"30 Dishes in 30 Days" Cooking Update

Just a little update on my cooking challenge for November....

"30 Dishes in 30 Days"

It's been a huge amount of fun as well as being absolutely delicious.

My main rule is to only cook dishes that I have never attempted before.

I would say that one of the keys to my success this first week has been planning....I did a huge shop last week, having planned my first 10 or so dishes, and apart from a couple of things not turning up in my online food shop, planning ahead has helped me enormously.

Exploring some of my previously unopened cookery books & using new ingredients has been fantastic!! 

Best of all, I am simply really enjoying cooking :)

I have used my fabulous Vitamix blender for several dishes - soup & ice cream - but otherwise I have cooked everything from scratch myself.

So, it's Day 8 today and so far I've cooked 12 dishes - so far so good!

Everything has been very well received by my family & there is possibly only one dish that I wouldn't try again....no disasters yet!

Favourites so far include Cinnamon buns from "Say It With Cake" by Edd Kimber....

and Balsamic Onion & Roasted Goats Cheese Tart which is a recipe from my lovely friend S.

Today's dish is pasta so I'm making Jamie Oliver's "Broccoli & Pesto Tagliatelle"

Nutella-stuffed cookies as mentioned here in "Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever"

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Best Chocolate Chip Cookies....EVER!!!

photo via Ambitious Kitchen

Day 5 of my "30 Dishes in 30 Days" challenge for November

Day 5 is Cookies.....hoorah!!

Joanna over at "A Cup of Jo" runs a recipe series called the "Best (insert dish) Ever...." and I remembered seeing a recipe for the Best Chocolate Chip Cookies ever a few months ago.

The recipe came from a fabulous blog called Ambitious Kitchen and the full title of the cookies is

"Nutella-Stuffed Brown Butter & Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies"

these cookies are ah-maz-ING!!!!

You must try them, you absolutely must.

I read the recipe and thought they looked good....after all, they're cookies, what's not to like?

But people like different types of cookies & everyone has their own recipes etc....

so you never quite know.

But....I followed the recipe exactly and these really are fantastic. And super-easy to make.

The recipe is here 

They take around 2.5 hrs to make BUT 2 hours of that is the amount of time that your dough is in the fridge....the preparation time & cooking time are extremely quick.

For those of you in the UK, all purpose flour is plain flour (you probably knew that already) and, as we don't get semi-sweetened choc chips here, I just used half dark & half milk chocolate chips.

I will let you take a look at the recipe for yourself but basically this cookie is made by rolling up your ball of delicious dough, flattening it, placing a teaspoon of Nutella in the centre of the flattened round & then wrapping the delicious dough around the Nutella and rolling it back into a ball.

Chocolate chip cookie dough wrapped around a ball of Nutella. Genius!!

Flatten again and then bake.

The sprinkling of sea salt on them when they just come out of the oven is perfection.

Please try them. These cookies are seriously good. 

Did I say that already?! 

(PS As I was on a cooking roll, I also made some Brown Bread & Butter Ice Cream to accompany the cookies)

photos of my cookies....

i'm not the best food photographer in the world clearly but you get the general idea :)

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Happy Sunday....

Harpers December issue - Marion Cotillard

....thoughts of NYC this week....

We've hibernated pretty much this week, it's been our half-term holiday....and it's been blissful.

Taking a break, sleeping in & just being.

Children are always so busy these days, so many activities & distractions available to them. 

I think it's really important to just be - and to learn how to entertain themselves & do something other than stare at a screen.

Since I started my "30 Dishes in 30 Days" November challenge, I have unleashed my inner Nigella and have been cooking up a storm....I can't stop actually. 

My only rule is that all the dishes have to be something I've never made before, I'm loving it! 

So far I've made : 

Pea & Potato Soup

Fish Pie

Balsamic Red Onion & Goat's Cheese Tart

Maple Syrup & Vanilla Ice Cream

Cinnamon rolls

Join me if you would like to....although I've already decided I will do this again in either January or February so I may need cooking buddies then :)

Happy Sunday!!

                                                                                       

                                                               

                                                       

                    

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November Challenge : 30 dishes in 30 days

A year ago I took a couple of cookery courses (Italian, French & Thai) & these helped me to broaden my cooking horizons somewhat.

I like to cook but I think that I lack cooking confidence....I need to be more adventurous.

So....in a bid to accomplish this, this month I am setting myself a 

"30 Dishes in 30 Days" 

challenge for November.

Cooking 30 dishes that I have never cooked before - they will range from main courses to side dishes to desserts & will also be seasonal - some delicious stews, soups & pies.

I have chosen around 15 of the dishes already & have others in mind.

When I did my cookery courses last year, the lovely people at Philips very kindly sent me the most amazing food processor, so I'll be making full use of that....

and I am also trying out the fabulous Vitamix Total Nutrition Center which can be used to make everything from peanut butter to ice cream to soup.

If you have a great recipe that you'd like to share, feel free to let me know or send me a link.

    My family eats pretty much anything & we don't have any allergies.

I spent yesterday browsing our extensive collection of recipe books (some of them seemingly untouched!) , stocking up my fridge & food cupboards & cannot wait to get cooking. My daughter is also going to join in the challenge, she's chosen five dishes and will try them out throughout the month.   

Now I just need to decide what to cook first :) 

Want to join me?

My plan is below....let me know if you want to join me, I'd love that!

The only rule is that it has to be a dish you've never cooked before. 

You could adapt some of the choices if you're not heading into winter like I am :)

  

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bhel puri

stylish serendipity photo

I just made bhel puri for lunch, it is a perfect summer dish, a delicious combination of crunchy, salty, sweet, healthy, spicy and fresh. The only negative it that it requires two items from the Indian grocery that you must have on hand... bhel puri snack mix and tamarind chutney. The other ingredients are potato, tomato, onions, cilantro and chick peas if you want protein. Also can drizzle plain yogurt on it if you like. 

It is a Mumbai street food that almost everybody loves. I used to take it to picnics when our kids were little and was always asked for the recipe. Men seem to like it especially.  Here is an official recipe.  I just wing it every time with whatever we have on hand and tend to keep several bags of mix and jars of the chutney on hand in the summer months. The mix and chutney looks like this at the Indian grocery:

Have you tried it? I think you would like it!

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