One of the things I honestly love about the summer is being able to grow fresh vegetables and herbs in my garden.  Growing up, my family always did a garden.  It becomes something you learn to enjoy, and when you skip a year, you really do feel as if something is missing.  The thing is, once harvest time comes, and your garden is producing at its peak, you are left with a lot of extra vegetables and fruit that you’re not so sure what to do with.  Even after hooking up the neighbors, family, and friends with your “overstock” you still find yourself with a excess of whole organic produce – not cheap in the grocery store, either. Here is a very simple tomato cucumber salad I love to make.  The hardest part is chopping up the ingredients.  Even if you don’t grow your own garden, you can easily grab these ingredients from your local supermarket. The crispy fresh cucumbers, the fresh vine-ripened garden tomatoes, and the basil intermingle into an amazingly flavorful combination.

Easy Tomato Cucumber Salad Recipe:

- 1 Large cucumber, or 2-3 Small

- Pint of grape tomatoes, or your favorite variety

- Dash of red wine vinegar

- Dash of white vinegar

- Dash of EVOO or regular olive oil

- 1 Tablespoon of sugar, or to taste

- freshly chopped Italian Basil leaves

- Cracked peppercorn, or ground black pepper to taste

Combine all of the chopped ingredients into a bowl.  You can slice them whatever style you’d like.  Add all of the dressing ingredients, toss them thoroughly, and then let them marinate together in a large bowl for at least a few hours.  Serve chilled, and enjoy!

The longer this salad marinates, the better it tastes.  The sugar takes away the tartness/acidity of the vinegar, so if you slip with the vinegar, you might need to add a bit more sugar. This salad makes a nice side dish to complement any meal.  Feel free to substitute any of the vinegars with your own favorites.

We’re losing our mind a little bit this week, so what better than to pass along the insanity a little to our friends and loyal viewers. The economy still stinks, budgets are still tight, and we realize that.

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Seeing that I love to eat, and that cooking is just as creative as anything else (culinary arts) I felt this recipe needed to be blogged here. Tired of the same old pasta once a week with regular old tomato sauce, I got this idea for a really easy to make recipe. I’m pretty sure I didn’t invent it, or anything; I just wanted to share what I came up with on a last minute whim. This garlic chicken pesto pasta is a relatively simple and affordable Italian style meal you can cook in literally 15-25 minutes and that tastes like a restaurant dish that you would pay $15-20 for at your favorite local eatery.

Here’s the recipe that serves 3-4 generously:

INGREDIENTS:
- 1 large boneless skinless chicken breast (or 2 if they’re smaller – about 1 pound of chicken)
- A jar of store bought pesto (or make your own homemade with basil, olive oil, garlic, pine nuts… you know the deal)
- 1/2 box (about 1/2 pound) of any pasta of your choice
- olive oil (regular or extra virgin)
- 1/2 cup flour

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A plate of General Tso’s chicken with broccoli and pork fried rice from the local takeout spot.  This was just the leftovers… otherwise I would have one more piece of broccoli.  This restaurant is a little stingy with the broccoli, but it’s still delicious.  I was way too hungry to shoot the food first.  OM NOM NOM

What Should I Shoot? That right there is the million dollar question.  Even seasoned stock contributors find themselves asking this at times.  The world of stock is a mindset, and even once you’re in it, it’s easy to get to the point where you wonder, “Okay, what should I try and shoot now”?  If you really struggle with coming up with ideas on what to shoot, then you need to start opening your eyes to the world around you.  I don’t care where you are, what you’re looking at right now – inspiration can be smack dab in the front of your fat head.  Sometimes it’s there and we don’t even realize it.  Open your eyes, and don’t just see, but try to truly observe.  Reflecting on the who what, when, where, why, and how of everything around you is an easy way to come up with stock concepts.  Try to write things down when you think of them.  This applies in the graphic design world, as well.  Rip out that cool magazine ad you saw in the latest issue of your wife’s Elle magazine (I wasn’t looking at it, I swear…I was just sitting next to her on the couch at the time).  Save that piece of junk mail with the interesting modeling pose.  I tend to note things a lot, but I forget to follow through.  Make a little notebook or scrapbook of the things you’d like to try, the things that look are cool, and the things you think would appeal to a buyer, especially.

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