I tend to cook the same recipes for family meals, and hardly ever plan ahead. My family (dear to me as they are in every way) isn't the easiest to feed, and I have found family cooking has become a stressor in my life, rather than a pleasure. I have lots of recipe books, some well used and loved, some never used, though all bought with the very best of intentions.
My new year's resolution is to regain control and confidence in the kitchen by meal planning; shopping and cooking in a more organised, systematic fashion. In the name of accountability, I have also decided to blog about it, and set myself a monthly cookery challenge: The Cookery Calendar Challenge.
The first week of each month I will select a cookery book from my shelf and cook a minimum of two new recipes from it. The book may be one that has been long-neglected, or one from which I cook the same things repeatedly, neglecting many of the recipes within. The recipes will be for any meal, though I suspect it will be mainly family dinner recipes, as that is my main stressor. Cakes and bakes are excluded, but puddings are included. At the beginning of the every month I will report back on the recipes, give a short review of the book, and announce my cookery book choice for the following month. My goals for this challenge are:
1) to reinvigorate my repertoire of family meals
2) to revisit my cookery book collection in a systematic manner
3) to encourage me to plan and shop for family meals in an organised way
If you would like to join with the Cookery Calendar Challenge, please do! It would be fun to do this with others. Start at any time; this will be an ongoing project, open to all, free to join, leave, or return whenever you like. If you blog about it, please link back to my Cookery Calendar Challenge post in your post. There's a grab badge in the side bar for you to display on your blog too if you like. (Just copy and paste the code into your blog dashboard to display) I will also be posting on Instagram using hashtag #cookerycalendarchallenge. (You'll find me @penny.homemadeheart). There is also the Cookery Calendar Challenge page here, with all the information you need.
My cookery book for January 2016 is 'Mary Berry Cooks' published in 2014 by BBC Books.
