Everyone Needs A Challenge...

Last summer began the "Clean out My Freezer and Pantry Challenge of 2008." As you recall, I only bought fresh produce and dairy for just over 3 months as I used up my canned goods and deep freeze items which had reached survivalist proportions. We are not just talking surviving a hurricane or a earthquake... we are talking full on End of Days Nuclear Proliferation survivalist here. (Hence the three months of buying neither meat nor pantry items...)

I got that mess under control. My freezer is full again, but that has more to do with logistics. I live in Podunk middle of nowhere rural Missouri, so I tend to buy meat in bulk at Costco and freeze it. I have, however, made sure I don't have too much of any one item. I have *some* ground beef. I have *some* chicken. I have *a* brisket.

This summer, I have decided to tackle my cookbook collection. Cookbooks take up 15 - 20% of the shelf space in my library. Some of them are well loved and some of them have never been utilized. This summer, I am going to choose 5 cookbooks at random each week, and am going to try to make as many recipes as possible from those five cookbooks that week. If I come across a cookbook that has NOTHING I have any desire to make, it gets the boot. I will find it a home with someone who will appreciate it more than I will. Here is a photo of the cookbooks I chose this week.


This week, I grabbed the Sweet Serendipity cookbook as one of my original 5. The only recipes in this cookbook are fancy desserts. I have NO REASON to make a fancy dessert this week. I decided, though, that since I've used it before and will use it again, it doesn't get the boot. I just grabbed another cookbook instead, and will utilize Sweet Serendipity next time I need a fancy dessert. Stay tuned for pictures and recipes of this exciting new challenge.