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Friday, December 14, 2012

On Posting Recipes

I am by no means a food blogger but I love food. I love trying new recipes for my husband and posting them on the blog which I usually do once a week, normally on Saturdays. I get most of my recipes from Pinterest, I mean what the heck did we do before that? Oh yeah, I would email myself tons of recipes and they'd get lost in random folders and never get made. Most of the recipes I use come from food blogs which means the finished products insanely beautiful when posted. That got me thinking. Okay I understand if your a food blogger and blog about food alone, your stuff better look good. But there are times I make recipes from just regular blogs (lifestyle, mom, etc) and I swear it looks like they had a staging crew in their kitchen. So I wanted to talk about what goes into me making a recipe and posting it on my blog...

  • I meal plan because it is hard to cook for just 2 people, especially with Jon traveling 2-3 nights a week. On a normal week, I'd make 2-3 meals and either fend for myself the other nights, eat leftovers, or go out (restaurant, friends house, etc). I don't have a specific day that I grocery shop, it is usually when we are running low on milk, fruit, eggs, and cottage cheese (those are the things we go through the fastest...I usually buy 3.5 gallons of milk a week). And grocery shopping usually happens at 5pm after work.
  • I try to cook the more labor intense meals on the weekend so I have more time. Y'all...working full time out of the house is exhausting. I am up at 6:30q, leave at 7q, work from 7:30q-4:30p, home at 5p and sometimes the last thing I want to do is chop onions and stand over a hot stove. Heck we don't even have kids. Work outside the house mamas...you deserve a pat on the back. So anyway, I try to keep recipes simple and easy during the week so I can spend the little time I have with my husband, with Ernie, around the house, etc.
  • We usually have snacks right when I get home and eat dinner between 8-9pm...although lately it has been earlier because it gets darker earlier and thus we want to go to bed earlier. Jon is good about helping me if I need it but he does his own thing while I cook. 
  • While I'm cooking the kitchen looks like a train wreck. As clean and organized as I am, my kitchen is chaos while I cook. Sometimes I have recipe meltdowns when I realize I have to have 3 different pans going, pasta boiling, etc all at the same time. This is where I don't see how people have the time (or patience) to take pictures of their spices in pretty white bowls, them chopping fresh vegetables, etc. 
  • I have started ONLY taking pictures of the end result because it just got too time consuming. I cook to feed my husband and myself, blogging stuff comes second.
  • After the  meal is done, I throw it on a plate, nothing fancy at all, and snap a few pictures with my 50mm/1.8 lens. 
  • Sometimes its months before I actually post the recipe on my blog, or sometimes it's that very week. I like having extra recipes in my queue because I never write posts ahead of time and sometimes just need a filler. 
  • If I don't like something I make, I will not post it on the blog. And unfortunately this happens a lot with Pinterest. Something looks delicious in pictures but tastes like tar when you make it. Jon basically loves everything I make but I am the final judge on whether a meal will make it to the blog or not. 

Basically this post has no action items or main purpose but to tell you more about what goes into me posting a recipe on my blog. Not bashing food blogs at ALL because I love the way you can make enchiladas look appetizing because they are so dang hard to photograph! I wish I had the patience and time....

The goal of me posting recipes is to encourage other wives and women to prepare easy, delicious, and new meals for their families. You can find the recipes I've blogged about here. Enjoy!

10 comments:

Margaret Birch said...

I very much know what you mean. Food is not the easiest thing to photograph - especially when you are picky about the quality of photos that are on your blog. I think you do a great job! I'm definitely not an expert enough chef, yet, to be doing three things at once AND take pictures.

ashleigh said...

yes, there is so much "staging" done for food bloggers, and i think it is so cool; but i don't have the time for that haha

Sarah said...

We are SO similar! I love to meal plan and honestly it just makes life easier. And we don't eat dinner until 8 or 9. I know we should not be eating that late but after work and working out I just can not get it on the table any earlier than that. I do not know how moms do it!

Carolyn said...

I totally agree! I have tried a ton of bad recipes on Pinterest. But I've also found some gems! And taking pictures of food... NOT easy. :) I always love your recipe posts!

Danielle said...

Ruthie, I always think your recipe post still look great! I struggle with this too though..I love to cook and when I find a good recipe I want to share it, but my recipe posts are never staged and the photo quality isn't great..

But if the recipe is good, I still share it!

Amanda said...

Those roasted chickpea tacos look delicious and the photo looks professional! BigAppleNosh blogger has a post on how to take food photos somewhere in her archives if you want to learn :)

GingerPeachT said...

Ruthie, I totally can relate to cooking chaos!! I have been married for 2 years and just now getting the hang of timing every thing to be done at the same time. Lol
Oh, and by the time I cook it, I'm starving so I don't even have time to take pics because I devour it :-)
You always do a great job!

Anonymous said...

we're totally in the same boat :) one time someone commented on a pin of one of my recipes saying the hand in the picture looked gross. I replied saying, I cook for real people, even people with dirty hands, and I don't cook just for the blog!

thanks for sharing your behind the scenes :)

Dana said...

I have made your roasted chickpea tacos several times and we LOVE them. My hubby said he thinks he likes them better than regular tacos! I have been blogging for almost a year, usually about food, but not always. I just got a new camera and the pictures are a lot better, but still not like some peoples. It's usually dark by the time I'm ready to serve, so no natural light for the pics is a problem. And I just made some caramel cupcakes off a blog last night...and just because they look good on a blog does NOT mean they taste decent. UGH! WAY sweet, and coming from me who likes sweet, that's saying something! Anyway, love your blogging honesty!

Daniel Anthony said...

You can know everything on posting recipes. Useful post
Culinary Classes

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