on motivation

I spent some time considering Why Am I Doing This Cooking Challenge?  Ultimately, I came to the conclusion that it was about COLOR.

Now how does that make sense?

Well, I've determined that there are times when I live in a world of grey.  Let's call it a room, just for the designer in me.  I look at the room ~ my schedule ~ and I plow through the tasks and everything sort of starts to blend together and it's not really a bad room ~ it has all the ammenities and it's quite comfortable, but really?  Really when you look around the place you just see grey.

So I've discovered about myself that every year I find a throw pillow.  In a lovely vibrant shade of something.  Maybe garnet red.  Cuz I love red.  Maybe a tempting turquoise.  Or an apple green.  Cuz I'm current and hip and trendy like that.  But every year, I splash a little extra life into this room I call...life.  The year I wrote letters to all my friends - every month.  The year I devoted Lent to giving up Icee Mochas.  *CHALLENGING!*  The year I decided to run a marathon.  The year I cooked and baked every recipe in the Martha Stewart Everyday Foods Magazine.

It gives me a sense of accomplishment.  Maybe instead of corporate accolades.  Or awards.  Or prestige.  Or pats on the back.  It's my own little way to say, "Yes I Can."  (*cue Obama Inaugural speech*)

So, anyway.  In the silence that is known as my blog sometimes, know that I'm over here...redecorating.  It's not world changing.  Maybe in the scheme of things, it's not even really life changing.  But it's what I do ` and this is why I do it. 

Do you set new, unusual, interesting challenges for yourself?  What drives you to succeed in them?  What derails you?  Why do you do it?

Hallelujah!

Do you hear that?  Do you just ...barely...hear that sound?  Of angels singing?  I hear them.  I do!  Hallelujah!  My kids ate some real food!  The angels sing, "Do. you. see. her-kids eating fo--oo--oo---ood..."  You know - like "And He shall reign for-ever and eeehh--ver!"

I hear it.
Do you hear it, too?

Over the weekend, we saw some real success with The Everyday Food Challenge.  I made porkchops with fresh pineapple (jerk pineapple pork chops, pg.18), pineapple and black bean salsa, pg. 22 (hubby, who does not eat beans, said the black beans tasted, "...creamy.  And [the salsa was] kind of good..."!!!), and sweet-pepper rice with sausage, pg.74 (I undercooked the rice, so I won't hold that against anyone).  It was uplifting to make meals that - for the most part - were consumed without distress, duress, or coercion (never mind that my pickiest eater was gone to a friend's half the weekend...).  I think these three recipes will all be repeaters!  (The salsa, especially, was a surprising yumOH!)

And speaking of repeaters and yumOH!  I'll definitely have you all over the next time I serve banana-caramel napoleans (pg 107).  Talk about hearing the angels sing.  That dessert tasted divine!

Btw, I'm not being paid by any big, fancy, multi-million dollar cookbook author to say any of this stuff.  So, maybe it begs the question ~ why are you really doing this, Karin?  Why are you putting yourself through all of these recipes?  I'll be back to explain more tomorrow...
kJ

Judging by the Gag Factor

Anyone else determine whether or not a meal is a success based on how many times - or whether or not - your family gags?  C'mon!  Show of hands!  Anyone? Anyone?  Bueller?

Indeed, determining a method to assess the meals in the Everyday Food Challenge is ... well, challenging!  There's a perfectly good reason why I tend to go to Bread Co or make fish sticks or order pizza as a mealtime rule.  OK, aside from a) poor planning and b) poor time management - the kids eat Bread Co, fish sticks, and Domino's pizza!  Do you have any idea how many times I've spent hours in the kitchen preparing a feast fit for kings and queens only to be sentenced to throwing meat to the dog and licking the mashed potatoes off the plates myself?  Yes?  (OK, probably I'm the only who eats everybody else's potatoes...it's a waste to throw them away!  ...And I love mashed potatoes...)  But I do know other mothers lament the same troubles over getting their kids to eat healthy foods.  I return to that original question, though - anyone else determine meal success based on lack of gagging amongst the constituents?  That I need to know. 

I have some gaggers at my house.  And some amazing lolligaggers.

The first meal I made from this month's Everyday Foods was pictured on Friday: shells with roasted cauliflower, chickpeas, and ricotta - a lovely blend of flavors and textures I truly thought was, although not spectacular, a savory blend of foods that tasted really quite good together.  The tastes were subdued and mixed nicely.  I served cheese bread with the pasta for lunch because once, long ago, a dietician told me to always serve a familiar favorite with an unpreferred.  Which led to me having to field 87,648 requests for more cheese bread whereas no one had even taken a single bite of pasta.  While I was on my second bowl.  *sigh*

Results of the first recipe in our challenge:
Mom:  thumbs up
Pooks: thumbs down (had to threaten to take away her opportunity to star in a Make A Wish movie to get her to eat it)
Meiners: gagged 4 times
Sashi:  "meh"
T: absent
Mr: absent (lucky man)

Good thing to know: eat this meal fresh, straight from the pot.  I gave it to Mr. the next day as a lunch of leftovers.  I found it gag-worthy at that point.  Even tried to doctor it with more cheese and some salt and pepper.  blech.  So, judging by the gag factor, probably not a repeat performance likely in this house.  But, just in case you're not scared and you'd like to give it a shot, here's a slightly modified version of the recipe:

***

::  shells with roasted cauliflower, chickpeas, and ricotta ::

1/4c EVOO
1 bag frozen cauliflower
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2c crusty bread cut into 1/2" pieces
1# medium shells
3T chopped fresh parsley
1/2c ricotta cheese

Preheat oven to 425, with racks in upper and lower thirds.  On a rimmed sheet, toss together 2T oil, cauliflower, and chickpeas.  Season with S&P.  Arrange cauliflower and chickpeas in a single layer and roast until cauliflower is tender and chickpeas are crunchy, 25m (I did not find our chickpeas to be crunchy.  Test them.  This added to the gag factor, I do have to admit.)  On another sheet, arrange bread in a single layer and toast until golden and crisp, about 10m.

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta until al dente.  Drain and return to pot.  Add cauliflower mixture, 2T oil, and parsley.  Season with S&P and toss to combine.  Serve with croutons and ricotta, then drizzle with oil.

Serves 6

52 recipes in 28 days?

Returning, briefly, to the whole 'self-imposed logistical nightmare' of doing The Everyday Food Challenge, I'm wondering if you and I are mutually aware that there are 52 recipes in this month's Everyday Food?  Thereabouts.  I've specifically decided to complete all the recipes - not those items that Martha and her compatriots deem 'pantry worthy' or 'oooooooh you should really eat these beans...'  No, I'm talking the recipes:  1 cup of this and a dollop of that.  Now having said that, I initially determined that I would include advertisers' recipes (the full-page ads in Everyday Foods that look mysteriously(??) like Martha recipes until you read the fine print at the bottom that reads: "paid advertisement" and you realize, 'duh.'  (Isn't that eloquent?!)  Since there are only maybe 1-2 of those this month, I'm going to hold off on the decision (everybody collectively gasps).  After-all, I still have 52 others to choose from.  For 28 days.   

We budget based on Dave Ramsey's envelope system.  Our miscellaneous and grocery expenses come out of the same envelope.  Which is invariably remarkably empty usually by about Day 8-9 out of 14.  Seriously.  It is notable how well we eat from the bottom of the freezer on a regular basis.  It's a good thing I used to buy a lot of those unhealthy, nonsensicle, frozen foods.  Back before the envelope.  Which was probably 3 years ago...Does that mean I'm saying I'm cooking foods for my kids that have been sitting at the bottom of the freezer for 3 years??  What?!  No, no, no ~ I'm not saying that.  Exactly.... {Remember all those trips to Bread Co morning, noon, and night?  OK, OK, that was an exaggeration, too, actually...or was it...??}  Hey - at least we ate.  So anyway, 28 days = 2 envelope periods.

Last Thursday as soon as all the kids were off to school, I took my Everyday Foods magazine, my new envelope full o'cash, and I traipsed through the Walmart.  For 3 hours.  I bought the majority of the items I would need to complete the first two weeks.  Even the green veggies.  That may not have been a great idea.  {Rotten veggies}  But I wanted to set myself up to succeed from the beginning and what derails a plan to eat healthy foods at home more than not having the right supplies?  OK, maybe the whole time issue, but besides that.  Having the Food.  Food derails the food plan.  (Aha!  So it's not me after-all...)  My total bill for food at WalMart on Thursday came to $136.68.  I visited Dierberg's the next day and spent $7 more.  So, less than $150 on groceries.  For us, that's pretty good.

So, we're ready to go.  Ready to get started.  Ready to hit the ground running.  Get this show on the road.  Head 'em up and Move 'em out.  Let's get cookin' baby!

Tomorrow.  Tomorrow we'll talk food.  {I promise. *insert cheezy grin here*}

That's Logistics!

I'm 2 days in to my Everyday Food challenge and I'm already re-reworking some of the deets.  Like my life, even this venture is a work-in-progress.  Trying to decide how I'm going to take gorgeous photos of the foods I make when we'll primarily be eating them at night (not ideal lighting conditions) - do I leave one uncooked porkchop and pineapple tonite to cook up tomorrow spot-on fresh to get that candid photo of extraordinary food in great northern-exposed light?  Or is that just absurd because cooking it tonite was enough work and mess that who would want to do it again just for one porkchop in one photo tomorrow?!  And is it a good idea to separate the two blogs?  Would it be better to house everything under one roof?  Because do you really want to click over there after you've clicked here to see that I wrote something over there and how annoying would it be to all involved for me to write here every day, "Hey I wrote a blogpost over at the cooking blog..."  Annoying.  And then from a further logistical standpoint, am I cooking the meals and posting them the same day, or do I stockpile cooking and post a day or two later to keep up?  Do you see how I tend to think of these amazingly brilliant ideas and like a flash in the pan, I chase after them in the wind only to realize retrospectively that there's a lot more to writing about my Everyday Food challenge let alone living through the Everyday Food challenge...

Hmmmm....

I'm going to have to think about this.

Maybe I'll rent Julie&Julia again. 

As if I have time with all this cooking...

See you tomorrow!  (When I'll actually be talking about the food and the challenge, not my logistical musings!)
~k