It all started with a photo album on Facebook...

It is funny how some things begin.  This blog actually started April 12, 2011 ~ but I didn't know it yet. I had just started following a few food blogs & was inspired to try some of their recipes. I uploaded a few photos to Facebook, pictures of some recent vegetarian dishes I had made. I like vegetarian recipes since they have interesting ways of cooking veggies & you can just add meat to the meal if you want to.  (Shhh, the food blog had been born, but it was still sleeping...)  

Here is the back story for this food blog, mixed within my first time blogging about my pictures. Please bear with me, as I take my first blogger baby steps.  :)

FUN WITH SEITAN

So, all of this started one day when I was searching vegetarian food blogs & came across some recipes for making seitan.  (for those of you who are not yet familiar with seitan, it is a vegetarian meat substitute, made from vital wheat gluten)  I had eaten it before, but, I didn't know you could make your own seitan, heck, I didn't even really know what was in it, but, I had the ingredients in my pantry & it sounded interesting to try.  J was busy playing his video games, and I found myself with some free time, so into the kitchen I went, to try cooking something new.  I made a bunch of seitan 'cutlets' & chose the simmering method to cook them.  Over the next few days I made meals with them.  I was so impressed with myself, I decided to post the pictures of my creations to my Facebook page.

I breaded the seitan cutlet with  Italian bread crumbs & cooked it with a bit of  EVOO

                                               Seitan 'Chicken Parm'

                                                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Then I made....

I cooked the seitan cutlet just like in the Chicken Parm, but this time covered it with Bisto gravy.

                                             Seitan 'Chicken Fried Steak'
 

After a few photos of showing off what I had been making, a friend of mine asked me for the recipe for the Seitan Veggie Vindaloo.

 I used a recipe from FatFree Vegan Kitchen for inspiration for this dish. I added cut up seitan cutlet chunks & more veggies, beans & a dollop of yogurt ~ see her recipe for  Vindaloo Vegetables

                                                  Seitan Veggie Vindaloo


 
Since I cook mostly by adding a 'pinch of this & a shake of that', I don't really have a lot of true 'written down' recipes to share. So, I just pointed her in the direction of FatFree Vegan Kitchen, since  that is what inspired me to make my dish. I used the Vindaloo Spice Mix from Penzey's Spices, instead of what she called for since I had that on hand. I am the Queen of making due with what I already have in the spice rack. Not having exactly what the recipe calls for will never stop me!   (Penzey's has lots of recipes using all of their wonderful herbs, spices & mixes. I am a HUGE fan of theirs! They send out catalogs about 9 times a year & every other one has a coupon for a free jar of their featured spice. What a deal!)

 I thought if she was interested in how to make a dish, maybe others would be, too.  I went back to the few pictures I had posted & added info of where I got my inspiration, if I could. Then I thought, well, why not keep a photo album of what I was cooking/eating & share it with the other foodies out there? So, I did.  I started getting more comments as the photos started racking up.  I was having fun taking the pictures, trying to make them look more like what I was seeing in the food blogs I was reading. I always was one for presentation & this took it up a  notch.  After I hit the 100 photo mark, I decided I should probably start a real photo blog, since this appears to be my motivating factor in deciding what we will be eating that day. Ya gotta find your inspiration wherever you can!

So, that is it in a nutshell (a food pun, how appropriate), how this food blog grew from a photo album on Facebook, to a food/photo blog. I need to thank my friends, Jen & Jess, for starting me down this road, they were part of the reason why I am having so much fun with taking my pictures/blogging & I bet they have no idea.  Well, if they do read this, then they will know!  :)   I must say, I am really looking forward to keeping this photo journal, it helps with finding new & interesting recipes to try. Also, J likes to help me out in the kitchen now, he loves looking at the pictures & giving his 7 year old opinion. Anyway you can find to get your kid to enjoy eating his fruits & veggies works for me!

See ya in the kitchen!