet Jaime Windon.

and yes, we are total squares.

i’m back in san diego after a crazy fun two weeks of travel. it feels like i’ve been gone for a month. i caught up with tons of good friends, made some new ones, ate loads of junk and took lots of pics. there is a random post coming up at some point, but with the weekend already here there is more wedding-goodness on the way and i thought it best to leave you with two quick photos to try and sum up my adventure and leave the time-consuming post of me eating pizza and veggie chicken shwarma plates for a later date. more importantly there are two awesome DC weddings to blog!

i want to thank EVERYONE for making time in their schedules to hang out with me, and a special thanks to jaime (of Blonde Photographer and long- legged jumping fame) for housing me and for becoming such an awesome friend. strange, but i never would have met her had I not left DC. i had been working with my other super-amazing friend, Mary Kate (of the MK2 wedding photography dynasty), and when I left, she she need to look for a new shooter.. enter Jaime. turns out we even lived down the street from each other for three years. i’m a little sad when i think about this, but at the same time, i’m also eternally grateful that our paths have now crossed and I can’t imagine a day without talking to her and MK. they’ve both evolved into the best friends i can imagine and their killer photography provides me with daily inspiration.

big hugs to everyone!!

Posted in Personal

welcome to the 2nd installment of cooking with MEEE!  i’ve been out of town for the past week so am even more than super behind, but i actually made something really tasty tonight so i’m firing up the old blog to share before i get back to work.

it’s starting to be fall-like in some parts of the country, particularly the part that i spent the last week in, which is the good old midwest.  it made me crave a few different foods.  with life a little slower there, i also had time to renew my vows to take better care of myself and of course, eating right is always #1 or 2 on the list (right next to joining the Y).  i made a mental list of foods i missed and wanted to eat, so now that i’m back, i jumped right in.

one big trick that i’ve always told my clients that i have rarely done in practice myself, is to buy SINGLE SERVING tupperware, and lots of it.  everyone says they never have time to cook.  i also often hear how hard it is to cook for one- which I’ve never totally understood as i’ve really only ever cooked for one and get selfish about my food and want to eat it all.  problem is that i either will and i’ll make myself sick, or eat half of what i made over a few days and the rest goes to waste- so i’m finally taking my own advice.  buy a bunch of single-sized tupperware.  make a giant batch of whatever (you’re already there and cooking, mind as well make it big) and then freeze what’s left over. for those looking to lose weight, this is also a handy trick, because if you actually package the leftovers in reasonable portion sizes, you’re more likely to stick to what you’ve thawed out and not overeat.   do this with a few meals and you have a variety of options.   you’ll be psyched the next time you work too late and don’t have time to cook and complain there isn’t any good food in the house.

i had guests over for the first night in like.. um, months.  everyone agreed, the chili was pretty danged good.  so here it goes..  you can get all this in one stop at Trader Joes.

-2 packages of Yves Just Like Ground (though you could do this for alot cheaper if you use TVP and it would be the same), OR if the thought of eating some weird meat substitute is just more than you can handle, just add an extra can or two of beans.  but i promise, this is the ONE thing that most meat eaters will eat and not realize that it’s not the real thing.

-1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes

-1 can of corn (incidentally optional as I forgot to put it in and it was fine)

- maybe 1 Tbs of pre-minced garlic in a jar

- 1 can of kidney beans, drained

- veggie broth/stock

- 3 tiny onions

- 1 red pepper (or green, but I think green peppers are gross)

- salt, pepper and some sorta chili to taste

-traditionally you should add chili powder, but as I am the proud owner of the dumbest food allergy on earth I don’t use it.

you could probably do this easily in one big pot, but I diced the onions first and put them in a pan with olive oil and the garlic until they were brown.  then I added the red peppers, a little diced chili, followed shortly by the tomatoes.  In a big pot I put maybe a half a cup of water and put in the veggie stock (the equivalent of 2 cups) and a bit of salt and pepper.  once that was dissolved I added the ground “beef” and stirred it about- though in hindsight I probably could have browned that first with the onions.  I added the beans last.  I took the stuff sauteed in the pan and added it to the big pot and just let it stew for about 5 minutes.  voila!  yummie.  the only thing I didn’t have was saltines because they’d been used up with my last soup.

i actually used measurements this time!  it’s much easier when you have to buy canned and packaged goods.. but in all you can probably get about 5 servings out of this particular recipe.  lots of protein and fiber again, some vit C from the pepper.  there is very very little fat and most of it again is going to come from the olive oil which you likely can get away without even using.

i’m giving it a 9 out of 10.  it was yummie, filling and savory and it sort of got me in the fall spirit.  it was just a little expensive, but you can cheapen it up if you use TVP instead of the branded item.  i also just wish i had made more..

Posted in Personal, Uncategorized