I thought it would be fun to look back at my food goals for 2007 and see how badly I did. :-) When I made this list last December, I expected normal life for most of the year. What actually happened was that I spent a majority of the year with a tiny food budget, so I had little extra to try and meet some of my goals. That's okay. These were just some things that I had been thinking about, and this year, some of them will make the list again, and some will be bumped off with a giggle and replaced with something else. Here's the condensed version of my Food Goals 2007, with my notes following in red.
1. Attempt to make homemade sausage. This sounded fun at the time. Seriously though, when I can buy amazing sausage, why would I go to the expense of buying the cuts of meat and spices and make my own. Sausage is inexpensive in sausage form, and I do have some great sources.
2. Explore Moroccan Cuisine. Hey- I think I did make two recipes last year. They both were excellent, and I'd love to learn more from that whole region- I don't know about specifically Moroccan though.
3. Be less afraid of greens. Okay, I didn't conquer this one a bit. However, I did get my kids into it! They both discovered that they love baby beet greens in salad. That's a great thing to have learned, and just the other day Abigail asked when we can have them again. Too bad they take so long to grow! This year I plan to tackle chard.
4. Make one recipe from every cookbook I own. Well, finances affected this one I'm afraid. I think I made my way through about 30 of them-that's definitely better than none, but then I added a bunch of cookbooks, so this next year I'll be updating my list and continuing on with it. I'm okay with that.
5. Experiment more with vegetarian cooking. This is my number one goal for this next year. I think I did okay with this, but I definitely want to do better. This is going to go hand-in-hand with gardening this year and shopping at the farmer's markets more often. I love vegetarian food, and I'd like to see us move more towards flexitarian eating. There will be a post coming soon about this.
6. Prepare duck. Do you know how much duck costs? Maybe in 2008
7. Incorporate more fish into our meals. While we haven't done much fish lately, this was an excellent year for eating fish for us. We were eating it once or twice a week for a while and discovered the kids like fish too- either basic fried, or more meaty fish like salmon or swordfish. Hooray for this one.
8. Eat breakfast daily/be more adventurous with breakfast. I do eat breakfast daily now, but I haven't felt much like playing with it I'm afraid.
9. Incorporate more beans into our diets. Another goal I think I can get a star for. While the kids still don't care for beans, I've found that I love beans. I've also found, for those who are wondering, that if you eat beans more often, the, uh, after-effects eventually taper and go away. Your diet does get used to them, and then it's not an issue. I love beans. Watch for more beans here.
10. And finally, I want to learn more about whole-grain baking. I did so-so with this. I have to admit the few cookies, cakes, and breads I made that were whole grain were only okay in my book. Except for the devil's food cupcakes- those were excellent, and you couldn't tell they were made with whole grains. So it didn't take me long to lose my fascination with the whole grain baking. I need to try more though, there have to be more recipes out there that are excellent.
Well, I guess that's not as bad as I thought. In the next day or so I'll be sharing a new top 10 list for 2008. We'll see how we do next year.
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7 comments:
You did an amazing job in 2007! My ONE goal in 2008 is to make pecan sticky cinnamon rolls (successfully)! Any words of wisdom...I need professional guidance :)
Mmm. I really want to make some too! What I was thinking was that I would start with Pioneer Woman's cinnamon roll recipe. In each pan, before putting the rolls, melt a good tablespoon or two of butter and add 3 or 4 tablespoons of brown sugar and a handful of pecans. Then add the rolls, let them rise and bake. After they've cooled for about 10 minutes, flip them out and enjoy. Ree's cinnamon rolls are so good that they'd be a perfect starter for sticky pecan rolls. I think you'd just need to play with the butter/brown sugar/pecan amounts to get them perfect.
To keep them "sticky" you need to add light corn syrup to the mix... otherwise they will be like pineapple upside-down cake without the pineapple! ;-)
Oh yeah...I guess that would help, wouldn't it!
Wow - I'm impressed that you took the time to set such well-thought-out goals for yourself last year! Here's to a wonderful year in the kitchen for 2008!
Thanks for the cinnamon roll tips & recipe suggestions Erika & the mom...now I just need to build-up a little confidence & go for it!
Thanks Elisabeth! A new list is forthcoming for 2008!
Jep you can do it!!
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