Your pictures look great and the food is also.
Thats a very good camera. I bought the Nikon D5100 a couple of years ago. Never really got to use all the options but now that I am retired I have started to play with it. I love the photo bracketing option. (takes more than one photo at different exposures) You than run it through software to blend it.
I saw a mushroom growing from a stump this morning and thought here is a chance to play