FoodScoop: Fall

My favorite time of year! Cool, crisp, hoodie-wearing weather, football-watching Sundays, start of the holiday baking season time of year!

Around the end of September, I really ramp up the time I spend in the kitchen. There is nothing better than spending an afternoon cooking and baking while the Steelers game (or Notre Dame these days) is on in the background.

I am far from a great cook, and I have been known to eat a frozen pizza or two, but I love to fill a belly and eat all day every day until I feel sick.  Plus, if I can inspire just one person to think outside the box and try a new recipe, that makes me happy.

Speaking of which, my little brother (who has a strict diet of buffalo chicken and pizza) just texted me a picture of the homemade baked potato soup he made. A breakthrough!

I do my best to try new recipes and not have any repeats.  I don't want to live my life eating the same turkey casserole because I am afraid to branch out. Pinterest has given me lots of possibilities but, I will be honest, I have not made of ton of my pins. I got crazy pinning a few months ago and burned myself out, now I rarely even look at my pins.

I typically flip through magazines and pull out recipes that don't look too complicated.  I have an entire stack of swipes I have pulled over the last few years ... it's killing me that I have not had time to organize them and put them in categories. Yikes, I'm crazy.  Either way, I flip through the pile when I am looking for something new to make.  It's much easier than going to my laptop and typing in 'fall recipes'.  I have already pulled ideas that I know I want to make, even if I don't make them for a year.
The past few months my cooking has become a bit heavier.  Soups, stews and roasts are some of my fall / winter staples.

Erin's Fall Food Faves
- pumpkin bread
- mini apple pies
- chocolate covered pretzel rods
- roasted corn chowder
- giant veggie and cheese melt sandwich
- sloppy janes
- french onion soup
- apple cheesecake crisp
- baked bananas with frozen yogurt
- homemade spaghetti sause
- salted sunflower seeds from the garden
- baked acorn squash
- chocolate chip pumpkin cookies
- beef stew
- white cheddar mac and cheese
- pumpkin milkshake

So I may have went pumpkin crazy this year...

Jake's Fall Food Faves
- homemade pumpkin ravioli in butter sauce
- apple strawberry crisp
- shredded chicken tacos with black beans
- whole wheat pasta with basil chicken sausage
- grilled lobster
- jalapeño cornbread
- sweet potato pancakes

All summer I had an endless supply of fresh veggies and herbs from my garden.  It's a bit depressing to buy a zucchini now, but I try to incorporate a veggie in every meal. I made a ton of pasta and veggie dishes, and Jake made a lot veggie wraps, tacos, salads, ribs and burgers this summer. He tried to put jalapeños in every single meal. After he left my grandparents with a bushel-full.  I basically made two versions of everything - hot for him, mild for me.

We joke about how his cooking is 'ethnic' because I tend to make mild comfort foods like mac and cheese or pie and he tends to make dishes with so many more ingredients and spices (like potato and kale hash with smoked chicken sausage).

We don't usually make meals together as you can see from the lists above, either I have a recipe I want to make or he does. It's probably more that he doesn't like me putting my two cents in about how he cuts onions.  (Yeah, I do that.)  So I usually sit at the kitchen island on my laptop or watch some reality trash on TV while he is cooking - it's nice to trade off.

We do merge ideas when baking Christmas cookies - that's a full day of side by side kitchen time. It gets intense.

So there you have it, a look into our kitchens this Fall. Yes, kitchens - as in we have two kitchens, as in two houses, as in two of everything. We have yet to buy our house together and are currently splitting time between two homes - I'll save that madness for another blog day.

Stay tuned for FoodScoop: Winter - I already have some snowy day meals lined up!

Happy cooking!

Engagement Pictures 101

Our engagement shoot was the first time in a long time that either of us had professional photos taken, we were nervous. Luckily, we got to play around in the woods and the Fox Chapel Yacht Club with some awesome photographers to subside the nervous / awkward feelings and we ended up having a blast!

Obviously I am not a photo shoot expert but I thought I would share some tips for making your day just a successful as ours.

Photographer
I knew who I wanted even before we were engaged - there was no question. Hot Metal Studio.

Picking a photographer is just as important (if not more) than the venue. These images are going to live for decades to come, so you better love them! Sometimes memories fail us so having a nice set of photographs that showcase exactly who you were as a couple is a nice thing to have. There are lots of photography styles out there so creep on lots of photographers web pages - you will know when you see something you like.

Outfits
You definitely don't need to get matchy matchy but picking a color scheme is helpful. I spend everyday in an environment where color is a huge focus, it could totally make or break a photo. Ever wonder how much thought goes into a table of sweaters at your local American Eagle Outfitters store? A ton!  The visual department of a retail brand spends quite a bit of time talking about color. I work side by side with a team who works to aesthetically please the customers eye by placing merchandise based on color, among a million other things! Placing a red sweater next to a neon green sweater would look awful, not as appealing to a customer or good in a photo hanging in your living room. Pick a few neutral colors as your base then add a some pops of color.

Like navy, gray and a bit of coral!

I started with these three colors in my mind then dug through our closets. Of course I had nothing to wear and headed to the mall immediately. Well, I picked boots, jeans and flats I already owned and Jake wore a few items he already owned but it was really an excuse for me to shop. I kept to items and fabrics we usually wear, you don't want pictures in a dress if you never wear dresses and feel awkward in them.

Here is where we landed - when I say 'we' I mean 'me', Jake would have worn a Notre Dame hoodie ...

You can't go wrong with stripes, polka dots and plaids - as long as you mix in some solids.

Backdrop
I wanted the background to be neutral nature. I love fall but didn't want pictures of us playing in piles of leaves. I love the idea of snowy backdrop, bundling up in a cute fuzzy hat and puffy winter coat but a winter wonderland was not the look I was going for, this time! We decided on an early September day, and it rained all day long! It would have been adorable to wear rain boots and hold an umbrella but that's also not the look we were going for - plus I don't think Jake understands the rain boot look.
We ended up getting them taken on a very grey, mild, September evening. They turned out amazing, apparently gray is good when it comes to photo sessions outside. Less glare and no eye squinting.

End use
Keep in mind the end use, it will help you pick the color palette, outfits and backdrop.
We wanted a few nice pictures of us together in regular clothes, not at a wedding or at our wedding. Don't get me wrong I am excited to have wedding pictures but we are not really interested in plastering the walls with tons of photos of us all dressed up.

The only pictures we have of us together are pretty much all taken on iPhones, we wanted some good quality photos of us looking like we do on an average day.

I have plans to use the photos on our save the date cards, Christmas cards / gifts, a shutterfly book and for a few other fun wedding ideas. So a winter scene photo session for a wedding in August was not in the plan.

Props
I love a prop. Our wedding theme is 'tie the knot' so we decided to get some thick brown rope at Home Depot - it was the first time I had bought bulk rope, and it was an interesting experience. Apparently the heated razor blade is used to cut synthetic rope... an employee found me burning natural fiber rope with the heated blade, the aisle was filled with smoke. He laughed when I said I need the rope for engagement pictures. Don't let less crafty people ruin your vision - go with it - you know what you want!
I found a how-to for tying knots in a Martha Weddings magazine, we spent a few minutes tying a knot and quite some time sawing the ends with a hand saw.

So, rope fiasco aside we brought a rope knot, an old chalkboard, thinner white rope and some numbers formed out of rope glued onto wood blocks. I saw the numbers on etsy and loved them so much my parents and I are going to make numbers 1-25 and use them as tables numbers for the reception. We love a do-it-yourself job, especially when it deals with wood - my dads speciality.

All said and done, props are not necessary but they really helped draw attention to our theme, along with the photographers excellent eye for detail - they spotted all sorts of cool rope elements on our e-shoot.

Faces
Serious is not a good look for me, I'll remember that on my wedding day. If you are aware of any looks or faces that make you look crazy... try to avoid them.

Here are some of our favorites...