Farewell

As James Garner's character, Shep, says in the movie The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, "The road to hell is paved with good intensions."

And it's with those words that I bid this blog farewell. I had the best of intensions. I really did. And I still believe this was a good idea. Unfortunately, it just wasn't the right time in my life to take on this challenge. And while you may be thinking, "Isn't that the point of a challenge? By definition it's not supposed to be easy," I like to commit to a task fully, and I wasn't able to do that.

But I'm hoping, somewhere down the road, that I can revisit this challenge, ready to tackle it again, with more success.

Karen

P.S. I haven't given up cooking, though. To read more of my cooking adventures and try my recipes, visit my new blog Country Cooking.

Love is in the air!

Since this was first month for my challenge I decided to incorporate Valentine's Day to give myself a theme. And what does one think of when it comes to Valentine's Day? Chocolate!

The possibilities with chocolate are endless. So, despite this being a "challenge," I decided to keep it traditional -- and easy -- and go with dessert.

When deciding what kind of dessert, I chose my husband's favorite: icebox cake. Even with many Google searches, the origin of icebox cake is unclear. I thought this dessert came about during the Depression, but its history goes back further than that. Although I feel confident that it came back into fashion during the Depression. For my husband and I, this dessert brings back many fond childhood memories. My grandmother would make this in her 13x9 Pyrex, using graham crackers and chocolate and vanilla puddings. My husband's grandmother made it with graham crackers and chocolate pudding. Sometimes she dressed it up with bananas.

My idea was to put a grown-up, Valentine's spin on a childhood favorite.

I made chocolate pudding (not instant!) and stirred in a cup of thawed and drained raspberries. Then I took my round, glass Pyrex and lined it with Nilla wafers. I poured a layer of pudding on top of the wafers, and repeated until all the pudding had been used and the dish was full.

I continued my grown-up spin when serving the dessert. I drizzled mint chocolate syrup over it, and topped it off with a dollop of whipped cream.

Overall, it wasn't bad. However, this wasn't the exact dessert I initially planned. Originally I wanted to use Lorna Doone cookies, vanilla pudding, and strawberries. The strawberries would turn the pudding pink, and I thought that layered with the shortbread cookies would make for a pretty presentation. But my husband doesn't like vanilla pudding or strawberries, so I had to alter my game plan. I am curious, though, how the dessert would've tasted if I had made it following my initial plan.

Grade: C

Coming up: Let's hope the luck of the Irish is with me in March!

Broadened Horizons

The Internet has had a great influence on my love of cooking. I use it to find recipes, research cookware (I'm currently researching Dutch ovens. Feel free to give me suggestions.), and buy ingredients.

Well, that last one isn't entirely true. The only food I've actually purchased online is fun-shaped pasta from The Pasta Shoppe.

But there plenty of other food sites out there. A popular site for former residents of the Tri-State area is Jersey Pork Roll, where one can purchase all those infamous Jersey treats, like Pork Roll, Sabretts, and Tastykakes.

And there's Local Harvest, a site that allows you to find local farms and farmers markets, so you can find the freshest produce and products possible. Since moving to Poconos I've become a huge fan of buying local, and visit my farmers market every week, from May through October.

And I recently started browsing a site I read about in Country Living magazine: Foodzie. The jams look delicious and I love honey. I'm like a kid on Christmas morning as I browse the categories. I've hit the motherload!

I've come a long way from macaroni and cheese, Rice-a-Roni, and my weekly trip to the supermarket.

The Rules

You can't have a challenge unless you have rules. Otherwise, what would make it challenging? So here are my self-imposed rules for this year's challenge:

1. Must make at least one appetizer, one main dish, one side dish, and one dessert.
2. For main dishes, I must switch out the proteins, using at least one of the following: chicken, beef, pork, seafood.
3. One may be a restaurant re-creation.
4. One may be inspired by a book/movie/person/place.
5. Holiday-themes are allowed.
6. The more ethnic diversity, the better.

I already have ideas for February and March, and I'm really excited about them. I'm so glad I went with this challenge, instead of trying to go the entire year without making the same main dish twice. :-)

The Decision

Over the summer I read the book Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously, and I found myself a bit jealous of Julie. Here she was, challenging herself, blogging about it, and out of all the highs and lows that came with her challenge sprung a book. "Why can't I do something like?" I lamented to myself. Once I was finished with the book, though, the hustle and bustle of motherhood, work, my day-to-day routine, and life in general consumed me, and thoughts of Julie & Julia were far from my mind.

Recently a co-worker began taking flamenco dancing lessons. And again, I found myself experiencing pangs of jealousy. Here she was, stepping outside her box, taking a chance, and falling in love with something different and new. Seeing her enthusiasm was the kick in the pants I needed: it was time to challenge myself.

Deciding on a challenge, though, wasn't easy. I needed it to be inexpensive, as finances are tight. I also needed it to be flexible. Between work and a toddler, my spare time is limited. So this was not the year to decide to start training for running a marathon or something equally time-consuming.

I love to read, and have been reading only a few books a year since my son was born. I considering setting a goal of reading a book a month. But since reading is something I love, it didn't seem like much of a challenge, other than finding the time. Then one of my favorite food bloggers suggested I combine my love of books and cooking, and once a month create a appetizer/entree/dessert based on one of my favorite books. The idea had merit. But it overwhelmed me a bit, too.

So in the end, I decided that in 2010, my challenge will be to write and cook an original recipe for my family once a month. No Giada DeLaurentiis. No Rachael Ray. Just me, my love of food, and my surroundings to inspire me.

And my family to eat my creations.

Hopefully they'll taste good.