Food Challenge 2014

I am winding down on cooking for friends and family for the 2013 holiday season.  I am forming my challenge plan for 2014.  I try to challenge myself every year with something food related; and, no it is never as simple as going on a diet.  It has been teaching myself Chinese cooking and some French cooking.  It has been incorporating healthier foods and one time it was Pasta making (which is something I have yet to come close to mastering.  That is a big fantasy in my head-to have Mario tutor me!).

This year I am going back to the challenge I enjoyed the most.  For an entire year, I will make a different meal everyday with no repeats.  Now think about the dynamics of this!  It is a true challenge because my family requests their favorites all the time!

Here are my rules:

*Starting January 1, I will choose a meal everyday that I have not made yet in 2014.  It can be either breakfast, lunch or dinner.  See, this allows me to have the flexibility to go out to dinner!

*Things that are necessary to be aware of, and I will score bonus points if I stick to them:  being budget friendly, and the majority of meals in a week being healthy and calorie conscious.

*If I choose a broad topic meal such as chili, I can not use the same recipe; there must be a significant twist.

*I must try an ingredient, as many times as possible, that I have never used before.  Like fresh artichokes.  I have never cooked a fresh artichoke......

*I will post my recipe of the day with a thumbs up or thumbs down.

Thank God I have a husband who will eat everything (except calves liver)!  I have 4 days to get my mind set focused!

Television Feasts

From Julia to Giada, I am a bi-product of the quirky world of anything food television.  At age 10 I wanted to lunch with Julia; at 12 I thought sitting at Graham Kerr's table would be bliss; in college I was a diligent voyeur student of Jeff Smith's; and as a newlywed I envisioned myself being Martha. Then the sky opened up and violin music played in the background when I discovered an entire family of food shows on the blossoming food network. Twenty years later I am still a home chef with a backyard garden, yet in my head I am a trained chef who has eaten her way around the world, tasted all things exotic, competed in many challenges, judged the best of the best, and have a circle of friends which includes Emeril, Bobby, Rachel and more.  I like to learn and challenge myself simply for the pleasure of all things food.  I am a student of the university of Food Network and my textbooks, exams and extra curricular activities all stem from channel 39.