Tag: resources

Freshly Pressed

Now that we’ve covered the hardware, it’s time to talk pressure cooking software. Run the scripts on any of these effortless, almost instant culinary programs for guaranteed success. It doesn’t take any sophisticated hacking to get into this system; this high-tech gateway to faster, healthier meals is already unlocked without password protection. From breakfast to dessert, there’s never a bad time to turn up the pressure. As seen on Mealthy.com, my most recent delicious downloads are just the beginning.

Chai Latte Steel-Cut Oatmeal

When you need an extra energy boost in the morning, start with this hearty breakfast option that will power you through the busiest of days. Steel-cut oats are nutritional superheroes by themselves, but when infused with whole black tea leaves, they take on even greater powers. Warm spices mingle to evoke the flavor of a comforting cup of chai, creating a dish that is as delicious as it is invigorating.

Carrot Cake Oatmeal

Have your cake and eat it for breakfast, too! Satisfy your sweet tooth while fueling yourself for the day with a hearty bowl of lightly spiced and tender oats featuring the sweetness of classic carrot cake. The combination is so compelling, you won’t even realize you’re getting an extra serving of vegetables for breakfast.

Butternut Squash Soup

Playing off the natural sweetness of butternut squash, fiery spices elevate the humble gourd to all new culinary heights. Coconut milk tames the flame and rounds out the entire creamy combination, yielding a perfectly balanced blend with minimal effort. If you have a pressure cooker and a few pantry staples on hand, you’ll have an unbeatable bowl of soup in no time.

Golden Lentil Daal

Get that golden glow with this hearty lentil daal, infused with a bold, bright punch of turmeric! The whole thing is ready in 30 minutes from start to finish and bursts with fresh, spicy flavors.

Cinnamon Applesauce

Once you see how quick and easy applesauce can be made in a pressure cooker, you’ll never want to buy it at the store again.

Rosemary and Garlic Potatoes

Meet your new side dish savior. No matter what you’re serving for the main course, these charming little potatoes are a fool-proof way to round out the meal with flair. In fact, depending on the situation, they may just steal the show!

Mulled Red Wine

Mulled wine is one of the true treats of cold-weather season. Using your pressure cooker to mull the wine means you won’t have to worry about over-reducing the wine while simmering and losing volume.

Simple Vegetable Soup

Whether you’re a devoted vegetable-lover or are still struggling to embrace them, this is the soup for you. The beauty of this blend is that it’s infinitely flexible! Use any vegetables you prefer or have on hand to adapt it to your taste. Just aim for somewhere in the neighborhood of 6 to 8 cups of chopped vegetables total.

Apple Crisp

Dig into meltingly tender spiced apples with a comforting brown sugar and oat topping in record time. Using a pressure cooker instead of a conventional oven speeds up the process so you can skip the labor and get straight to the love.

Fire-Roasted Tomato Soup

Could there be anything more comforting than a big bowlful of velvety tomato soup? How about a creamy option without a single drop of dairy? Whole cashews are cooked right into the mix, blending to an impossibly luscious consistency. Fire-roasted and sun-dried tomatoes join forces to lend a robust, full-bodied tomato flavor that tastes like it spent all day simmering on the stove.

Multi-Mushroom Risotto

Have you heard that risotto must be painstakingly stirred nonstop until you feel like your arms will fall off? No longer! Let the pressure cooker do the work to get dinner on the table in mere minutes. Mushrooms are so rich in umami flavor that they need little culinary intervention to shine. A variety of wild and cultivated varieties unlock an earthy, savory depth that will taste like it took all day to develop.

Spiced Apple Cider

When temperatures begin to drop, turn up the heat with this cozy drink that will warm you from the inside out. Skip the sugar for a more complex, nuanced brew with much more to offer than simple and bland sweetness. This seasonal treat keeps both kids and adults coming back for one glass after the next.

After scrolling through those quick fix temptations, are you feeling the pressure yet? What are your quick cooking staples so far?

Hannah (BitterSweet)8 Comments

On An Upward Spiral

Well beyond the realm of raw noodles, the simple spiralizer is capable of greater culinary feats than most might realize. Truth be told, until just a few months ago, I had never ventured beyond the original “spaghetti” blade, blissfully spinning in circles without knowing that a whole new world of textures and flavors lay just within reach. As if making up for lost time, I’ve been churning out different coiled vegetable creations one after another, fueled by a hunger for experimentation.

These latest recipes can all be found on Mealthy.com, a brand new community for cooks passionate about making healthy meals. I’m excited to lend my voice to this fresh collection of recipes that run the gamut from everyday dinners to fancy holiday feasts, bringing together talented contributors from all across the globe. There’s a dedicated vegan category that you’ll definitely want to bookmark for more inspiration, but of course I do have a few favorites. Since I’ve been on a roll with my spiralizer lately, I’ve clearly had a circular focus…



Spiralized Vegan Sushi Bowls

Get all the satisfying flavors of sushi in a lighter, effortless package. Swap spiralized daikon radish for starchy rice and skip the fussy rolling by piling the good stuff into a bowl. Sushi night will never be the same again.



Vegan Tuna Noodle Casserole

Surprise! This tuna noodle casserole features neither tuna fish, nor noodles! Fake out your friends with this unbelievably convincing vegan version of the classic casserole. Jackfruit works with wakame to create a fishy taste and texture, while ribbons of potatoes stand in for the traditional egg noodles. After one bite, even avowed purists may just find that they prefer this modern reinterpretation.



Quick Pickle Curlicues

Instead of a fully fermented pickle, get tangy cucumber strings cured in under an hour! Long curlicues make these perfect for serving over hot dogs or stretched along the side of a plate.



Spiralized Zucchini Frittata

Try this eggless and fresh summery frittata that’s protein-packed with garbanzo bean flour which takes charge here. Add an abundance of zucchini spirals and bake this eggless party into a tender, savory cake. Though you could easily serve it unadorned, the tomato relish truly takes it over the top. Seek only peak produce to make this combination truly sing.



Sweet Potato Praram

Just about anything would be delicious when smothered in a spicy peanut sauce, but this bold blend is particularly invigorating. Sweet potatoes take the place of starchy rice noodles in this completely plant-based entrée, complete with protein-packed tofu for a fully balanced meal in one bowl.



Borscht Ribbon Salad

When it’s too hot to contemplate soup, keep your cool by using your spiralizer to deliver this simple salad recipe. Inspired by borscht, this earthy blend is crisp, tangy, and highly satisfying, no matter the temperature outside.



Spiralized Baked Hash Browns

Crispy, golden hash browns are always irresistible, but difficult to get right when serving a crowd. Make easy work of the task by spiralizing instead of shredding your spuds, and bake the resulting strands in the oven to get the perfect results every time.



Spiralized Root Revelry Salad with Fennel-Herb Vinaigrette

What grows together, goes together, as this earthy salad so tastefully proves. Colorful root vegetables intertwine with sweet-tart dried cranberries and are brightened with the bold acidity of fennel vinaigrette.

I have much more to share that will whirl you right off your feet, so stay tuned for even more spiralized inspiration!

Hannah (BitterSweet)17 Comments

Bowl-ed and Beautiful

A hoarder by trade but a minimalist at heart, bridging the gap between these disparate impulses can be a herculean task. Dishware stacks up in towering piles on every shelf of my small living space, populating the cabinets and drawers, overflowing into the outdoor shed, and still it’s a strain to find homes for every odd garnish. A riotous collection of colors and shapes, few pieces match a full set, but each one can command equal attention in the right scene. Such is the struggle of the average food photographer, forever adding to the archive of possible plating options. Particularly unusual or unique finds hold particular allure, but truth be told, it’s inevitably the simplest options that get the most play.

Everything looks good on white, setting off any food in sharp contrast like a bright spotlight, allowing the recipe itself to shine. Clean lines draw the eye smoothly around the composition overall, comfortably guiding a visual path back to the “hero” of the moment. Bowls like these are invaluable because no matter the theme or concept for any given assignment, these supporting actors always play a crucial role, without breaking a sweat.

Quality whites are essential even if you aren’t building a feast fit to photograph. The gentle plunging rims of these cereal bowls are an ideal example of form meeting function. When Sweese approached me with the opportunity to share this set, I couldn’t believe my (and hopefully your) luck. I’ve found myself using them for daily meals as well as more fanciful composed photo shoots. Win your very own set of four 28-ounce porcelain bowls by leaving me a comment about what you would serve in them first! Log your submission by following this link to the official contest page and find more ways to enter while you’re there. You have until July 25th to throw your hat into the ring; don’t miss this chance to make a bowl-ed statement!

Winning may not help control the overzealous prop shopper, but at least your place settings can look perfectly orderly and uncluttered.

Hannah (BitterSweet)22 Comments

Background Information

Every single photo, be it simple or complex, novice or professional, must always start with two essential components: A subject and a background. Whether we’re talking about people, products, or skyscrapers, it’s the same story. Mercifully, greater control is bestowed upon the photographer lucky enough to work with food, effortlessly modifying textures, colors, and patterns to best highlight the dish du jour. Inevitably cast as the backup singer by definition, photographic backgrounds never get the praise they deserve for setting the scene. Few single components can lay claim to the same power when it comes to affecting the whole composition of a piece in one fell swoop. Such responsibility naturally comes with serious drawbacks, especially when you find your microscopic apartment studio bursting at the seams with huge wooden boards and slabs of worn ceramic tiles. Lest every image start looking the same, it becomes imperative to start diversifying your options, and fast.

Uber Gray Grunge From Ink and Elm Backdrops

For a number of years, I found moderate success using lengths of contact paper as one approach to expand my collection of backgrounds, but this approach has distinct limitations. Rarely do the most useful patterns come in a matte finish, leading to distracting reflections or harsh shiny spots under the glare of strobe lights, especially if there should ever be the smallest wrinkle in the roll.

It was a serendipitous moment of aimless online shopping when I stumbled across Ink and Elm Backdrops. Though clearly developed with the portrait photographer in mind, I immediately saw potential for my inanimate focal points, too. Made of high-quality vinyl, the big question would be how that texture would translate under the close scrutiny of a macro lens. Don’t expect deep wood grain or genuine stone surfaces, but happily, not a single image came out screaming “ARTIFICIAL PRINT BACK HERE! THIS IS ALL A FARCE!” Good news too, since I hate it when my props yell at me.

Heirloom Planks From Ink and Elm Backdrops

Best of all for food photography, these surfaces are highly washable. Go ahead, lay your greasiest potato chips right on top, splash around with cookies dunked in milk; nothing seems to shake these sturdy foundations.

Flexible sizing is another big benefit that traditional alternatives can’t boast. Small squares are available for your basic shoot, but if you want to create a whole Thanksgiving spread on a rustic oak table spanning a couple of feet in both directions, they’ve got you covered, too. Plus, each sheet easily rolls up for compact storage when it’s all said and done.

There is one very serious pitfall to ordering through Ink and Elm, however. Their expansive catalog is so extensive, it’s almost impossible to pick out just one or two patterns!

Hannah (BitterSweet)15 Comments