Start at the top and work your way down...

This was my first thought as I looked up an down my bookcase. I realized in a second that my "one a week" plan may not work, after I counted 167 cookbooks. Like my cooking blogger before me, I plan on taking no more then a year. Once this epiphany hit me, I took a deep breath and grabbed the first book and in the most juvenile way possible, flipped through the pages with my eyes closed and pointed at my first recipe.

"Deceptively delicious"
by Jessica Seinfeld

-Aloha chicken kabobs-

I was so happy to get this book off the shelf since I felt it would be an easy place to start-sort of. The whole concept behind this book is to trick your picky eaters into consuming good-for-you food. My mother purchased this book for me since I have a daughter who is obnoxiously selective in her food choices(unless it resembles dessert). I spent about an hour last night looking through all the other recipes and found some of them great yet others to be disappointing. All of them are great family recipes for anyone with kids 8 and under but as for the healthy factor some of the recipes only had 1/4 cup of good-for-you food for a recipe that fed 8-10 people. One great thing though is everything is pureed to hide the most noticeable foods in some pretty strange but yummy places and even thought it i allot of work for the bigger recipes I spoke of, it totally works with ones that have enough to really get the kids (or husbands for that matter) the nutrition they need. The one recipes I selected seemed to be a good way to incorporate the more healthful items. The recipes came together pretty well but my environment to say the least was not what I had hoped for. Two screaming kids, a totally destroyed kitchen and not getting home from work until after 6:30...ugh! The recipe was your typical home breaded chicken recipe but with a twist. with the egg wash, you added pureed pineapple and sweet potato and a small amount of soy sauce. With the breadcrumbs was 1/4 cup unsweetened coconut that definitely gave it a totally different flavor that went over well. The chicken was delicious and my overly picky daughter actually decided she liked pineapple.....MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! I'm not sure if this will be the cookbook I rely on day in and day out but It was definitely good inspiration for getting my picky eaters to consume good food. I also know that to be able to really get into my recipe, I need to do it in a....shall we say...more relaxing enviroment.....


Coming soon....book #2!

The beginning of a challenge.....I think....

My most recent years have been spent being a wife to a husband with his own business, mother of two and working a full time job. this in the end leaves little time for ones self to explore other options besides the debate over taking a shower in the morning OR being able to put make-up on for the day.
I now find myself relishing in my years as a culinary student and staring at my massive bookshelf that is packed and stacked with cookbooks that have done nothing since their inhabitants but collect dust. Some I don't believe I have ever made one recipes out of. Chinese to Italian, the Art of Baking to 365 ways to make an egg; SO many recipes without one glob of goo on the pages or dust of flour! I have spent my time these past years taking care of others, and this bookshelf shows that the things that I love and the the things I have a passion for have literally been put on a self...no pun intended. Although the movie may not be a block buster Julie and Julia has really hit the nail on the head for me. I need something to spark my passion that I once had for cooking. I need to make my family gain 5 pounds from eating the disgustingly good food and my friends to relish over my not-so-potluck parties. I now challenge myself, each week to make one recipe out of my many neglected cookbooks. I am not doing this for glory or fame or the hope of being published but for a single soul search of the talent I know is buried inside of me.

Wish me luck world....the book search begins tonight!