Sweet Potato Soup

I have to share this sweet potato soup with you because it was absolutely exquisite. I'm picky about how I like my sweet potatoes cooked and am officially convinced they are perfect in soup form. I made this dish for the NY Times a couple weeks ago and ate it twice a day for five days. The Belgian-style beer makes this dish, giving it that subtle hint of yeast. Florence Fabricant tops the soup with toasted mini marshmallows, giving a fun little nod to the classic sweet potato casserole topped with marshmallows.

Get the recipe here

An Oh My Veggies, Meatless Thanksgiving!

I photographed this delicious, vegetarian, Thanksgiving menu that the wonderful ladies at Oh My Veggies are sharing. The spread includes traditional sides with a twist, gravy and a main dish!

Click on the dish titles to get the full recipes and even more photos. We hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Lentil and Roasted Root Vegetable Strudel

Vegan Green Bean Casserole with French Fried Onions

Slow Cooker Rosemary Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Caramelized Onion Gravy

Wild Rice Pilaf with Brussels Sprouts and Sage Vinaigrette

Pumpkin Cheddar Stuffing

Autumn-scape

This time of year there is so much beautiful color outside, so sometimes it's nice to let that color be the star and work with neutrals on the inside. Meagan Camp styled this beautiful, non-traditional,  autumnal tablescape keeping this in mind. Soft, creamy white linens, neutral serveware, warm woods, splashes of gold and a few outdoor elements like these branch clippings and pumpkin make for a sophisticated, fall setting. This is a dinner party I would love to be invited to!

Meagan pulled pieces from Hammertown, Target and Hudson Made soaps for a little gift for your guests.

Tri-Tip

Last week my images of this amazing tri-tip recipe were in the New York Times. The article is written by Kim Severson and hits on some interesting facts about cuts of meat and introduces the tri-tip to us east-coasters, as it seems to be quite rare out here. This California Beef Rub recipe that comes along with it made the meat, hands down. It is made up of coffee, salt, peppers, brown sugar, cloves, garlic and cinnamon. Such an interesting and bold mix of flavors- I loved it.  You can roast this or grill it- if you can, I strongly recommend the grill.

California Beef Rub recipe

Santa Maria Tri-Tip recipe

Apple Sauce

My favorite thing about fall: apple picking.

Yes, I love the colors of this season but I'm not too fond of the weather getting colder and days getting shorter. At least to cope with this we get apple picking (and soup)!  My favorite orchard in the Hudson Valley is DuBois Farms. They have peaches, plums, nectarines, apples by the truckload, grapes, pears, the most amazing tomatoes and pumpkins. I found myself at this orchard 3 times this year so needless to say I have an abundance of apples.

I picked so many apples that we couldn't eat them fast enough. These guys traveled back and forth from the city to the Hudson Valley with me at least 4 times- I didn't want to leave them behind to rot during my trips! I finally decided that it was time to turn them into sauce. I love this recipe for making sauce with the skins on because it cuts out all of that time and the tedious task of peeling the apples.

Apple Sauce

Makes: approximately 6 cups

12-14 medium sized apples (I used a variety of McIintosh, Gala and Golden Delicious)

1 1/2 cups water

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup lemon juice

Wash, core and quarter the apples (leaving skins on). Place them in a large, heavy bottomed saucepan. Add the water, sugar and lemon juice; stir to combine. Over high heat bring mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to medium-low, cook partially covered until apples are very soft, approximately 40 minutes. In batches, remove apples from the pot and place in a food mill, grind until skins and flesh are completely separated and apple sauce is smooth. Transfer sauce into jars and refrigerate for up to a week.

The Hill

So there's this hill, it's pretty magical, especially this time of year. When I think about it, this hill kinda sorta means a lot to me. It reminds me of my time spent at photo school where I first had been introduced to this beautiful spot, it reminds me of my best friend Sarah whom is almost always with me when I'm there and it reminds me of another great friend, Kristin Nicholas. This hill is along the windy, dirt, country road that leads to Kristin's house. Sarah and I got to know Kristin while we were at photo school and have kept the relationship since. Last fall I photographed Kristin's most recent book, Crafting a Colorful Home (in stores January 2015!!). Sarah came along for one of the shoots that was in October, she is such an amazing friend and travel companion, and we were driving to Kristin's home early in the morning to start the day of photographing. It was an eery, extremely foggy morning, absolutely beautiful. It was the best foliage I had seen in a long time (this year may have trumped it though!). Sarah and I were in shock at how beautiful the fog and colors were. We ended up stopping multiple times to whip out our cameras and get shots of the landscape. I'm so happy to say that some even made it into the book!

A couple weeks ago Sarah and I took the same trip, a little get away to see the New England colors, and we ended up in the same situation: driving down Kristin's road with fog, just starting to lift, unveiling the most vibrant leaves I've ever seen. This time we came across some friends on the hill, these beautiful cows. The perfect photo-op.

Kristin's hill (which is just as breathtaking, especially when dotted with her sheep):

There was even a monarch butterfly (see it on the flower!?) fluttering by, my favroite, thrown in there to make it all the more surreal. Shouldn't he be migrating for winter? No complaints here.

Roasted tomato, red pepper and fennel soup with fried sage and feta.

Soup season is upon us once more and it's making me excited to try all the different soups I've been bookmarking for months! Tomato is definitely up there with my favorite soup varieties and last week when I stumbled across Lindsay Emery's blog post about this roasted tomato, red pepper and fennel soup, I knew exactly what I was making for dinner that night. Luckily, I had an abundance of tomatoes that needed to be used up from picking at the orchard and I had sage in the fridge from another recipe...it was perfect.

Roasting all of these veggies together in the same pan smells amazing and is picture perfect. I basically followed the recipe making a few changes here and there, adding herbs in additional spots and included some thyme in there as well. I love the spicy-ness of this soup, it really opens your sinuses and it amazes me how strong the red pepper vegetable taste is, even though it is way out numbered by tomatoes. Topping it with feta is brilliant- I will definitely be making this over and over!

For the recipe: go here!