They are easy, fairly nutritious AND so delicious!

I am pregnant, as most of you guys know, so food has become quite a staple for the recent days.

Food is feeding my baby and cravings!

I thought I would share some of this yumminess with you guys.

I purchased whole grain sliced bread from the Target Bakery… it is VERY tasty!

Look at the edges, yummmmmm.

I then placed jalapeno jack and sliced black olives on one side, while the other has colby and onions… yes two sets of cheese!

Then I toast in our toaster oven for a couple of minutes, your house will begin to smell so tasty.

I have decided that toasting onions is better, they are less spicy and crunchy.  Plus toasting brings more flavor out in the cheese!

I am also a huge fan of salt and pepper…
Then I slice some ‘never been heated’ pickles.  We normally purchase Boar’s Head or Claussen brands.

If you have never had these pickles, I would place a bet that you would NEVER buy the pickels in the middle aisles again.

These are only found in the refrigerator section.  Yes, they cost slightly more, but are much more flavorful and crisp.

This is also Boar’s Head mesquite turkey from the deli… their meats and cheeses contain no fillers, gluten, artificial colors, flavors or trans fat.

You can tell it’s ‘real’ turkey, just from the texture.

(can you tell me what sandwich shop or restaurant piles pickles on like that?)

Now for some fresh Organic Spinach leaves, these guys have full stems and are sold in a bulk, rather than packaged.

Finishing it off with some basil pesto mayo so it won’t be dry and this adds a nice fresh flavor, without overwhelming the other flavors!Flip bread together and give it a nice firm smooooooosh.

Gotta make sure nothing is falling off of this guy!

(whoops lost an onion in the process )Time to make a center SLICE… look at that DELICIOUS sandwich.

I don’t eat sides with this… it’s big enough to fulfill my BIG appetite and I am not consuming empty calories from chips.

(but I totally had a slice of cake after this… shhhh! Those are very necessary calories, good for growing babies)

You can see the lovely and lightly toasted bread!

It’s still soft and chewy, not too crispy!Make sure that your tot is hanging from the fridge during the sandwich making process.

Shoeless Parx – either a “Damn Yankees” character or she is pretending to be Cinderella?I made this guys a few weeks ago, with some left over grilled chicken breast.

Similar concept, but this was made on the sandwich rounds.

If you haven’t had them, I highly suggest them.

Not too much bread, it is filled with oats and grains and is very tasty!

I used banana peppers, packaged spinach, onions, havarti (yum), colby jack and s/p.

Look at that bread!!!Another scrumptious and pretty healthy lunch!

I say that because some people may not consider cheese healthy.

I consider it a necessary addition to EVERY meal

I love love love cheese, any kind.

These are also VERY EASY to make vegetarian… add some more veggies, minus the meat.Voila…

I had contemplated giving her a ‘newborn session’ as a gift.

My thought was WHAT IF she didn’t like my work, what if that was a total flop and made me seem overly confident in myself?

Well, my solution was to have Paul call her husband and we got the A-OKAY!

It was now time to create my gift certificate.

Since I am in the process of re-branding

(and have been since forever now, since i have never even HAD a brand/logo), I don’t have go-to designs to keep all of my stuff in-unison.

Believe me I wish I did, it would make everything so much easier, prettier, and MY STYLE.  I will soon, woohoo!

Anyway, I am a little off topic now.

Paul won a trip through this company and I loved how they displayed their gift certificate.

Basically in a folded – die cut – concoction.

I decided it was time to replicate this guy:

First step was tracing the original shape, but I had to use two pieces of card-stock; since my paper isn’t long enough for the entire length of the original.

I then used the decorative scissors to create a ‘pretty’ edge.

(I created the actual Gift Certificate in Photoshop using: digital papers, pretty fonts, and different brushes for the designs)

I glued the extra side on the back rather than inside, because I thought it looked nice rather than slipping it under and having a seem on the right side of the underside.I then clipped a small piece of paper and folded it into a shape like this and glued (I only used HOT GLUE on this project) the two bases down, then glued the certificate to the top flat part of that piece., allowing my gift certificate to pop off the envelope a bit.

Next step was figuring out how to keep it closed.

The original had a slit cut in the paper to fold the end into.

I wanted to make a cute intial stamp like enclosure.

I used a font and printed it out BIG and then had Paul cut it out, I am NOT a straight cutter – it would be an oblong shapped letter

(below on the left you can see how the certificate doesn’t lay flat, there is some depth to it)
I glued on the envelope shut and then glued the letter on the envelope to ensure it wouldn’t pop open.

Then I used black felt zig zag ribbon and created two very simple loops that I glued the ends together (on the backside) – no bows, just a simple set of lines.Voila, a lovely homemade way to gift my services

I am NOT a crafty gal, so this was fun and very creative for me.

This isn’t super detailed step by step, but will provide enough information to know what I did.

Here is the original untouched shot (better known as SOOC – straight out of the camera):

Honestly?  It looks pretty good, but ME?  Well, I love a nice POP to my images.

SO…. I opened it in Adobe Camera Raw (part of the bridge program that comes with Photoshop.  Your photos do NOT have to be raw files.  I like to open JPGs in there, you have to right click and hit ‘Open in Camera Raw’ once a JPG is in Bridge)

*Please note that you can do ALL of these exact same adjustments in LR, which I do often, when I am editing an entire session.  When it’s new photos, where I just want to do a few for a ‘peek’ I open them in ACR before I import in LR.

So here is what it looks like straight out of ACR… now ready to fine-art-edit in Photoshop!Now, I ran a couple of actions.  One of which was Totally Rad Actions:  Pool Party and then another is an action I have created using their actions AND my own tweaking.

This ‘New Super Action’ Includes TRA’s:  Oh Snap, Get faded winter, Get faded summer, Burning, levels boost, Unsharp Mask, etc.

*Actions are GREAT tools IF and only IF you know how to do much of the altering yourself and can get great SOOC shots.  I always recommend learning your equipment and tools before buying everyone’s “EXTRAS.”

Use those tools to enhance YOUR GREAT SHOTS, in other words don’t rely on other’s to make it great… make sense?
You can see the process:  SOOC, Image from ACR, and Final PS edited Image.  Isn’t it lovely, that final product?

Ingredients:

• Small bag of potatoes
• Olive oil
• Salt & Pepper
• Fresh Rosemary
• Couple of garlic cloves.  Sliced and Diced.

Half or Quarter the potatoes, depending on the size.  Drizzle with olive oil.  Salt and pepper, c’mon be generous!  Throw in plenty of rosemary and garlic.  Bake at 400 degrees for 30-45 minutes.  Devour without feeling calorie guilty.

Fresh out of the oven!I also steamed artichokes and made hollandaise for dipping.  Divine!

My inspriation?  Julie and Julia!

Fresh clipped tips, those are prickly little suckers.

Mr. Artichoke – you are stunning!  Food is art.

Steamed to perfection… and of course throwing on some S&P along with some lemon pepper and garlic!The hollandaise were perfect and NOT made in a blender

P.S. After I made this I decided I DON’T LOVE steamed artichokes.  I do however LOVE LOVE hollandaise.  We finished them off at breakfast with my version of Eggs Benedict.  That was heaven.

My ingredients:

• Two pieces of white bakery bread (yes, I know wheat is better, but this was so soft and moist – plus it was made in the bakery)
• Olive Oil based Mayo
• Salt/Pepper
• Havarti Cheese (um, yum!!!)
• Thinly sliced tomato
• Paper Thin Vidalia Onion Slices
  
• Avocado – Nice and Ripe
  
• Iceberg Lettuce (I love the crispness it adds to the sandwich, obviously the least nutritious choice)
• Hot Pepper Rings (I think they are the same as banana peppers and add the perfect amount of tartness)

Here are the images from my lunch preparation. 

Pause: Don’t forget to feed the hungry baby some fresh veggies!

I love to load up on fresh cracked pepper and sea salt.  Ever since I had Pierson my salt liking spiked way too high.  I salt… salt.

Stack those veggies.  Mmmm.  Isn’t it bright and pretty?Woah, that’s a bit too high for my liking.Now, that is better – shmmoooosh.I could probably eat this every day.  Ciao!