Lasagna is one of my favorite dishes. Tasty lasagna that contains vegetables, a creamy mushroom sauce, and two different types of cheeses is the best combination possible. Today’s recipe offers instructions for exactly that. I prepared this dish over the weekend and all I can say is wow. It’s been described as one of those “naughty” dishes that brings on all sorts of guilt. This lasagna contains spinach, butternut squash, mushrooms, garlic, sage, and nutmeg. The flavors are definitely there. While this lasagna will take a few more minutes to prepare than your usual one, it’s worth the effort. It’s delicious. I’d say it’s perfect if you’re trying to impress someone. Think first dates, birthdays for a significant other, Valentine’s day. It’s good all around. Click through for the recipe and my semi-magnificent photos. Continue reading…
What I Like About Prime Lenses
This single post consists of a few different posts I’ve written in the past. In these posts, I discuss prime camera lenses and their benefits, depth of field, I compare prime lenses to their zoom counterparts, the cost of prime lenses, and then I offer some demo photos that were taken with my Canon f/2.8 lens. If you’re in the market for one of these types of camera lenses, I encourage you to click through to read this post. It includes a lot of valuable information. Also, if you have experience with photography and with using various types of lenses, I’d appreciate any input you have. I love to learn, so I’m very open to what you have to share. Thanks! Continue reading…
Irish Soda Bread with Raisin & Caraway Seed Recipe
Without fail, when Saint Patrick’s Day rolls around every year, I find myself in the kitchen making our annual soda bread. Or breads. I’ve made at least a dozen different styles and types through the decades; some with raisins, some without. Some with caraway seeds, some without. Some chewy, some dry. I really enjoy eating soda bread and making it is almost as much fun. It’s an easy bread to make. No need to concern yourself with kneading or rising (or failing for that matter). All you need to do is combine the ingredients in a giant bowl and bake them. That’s pretty much it. For today’s post, I share one of my favorite Irish soda bread recipes. It contains both raisins and caraway seeds and it’s nice and chewy. Just the way I like it. So much so that I doubled up on the recipe this year and made two. Click through to learn all about it. Continue reading…
Pasta alla Norma Recipe
Pasta alla Norma is a dish that originated and is still wildly popular in the easternmost city of Catania in Sicily. It’s a simple pasta dish with big flavors that features a nice tomato sauce and pan fried eggplant. If you’re an eggplant enthusiast, you’ll know that the flavors truly reveal themselves when pan fried in olive oil with a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Eggplant brings any dish to life. This dish also features chopped parsley or basil and shredded Parmesan cheese as a topping. It’s super easy to prepare, is filling, tasty, and usually a big hit. Click through for the recipe. Continue reading…
Panzanella – Tuscan Bread Salad Recipe
Panzanella, otherwise known as Panmolle, is a salad that originated in the Tuscan and Umbrian regions of Italy. Its most prominent ingredient is stale Italian bread, which I can only assume was used due to the abundance of bread in the area that wasn’t eaten, but should have been. Not wanting to waste food, a salad was born. I didn’t allow my bread to become stale before preparing this dish, so I pan fried it on my stovetop in olive oil. I basically made croutons, which were incredible. A bit of olive oil, a sprinkle of salt, and lots of flavor. This salad also includes tomatoes, cucumber, colorful peppers, and a wonderful parsley, scallion, and caper vinaigrette. When everything is mixed together, an awesome salad is the result. Click through for the recipe and photos. I think you’re going to love this one. Continue reading…
Cinnamon Sugar Donut Muffin Recipe
When you get bored of your weekend morning breakfasts, give fresh muffins a try. There are endless recipes floating around the internet. Type “muffin recipe” into your favorite search engine and pick one that appeals to you. They’re so easy to put together and you most likely have the ingredients on hand already. There’s nothing like the smell of fresh muffins baking at home on a Saturday or Sunday. I baked some this past Sunday morning and I decided to share the recipe I used here on my blog. They’re actually cinnamon donut muffins that taste just like donuts – the type you find at an apple orchard while apple picking in September or October. They’re very good muffins, so I hope you’ll click through to take a look at some photos and the easy to follow recipe. Continue reading…
Salad of Wild Herbs with Eggs & Olives Recipe
Some salads are easier to make than others. This is one of the easy ones. The only difficulty might be locating some of the necessary fresh herbs. The recipe calls for young, tender dandelion leaves and sorrel. The trouble is, these two ingredients are only available in the wild during early spring. Since it’s winter where I am and snow is still on the ground, I went to the supermarket and bought an herb mixture that included arugula, baby spinach, red lettuce, and a few other things. I’ll try this recipe again in a month or so because the herbs really are the star of the show. Other than that, everything is straightforward. The salad includes a very nice balsamic vinegar, garlic, and wine vinaigrette and some hard-boiled egg and black olives. There’s hardly anything to this dish, but it’s tasty and easy to make. Click through for the recipe. Continue reading…
Bacon, Zucchini, & Parsley Frittata Recipe by Mary Berry
There aren’t many frittatas that are as easy to put together as this one is. The recipe calls for a mere seven ingredients and that includes the olive oil, salt, and pepper. What we’re left with is the eggs, bacon or Parma ham, zucchini, and basil or parsley. The zucchini adds some wonderful texture and the bacon adds a nice salty and flavorful bite. Topping with chopped basil or parsley brings everything home nicely. For the simplicity of this dish, I’d say it’s rather tasty. Frittatas don’t need many ingredients as it is. I’ve made some incredible ones that were limited to oil, eggs, and cheese, so the zucchini and bacon just add to the flavor profile. Click through for the recipe. Continue reading…
What Is Camera Exposure?
If you’re interested in becoming involved with photography, you’ll want to learn as much as you can about its basic concepts. Far too many folks simply pick up their beautiful cameras and shoot away. Yes, cameras today can capture absolutely fantastic shots with little input from their users, but when it comes time to take deliberate photos, such as photos during the blue hour, making waterfalls smooth and silky, or capturing stillness or movement, you’ll want to know how and why things happen. Luckily, the concepts and settings necessary for success are straightforward and simple to grasp. In this post, I talk about the most basic concept; the exposure triangle. The exposure triangle consists of the three elements of exposure that allow lighting to properly hit a camera’s sensor. If this sounds foreign to you, please click through for an easy to understand explanation. Continue reading…
Nature Photography
The nice thing about nature photography is that it’s easy to get involved with. Anyone with a camera can do it and I’m guessing at some point, you already have. If you’ve ever walked along a stream in a forest or have enjoyed some falling autumn leaves and pulled your phone out to take some shots, that’s nature photography. It suits both the beginner and expert well. Like most other types of photography, however, there’s a big difference between pulling out a phone in the woods to snag a shot or two and positioning your camera on a tripod and using lens filters to capture a scene correctly. Yes, cameras today can capture fantastic images, but they can’t do all the work for you. If you’re interested in taking some silky smooth waterfall shots, you’ll need to set your gear to the proper settings. If you’d like to take photos of mushrooms or moss way down there on the ground, you’ll need to establish an appropriate position. These are the things I discuss in this post about nature photography. Tips and tricks that’ll help you think your way through taking some excellent pictures. Click through to check it out. Continue reading…