What's for Dinner?

I love trying new recipes and visit several recipes sites looking for inspiration. I also like watching the Food Network...I'm addicted to watching the Food Network Challenges. The other day, they had a food stylist challenge, meaning the food had to photograph well. I was very interested in that one.

Now, I'm not a food stylist by any stretch of the imagination, but I do like to photograph my food. One of the first pictures I took and actually printed after getting my dslr was of a ham and swiss on rye sandwich. :)

More than once the family has had to ask, "Will you please stop taking pictures so we can eat supper!?" I made myself stop tonight before they had a chance to say anything...the chili smelled too good and I was hungry!

The chili is a Rachael Ray recipe, BBQ Beef and Baked Bean Chili. DH requested it, which made me feel good. Not all the new recipes I try are "keepers"...lol! I pretty much followed the recipe, except I didn't use ground sirloin (too much $$ for my budget), so I had to drain the extra fat. The recipe never says when to add in the bacon, but I add it in at the end, so it doesn't get soggy. I also don't do the biscuits on top; I bake them separately. (from scratch)

Do you follow the recipe? I usually do the first time around. On the recipe sites I visit, the recipes are reviewed. It cracks me up to read the negative reviews. They usually start out by saying how horrible the recipe is, then proceed to say what they changed about it. Usually they've changed so much, it's not even the same recipe. On the flip side, there are postive reviews where the reviewer did the same thing, changed just about everything there is to change, but rave about the recipe. Too funny!

Thanks for stopping by!




(quick question: are my images over-sharpened? They look ok to me in ps, but look a bit over-sharpened on here.)