Tag Archives: Photography

Vacation

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Hi everyone! How are ya?

Let’s get right to it — it’s been way too long. I didn’t mean to leave this blog quiet for so long, but it just happened, and I’m sorry. I won’t go into a huge list of excuses, but I was on vacation. That’s my main excuse. 

I’m back now, sort of. I’ve come up with a theory of vacation inertia. You know the law of inertia? A body in motion stays in motion and a body at rest tends to stay at rest? Well, ya, I think that my vacation body + mind are staying in vacation body + mind. They don’t want to come back to real life. But, I’m trying really hard, and I thought that today I’d ease in by sharing some vacation photos with you! 

And, I don’t like to make promises, so you know it’s big when I say — I promise you, a recipe tomorrow! 

We went to Disney for a few days of our vacation. As usual, we had tons of fun! An added bonus – we were there during the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival. Naturally, we indulged more than usual, and I enjoyed every minute of it. The Food and Wine Festival is a really neat concept. Epcot sets up “stands” (this year, there were 30) throughout the World Showcase,  representing countries and concepts. Each stand has a menu of food and drink that is authentic to that country or concept. Between the six people in our group, I would say that we had something from about each and every stand. It was a fun opportunity to learn about and explore cuisine that I wouldn’t have otherwise tried. Here is a little photo collage I put together of just a handful of the stands:

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And some from Epcot:

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For the second part of our trip, my mom, dad and I stayed in Celebration, Florida at the Bohemian Hotel. It was stunning. Maybe the cutest hotel I have seen.  And Celebration is a wonderful town. My mom and I kept saying that it is a perfect town and there is absolutely not one thing wrong with it! My mom and I got a lot of time to explore the town, while my dad unfortunately was working at a conference. We ate at every restaurant in the town except for one! And we spent a lot of time just relaxing, admiring the town we got to stay in for a week. Some photos:

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Okay guys, I think that’s it for now. I am happy that I could share some of my vacation with you and I will be back tomorrow to talk food again. Have a wonderful Wednesday!

The Beach

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We’re now back in Philly, after a nice, long, relaxing week at the beach.

I really really didn’t want vacation to end. I just love the beach. I really want to live at one.

I didn’t pick up my camera much during the week. Mornings were filled with coffee and breakfast. Some mornings a bike ride to a coffeeshop. Most afternoons were spent in the sand. Beach bocce and other beach games were enjoyed. No beach game is complete without some beach drinks. After the games, time was spent laying on a towel, listening to the waves and feeling the sand blow across the beach. Nights brought dinner and ice cream.Mini golfing. Some ping pong and more drinks. A night walk on the beach. Also some soothing hot tub time. All the time was spent with beautiful views and family.

Every day was wonderful.

Even though I don’t have many photos, I’ll share what I have. Enjoy!

{Views from our porch.}

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{Having fun!}

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{S’more hand pies!}

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{Enjoying the view.}

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I’ll be back with food tomorrow!

Week in Photos

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I’m so happy that it is Friday!

Friday is always a good day, but today, I am leaving for the beach!

Yep, this evening, I’m picking Greg up from campus and we are heading south.

Tomorrow we will fall asleep with the ocean right out of our window and Sunday morning we’ll wake up steps from the sand. Beach vacations are the best.

I wish I was ahead of things and had posts ready for you for next week, but I don’t. The Dreaming Foodie will be back next Monday or Tuesday!

I hope that whatever it is you may be doing this weekend you enjoy!

For now, enjoy five little things that made my week special.

{This lasagna. A creation from Greg and I. It was the best.}

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{These cards. I bought them from a new friend at farmer’s market. To read about the cause, click here and to read about the artist, click here.}

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{This. I love listening.}

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{This breakfast. Rice cake + peanut butter + this red raspberry jam. I shared this with you yesterday, so I thought I would show you today.}

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{I took this photo about five minutes ago. Ready to be loaded into the car. I’m so excited!}

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I hope that you have a good weekend and week next week! I’m hoping that where I am and wherever you are the sun is shining!

Heirloom Tomato + Pesto Quiche

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More quiche for you!

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This one was good. I think the best one ever. Pesto + cheese + heirloom tomatoes = an unbelievable combination. One that I would put in pasta. Why not in a quiche?

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I’ve said it before but I just love making quiche and having it around because it is good for any meal.

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Serve it with some form of potato for a nice weekend breakfast, on it’s own for lunch or with a big green salad for dinner.

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It just works!

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I usually make two quiches at a time and eat them for various meals all throughout the week.

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And, I use frozen store-bought crust. I wish I was making my own, but I’m just not there yet. Does anyone have a super simple homemade crust recipe? Please share — I’d love to give it a try.

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Now, for this quiche, you definitely have to like pesto to enjoy it. I made this once and put 1/2 cup of pesto in it. The pesto flavor was prominent. I did enjoy it, but the next time I made it I put 1/3 cup of pesto in it, just to see how that would turn out. It was good too and much less strong on the pesto taste. So, in the ingredients list I said to add 1/3 – 1/2 cup of pesto, depending on your taste for it! It’s good either way, just choose how strong you want it to be!

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Also, as far as assembling the quiche. The first time I made it, the order I went in was first crust (obviously), pesto, tomatoes, cheese, egg. The second time I went crust, pesto, cheese, egg and then tomatoes. I reversed the order of egg and tomato. I definitely enjoyed the second try better as far as order, with the egg going before the tomatoes — the tomatoes on top. That is what I put in the directions.

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I hope that you get to make and enjoy this simple, delicious quiche!

Ingredients:
*This is what I used for one quiche. Can easily be doubled, tripled, etc.
1 9-inch pie crust (I used a frozen store-bought one)
4 eggs
1/2 cup milk (I used coconut)
1/3 – 1/2 cup pesto
3/4 cup mini heirloom tomatoes, sliced
1/3 cup finely grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350*.

Start by slicing the tomatoes. I took each mini heirloom tomato and sliced it lengthwise into thirds.

Crack the eggs into a large bowl. Whisk the eggs well. Add the coconut milk (or regular milk) and whisk well again until the milk is incorporated.

Spoon the pesto into the bottom of the pie crust. Using the back of a spoon, gently smooth it over the bottom of the crust. Sprinkle the cheese over the pesto. Pour the eggs over the cheese. At this point, I took the whisk I used to mix the eggs and very gently stirred the egg mixture in the crust. I did not want to incorporate all of the ingredients, just wanted to make sure they cooked together a bit. Last, place the tomatoes slices over the eggs. The tomatoes should cover the entire top of the quiche.

Place the quiche in the preheated oven and bake at 350* for 10 minutes. Increase the heat to 400* and bake for another 30-40 minutes, or until an inserted knife comes out clean.

*This will be best if you let if cool for about 20 minutes before eating. It will be watery/runny straight from the oven. The longer you let it cool, the better it will be. It makes excellent leftovers because once you warm it up in the microwave, it doesn’t get runny again.

Enjoy!

Notes:
-I made this once and used 1/2 cup of pesto and another time I used 1/3 cup of pesto. It was good both times. The pesto amount is definitely flexible — the point of it is to add flavor — so add as much or as little depending on your love (or not) of it.

-If you can’t find mini heirloom tomatoes (I feel like I was lucky!) just used grape or cherry tomatoes. Or any tomatoes you have!

-You can use any type of milk that you like! It doesn’t have to be coconut.

-It seems to me that the time in the oven for quiche is very variable. The first time I made this quiche it took 35 minutes total. The second time it took 50 minutes total. I bake it on on a lower temperature at first, just to get it started without being too hot right away. Once you increase the heat to 400*, I would start checking it after 30 minutes.

-Again, this is best if you let if cool before eating. It is watery/runny right out of the oven. It reheats in the microwave very well.

Salmon + Veggie Salad

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I’ve got another salad combo for you.

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Juicy tomatoes.

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Creamy avocado.

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Salty capers.

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Pickled red onions.

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And fresh, delicious salmon.

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Piled high on a bed of greens.

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This salad is amazing. Everything goes so well together. Also great for these warm days. It requires very little cooking and prep work.

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In the directions, I tell you how I prepared my salmon for this salad. But you should definitely prepare it your favorite way. If you have a grill, I am sure that would be perfect {dreaming of the day I can have a grill}.

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I suggest an oil-based dressing for this salad, but again, use what you love. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

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Oh, I have to mention! This salad was inspired by a delicious meal we ate the The Tomato Bistro.

Ingredients
*This is for two salads. Double, triple, etc., as you please.
1/2 cup grape tomatoes, cut in half
1 avocado, sliced
4 tablespoons capers
1/4 of a red onion, sliced
Red wine vinegar
Olive oil
2 fillets of salmon, whatever size you like to eat
Juice from one half of a lemon
Salt and pepper
Mixed greens (or your favorite lettuce)

First prep your veggies. Cut the grape tomatoes in half. Slice the avocado. Slice 1/4 of a red onion. Place the onion slices in a bowl and completely cover with red wine vinegar. Let this sit while you prepare the rest of the salad.

Pour about 2 tablespoons of olive oil into a pan over medium-high heat. Let the oil get hot and then add the salmon fillets. I cooked mine for about 2 minutes on each side. Once the first side was done, I sprinkled salt and pepper on each fillet, squeezed some lemon juice into the pan over the salmon and then flipped them. I cooked the other side for 2 minutes and squeezed the rest of the lemon juice on the salmon.

To arrange the salad, I would suggest tossing the greens with dressing first. You can do this in a big bowl and then transfer the dressed greens to smaller serving bowls. In each serving bowl, arrange the tomatoes, 1/2 of an avocado, 2 tablespoons capers, one half of the red onions and one fillet of salmon.

Enjoy!

Notes:
– Letting the onion sit in red wine vinegar is sort of a really quick pickling process. It takes the bite out of the onion, makes them soft and almost sweet. You can let the onion soak in the vinegar as long as you want, even overnight!