{thirsty thursday} — pasta primavera w/ a local oktoberfest lager
18 Oct
if you’ve been a reader for a bit, you probably know by now that i do not often cook pasta. i am getting better, but for the longest time it just seemed like i couldn’t make a decent pasta dish to save my life.
mostly, i just throw together stuff in my fridge and call it a “primavera” — and i’ve been on this kick where i just make my own sauce fresh every time i make a pasta dish or spaghetti squash dish. i’m all about things in one pan… make it easy! Continue reading
{whatever wednesday} — a gentle reminder…
17 Oct
a sweet message from my morning yogi tea – “let your heart guide you” — and this is why i drink yogi tea… it tastes amazing, they use organic ingredients, AND – they leave you little reminders for your spirit.
i am especially grateful for my morning tea today… and for all the love the universe showers me with. sometimes it’s hard to hear/feel your heart clearly speak to you amidst all the noise of every day life. but if you quiet the mind, and {as my spiritual guru would say} crack that chest open and inhale – it’s amazing how much love will flow right through you. i’m not saying it’s easy, i’m saying it takes lots of practice. the heart is the 4th chakra, right smack in the middle. it is the most neutral of our chakras. it is neutral because it has no opinion, it just is. the heart is the center, and it only knows love – and love has no opposite, it just IS. it accepts, it forgives, it doesn’t hold on, and it is free. so be good to you heart, and listen to it more – tell the brain to take the backseat… your heart got this!
and i – i believe in the power of love.
and ya’ll should, too! because… we ARE love.
oNeLoVe
{meatless monday} – cheesy polenta w/ homemade tomato sauce
15 Oct
i made this dish weeks ago, and have had this blog in queue for a while now… i had quite a collection of blogs to keep me updating regularly, but i haven’t been cooking much this week and so my recipe backups are all gone now yikes! — see, i had a rather busy week, and another one ahead. i’m using up what’s in my kitchen to rid my fridge because i leave for a trip to NEW YORK CITY this week!
woo!
but today – today will be spent in front of my computer with WORDPRESS CLOSED so i can focus — i’ll be editing a wedding i had the privilege of fotographing this past weekend amidst the fall foliage and log-cabin backdrop. it was gorgeous and i can’t wait to share some of the fotos!
in the meantime, here is a simple recipe for a simple side dish… Continue reading
{foto friday – seven different kinds of squash}
12 Oct
it’s that time of year.
my goodness do i love autumn! the leaves, the brisk air, the campfire nights, the comfort foods… i mean, i guess most people don’t consider squash a “comfort food” – but isn’t it, though?! i mean… in my opinion, if you put something in the oven, it’s comfort food. haha! mostly i just mean i think of the aroma that roasting squash in the oven creates in your home… it just screams AUTUMN and COMFORT!
anyway, squash was on sale and i bought all kinds of it. i wanted to try some varieties i had never tried before. a few of my favs were in the mix, but i also came out with some i never tasted and i am excited to! Continue reading
{thirsty thursday} — smashed fingerling potatoes
11 Oct
i have been craving mashed potatoes ever since long before our first frost on october 5th – {what the heck?!} — and i finally made some at home. you wouldn’t think mashed potoatoes would be a “seasonal” food, but apparently according to some, they are. i tend to think of them as a seasonal-transcendant food, but i also tend to think against the grain – whatever.
typically i use creamer potatoes for my mashed taters, and i use a special kind of butter that leaves every guest asking, “what did you put in those mashed potatoes?!?!?!!!” i take a lot of pride in making some mean mashed potatoes. it’s one of my few specialties. not a super difficult dish by any means, but i do think that i was a potato farmer in a previous life, no doubt… so i pour a lot of my soul into my mashed potatoes. and as we all know, my soul tastes like butter… 🙂
this time i opted to try something new. i decided to make “smashed fingerling potatoes” instead. a slightly different potato, but still a creamier texture. and i used a different butter. no matter, it still turned out amazing. Continue reading
{meatless monday} — buttercorn squash soup
8 Octi am fully aware that “buttercorn” is not a word… remember how i like to make up names for my dishes?! well, this was no exception.
and i’m so fully in autumn mode it’s not even right. and it’s not just because we got hit with some snow this week. i’ve been ready now for weeks. i thrive in the fall, i love this time of year!! and yes, part of it is because i have a birthday approaching! 🙂 but i just love the food autumn brings. i’m finally ready to put away the salad fork and bust out the soup spoon more often… i’m ready for root vegetables, squashes, potatoes, yams, and soups!!!!
squash was on sale a couple weeks ago – 10 pounds for 10 dollars. so i snagged up 3 different kinds – spaghetti, acorn, and butternut. i always use my spaghetti squash as pasta, so i knew what to do with that… and i was going to try to make the butternut squash as soup anyway – then i thought, well why can’t i just use BOTH kinds of squash in the soup?!
and so i did. Continue reading
{thirsty thursday} — simple pasta w/ a pre-prohibition style lager
4 Octsometimes, you just don’t want to have to spend a long time in the kitchen.
i do enjoy cooking, but i also sometimes just want to be super lazy and curl up by the fireplace and eat comfort food. that’s all i’ve been wanting to do lately. the weather is changing a lot here {calling for snow in the next few days – ALREADY!} and i have been kind of lazy extra lazy… just wanting to eat mashed potatoes and soup and bread and wear hoodies all the time. i love changing with the seasons, it gives me something to look forward to. 🙂
so, i made this super easy pasta. i don’t think i need to actually tell you how to cook it. but i tried this new kind of cutsie little pasta – ditalini rigati, which will go lovely in some fall crock-pot based soups i’ll be trying soon!
{meatless monday} mushrooms as the main dish
1 Octi seriously LOVE mushrooms.
i could eat them with every meal. and sometimes it seems like i do. contrary to what many people think when they meet me, i’m not a vegetarian or vegan and i do not follow a rigid diet plan of any kind — however, i do try to eat about 80-90% fruits and vegetables every day. i find that mushrooms make a great meat substitute, mostly for the texture. some of my favourite meat substitutes are mushrooms. the texture is great, there is such a variety, and i just LOVE the flavour! of all kinds, really… i don’t necessarily find the need to “substitute” my meat, it’s just that i find my body doesn’t crave the meat as much as it does fish or beans or other proteins. every now and again i’ll have a burger or once in a blue moon i’ll have a steak, however i can’t remember the last time i did that. point is – mushrooms are great!
{foodie friday} — colourful “pey”tato casserole
28 Sepsometimes “foto friday” morphs into “foodie friday” – and by sometimes i mean there is a first time for everything 🙂
it’s getting to be that time of year, when i just want to load up on comfort food like this and be lazy and gain 10 pounds of winter weight and not even sweat it — i’ll take it off in february. for now, bring on the fireplace, the couch, and the spuds!
this is about as basic as it can get, though… of course, with a little audrey flair! Continue reading
{thirsty thursday} — wild-caught king salmon dressed in basil vinaigrette w/ a rye lager
27 Sep
so, salmon season is pretty much over… i think we’ll get another run or two but that will be it. do you know how you can just kind of guess that the season is about over? well, have you been to the grocer and SEEN the size of salmon filets right now?! massive! like, i mean MASSIVE fish! they’ve been cruising around eating up the other fish, gettin’ all fat and delicious on us… THAT’S how you can usually tell it’s the end of the season. they’re HUGE!
whenever there is a one-day special or sale of any kind on salmon, i nab it up. i don’t like freezing my fish, so i’ll just buy enough for a nice meal with the roomie or cook a little extra for salads. all seafood is so much more expensive out here in the land-locked states, so i don’t eat it nearly as much as i would like. frozen fish just doesn’t taste as good… i prefer only eating wild-caught, in season, as local as possible fish.
the real secret ingredient to this dish and part of the inspiration for even buying the fish was to use some of this absolutely amazing marinade that was gifted to me as a generous sample. it’s a locally made product which is a basil-based vinaigrette that i was immediately hooked on the first time i tried it when the vendor was demoing the product with some simple bib lettuce. i didn’t find a website for the actual producers, but i do know that this particular bottle in the above foto was made only 3 days prior to me consuming it. talk about fresh!! i’m so lucky.
if you can find it, get it. you can buy it online and it’s actually cheaper than the store that way. the ingredients are so simple, if you had the right combo of good oil and vinegar you could almost mimic it. but i tell you, it’s the best dressing i’ve ever tried!! i’m not sure i’ll ever go back to another dressing again! and i have tried a TON of vinaigrettes! italian-style dressing is my absolutely fav, but it simply has to have the right combination of good oil and good vinegar and the right kind of spices. i mean, when you’re basing your dressing around FRESH basil, i guess you can’t go wrong… Continue reading
{meatless monday – peewee potatoes}
24 Sep
look at these adorable little potatoes. aren’t they cute?! when i saw them i let out a little squeal and snagged them up. they are in fact called, “pee wee potatoes” and rightfully so, they are itty bitty! like, no bigger than a small pebble, i love it.
i just kept them whole, smothered them in EVOO and a S&P and roasted them in a 400 degree oven for about a half hour or so, until tender.
then take them out and let them cool a bit… {isn’t it interesting how the colour changes}
serve as is. i ate this entire bowl, they are out of this world delicious! sweet and creamy and they ‘pop’ when you bite into them… so much fun.
{foto friday} — for the love of figs.
21 Sepi’m pretty sure it’s fig season..
and i love me some figs… just love ’em…
i decided to try ALL THREE kinds of figs this year… even though i have always heard that black mission figs are the best… i wanted to give them all a fair chance and then decide for myself… i had only had the black figs prior to this little experiment… Continue reading
{thirsty thursday} – the “tunacado sammy”
20 Sepi like to make up names for my food…
i can’t remember where i picked this idea up… maybe it was during my cleanse, i was talking to someone about dairy and particularly mayonnaise and how i don’t really like it and i wish there was a better dressing for my tuna sandwiches. then i heard about trying an avocado in place of dressing – and HOLY SMOKES! what a better sammy it makes!
so, here’s the extremely simple recipe : Continue reading
{travel tuesday} — selective colour in a black and white world
18 Sep
that’s me. and last night, i dreamt about that hat… hA – i’m not even kidding. I MISS THAT HAT! seriously, strangers would stop me on the street and compliment me on that hat!
———
new york city is known for being photographed in black and white. and with just cause. black and white images say “classic” to me – timeless, ageless. and new york is all of those things. and i found myself shooting in black and white a lot when i first moved there… i’d say for my first year or so i would find myself editing my images and i’d end up converting most of them into black and white, simply because colour seemed to distracting — there is SO MUCH TO LOOK AT! Continue reading
{meatless monday} — audrey michelle’s simple house salad
17 Sep
sometimes, i just want crunch, texture, tangy, salty, slightly cheesy, light food. and usually i crave a salad. i eat really well, generally speaking. i have a healthy, well-balanced diet. and so if i’m craving something, i listen to that craving. i have noticed i’ll crave something like this simple salad after i’ve loaded up on too many carbs or rich proteins. it’s like my body finds a way to tell me i need the balance… so cool.
i’ve been kind of a slacker eater this past week. i was up in the mountains for work a couple weeks ago and the company gave us a pretty hefty per diem for food, so i just splurged. plus, it’s a 3-hour ride so we snacked and snacked! also, uhm… continental breakfast!? yes, please. every morning! Continue reading
{thirsty thursday} — risotto balls and creamy avocado dip w/ a seasonal red hoptober ale
13 Sep
these were absolutely SCRUMPTIOUS!! perfect for the football game, easy to make {if you can stand making the risotto ahead of time earlier in the week}, and out-of-this-world delicious! a coworker suggested this recipe to me when i told her i was trying my hand at risotto… i was eager to try BOTH!
here is my recipe for the mushroom/leek risotto that is beginning this dish. start with that – and 2 eggs and some breadcrumbs… i had *just enough* to make these : Continue reading
{whatever wednesday} — a repost; about how cool nature is.
12 Sep
so, i decided to change “wordy wednesday” to “whatever wednesday” — i just can’t put that kind of pressure on myself anymore – haha 😉
so, in honor of my first “whatever” post, i am going to repost something i wrote a while ago that i find awesome and should be shared with as many people as possible. when i first posted this way back when i started my blog, i got more hits than any other day, and more facebook shares than any other day… so i figure, this is information people actually care about…
as you know, i’m a huge foodie. i love anything with colour – so basically anything that has been in the ground, grown in soil, rich in nutrients from the earth, fibrous, healthy, and completely natural. so basically, i am pro-veggie. i firmly believe the human body has the power to heal itself using diet. we truly are what we eat. and when i discovered that some foods actually look like the body parts they help heal, i was floored. talk about intelligent design! we are truly incredible human machines.
oh and in case you’re wondering what my stance is after that whole organic vs. conventional stanford study, i don’t care… and i actually didn’t even read it, i don’t need to. it’s just like when they supposedly found this brand new thirteenth astrological sign suddenly – what was his name? whatever, it doesn’t matter. i’m still a sagittarius/scorpio cusp with cancer rising and a capricorn moon, i’m a total product of my natal chart, to a T – some random astronomer isn’t going to come along and suddenly tell me i’m not who i feel i am. and some fancy rich group of college kids isn’t going to come along and change why i eat organic food, either. {sorry, do i sound snarky?!} Continue reading
{meatless monday} — creamy sauteed leek and shitake mushroom risotto
10 Sep
i have been wanting to try to make my own risotto for weeks now. there seems to be a stigma attached to making risotto – like it’s the hardest thing in the world to make or something. i don’t know, i think it’s just time consuming, so many people don’t want to bother with it.
when i batch cook, i don’t mind taking a little extra time to make something i can eat for a few days. also, someone recommended another sweet recipe for leftover risotto, which i plan to make this week for thirsty thursday – so stay tuned for that!
i was inspired by leeks. i never really use them and yet i love the flavour. mushroom risotto is kind of classic, so i figured i’d just toss the leeks in with the familiar favourite. shitake mushrooms are loaded with flavour as well, and they have wonderful healing properties. plus, they were one of the only organic and local mushroom selections available, so i opted for them. Continue reading
i am audrey michelle
i am a minimalist
food & foto 