Here is another post that my Mom and I did for the Go Bold with Butter Blog.

My mom loves carrots. From spaghetti sauce to muffins, she will find a way to put carrots into just about anything. For our Mother’s Day lunch, I decided to make one of her favorite side dishes – Carrot Rice Casserole. By the looks of it, you may not believe that there are a pound of carrots in it! The subtle creamy carrot flavor pairs perfectly with whatever protein you decide to serve.

This casserole refrigerates very well. Whatever leftovers you have will be perfect to take with you in your lunch!

Southern Carrot Rice Casserole
By Taylor
Serves 8

Ingredients:

1 pound bag peeled baby carrots
3/4 cup yellow onion, chopped
3 or 4 sprigs of fresh thyme
4 cups strong chicken stock*
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon white pepper, ground
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon hot sauce
7 cups cooked white rice

Directions:

Cook carrots, onion and thyme in stock until very tender. Drain carrots and onions, reserving stock in a separate bowl. Remove pieces of thyme and discard.

Place carrots, onions and heavy cream into a blender. Puree until smooth and creamy.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

To make white sauce, in a medium sized saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in flour and cook for 2 minutes while stirring. Add warm reserved stock (1 ½ cups). Stir until mixture thickens. Turn heat to low. Add peppers, salt, nutmeg, Worcestershire and hot sauce. Remove from heat.

In a large bowl, add the carrot puree, sauce, and rice. Stir until well combined. Pour creamy rice mixture into a buttered casserole dish and bake for 40-45 minutes.

Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

* Tip: To make stock stronger, reduce boxed chicken stock by a third and then use

On a side note, my Mom’s Hydrangeas are in full bloom, but more on that later.

Readers,

I realize that the posts have been somewhat all over the place over the last several months with some recipes, a lot of flowers. Sorry about that. I have had a lot going on outside of the blog. Long story short, things have calmed down now and I will get back to you with more posts containing more of what you have been accustomed to. Some recipes, some photography, and more stories that I think you will find interesting.

- Taylor

Still looking for a dessert to make for your mother on Mother’s Day? Try this Orange Rosemary Cake. My Mom and I developed it for the Go Bold With Butter Blog.

While you should treat your mother like every day is Mother’s Day, the Sunday of Mother’s Day should be an extra special day. It should be a celebration of how great your mom is! Every celebration needs a cake, right? Well, if your mother is a fan of oranges and of cake, then this cake will be the perfect way to end a Mother’s Day meal.

The cake can be made the night before, tightly covered, and then iced before serving. When making, be sure to add the glaze while the cake is still warm. Before icing, make sure the cake with the glaze already added has completely cooled. Have a great Mother’s Day!

Orange Rosemary Cake
Makes 1 10-inch diameter bunt pan serves about 12

Ingredients:

For cake:
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened
1 1/2 cups granulated white sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 cup orange zest
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped
1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted and chopped
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sour cream

For orange glaze:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition. Add the vanilla, orange and lemon zest, rosemary and almonds. Mix together. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Pour flour mixture, in halves, into mixing bowl, mixing after each addition. Add sour cream and mix until just incorporated. Be careful not to over mix.

Pour cake batter into a buttered and floured 10-inch diameter Bundt® pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes. The cake is done when a toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool for 5 minutes and then place on a wire cooling rack. When cake is completely cooled, carefully remove from pan.

While cake is cooling, prepare the glaze. In a small pan, add sugar and orange juice. Stir and bring to a boil. Let boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat.

Using a toothpick, poke holes about an inch apart across the cakes surface. Brush glaze over the surface of the cake.

Tip: put a plate under the cake to catch glaze that drips off.

Let cake and glaze cool completely before icing.

Orange Cream Icing
Ices 1 cake

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
2 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons orange zest
1/4 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon orange zest
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
pinch of salt

Directions:

Combine all ingredients into a food processor. Process until a smooth and creamy icing has formed. Prior to serving, pour over cooled cake.

Here is a bouquet for your Saturday. A smaller yellow rose arrangement on a blue background. Enjoy!

Here is a bouquet for your Friday!

Here is another bouquet from my Mom’s garden.

My Mom’s Roses are in full Bloom. I will be sharing a lot of arrangements with you over the next few weeks. Here is your bouquet for the day,

Do you like pancakes? What about Bacon and Apples? This is for you then. Here is another recipe that my Mom and I developed for the Go Bold with Butter Blog.

Oh, how I love weekend mornings. These are the times when you can unwind, relax and recharge for the busy week ahead. There are few better ways to do this than share a meal with your friends and family. It doesn’t have to be fancy; heck you can even wear your PJs if you like. All you need are the ones you love and great food. After sleeping in late the first meal of the weekend is usually pushed back closer to lunch time. With a later start to the day, your taste buds may be craving a savory breakfast item. Sure quiches, casseroles and omelets are all popular, but have you ever considered a Dutch Baby pancake?

Dutch Babies are cooked in a hot cast iron pan. As the bake, they balloon in size creating a delicious, light and flavorful breakfast treat. You can fill them with a wide range of toppings. For this weekend’s breakfast, I suggest this Savory Apple Bacon and Cheddar Dutch Baby pancake.

Apple Bacon Cheddar Dutch Baby
Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

1 apple, peeled, cored and sliced very thin
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, 3 of which are melted
3/4 cup bread flour
1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup whole milk, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
5 large eggs, room temperature
8 strips cooked bacon, crumbled
1 cup extra sharp Cheddar Cheese, grated
powdered sugar, for garnish

Directions:

Turn oven on to 375°F. Place 10-inch cast iron skillet in oven and let pan heat while you prepare the batter (5 minutes or so). Toss apple slices in lemon juice.

In a blender or food processor, add the 3 tablespoons of melted butter, flour, cornmeal, milk, salt, and eggs. Mix for 30-45 seconds until a smooth batter has formed. Transfer from blender or food processor to a large bowl. Add bacon and cheese and stir.

Remove skillet from oven and add the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter, and let melt. Arrange apple slices in a single layer in skillet. Pour batter over top.

Bake in oven until puffy and golden, about 25 minutes. Top with powdered sugar before serving.

Full Disclosure: Real Butter is compensating me for my efforts. The opinions expressed are my own.

Taking pictures of flowers is not all that different from taking pictures of food. In fact many of the same principles are involved. With spring flowers in full bloom, I suggest experimenting with taking beautiful pictures of the flowers around you. In fact, when I first got into photography, flowers were what I enjoyed taking pictures of the most.

In the Spring of 2007, I was in my junior year at the University of Wisconsin. I had just retired from my swimming career and found myself with 30 or so extra hours a week on my hands. I wasn’t going to fill that void with additional studying hours, so that is when I picked up a camera and started to fall in love with photography. During that Spring and Summer, I would spend hours wandering UW’s campus and the botanical gardens taking pictures of flowers. At the time, I had no idea this would one day lead to a career in taking pictures of food, but there was something intriguing to me about finding that perfect flower. At the same time, I was learning more about Photoshop and was pretty proud of my ability to remove backgrounds and replace them with black. I hadn’t learned about the pen tool and pathing yet, so I was doing it the old fashioned way of just using the eraser tool. So here is a collage of the original pictures I was so infatuated with creating.

At the time, my roommates didn’t quite know what to think about my flowers with black backgrounds. Even though we don’t live together anymore, they will still ask about them (Nick, Tommy, Dan, and Brett, these pictures are dedicated to you) and if I will one day continue the series. I have no plans to start up the back backgrounds again, but I have found myself taking lots of flower pictures.

This past fall, I shot the cover and a feature for the Spring Issue of Flower Magazine.

and last year I shared with you the roses in my Mom’s garden (roses post  1, roses post 2). It has reached that time of year where the roses are beginning to bloom all over!

In the next couple weeks, you will be seeing plenty more flowers from the garden.

If you have never taken pictures of your flower arrangements, don’t fear. It really isn’t that difficult. Many of the same principles that I talk about in my food photography tutorials apply to taking pictures of flowers.

Here are a few pointers that may help

• Find great light. If you are shooting a bouquet in your house, find a part of the house that has beautiful natural light. Don’t use your overhead kitchen lighting. Use the same place that you take pictures of your food in.
• Play around with different apertures
• Use colors as backgrounds that will make the colors pop! Stay away from using colors that are similar to the flowers. Pick complementary  colors.
• Shoot vertical. If you are shooting arrangements that are tall in height, shoot in a vertical orientation.
• Go to a park. Take a trip to a neighborhood park and see what is in bloom where you live.

Enjoy spring and enjoy taking pictures of flowers!

It is hard to believe that Easter is almost here. Where has the year gone?

I realize that my posts have been lacking recently, a lot of big things are in the works. One of them is that  my mom and I have teamed up with the folks at Real Butter and have been working with them and a handful of other bloggers on creating content for their Go Bold With Butter Blog. Over the following months, I will be sharing with you what my mom and I have been developing. Here is one that is a perfect side dish to any Easter Brunch!

Asparagus with Orange Blender Hollandaise

Serves 8-10

This sauce is best to serve immediately after making, but can be held for a short while in a double boiler over low heat.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
4 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Pinch cayenne pepper

2 pounds asparagus, blanched and cooled

Directions:

Warm glass blender container by filling with hot water. Let sit, while prepping other ingredients.

In a medium pot over medium heat, heat butter until it begins to foam. Once foaming, remove pot from heat and set aside to cool.

Empty glass blender and thoroughly dry. Add egg yolks, juices, and zest. Blend for about 15 seconds while adding melted butter in a slow steady stream, trying not to add the milk solids that have sunk to the bottom of the pot.

Tip: If your food processor has a hole on the stopper for creating emulsions, pour butter through that into the blender to control the stream.

Once butter is incorporated, remove blender canister and pour sauce into a glass or ceramic bowl. Season with salt and cayenne. Serve immediately over prepared asparagus.

Full Disclosure: Real Butter is compensating me for my efforts. The opinions expressed are my own.

Even though it has felt like spring for weeks in Charlotte, it was technically still Winter. That all ended yesterday with the first day of Spring! In honor of this day, my Mom decided to make a quiche inspired by Spring’s colors.

My mom and I have been spending a lot of time together lately. She is helping me with my first book (yes, I am thrilled to be working with UNC Press on my first book, I will share much more about it in the future. So that is why I have been absent recently), so we have a lot of time to talk.  After one of her walks on the Greenway, she told me about all the flowers in bloom and how they had inspired her to make a dish. She was so excited about it that she wanted me to take a picture of her inspiration. Like any son, I am going to listen to my Mom, but I have learned that when my Mom is inspired to cook something my stomach will thank me later.  So I took a quick trip over to the Greenway.

There were plenty of flowers in bloom, but there was one in particular that my mom was inspired by.

This Forsythia bush. The bush was probably 8-10 feet around and filled with hundreds of blooms!

From these beautiful yellow flowers, my Mom decided to create a quiche

made with zima tomatoes and yellow bell pepper. To round out the flavors she added blue cheese and bacon!

This quiche is perfect for any Spring brunch that you are planning.

Mom’s “Forsythia Quiche”

Ingredients

1 (9 or 10) inch baked pie shell, baked use your favorite kind.

6 slices thick cut bacon

1/2 cup zima tomatoes, quartered

1/3 cup yellow bell peppers, cut into a small dice

1/4 cup shallots, chopped

3 large eggs

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup  milk

1 1/2 tablespoons fresh chives, snipped

1 1/2 tablespoons scallions, sliced

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 cup blue cheese crumbles

Method

In a 9 or 10 inch quiche or pie pan pre bake your favorite crust following its recipe directions.

In a large frying pan, cook 6 strips of bacon over medium heat. When bacon is crispy and finished cooking, removes from pan and place on paper towels to cool. Reserve 1 tablespoon of bacon grease in pan. Add Zima tomatoes, yellow bell pepper, and shallots. Cook over medium heat for 3-4 minutes until soft. When soft, remove from heat.

In a medium sized mixing bowl, add eggs, heavy cream, milk, chives, scallions, salt, and pepper. Stir together. Add the softened tomato and peppers to the egg and cream mixture. Mix together. Crumble cooked bacon pieces and add to the mixture. Stir.

In cooked pie crust, spread the blue cheese crumbles out into a single even layer. Pour egg and cream mixture over top.

Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350F until a light golden brown and eggs have cooked.

A perfectly delicious way to begin Spring. With flowers in full bloom and Spring produce beginning to arrive, I look forward to  the meals this season will bring. Happy Spring!