It's a snowy afternoon, the roads are dreadful, and we are all at home safe and sound. Mark and the kids are playing Monopoly and I have been reading my new issue of Cooking Light. It reminded me of our unofficial goal to try to incorporate 12 new dishes into our meal time routine each year. We've done this for several years now so we rarely are faced with the, "We're having that again?" for dinner. Do we have our favorites that we eat with a decent bit of regularity, sure, but there is always something new to try or an old favorite we haven't had in a long time.
How do you get off of the boredom bandwagon? We subscribe to a cooking magazine. We ideas all the time off of cooking shows we watch. Friends and family are always a good source for new recipes. Don't forget the value of the internet where there is something out there for every pallet. Allrecipes.com is an excellent source for recipes from new things to tried and true favorites. Also, don't forget your local library!
Some things we made this year:
Sweet potato hash browns (hit-how did we ever live without this); Grilled Pollenta with Spicy Steak (hit); Barbacoa Burrittos (hit); Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins (mixed reviews); Taco and Chili Seasonings (g.f.c.f. so Jordan can have it-both a hit); Chile Cheese Cornbread (miss-smelled much better than it tasted); a new hot cocoa recipe (hit) a kind of sun dried tomato pasta dish; a chicken marsalla dish (from Julia Child's cookbook-also a hit); and Mark made some adapatations to our salsa recipe (hit). So, if you are counting, that was 11 and not 12. Twelve recipes is our goal not a hard and fast "must".
Somethings on my radar for 2011:
Cranberry/Apple Pie; scones (saw a choc. chip one in CL but I would really like cranberry/orange); and I saw a broccoli slaw recipe on Food Network that I wanted to try.
No matter what your budget keep trying new things and expand your food horizons. Start with recipes you already have most of the ingredients for and expand out. Before you know it, you'll be saying, "When was the last time we had that really good.....?"
No comments:
Post a Comment