What I Made Wednesday: Chex Mix

What I made Wednesday

Ok, so you all have been bugging me for some of my recipes, and taking a cue from my good friend Lindsay - I'm going to try to do a new posting every month (cuz let's face it, I just don't have time to cook a new recipe every week with my work schedule) that's similar to the "What I Ate Wednesday." Instead, I'll do a what I made Wednesday (though don't hold me accountable if I actually made it Monday, it's a theme, not a requirement!)

So! This week is my all time FAVORITE snack, the family Chex Mix! Sorry ma, I'm giving out secrets!

 Chex Mix

You'll need to start off by collecting all your materials, I always forget one until the last minute. For example, I put together all the materials and then as soon as the butter was melted, I realized I'd forgotten to photograph the 'secret' ingredient! The Johnny's Seasoning Salt as pictured above right.

You will need the following tools:

- a very large, very deep metal pan for baking
- a small stovetop pan for creating the sauce
- a wooden spoon for mixing the ingredients in the oven, the best kind is one that actually has a bit more of a spoon scoop, but one like that pictured beside is good enough.
- measuring spoons
- and Newspapers! Black and White sides up.


Ingredients you will need:


 - 2 cubes of butter (make sure you don't get the unsalted kind!)
 - 1/3 cup Soy Sauce (I use Kikkoman's)
 - 2/3 cup Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce
 - 1 tablespoon Johnny's Seasoning Salt

 - Corn Chex Cereal (2/3rds box or whatever fits in your large baking pan best)
 - Wheat Chex Cereal (For some reason, this cereal is always the smallest box! So use the whole box or whatever fits in your large baking pan best)

- Rice Chex Cereal (2/3rds box or whatever fits in your large baking pan best)

- 1/2 - 1 cup of Cocktail Peanuts (use the amount you prefer)

- 1/2 - 1 cup of Cashews, whole or halves (again, use the amount you prefer)

 Did I mention the wheat chex cereal is my favorite? When it's made properly, these ones absorb the most sauce and become chewy and filled with the most amazing flavors!

Set your oven to bake at 250 degrees and mix your chex and nuts in the pan. I always start off with them separated like the picture to the upper left and then use my hands to mix it all together well until it looks like the picture to the upper right and close up, the picture to the right!

 Melt the two cubes of butter over low on the stovetop and make sure to stir constantly! You don't want to burn the butter, and you don't want it to boil!

Once the butter is fully melted, add the soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, and johnny's seasoning salt while still stirring. Once the sauce is fully mixed it will be a nice dark brown. It's ready.

 Pour the sauce evenly over the entire chex cereal mixture in your large pan and place in the oven. You will be baking this for an entire hour, and, now this is really important, you need to STIR the mixture REALLY WELL every fifteen minutes, or it WILL BURN. You don't want this. Burnt chex mix is dreadful!

 
 Once the chex has finished it's hour, you'll want to pour it out over the newspaper that is on a flat surface, black and white pages side up. If you use color, the ink may bleed into your chex, and that's not necessarily tasty.

Let the chex sit for a few hours, I generally let it sit overnight out in the open, spread out so that it can dry evenly.




Your chex mix will be quite greasy when it first comes out and doesn't quite taste right, but the whole house will smell DELICIOUS! After it's fully dried, you can put it into tupperware to keep it fresh, or leave it on the counter and devour at will! and Voila! You all now have my chex mix recipe :) I hope you enjoy!

Please check out the Facebook page for more photos, to leave comments, or to contact me!

New Years Resolutions

Last years recap:

Every year, I read all these updates on the social networks about weight loss and working out, sometimes the occasional spend more time with the family type of goals. Yet, none of these goals really inspire change nor are they specific enough to actually accomplish.

So this year, I'm going to work on my photography and really accomplishing some goals. Here are 2012's goals, and yes they may be a bit steep and may take more than one year, but my intentions are to at least attempt these goals and come back in December of 2012 and see if I actually hit them.

2012:

:: To be juried into at least 6 shows

            plan: enter as many juried contests as often as possible, starting... NOW.

:: To accomplish at least 3 photo projects start to finish

            plan: to set up my binder system and plan out shoots with real dates and plan ahead!

:: To gain access to/have my own studio and studio lights

            plan: look look look! find a good studio and get in on it!

:: To create a collaboration project with many other artists in different medias

            plan: this one's a secret ;)

Projects I plan to accomplish from start to finish in 2012:

*NEW* Project::365 - a mixture of Projects::Forgotten City and ::Tilt Shift

To take a photo/or to post a new photo of the same subject matter every day for an entire year. The subject matter will be that of Seattle, the forgotten city as well as the tilt shift aspect. In these two projects combined I had originally planned to shoot Seattle and it's forgotten elements in artistic ways, one of which being with a tilt shift effect. I would love to get back into film during this project, but we will see if that's plausible. As for now, digital will take precedence so that I can hit my goal of a new photo everyday. Until I have mastered this goal, then I will most likely stick to digital.

Project::Lyrics - Section::Someday You Will Be Loved

                           - Section::Man Who Can't Be Moved

Project::Nudes (Ongoing)

Project::Alice (Begin)

*****

So, I didn't hit everything, but I at least accomplished a few!

:: As for the goals, I did not enter enough contests in order to be juried into 6, let alone enter 6 shows. I will add this into the next year of goals as it seems reasonable, I just need to actually stick to the plan.

:: I accomplished one project (the 365) in full (though I'm still working on the book, takes longer than I thought!) I started the tattoo project, continued working on the nudes project and have yet to start on the lyrics projects or the alice project. Though, I did create another sub-project in the lyrics category and I did start the binder systems!

:: I found my own Studio space and gained the lights! Check for accomplishment here! :)

:: Collaborations. Never happened, though still something I'd like to do, just more likely a very far in the future project. (Still a secret!)

*****

2013:

:: To be juried into at least 6 shows or 3 cafe shows

            plan: enter as many juried contests as often as possible, starting... NOW.

:: To accomplish at least 3 photo projects start to finish

            plan: continue binder system and plan out shoots with real dates and plan ahead!

:: Go back to school

            plan: not so much of a goal, more so a hope that I make it off the waiting list and into school.

:: Photograph in at least 3 different countries

            plan: already bought the tickets to Germany! Can't wait!!!

Projects I plan to accomplish from start to finish in 2013:

Project::365 - a mixture of Projects::Forgotten City and ::Tilt Shift

 - finish and produce the book and try to get into a cafe show with it.

Project::Lyrics - Section::Someday You Will Be Loved 

                           - Section::Man Who Can't Be Moved (Postponed, possibly shoot with video)

                           - Section::Kiss with a Fist

Project::Nudes (Ongoing)

Project::Alice (also Postponed)

Project::30s

 - Need to figure out what 30 day projects I'd like to do. I'm taking suggestions! I'll do one every other month, same idea as a 365, except 30 days rather than the whole year!

Sneak Peek - Allissa and Michael's Wedding!

 Sneak Preview

Allissa and Michael Cunningham

Nov. 17th, 2012

Allissa and I have known each other since Junior High School, so when she asked me to photograph her wedding I was delighted!  We had SO much fun too! The bridal party was a blast, I shot the men first, and I thought they were bad! I underestimated the women! I should have known better :) There were plenty of fun times throughout the day, lighting mishaps, people falling, dress malfunctions, but all in all, the day went well and I'm so glad I was able to be there! Here's just a sneak peek of some of the photos... Check them out!

Our beautiful Bride and handsome Groom, sharing a moment together alone after the ceremony.

Micah, our adorable ring bearer! And check out those shoes! Custom made Chucks!

Both the bride and the groom had custom made shoes, the rest all wore matching chucks! Too cute!

The boys were a hoot...

But the girls.... My my! They were hilarious!

Both bride and groom had children, a whole new family as one. Daddy and daughter, aren't they adorable?

Prepping before the wedding, Allissa's hair was amazing! Props to Amanda!

Isn't this bouquet beautiful? Perfect for the fall wedding, and just look at those rings!

The gazebo didn't offer us much in terms of light, but we made do - for a few photos in the night :)

One of our last shots of the night, picture perfect :)

Congratulations to my good friend Allissa Peterson, now Allissa Cunningham!

So happy for the both of you!!

SNEAK PEEK - Baby Thompson!

Maddie Thompson was the most ADORABLE little smiley baby! I was so excited to see my cousin and his beautiful wife and baby and to take their Christmas card photos today! Here's a sneak peek of what's to come!

Meet Maddie!

She had so much fun playing around with the beads I had picked up at the store the other night for a couple of dollars.

We ran into some trouble with the glitter from the "snow," it completely covered little Maddie's TINY feet and I couldn't help but get a picture of her cute little glittery toes! 

 

If you look closely at the Christmas decoration ball in her hand, you'll notice you can see my studio in the background including Mommy Ashley and myself taking the picture! :) Didn't see it when I shot, but I love this "self portrait." Might try it some more with the Christmas decorations later!

 And of course our beautiful Thompson family!

End of the sneak preview - check out the facebook page for more soon! :)

Breakfast Lunch and Dinner - Part One

VACA! And what does that mean you ask? That means I have LOTS of time to cook and enjoy the sights and have some relaxation time! First and foremost though, I go nowhere without my camera - which means, all the lovely food I cook, gets photographed, and where might you ask? In a great big Kitchen I get full use of for the weekend!

Unfortunately, I only really got one day of cooking in before my baby decided to kamikaze off the edge of the counter and into the floor. So we'll see how well the rest of this weekend goes. Anyways, As promised, here are the basic recipes for the meals I cooked, now mind you I hardly ever actually measure so these recipes are not exact, play around and enjoy!




Part One:
BREAKFAST: Fruit and Yogurt Parfait and French Toast with Fresh Fruit

For the Fruit and yogurt parfait, you will need a vanilla yogurt - preferably not the organic kind as we found out this weekend, it's SUPER runny, so find on that is a little thick and good for stacking. Grab whatever fruit you like best whether it's a mixture of fruits or just one in particular, and lastly pick up some granola or other type of fruit for the topping!



In this case we used Blueberries and Bananas!



This one is super easy, you layer the yogurt and the fruit how you like and top it off with granola or more fruit and then mix it together for the full flavor or dip in to get the mix at random!



On to the FRENCH TOAST!

So for this deal we decided to get some fresh french bread loafs from the bakery and slice the thick - make sure to let them soak a bit longer in the mix than you would normal slices if you thick-slice the bread though!

For this you will need anything in the refrigerator you have handy, I like to use substitutes when I can because it's fun. Something I learned in college is that you don't always need to follow the instructions to a T. For instance, the vanilla extract can be replaced by a drop or two of honey or a flavored jam/marmalade.

When it comes to the spices, I prefer to use a mixture of things like cinnamon and nutmeg, but use whatever smells delicious! For a kick one of these days I'm going to try rosemary and thyme! Just a small amount though!

One way to stay a little on the healthier side with the french toast is also to use 1 full egg and 3 egg whites per 4 slices of toast. This still gives you a bit of the vitamins and protein without too much of the calories and cholesterol!

 Mix together the egg and whites, milk, nutmeg, cinnamon, orange juice, vanilla, whichever ingredients you can find and have on hand and soak the bread!

In our case, we used the one full egg with three egg whites, soy milk, a dash of the vanilla (since we had it on hand) and some nutmeg and cinnamon.

layer the pan with some butter and throw the toast on! Wait until both sides of the bread are golden brown or darker depending on how you like it, add more butter to the pan if you need, press down on the uneven sides to make sure they cook in full and add cinnamon to them as they cook also!

Lay out on a plate with some fresh fruit, some orange juice and some of the yogurt parfait and voila! Breakfast is served!

See Part Two for lunch and visit the facebook page for more photos of the delicious meals!!

Jewelry Sneak Peek - Premier Designs With Linsey Haywood

So it's been a while since I've last posted! I not have the studio up and running in the loft style apartment in Downtown Seattle!! Please contact me to set up a shoot :)

Yesterday I photographed a designer line of Jewelry by Premier Designs with some great Jewelry reps, one of which being a good friend Linsey Haywood as well as one of my favorite models, Victoria and a new face Erin Elizabeth!

Here's a few sneak peek images from our shoot! Check these out, and in a few short days I should have more up on the facebook page! Also, if you're interested in some of the pieces you see, please contact Linsey to book a home show here!