It seems like there are a lot of people on TWW who enjoy cooking and trying new things. I tend to frequent blogs or recipe sites, bookmark recipes and then never go back and actually make them, because I wind up mostly making familiar foods or just inventing things. So that problem, plus the dozens of cookbooks I have at home that I barely use, made me decide to try a challenge in 2011: 365 new recipes in 365 days.

They don't have to be extravagant or anything, just recipes I haven't made before, even if it's just a new inventive sandwich combination or salad dressing. And it's 365 by the end of the year, not specifically one per day.

Anyone want to do this with me? Even if you don't do 365 but pick some other quantity to shoot for.

Some ideas/sub-challenges:
Find something that has been in your pantry for a long time unused and look up something to do with it
Choose 3 random ingredients from your refrigerator and do an ingredient search to see what comes up
Pick a recipe in which the combination of ingredients sounds gross to you (example: for me, this happened with watermelon salad with feta, red onion and olives)
Make one of the mother sauces from scratch
Ask a family member or friend for the recipe of something you like that they make
Use a traditionally sweet ingredient in a savory dish
Use a traditionally savory ingredient in a sweet dish
Try to replicate a restaurant dish either freestyling it or by looking up a clone recipe online
Look through a magazine or cookbook and pick at least 5, 10 or some other goal number of recipes to try
Cook an exotic meat
Choose a produce item you've never cooked with and use it (I think I'm aiming for rhubarb)

12/27/2010 6:42:15 PM

try to go 365 days without butter or cream

12/27/2010 6:55:12 PM

I like this idea. I'm in.

12/27/2010 6:55:32 PM

^^ blasphemy

12/27/2010 7:00:54 PM

it wasn't that hard to do....and, yes, my food is delicious

12/27/2010 7:03:59 PM

Sounds intense/expensive, but I think trying 100 recipes would be really cool.

I keep a running list of things I want to learn to make from scratch like sourdough and various dressings/sauces.

12/27/2010 11:03:30 PM

a friend bought me a recipe book....i will try cook most if not all (i cant bake) recipes from it.

oh and vegetarian only

12/27/2010 11:06:22 PM

Isn't this Julia and Julie?

12/27/2010 11:07:43 PM

Sort of. Except those had to all be Julia Childs recipes. This can be anything you want. Which is why I don't think it has to be as expensive as it sounds. Just has to be new, not extravagant.

12/27/2010 11:10:24 PM

It doesn't have to be expensive. You don't have to use anything you wouldn't normally eat if you don't want to. I have never made sourdough although I would like to try it too. That reminds me of one of the ideas I thought of but forgot to include: something that takes at least two days to make.

^^^ What recipe book is it? That sounds fun. Many of my recipes will probably be meatless although I do eat some meat now.

[Edited on December 27, 2010 at 11:10 PM. Reason : .]

12/27/2010 11:10:25 PM

Yeah this really reminds me of Julia and Julie. But, good idea I guess if you like cooking.

12/28/2010 6:22:54 AM

I'm in! I have a couple of cookbooks with recipes I really want to try.

My sub-challenges for myself will be using only seasonal produce and trying at least half the recipes in my cookbooks (I don't have that many )

12/28/2010 9:31:43 AM

I am going to participate in this challenge. Except mine is going to be to taste 365 recipes in 365 days.

12/28/2010 9:35:42 AM

lol nice

btw i will post the name when i get back to the apartment

12/28/2010 9:36:33 AM

I think the first recipe I'll try will be tebichi. Seems like something that you could cook in a crock pot easily.



mmmmmmmmmmmmm

12/28/2010 9:38:05 AM

Good luck with this. My fiance did a 52 styles of cooking resolution this year and it's pretty tough to keep up with.

12/28/2010 9:39:00 AM

great idea but yeah I think it would be very difficult to pull off. I may try to do a "real" recipe every week or something.

+1 for a cooking message board on TWW

12/28/2010 9:58:25 AM

^^ 52 styles of cooking? What do you mean by styles? I am not sure I could think of 52.

I went through my computer bookmarks and one issue of Cooking Light last night (thanks to ThePeter's mom for letting me steal it) and made a list of recipes I wanted to include. So far I'm at 32. I read through 3 or 4 cookbooks while snowed in and know there were a ton I wanted to try, so today I'm going back through those and adding them to the list. I figure if I have a list of the things I want to do it'll help with the planning.

12/28/2010 11:11:46 AM

Quote :

"Choose a produce item you've never cooked with and use it (I think I'm aiming for rhubarb)"

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie FTW


omg :drool:

12/28/2010 11:32:05 AM

Quote :

"I figure if I have a list of the things I want to do it'll help with the planning."

That's a good idea. I might try doing that tonight.

I also like the idea of using ingredients you've never used before.

12/28/2010 11:35:08 AM

Quote :

"^^ 52 styles of cooking? What do you mean by styles? I am not sure I could think of 52"

Combination of different types of cuisines, learning new techniques like deglazing, sautéing, etc.

You should pick up the "Cook This, Not That" book from Men's Health. Tons of great recipes in there.

12/28/2010 11:46:11 AM

Gotcha. I figured it would probably be a combo thing like that.

While I'm sure the cookbook is good, getting another one would sort of defeat one of my goals in this challenge. I probably already have 100

I'm going through "Georgia on My Menu" right now and I think I found my gross-sounding recipe: Jezebel sauce. Apple jelly, pineapple preserves, horseradish and mustard, combined and served over cream cheese with crackers.

12/28/2010 12:04:44 PM

lol that sounds tasty to me

12/28/2010 12:21:49 PM

Yeah, that sounds pretty fantastic

12/28/2010 12:24:34 PM

Quote :

"Apple jelly, pineapple preserves, horseradish and mustard, combined and served over cream cheese with crackers."

I bought my friend a cookbook for Christmas that has a recipe for watermelon rind pie

12/28/2010 1:38:29 PM

so it isn't 2011 yet but I have been making different things already. I don't think I can do this challenge this year because being pregnant and a baby on the way but I want to share this with ya.

Crème Curd Dessert Cups

1 jar Lemon Curd
1 12 oz Jar of Mint flavored apple jelly
1 8 oz tub Cool Whip
1 8-oz. pkg. Cream Cheese, softened
Phyllo Dessert Cups
Optional: Fruit Slices, Cookie Pieces or Sprinkles

In a mixing bowl, stir together curd, mint apple jelly, and cream cheese until smooth. Fold whipped cream into curd mixture. Pipe or spoon mixture into shells. Top with your favorite optional garnish. Refrigerate until serving.

I had so much left over that I made a graham cracker crust and put the rest of the curd mixture on top for a pie like dessert.

12/29/2010 9:40:28 PM

Quote :

"try to go 365 days without butter or cream"

wtf? That's like half the recipes worth eating out the door. Add wine to that list and you might as well choke on some tofu the first day in.

12/29/2010 9:43:56 PM

tofu is delicious

I was going to make tofu marsala early in the challenge but I needed to use some yesterday so I made tofu marsala for dinner. 'twas tasty.

12/29/2010 9:46:05 PM

^^ butter can be replaced by other fats (olive oil, avocado oil, etc). cream is only needed in creamy sauces. i have never used cream in anything i have ever cooked. butter i have used a few times only, if it happened to be in the house, otherwise EVOO or other healthy oils.

yes, butter and cream add flavor and a nice mouth feel, but there are hundreds of things you can make without them that also taste good.

12/29/2010 9:48:38 PM

Skwinkle all that I want you to know is that I call dibs on a low country boil...

12/29/2010 9:54:23 PM

I will do a lot of recipes this year for sure! I like finding new things to cook. I want to be good at flavor and doing well on my first try.

12/29/2010 9:55:12 PM

^^ yes, yes. understood.

^ You can still participate even if you aren't aiming for a particular number. Maybe you can set some goals for certain types of new foods you'd like to cook instead of a number.

12/29/2010 10:03:44 PM

Yeah, I should have read the thread more thoroughly. I got a little too excited.

12/29/2010 10:05:48 PM

wasn't there a movie about this?

12/29/2010 10:17:01 PM

^Julie and Julia

12/29/2010 10:25:28 PM

That was her doing all the recipes out of one cookbook (which was 524). I think making every single recipe out of one cookbook is a little silly, and basically just wanted to do this to motivate myself to use more of my bookmarks and cookbook recipes. And I figured some people on here may want to join in. If you want to do one whole cookbook rather than 365 or whatever though that's fine too.

12/29/2010 10:53:35 PM

The name of the book is Great Tastes Vegatarian and its got 120+ recipes. I will try complete most if not all of them.

[Edited on December 30, 2010 at 1:37 AM. Reason : dips n spreads, starters, soups, sides, salads, mains & desserts!]

12/30/2010 1:26:22 AM

Quote :

"try to go 365 days without butter or cream"

lard

12/30/2010 1:29:11 AM

This seems extraordinarily ambitious, so of course I would never do this.

12/30/2010 1:31:02 AM

this shit sounds expensive as fuck.

How many little odds and ends would you have to have to make a new dish every night of the week?

12/30/2010 1:32:12 AM

Agreed not to mention I don't like sweet dinners and it's hard to steer clear g
Of glazes and things when eating that many different foods

12/30/2010 1:37:59 AM

^^ I ate dinner every day this year too, so ... the same amount as before.

12/30/2010 7:29:12 AM

what if you decide you really like one recipe and you desperately want to make it again a few weeks later? what will you do?!

12/31/2010 11:21:01 PM

You guys are taking this way too seriously. I'm still "allowed" to make old recipes. I am just also going to make 365 new ones. Also I probably won't get to start till the 3rd

1/1/2011 12:26:08 PM

^You already fail.

[Edited on January 1, 2011 at 12:30 PM. Reason : .]

1/1/2011 12:30:36 PM

It's not one per day. Just a yearly goal.

1/1/2011 12:33:28 PM

1. Collard Greens and Bacon

Quote :

"Ingredients: Olive Oil: 2 teaspoons Thick-cut bacon: 6 slices, chopped Garlic: 2 cloves, minced Salt Pepper Cayenne Pepper Apple Cider Vinegar: 2 tablespoons mixed into 2 cups of cold water Collard greens: About 5 lbs Hot Pepper Sauce In a large stockpot over medium heat, warm the olive oil. Add the bacon and fry, until cooked through but not yet crisp, 3-4 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a dish. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of drippings from the pot. Return the pot to medium heat. Add the garlic, salt, pepper, and cayenne (a pinch of each): saute for 1 minute. Carefully stir in the vinegar-water mixture. Return the bacon to the pot and boil for about 2 minutes more. Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the greens. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes, then remove the lid and stir well. Add a few drops of hot pepper sauce to taste, cover and reduce the heat to very low. Simmer, stirring occasionally and adding a little water if necessary to keep the greens damp, until the greens are tender, about 1.5 hours. Serve hot."

Turned out well. My first time doing collards. I didn't take the entire stem off, and I probably should have. Just harder to cut after they were cooked than if I had cut them up beforehand.

1/1/2011 7:38:39 PM

Easiest way to cut collards is cut in half, removing the stem in the process, then roll the leaves together like a cigar and cut them into bits that way.

Today I made hoppin'john for the first time. So easy not sure why I never made it before.

1/1/2011 7:46:03 PM

^That is a fantastic idea to cut collards.

1/1/2011 7:49:47 PM

Tomorrow I'm knocking out 1-3 for dinner with my new triple crock pot.
Rotisserie-Style Chicken http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/10/crockpot-rotisserie-style-chicken.html (and later on making some chicken broth out of the bones)
White Beans with Sun-Dried Tomatoes http://www.razzledazzlerecipes.com/side-dish-crock-pot-recipes/white-beans.htm
Crock Pot Collards http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=238161

On tap for breakfast one day this week is Smoked Salmon and Onion Frittata. Not sure what other ones I'll whip out this week yet.

1/2/2011 8:10:59 PM