Pancake Ninja

Gluten Free Pesto Zucchini Pizza

noreply@blogger.com (PancakeNinja) — Tue, 21 May 2013 14:44:00 +0000

Thumbs up to Bob’s Red Mill gluten free Pizza Crust mix it tastes just fine. I made two pizzas with it.

For the first one I roasted some zucchini and onions.

I love pesto on pizza it adds such a nice flavor.

And cheese, with a layer of zucchini.

onions and some pepperoni or salami or whatever you have.

Tomato slices with most of the drippy seeds and juice removed.

topped with more mozzarella and cheddar.

Baked until the cheese is good an melty.

Next I tried for more of a traditional looking pizza. I started with tomato sauce,

shredded mozzarella, salami,

and a bunch of fresh parsley.

And tomato slices topped with more cheese.

When I pulled it out of the oven I had to see what was going on under there. I didn’t want to find that the middle was gooey. yay, it looked fine. And it was flexible! After the crumbly wraps I was expecting it to fall apart.

Let cool a little and serve.

Gluten Free Pizza

ingredients

2 partially baked gluten free pizza crusts

Pesto zucchini Pizza

1/2-1/4 cup pesto
1 zucchini sliced and roasted
1/4 onion sliced and roasted
8oz shredded mozzarella/ cheddar /pepper jack
a few slices pepperoni or what ever you have on hand
1 tomato sliced, drained and seeded

Tomato Pizza

tomato sauce
shredded mozzarella/cheddar
a few slices pepperoni or what ever you have on hand
1 tomato sliced, drained and seeded
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Layer on partially cooked pizza dough the toppings in whatever order you like. And top with cheese.

*I like the pesto or tomato sauce as the 1st layer.

bake at 425 until cheese is melty and the crust is lightly brown.

Bob’s Pizza crust

noreply@blogger.com (PancakeNinja) — Mon, 20 May 2013 17:13:00 +0000

I tried Bob’s Red Mill gluten free Pizza crust mix. I found it at Big Lots of all places.

I did not know it came with a packet of yeast.

But there it was so I used it.

The instructions on the bag are very easy.

I might put just a little less water in next time and add it if it feels like it needs it.

pouring all the water in made dissolving the yeast more of a challenge but I got it.

a couple of eggs

and olive oil

then mixed it together.

Poured in the whole bag of gluten free pizza crust mix

and carefully mixed it. Ok, some of spilled out when I was mixing in a hurry.

In my hurry I forgot that the directions said to let it rise for 20 minutes. I just put it in a backing sheet right away.

This stuff is sticky, I didn’t even try to roll it out with a rolling pin. I just mashed it out with my singers and washed my hands off a lot.

It worked fine if you’re ok with it looking a little lumpy.

While the 1st one was in the oven I wrapped up the other ball of dough to put in the fridge ‘cause they said it can be stored in the fridge. Then I re-read the part about letting it rise for 20 minutes. Oops. So I unwrapped the 2nd one and left it to rise in a bowl on top of the freezer where it’s warm.

Here’s the risen dough. Very soft and airy but still very sticky.

So sticky that I grabbed a butter paper and used that to spread it out on the baking sheet.

I think that got it smoother.

Conclusion from letting it rise or baking right away: Not noticeably different.

Now I’m off to pick out some pizza toppings

Earth social icons

noreply@blogger.com (PancakeNinja) — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:30:00 +0000

New icons for you today made in earth tones.
This free set includes a Ravelry icon for all my knitwit friends out there. I did try to make the yarn ball logo but it just wasn’t working so I settled on the Ravelry “R”. This set is dedicated to Christenknits, a fellow raveler.

Included in set:

Facebook
Pinterest
Twitter
Etsy
Ravelery
Tumblr
RSS
Email
Blogger
Good reads
Google plus
Instagram
Bloglovin
Flickr
Linked in
Youtube
and a blank one to edit yourself.

in two sizes, 500px and small 50 px

Leave a link in the comments to where you use them I’d love to see them at work.
click to Download

The fog rolled in and the fog rolled out

noreply@blogger.com (PancakeNinja) — Wed, 15 May 2013 13:25:00 +0000

Calderwood lake after the rain.

The fog rolled in and the fog rolled out.

Dana caught a few fish.

and was busy cleaning them.

Don’t ask me what kind of fish, lets just call them fish ok?

Later on Dana came over as the rain stopped and said You need to get out in that canoe with that camera as the sun sets and the fog clears out.

I knew he was right the minute he said it.

So we headed out.

The fog came and went and the water was just as still as could be.

The wind started to pick up and ripple the glassy water. And there it was, that moment when you know you got the photo you came for.

Big shout out to Dana for getting me to be in the right place at the right time for this photo!

Crumbly Gluten free wraps

noreply@blogger.com (PancakeNinja) — Fri, 10 May 2013 13:34:00 +0000

I was very excited when I found these gluten free wraps. I thought I was going to have to give up wraps to eat gluten free. That changed when I got these. For a few days I left them in the freezer just happy that I COULD have wraps if I wanted to. Finally I got them out and threw together some version gone astray of Ree’s wrap recipe.

I got out a piece of cream cheese and put it in a bowl to soften.

then headed to the garden for a handful of parsley.

Chopped it up with one of my new knifes. Yes, I got some new knives. Thanks Ellen!

Toss the chopped parsley in the bowl.

Then I ran back to the garden for a few onion tops.

Chopped them up

and added them to the bowl.

juice of half of a lemon.

Then I mixed it together and think a larger bowl would’ve been better.

If you have one of those julienner things use it, if not you can just chop you carrots real thin with a knife like I did.

a few red bell pepper slices,

a few orange bell pepper slices,

a few yellow bell pepper slices,

and a few green bell pepper slices.

Then get one of the wraps. If you dawdle as much as I do and you’d kept your wraps in the freezer they’d be thawed and then some by now.

Scoop out some cream cheese spread

and spread it around.

put some lettuce on,

a few carrots, some yellow peppers,

red peppers,

a few orange peppers, green peppers,

and a few slices of ham.

Then roll it up.

This is the sad part,

I started to cut then and it all cracked!

It was like there was no gluten to help it hang together.

So they were more like 3 sided crumbly sandwiches.

They tasted all right though.

I think next time I will try using these gluten free wraps as quesadillas maybe cheese will hold it all together.

Crumbly Gluten Free Wraps

ingredients

Udi gluten free wraps
8oz cream cheese
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1 tablespoon chopped onion tops
juice of half of a lemon
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 yellow bell pepper julienned
1/4 orange bell pepper julienned
1/4 red bell pepper julienned
1/4 green bell pepper julienned
lettuce leaves
lunch meat slices

In a bowl, mix cream cheese, parsley, onions, and lemon juice.

Spread cream cheese spread on wrap, layer on vegetables and lunch meat. Roll up and slice. Serve right away or make ahead. They don’t get any more crumbly sitting in the fridge.

Softly the evening came

noreply@blogger.com (PancakeNinja) — Thu, 09 May 2013 00:57:00 +0000

Maple Lemon Tarts -Gluten free

noreply@blogger.com (PancakeNinja) — Mon, 06 May 2013 13:39:00 +0000

I saw a recipe for Gluten free lemon tarts on Golubka and the food styling had me at first sight.
I had to modify the recipe substantially since I don’t have pine nuts and already had an idea of what I wanted it to taste like.

For the gluten free crust In a bowl add almond flour,

oat flour,

sugar and a little less coconut oil than I used.

Mix it together

then press crumbs into pans with your fingers. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes or so.

While they’re baking zest a lemon or just enough to get yourself a teaspoon of zest.

Toss the zest in the bowl you made the crust in along with sour cream,

lemon juice,

sugar,

and two egg yolks. Mix together then check on the crust.

Uh-oh! They aren’t supposed to look like that! I think too much oil makes it slide down the edges.

Back to the filling, add some maple syrup and mix.

If the crust is going to be disagreeable don’t worry about it and pout the filling in anyway.

Bake for 10 minutes.

Let cool completely.

Garnish with eatable flowers or berries before serving.

Maple Lemon Tart Gluten free

Crusts
1 cup almond flour
1/2 cup oat flour pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tablespoons coconut oil

Lemon Filling
16oz sour cream
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons maple syrup
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F
In a large bowl, combine all of the crust ingredients. press the mixture into mini tart pans or mini pie pans evenly with your fingers. Bake the shells for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

While crust is baking, combine egg yolks, sour cream, remaining 1/4 cup sugar, vanilla extract, and lemon zest.
Remove baked crust from oven and immediately pour sour cream mixture into the hot crust. Return to oven for 10 minutes. Remove from oven, let cool, and then refrigerator until serving time.
Garnish with edible flowers or berries or anything else you like.

Gluten Free Quinoa Pizza bites

noreply@blogger.com (PancakeNinja) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 19:03:00 +0000

If you’re like me and like pizza but still haven’t made your own gluten free pizza crust or even have the right flours on hand yet, these little quinoa pizza bites are just perfect.

fresh basil from the garden or some from the store if it’s not in season.

Mozzarella, sautéed onions, roasted red bell peppers, garlic, and basil.

I like this recipe because you prep everything and then throw it all in a bowl. Simple, I like Simple.

Just put it all in the bowl. Quinoa,

sautéed onions, roasted red bell peppers, garlic, mozzarella, basil,

and some dried oregano

crushed pretty small. I just rubbed it in my hands.

Take some pepperoni slices or salami or whatever you have, improvise do not got to the store if you’re missing one ingredient.

chop it up and sorta separate the pieces.

add pepperoni and a pinch or two of salt,

oh, I almost forgot the eggs.

Mix it all together.

Oh wait, some paprika too. Ok, now mix it.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, clear sheet protectors are great!

grease small muffin pans

and spoon filling in to just below the top.

Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. I should have listened to myself,I think I over filled them a bit.

Let cool a little before removing from pan.

Serve with dipping sauce if you like.

Thanks Becky! These were Great!

Gluten Free Quinoa Pizza bites

made from SoVeryBlessed recipe

ingredients

2 cups cooked quinoa
2 large eggs
1 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup roasted red pepper chopped
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2-4 garlic cloves chopped
1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped
1 cup chopped pepperoni slices
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp dried crushed oregano
pizza sauce for dipping if you wish

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Mix together all ingredients, except pizza sauce, in a medium mixing bowl.

3. Distribute mixture into a greased mini muffin tin, filling each cup to the top (1 heaping Tbs each), and press down gently to compact.

4. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

George Jones

noreply@blogger.com (PancakeNinja) — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 12:02:00 +0000

When George Jones came to town, they came out to see him. They knew better than I did that it would be the last time. They came with their walkers, sat in uncomfortable chairs, stayed out past their bedtime, just to hear him sing one more time. They didn’t come to hear a tired 81 year old voice that didn’t cooperate like it used to.

F/5 1/100 sec ISO-6400

George sang a line then turned the mic toward the audience they sang back in voices that sounded about as raspy.

They didn’t mind.

F/4 1 sec. ISO 6400

They had come for the memories that his songs bring them back to. They came to remember moments from the past.

At the end I talked to one little old man sitting on one of those walkers that has the seat thing for resting when not walking. I told him I thought it was great that George was up on that stage at 81 doing what he loved.

He told me he was 83. Then he blinked the water from his eyes and looked off into the distance and said the music they make today just wasn’t like it used to be.

Then his daughter walked up and asked him if he was ready to go.

He asked her if she’d brought the horses ‘round. Then he laughed.

Food photography inspiration

noreply@blogger.com (PancakeNinja) — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 12:43:00 +0000

In addition to having good light, a little food styling can help too.

I remember stumbling across Running with Tweezers blog while looking for some recipe and finding out she has styled food for places like Southern Living and even McDonalds and Publix! From that day on I stopped to take a second look at fast food advertisements. Just to study the styling of course.

Other times I’ll grab some old magazines and look through them to see what I can learn.

First I spot this fresh tomato sandwich and think Yum I’d like a fresh tomato sandwich. Then I look at it and imagine myself making this sandwich. I’d need a perfect curly leaf of lettuce, a leaf that would still hold some shape when two tomato slices were placed on it.

I make note of the sandwich not put together the way you’d eat it at all but this way you can see the tomatoes better. The I also make note of the slices of bread at slightly different angles in the background. I like those details there that are part of the story yet not the main focus.

On this page I just notice the pitcher of lemonade and on second glance I see they’ve gone to the porch for good light and a nice background.

I like the whole styled table outside. This gives me so many ideas from the angle of the light all the way to the starfish and snails. Upon closer inspection I notice that each shrimp has been carefully placed on that pasta.

I like wraps and this photo says easy and quick lunch to me. I also like to study the angle it was taken from. I was picturing them standing on a chair to take this one.

Oh yay a pull back shot! Yes, sometimes putting it on a chair works really well.

These are just too cute! When Strawberry season gets here I am going to try these for sure.

Most of the time when I’m making something I have no plans on how I’m going to style it, I just try stuff. With these cuties I just started peeling one and saw it had potential to look like a flower.

I looked at it one more time and decided to put it right on top.

Maybe somewhere in the back of my mind I had the flower idea from the strawberry photo in the magazine.

Happy shooting.

~PN

Two-bite Black Bean Brownies

noreply@blogger.com (PancakeNinja) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 13:20:00 +0000

This is my first attempt at gluten free brownies made with beans. I won’t lie, they tasted a bit healthy but with vanilla ice cream they are just perfect.

Start with 15 oz. of cooked black beans from a can or cooked yourself.

Drain and rinse them.

In a blender add beans,

eggs, coconut oil, vanilla,

a handful of dates,

cocoa powder,

sugar,

millet flour, salt and baking powder. Blend until smooth. Add a little water if it get too thick to blend.

spoon into greased muffin tins and bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.

Optional: top with chopped nuts.

serve warm or make ahead and serve with vanilla ice cream.

Gluten-Free two-bite Black Bean Brownies

ingredients

1 15oz. can black beans rinsed and drained

3 eggs

5 tablespoons coconut oil

2 tablespoons vanilla

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup dates

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup millet flour

1/4 cup water if necessary to blend beans

Toss everything in the blender except water and blend until smooth. Add a little water if it’s too think to blend.

Spoon into greased muffin pans and bake 15-20 minutes at 350. Serve warm or make ahead.

Do I need to Clean my sensor?

noreply@blogger.com (PancakeNinja) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 23:13:00 +0000

I have never cleaned the sensors on my cameras since I’ve owned them.

1. I never thought about it.

2. When I changed lenses outside I just held my breath sure that that would somehow keep any dust from getting in there.

Then I read how to see if your sensor has stuff on it by simply taking a photo at f/22 of the sky or a white piece of paper and you see dark spots or are just finding yourself cloning out spots in the sky of photos shot at f/22 or what ever your lens’s highest aperture is.

Well that was me. So I took my cameras to get their sensors cleaned.

Mike was awesome and cleaned sensors for those of us who were too chicken to do it our selves. He started out by putting on gloves.

Then he wiped everything down.

He then locked up the mirror.

Took this blower thing

And blew it out careful to hold the camera up so the dust will fall out and not back in.

Then he took this looking thing, yeah, a magnifying glass sort of thing with a light

to look at the sensor and see if the blower thing did the trick.

Joe wasn’t chicken, he did his camera himself.

Next they got out a brush wiper thing,

sensor cleaner

and put drop on the wiper brush.

Mike carefully wiped it across just the sensor.

Then he used something called a lens pen that looks like it’s got a weird eraser on the end.

I think it’s sorta like a mini carpet sweeper and supposed to pick up stuff.

Got the blower back out

Then he used what looked to me to be an ordinary paint brush and brushed out any thing left in there.

Put the lens back on, took a look at the sky and we were good to go.

Strawberry Oat Smoothie

noreply@blogger.com (PancakeNinja) — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 14:26:00 +0000

Going gluten free has gone pretty well this past week for me, even though I did have to force myself to walk away from some pasta that was taunting me.

Oats and avocado together are my favorite smoothie ingredients lately. I think strawberries add a lovely flavor to any smoothie.

In a blender, add avocado,

Strawberries,

orange juice concentrate,

and honey. If you want to feel more healthy you could toss in some flax meal or something like that. Blend until smooth. Add some water if it’s getting too thick to continue blending. When the oats and berries are smooth add ice and more water until you like the taste and consistency.

Just pretend this glass is clean ok?

Serve right away or make ahead.

Strawberry Oat Smoothie

ingredients

1/2 cup rolled oats soaked in 1 cup hot water
1/2 avocado
1 cup frozen strawberries
2 tablespoons raw honey
1 tablespoon orange juice concentrate
2 cups ice cubes
1/2 cup water

In a blender add oats, avocado, honey, strawberries, orange juice concentrate and a little water and blend until smooth. Then add ice and water until you like the taste and consistency. Serve right away or or make ahead.

Chalk Art

noreply@blogger.com (PancakeNinja) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 13:34:00 +0000

Thought I’d share a few photos from the Dogwood arts Chalk walk in downtown.

Apricot and Cutie pie

noreply@blogger.com (PancakeNinja) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 13:08:00 +0000

This is my first attempt at making a gluten free pie. I’m not thrilled with the crust but the pie was good.

First peel a bunch of cuties and peel more if you’re going to be eating then as you work.

In a pot add water and a few strawberries.

Then add the juice from a can of apricot halves,

and corn starch. Mix it together so there aren't any clumps.

A teeny bit of cloves.

Two teenys of nutmeg.
Over medium heat stir until thickening.

Arrange cuties

and apricot halves

in the pie shells how ever you like.

Pour the sauce over the fruit and let chill an hour or so before serving.

For garnish you can peal one cutie carefully leaving the sections slightly connected at the bottom and place it on top of pie.

Let chill an hour or so before serving.

Apricot and Cutie pie

Ingredients

Pre Baked gluten free pie shells
8-10 Peeled and sectioned cuties
1 can apricot halves in light syrup
1- 1 1/2 cups water
3/4 cup apricot light syrup
3 table spoons maple syrup
3-4 tablespoons non GMO corn starch
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
4 frozen strawberries for color

In a pot add water and corn starch. Mix until smooth. Then add apricot syrup, cloves, nutmeg strawberries and sugar. Over medium heat stir until thickening.

Arrange the cuties and apricot halves in pie shell. Pour sauce over fruit and let cool a few hours or over night. Serve when set.

Gluten Free pie crust

noreply@blogger.com (PancakeNinja) — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 11:29:00 +0000

I did not start my day intending to make gluten free pie crust, I was just going to make some blueberry cherry pie and make pie crust like I always do. Then I found out I’m gluten intolerant.

I was at the chiropractors telling her I wasn’t going to do any more Epsom salt baths because it made my eczema (notice how I call it my eczema? I’ve had it so long I think it’s part of me) break out all over my back.

Instead of her agreeing with me and saying Epsom salt was bad. She said that was ok and it was was working to draw stuff out of my body through my skin. While I’m thinking itchy skin is not anything to be excited about she says she’ll test me for gluten intolerance. She had me hold my arm out straight and she pressed down gently. My arm didn’t move much. Then she grabbed three vials of some concentrated glutens and held them to my chest and pushed my arm down like nothing. She said I was gluten intolerant. It felt to me like she just pushed much harder on my arm when she held the vials to my chest. She assured me she had used the same amount of pressure both times.

You want me to go gluten free? No, you don’t seem to understand, I’m making blueberry cherry pies today. I make plans and like to stick to them and the crust is already made and waiting for me.

I thought about it and decided to give it a try. If she’s right, good. If she’s crazy and totally wrong about this I haven’t lost anything by not eaten gluten for a month or so. I can always go back to my previous option of buying more corticosteroids and the continuing possibility of becoming immune to them.

I did make the blueberry cherry pies with the pie crust as planned and recruited volunteers to help me out and eat the pies.

Then I decided to make gluten free pie crust!

I read a few recipes online and didn’t have all the stuff so I tried it with just rice flour. It’d not flakey by any stretch of the imagination that’s for sure. I’ll work on some other pie crust recipes in the future.

But right now all I want is some pasta with that pesto I made last fall and put in the freezer so I could have some right about now. I’ll be studying gluten free pasta recipes too.

Gluten free rice flour Pie crust

ingredients

1 3/8 cups rice flour
1/2 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 stick unsalted butter, very cold
1 cup ice water (toss a couple ice cubes in)

In a bowl mix together 2 1/2 cups rice flour, sugar and salt. cut butter into pieces.With a pastry blender cut the butter into the flour mixture. stop when all of the butter pieces are the size of tiny peas.
Start by drizzling tablespoons of the ice-cold water over the butter and flour. Start working it together. Add water spoon a at a time until dough come together. Be careful to not add too much water. wrap with plastic wrap. Let the dough chill in the fridge or pop it in the freezer for a little while before rolling it out.

Maybe she needs glasses

noreply@blogger.com (PancakeNinja) — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 17:31:00 +0000

Please welcome Levonne Helm, the new rescue puppy.
Levonne was practicing “catch the falling biscuit” but it wasn’t all that successful she got hit in the nose with more biscuits than went in her mouth.
Jon suggested maybe she needs glasses.
So I brought out my Hanson brothers glasses for her to try…

She loves glasses! They taste great.

Miss EmmaⅡ

noreply@blogger.com (PancakeNinja) — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 19:51:00 +0000

Miss Emma II is a pretty ‘99 Kenworth that had just come in from California.

I asked who Miss Emma was named after. Emma grins and said “Me.”

She told me they’d had a custom sleeper put on. I forget the measurements, but it’s extra long.

It’s set up like a little camper in there. They’ve got a one burner stove so they don’t have to eat truck stop food all the time, a shower/toilet, mini fridge, and a table that converts into a bed.

The steering wheel was well worn and then some.

Emma laughed and said her husband had left the bull dog in the truck one time and the dog did what any bull dog left alone with nothing to do might do, he chewed on the wooden steering wheel.

“It gives it character” she said. remembering the bull dog fondly.

They won’t be making it home for Easter this year. But they have some family in TN stopping by the truck stop for a quick visit before they have to get back on the road.

Life on the road is a hard way to make a living.

Happy resurrection day whether you’re at home, at a truck stop or somewhere in between doing whatever it takes to make ends meet.

~PN

Editing with Picmonkey. A test

noreply@blogger.com (PancakeNinja) — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 12:20:00 +0000

Some of you have been asking me about how I edit my photos and if it could be done with something simple like Picmonkey.

First I want to say having a good photo to edit helps tremendously. Learning how all the settings work on your camera is good too. I’m not telling you to sit down and read the manual or anything.

I just google any questions I have and usually find it covered nicely in a forum, YouTube review, KenRockwell, digital photography school and sometimes right in the camera’s manual of all things! I love the pdf versions it’s not really like reading the manual even though you really are reading the manual.

I can’t stress this one enough and I don’t think I’ve mastered it yet myself, Lighting lighting lighting. Lighting will make or break the photo.

After reading a Miz Booshay post on thepioneerwoman about setting your picture controls to “Vivid” I decided to try it. I tried it and have left it on Vivid ever since. When I shoot in raw all of the picture control settings are available in post processing but I’m not going into raw and jpg. right now. Other people could probably explain it better anyway.

So yeah, you might want to experiment with what picture controls you like.

I’ll let you guess which of these flower photos was edited in PicMonkey.

I decided to edit a random photo in picmonkey and here’s how it went.

I uploaded a SOOC .jpg

I always like to fix my white balance first. I found the temperature slider and put it at –14 to get rid of some of the yellow from the lights in the kitchen. Yes, I broke that lighting rule here but the sun had already gone over the hill by the time we were ready to eat.

Next I went to exposure and got frustrated with the limited choices. I wanted to have a slider to start in the middle and let me darken or lighten both highlights and shadows. Not here, You can further blow out the highlight on the onions or bring the brightness down on the overall photo. Which is what I opted for. Then I played with the shadows and contrast a little.

Next I went to sharpen. I put the clarity at +2, if I went much higher it got awful dark.

I always resize for web I don’t see any point in posting photos larger than people are going to view and in remembrance of those days of dial up slow internet I want my post to load sometime this week.

I checked the box to keep the proportions and resized down to 950 pixels.

Then I saved it.

I think that was an a pretty bad photo to use as a test. I edited this one in pic monkey too, and it’s not too bad.

This photo was taken out on the porch. Yup, Light!

So I think my conclusion is if you have a good photo you can do a fair amount in Picmonkey but it really isn't for rescuing photos you took inside after it got dark and you’d forgotten you’d left your camera set for outside, had cried your eyes out over the onions and had planned to never show anyone that you took such a fuzzy photo.

For a quick minor edit that you can access anywhere because it’s web based PicMonkey is pretty sweet.

I encourage you to take more photos. Good, bad, and all the in between because the more you shoot the more you will learn.

Take a class, Join a photography group, read, don’t be afraid to ask other photographers you admire, know, see out in public, where ever. Most are very friendly and are more than happy to give you pointers and answer your questions.

Happy Shooting

~PN

Spring Pastel Scalloped Icons

noreply@blogger.com (PancakeNinja) — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 13:19:00 +0000

I made some new fun icons for you. I hope you like them.
These were made with some free brushes from etoile-du-nord.deviantart.com and
Free Icon Font from fontspace.com.
This set includes:
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Instagram
Flickr
DeviantArt
Digg
Google +
Etsy
email
Picasa
Blogger
Bloglovin
GoodReads
Linked In
RSS
Tumblr
Vimeo
Skipe
YouTube
Creative Commons
Amazon
Paypal
Ebay

These icons are free to download, use, modify, and inspire you to make something creative.
Download Here

Let me know what you think of them. I’d love to see where you use them.

Pixie Dust: A Favorite lightroom preset

noreply@blogger.com (PancakeNinja) — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 12:22:00 +0000

One of my new favorite Lightroom preset has been Pixie dust from Siem Effects. There are six presets in the color fantasies 1.7 sampler but the Pixie dust is by far my favorite.

Here’s a few before and after images edited with Pixie Dust.

Siem Effects facebook page has the free download for the Lightroom 4 color fantasies sampler presets. Plus there are Lightroom 1-3 compatible presets in there too because Gavin’s cool like that.

Thanks Gavin for giving away a sampler of the presets you make!

Raw Nori wraps

noreply@blogger.com (PancakeNinja) — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 13:40:00 +0000

Thanks to Pinterest, I found a beautiful photo of raw nori rolls and had to make some. They not only looked good, they are very good for you.

Slice up some carrots, red bell pepper,

green bell pepper, avocado, parsley and lettuce.

Take a sheet of nori

spread hummus on it leaving a little room at the edge.

In the center place carrots, avocado,

peppers,

parsley and lettuce.

Carefully roll up tightly.

Slice into 1-2” thick slices.

That’s all.

They are so pretty you might want to take a photo first before you eat them, I know I did.

Vegan Nori Rolls

Inspired by Rawalicious and

Rebecca’s Remedy

INGREDIENTS:

nori sheets
thinly slice the following vegetables:
sweet red pepper
green bell pepper
carrots
lettuce leaves
1 avocado
parsley

hummus

Spread hummus on nori sheets, pile the vegetables on, roll up tightly and slice into 1-2” slices.

That’s all. Super easy

A horse guest

noreply@blogger.com (PancakeNinja) — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 00:20:00 +0000

I don’t have a horse but there was definitely a horse at the edge of the yard.

If it wasn’t for this horse stopping by randomly I would’ve missed the beautiful golden light just before the sun went down.

She was kind of shy

and hid behind a tree so I wouldn’t notice her.

I hid behind a tree also and peeked the camera out just enough

To get another photo.

Then her owners came and took her home.

The end.

Happy Sunday night,

PN.

3 B Smoothie

noreply@blogger.com (PancakeNinja) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 12:14:00 +0000

This Blueberry Broccoli and Bean smoothie was inspired by Hannah’s 4 B smoothie. I didn’t have any bananas so this is just a 3 B smoothie.

Here’s what I started with plus the things I forgot to remember to get together for the group photo. But this is most of it.

I only put 3 pieces of broccoli in, I was scared.

Next I tossed in a few frozen green beans,

and Some honey.

I used maybe a third of a piece of tofu

A spoon of orange juice concentrate,

some flaxmeal but not too much ‘cause that stuff isn’t real tasty in large quantities.

Half a container of blueberries and blended until it was pretty smooth. Then stopped to taste test added ice and blended again until no broccoli chunks remained.

Serve immediately.

3B Smoothie

ingredients

3 or 4 broccoli florets
1/2 cup frozen green beans
about a 1/2 cup tofu
1 tablespoon orange juice concentrate
big spoon of honey
1 teaspoon flaxmeal
1 cup blueberries
1-2 cups ice cubes

Place all ingredients in blender reserving most of the ice cubes and blend. Once relatively smooth add more ice and blend until you like it.

Serve immediately. Or make ahead and ignore the discoloration of the broccoli

Guacamole Grilled Cheese

noreply@blogger.com (PancakeNinja) — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 14:01:00 +0000

This simple Guacamole grilled cheese sandwich is every bit as good as it looks!
One warning though, it is one messy thing to eat. You either need a fork or to be eating it around people you’re comfortable licking your fingers in front of.
Now that you are informed about the dangers, here’s how it was made:

Butter one side of each piece of bread.

place some cheddar on each side

Place fresh Guacamole one one side.
Grill each piece of bread butter side down until cheese is melty. Then place the just cheese piece of bread on to the cheese and guacamole bread. Over low or no heat let warm until cheese is dripping out.

Eat warm.

Guacamole Grilled Cheese

Adapted from Closet cooking

ingredients

sour dough bread or any bread really
fresh guacamole
cheddar cheese but I prefer Cabot cheddar