My name is Tracy and I am a coffee addict.  There, I said it.  And because of it, getting up for an early morning shoot at Luna Roasters didn’t seem so difficult.  I knew a yummy latte was waiting for me.  Mmmm….

I spent most of the morning shooting products, but I did take a few minutes to do some more fun/artsy images.  If they make your mouth water, go order some Luna Coffee.  It’s delicious.

Now I’m off to New York to help my sister move to Denver – yay road trip!

I adore laughing photos.  Regardless of the subject matter, I always pick out the laughing photos as favorites.  I just love them.  So when I first viewed the images from Hilary and Doug’s shoot in Breckenridge this weekend, I was thrilled to see so many laughing photos.  I’d accuse them of laughing to keep warm in the snow, but that’s just how they are all the time.  Laughing.  Happy.  Cute.

I’m so glad they were willing to go along with a snowy shoot – and adventurous enough to climb around in the snow banks.  So much fun.  If anyone else is interested in doing a snowy shoot, I have slots open for Good Karma Sessions :)

I could feel the squash staring me down.  Each time I passed through the kitchen it would stare at me from the produce bowl on the counter.  After sitting untouched since late December, this sad squash was begging to be roasted, sauteed, pureed – anything but left to wither away in that bowl.  I finally listened to its pleas, and fulfilled its squash destiny by creating the following soup.

I wanted a little more depth than the usual basic butternut squash soup, so I found a variation of this recipe that included carrots, celery and onion.  I tweaked it a little (can’t help myself), and the result is below.  The extra veggies added a lot of extra flavor, and really made this soup feel a lot heartier.  Still very easy to make, still very yummy.

Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 carrots, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3 celery stalks, chopped
• 1 medium butternut squash, peeled and cubed
• 1/2 teaspoon sage
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• salt pepper to taste

Directions

1. Heat butter in large stock pot.  Add carrots, onion and celery.  Cook until vegetables begin to soften and onions are transluscent.
2. Add broth, sage, salt and pepper.  Simmer 30 minutes, or until squash is tender.
3. Transfer soup to a blender or food processor and process until smooth.  Return soup to stock pot and add seasoning as needed.

My web guy works in my living room.  Anytime I have a blog or website related question, I yell through my office door out into the living room and get an immediate response.  How’s that for great service?  You can’t pay for convenience like that.

In all fairness, my web guy is also my fiance.  And it’s his living room, too.   So when my web guy decided he needed some headshots for his business he just yelled through the living room into my office door.  Well, actually he asked politely.  But you get the idea.

These are my favorites from our shoot.  I hope to see them on his Facebook, Twitter and blog profiles soon.  His old, non-professional photos are starting to drive me crazy :)

My kitchen looked like a murder scene.  Beet juice staining the cutting board, leaking down the cabinets, spattering everywhere.  My hands coated in pink stains.  This soup easily wins the award for messiest soup made thusfar (and that’s coming from someone who exploded black beans all over the kitchen earlier this week.)  Borscht was high on my list of exciting soups to make simply because it just sounds cool.  And because I love beets.  And I’d love to say that this messy soup was completely worth it….but I’m not convinced just yet.

Right now it tastes to me like a beet version of watery tomato soup.  Most of the flavors are simply overpowered by beet.  The recipe claims that the flavors are better the second day, so we’ll see how I like it tomorrow.  If you make this (or have made Borscht in the past) and have suggestions, please share.  My soup needs some help :)

Borscht

Ingredients

• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cups peeled and chopped beets
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups chopped mushrooms
• 1 large cooking apple, chopped
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons sunflower oil (I used olive)
• 2 quarts vegetable stock
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• a pinch of dried thyme
• 1 large bay leaf
• fresh lemon juice
• salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions

1. Place the chopped vegetables and apple in a large saucepan with the butter, oil and 3 tablespoons of stock.  Cover and cook slowly for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Stir in the cumin seeds and cook for 1 minute.  Add the remaining stock, thyme, bay leaf, lemon juice, and seasoning to taste.
3. Bring the soup to a boil.  Cover the pan and turn down the heat to a slow simmer.  Cook for 30 minutes.
4. Strain the vegetables and reserve the liquid.  Process vegetables in a food processor or blender until they are smooth and creamy.  Return the vegetables to the rinsed pan.  Add the reserved stock and reheat.  Add seasoning if desired.