Weekend Plans & Brown

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Happy Weekend! I am always glad when the weekend is here.

Time to get some fresh air and enjoy the fall weather

Tree in green park

Ok, I really don’t love fall because it means that winter is coming but I’ll pretend the seasonal changes just stop with fall.  And that winter won’t ever show up.

And yes, it does get chilly here in the winter.  We don’t walk around with swimsuits on while rollerskating along the beach, Three’s Company style, which I think is everyone’s mental image and impression of SoCal.

I plan to go for a few nice runs

San diego street with palm trees

Do some at-home yoga

black yoga mat on hardwood floorI have little desire to go to in-studio yoga classes the past few years because at home yoga is on my own timetable, and I can do my own flow and what I want to work on.  And oh yes, it’s free.

I’d like to make some new soup versions because they’re easy, make planned leftovers, and I use the dump-it-all-in recipe “technique”.    Whatever I have on hand, more than likely, will work.

Maybe something along the lines of

Savory Pumpkin, Potato, & Carrot Soup

Savory Pumpkin, Potato, & Carrot Soup ingredients, mrs dash and puree
Savory Pumpkin, Potato, & Carrot Soup in four bowls
or

Crockpot Vegan Chili (can make in a crockpot or stovetop and I actually think the stovetop is easier/faster/quicker cleanup but the crockpot works if you’re a set it and forget it fan)

Crockpot Vegan Chili
Crockpot Vegan Chili

I need to make another batch if for nothing else to take new pictures

Brown food (or any softer, not much texture, or ‘comfort food’) is just not that pretty.  Well, at the very least it’s harder to photograph it in a pretty way.

I wrote a post on Not So Pretty Food with food styling tips and some book reviews

I tried my best with the Spicy Baked Blacked Beans with Vegetables from earlier this week

Spicy Baked Blacked Beans with Vegetables

But I’d still rather just have dessert

No Bake Oatmeal Raisin Carrot Cake Bites (Vegan, GF)

Oatmeal Raisin Carrot Cake BitesBrown desserts trump brown beans any day for me.  I contributed this recipe to Marcus Samuelsson’s site.  He won Top Chef a couple seasons ago but I didn’t even know that at the time.

Questions:

1. What are your weekend plans?

I’ve got work, workouts, family time, cooking time, catch up on housework time, and maybe a little time with my DVR for some mindless tv!  Real Housewives or Top Chef Just Desserts anyone?

2. What’s your favorite Brown Food?  Do you think certain foods are harder to photograph than others?

My fave brown foods would be Fudgy Nutella Brownies

Or

Just chocolate desserts, in general

Such as…

No Bake Toffee & Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites

Toffee & Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites

And I think desserts, in general, are just easier to photograph.

Thanks for the Case of Odwalla Bars Giveaway entries, too

About the Author

Welcome to AverieCooks! Here you’ll find fast and easy recipes that taste amazing and are geared for real life. Nothing fussy or complicated, just awesome tasting dishes everyone loves!

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Please note: I have only made the recipe as written, and cannot give advice or predict what will happen if you change something. If you have a question regarding changing, altering, or making substitutions to the recipe, please check out the FAQ page for more info.

Comments

  1. Some foods are definitely harder to photograph than others … there are some foods that will never look pretty.

    The last brown food I ate was PB.

  2. Loved the Three’s Co reference ;-)

    My favorite brown food would have to be chocolate. Of course ;-)

    I find that photos of savory brown food look much better with a sprinkling of green, such as chives or parsley, on top and/or on the plate. Not that I’m a photo expert by any stretch, but that seems to help my low-tech photos of such food. You’re right-It’s tricky to photograph such foods.

  3. I agree that a big part of desserts’ appeal is how they look–it’s just easier to make them look attractive–and given all the unpleasant associations that ‘brown’ can trigger, chocolate’s a pretty good antidote!

    So many people are saying that Fall is their favorite season but I’m with you–it’s not mine. When I lived in CA and there were persimmons and dates, early fall/late summer was one of my favorite times of year but high summer still rules…

    I think those black beans and veggies look gorgeous–especially with the elegant brussels sprouts…

  4. I think the food looks great, brown is good ! Any ideas for biscoff spread, biscoff crispy rice treats. I know you will know what to do. Right now I’m eating it on rice cakes.

  5. My very light wallet has called for some at-home yoga lately, though I’m actually hoping to take on a part-time front desk job at my local studio in exchange for free classes!
    And brown food is the WORST to photograph… chili, carrot soup, pumpkin oatmeal… yuck. It’s so frustrating sometimes!

  6. I love fall…here in Texas it means that we’ll finally have some relief from the heat! The soup looks wonderful for this coming season!

  7. Hmm….chocolate and coffee are both brown. While coffee technically a food, I drink so much of it, it might as well be. That’s a draw.

    I jut posted yesterday about how soup is hard to photograph. But, unlike you good photographer bloggers, I don’t care. :D

  8. My weekend plans got completely derailed when a personal crisis hit, so instead of a fun girls night dinner, a great long run, a great date night, and some blogging work, I had to do crisis intervention over large margaritas (not my choice, but sometimes, you just have to…i nursed my one large marg while listening to angry rants), a lot of deep conversations (which are fulfilling in their own way, but just now what I’d planned), and still a long run and some blogging.

    I love colorful food, and am a sucker for pretty food, though taste trumps everything. Brown food I love includes a good tofu dish, chili (a brownish-red so it sort of counts), veggie burgers, falafels, my pre-run date+lemon+coconut oil concoction from Thrive, juice that’s heavy on the tomato, and coffee! Always coffee!

    I agree that certain foods are hard to photograph. I don’t have the equipment that you use yet – such as an SLR and photo editing software, so I rely on colors and contrast for good pictures. That said, I think with the right light, setting, and editing any food can look delicious. A brownie is about as plain as it gets and yet, I’ve seen a lot of good brownie photos.

    Keep posting about photography!

    1. sorry you had a crisis pop up and food photography as Ive blogged about is only somewhat about the camera or the editing…the biggest part is lighting, food styling, and composition. High resolution cameras will only capture horrible styling, bad composition, or poor light…in better quality & higher resolution :)

      1. That’s why I have enjoyed your posts about your classes. It’s helping me make the most of my point and shoot (which has manual function but a fixed lens).

  9. Comfort food is SO hard to photograph. Dark chocolate is definitely my favorite brown food!

    Plans: cooking a vegan birthday dinner for my parents tonight!

  10. hahaha you make an excellent point about brown foods not photographing well! :) They’re just not super appealing, huh? But that vegan slow cooker chili looks AMAZING…yum!

    My weekend plans include my friend’s bachelorette party at a country bar and my grandfather’s 70th surprise birthday party!

  11. ALL of these meals and treats look FAB!! Thank you as ALWAYS~

    Weekend plans, work, hair cut, be with my husband and doggies. :)