Wednesday, September 5, 2012

New Camera: Sony NEX 5N {Ollie Pics}

As you probably know from reading my blog for a while, most of my pics either come from my iPhone or my Sony Cybershot that is on it's last leg. My food photography skills are slowly getting better now that Eric is taking an interest in "food styling". We decided since we are going to France and Spain we needed to upgrade our camera so we can take high quality photos of all the fabulous things we are going to see. We decided on the Sony NEX 5N. It is in between the big DSLR cameras and a point and shoot. Neither of us had any interest in having to lug around a big camera, but if we were going to spend some money, we wanted it to be on something worthwhile.

It has a really nice lense that comes with it and you can buy bigger more wide angle lenses and other accessories. I think we are really going to like it! Of course we came home and had to test it out and by test it out we took a bunch of pictures of Ollie. Enjoy!

 Don't mind our grass that needs to be mowed. Or the tree that needs to be landscaped around. Wow, you can really see everything with this camera!

 Photo shoot time. Please forgive me.

 Hi Ollie.

 Serious face.

 Another pose.

 Why so glum, chum?

 What's outside?!

 Pretty eyes!


 Let me out!

 Now I am going to pout... (and yes, I got down on the floor to get this shot. I am getting artsy here. Again please don't mind the dirty floor that apparently this camera picks up!)

 Me and my buddy

 Eric took some flower pics. This is his prize hibiscus that has lasted a really long time.

 Playing with the focus.

 periwinkles

 Oliver on Eric's lap

Self portrait of my two fave guys

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Pressure Cooker Recipe #3 : Six Minute Lasagna

Yup, you read right. This lasagna only took six minutes to cook. I have only attempted lasagna once before in my life, so this was an adventurous recipe for me. Although the pictures did not turn out very good, the lasagna did taste better than it looked. It was good. It definitely turned out too liquidy though. The recipe calls for you to add water to the bottom of the cooker and to the meat sauce, so I did as it told me to, but I will watch the liquid next time. It also made a ton. We ate on it for a couple of meals. So if you try this, leave out some of the liquid. This post is more for my own record of how to do this in the future.

 Told you it was not the prettiest recipe.... we did add some fresh basil for looks!

Lasagna from Bob Warden's Great Food Fast

Prep Time: 25 min Cook Time: 6 min Temperature: High Serves: 6

Shopping List
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 yellow onion, diced
1 pound lean ground beef
salt and pepper
1 (24 oz) jar chunky spaghetti sauce (I just realized this might have been part of my problem. I used regular because I already had it. Maybe the chunkier the less liquid it has...)
1/4 cup water
2 pounds whole milk ricotta cheese
2 large eggs
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
8 ounces uncooked lasagna noodles
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Heat olive oil in a large saute pan on the stove top over high heat. Add onions, ground beef, and a pinch of salt and peppers, sauteing until browned.
2. Stir spaghetti sauce and water into the ground beef mixture, and remove from heat.
3. In a large mixing bowl, use a fork to whisk together ricotta cheese, eggs, Parmesan cheese, garlic, Italian seasoning, and a pinch of salt and pepper.
4. Fill the bottom of the pressure cooker with water, just until 1/4 inch deep (maybe I did too much here too). Ladle 1/5 of the beef and sauce mixture into the water and then cover with a layer of lasagna noodles, breaking them to fit.
5. Cover the noodles with a layer of 1/3 of the cheese mixture. Cover the cheese mixture with another layer of 1/5 of the sauce, then another layer of noodles. Repeat for 2 more layers, ending with noodles topped with the final layer of sauce.
6. Securely lock the cooker's lid and set for 6 minutes on high. Quick release the cooker's pressure, remove cover, and sprinkle with the mozzarella cheese. Re-cover and let rest at least 10 minutes before serving.

Monday, September 3, 2012

Happy Labor Day! {Ranch Style}

We spent part of our Labor Day weekend up at Eric's family ranch. We had a relaxing weekend with not too many tasks to do (always a relief!) and most of our time was spent playing with our niece Blair, which is just how I like it!

 Ollie on his car ride up to the ranch.
Side note : Saturday was his third birthday! Happy birthday Ollie!

 Saturday afternoon we all went fishing.

 Ollie wanted in the water, but was a good dog and did not get in.

 Blair sporting a very fashionable hat.

Birthday Boy!

 Eric's dad, who caught the biggest fish.

 This kid has no fear.

 We fed the horses some carrots, so they followed us all the back to the pond.


 Blair LOVES the horses.

 Elvis, Lilly, Spot, and Kita

 I tried my hand at fishing... got impatient... quit.

 Elvis and Lilly searching for treats in the mule.

 Pretty horsies.

Hi Lilly.

We got back Sunday afternoon and I ran around doing some errands to prepare for upcoming European Vacation! I got home and in honor of us going to Paris, Eric had got out the French cook book and was making some fancy french dish. Post to come on that. I can't even remember the name of the dish, but it was something I had never heard of.  It was very very good! Short week this week! Yay! Hope every enjoyed their "labor-less" day today!