More Food Projects This Month

I thought I'd post a few pictures of a couple things I've been working on lately. I feel a little behind since I didn't post the pictures when I took them. My photography class starts this week, so I need to be up to date on all this stuff before it starts.

A few weeks or so ago I used red potatoes to make a cheesy potato bake thingy, and I couldn't stop taking pictures of the potatoes. The contrast between the red outside and the white inside was so satisfying.

I made a pork tenderloin roast last week with a chili orange glaze, and I also loved the contrast between the red crust and white inside. I liked the sauce but Trevor didn't. Sometimes it really drives me crazy that he's a simple food kinda guy. "Meat, potatoes, and cheese," he says. Pish posh. There's more to life than meat and potatoes! I love experiencing new flavors, and combining flavors I've never tried before--and I can like them even if it's weird. Trevor is kind of the opposite.

I made spinach lasagna a while ago too, and the spinach leaves were so beautiful! Trevor likes all kinds of lasagna, so I didn't have to worry about that this time :)

I also made homemade reduced sugar strawberry jam more than a month ago. I've only made jam one other time, and they didn't set up the way they were supposed to that time. This time, the jam jelled up and all the lids sealed :) AND I felt okay about spreading it on everything since it had half the sugar (as long as I didn't think about the 3 pounds of sugar that WERE in it).

This weekend I made a new cake. It wasn't as complicated as the last one (thank goodness!), but it was fun and really relaxing to make. Unfortunately for my waistline, cooking is very theraputic for me. And spending my Sunday afternoon cutting, layering, frosting, and making a cake look like a big fish was just the balance of "project" and relaxation that I wanted. Plus, since it was fun and silly, it was okay if it didn't look perfect, so I didn't have to stress out over anything.

I was able to find the balance I've been looking for in my frosting. I've made buttercream frostings with butter, which have great buttery flavor, but that's all you can taste, and they don't hold their shape very well at room temperature. I've made frostings with shortening, and they have great consistency; the flavor is good but very "store-bought." Trevor suggested that I do something about that last time, so I combined the two and I think we found the perfect frosting! The only thing I need to get right now making the frosting smoother. I'll figure it out one day.

If you're wondering what I did with all the extra red, green, orange, yellow, and brown M&Ms... yes, I ate them. Our fish couldn't have mismatching dots, after all.