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.

 

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.

 

---

 

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

 

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.

 

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.