perhaps you're thinking, "wow - that really came out of left field!" from my perspective, though, it's been more of a gradual progression; i couldn't have done this without the increasing familiarity with researching, buying, cooking and serving food that i've gained over the last year. in fact, this undertaking was the subject of my new year's resolution last year.
as i come up on one year of creative and highly rewarding cooking, i'm ready to officially up the ante for 2010. i've already dropped milk from my diet and am trying to reduce my intake of other dairy. i've also mostly dropped meat. but this fall i made a huge leap: i began baking my own bread and making my own butter. i keep butter on hand just in case, but now i just buy heavy whipping cream and shake it until i have butter and buttermilk. i haven't bought bread from the store for several months now and my roommate and i have gotten into a great baking rotation which includes our standby white bread, as well as challah, beer bread, soda bread and biscuits. life is good in our apartment.
today, i made another step forward - incorporating dry beans into my cooking routine. (you know how i love my beans.) i have a pot of black beans on the stove and am excited to eat them, freeze them, make chili out of them, feed them to my friends, and have none left so that i can make some more. it's just so great.
so, i'm in the final throes of the academic quarter right now, but as soon as i'm off for break, i'll post some of the great recipes from this fall: sweet potato salad, apple & goat cheese potato salad, beer bread, challah, turkey soup, black beans, roasted beets, etc.
as always, i'll post my adventures in cooking -and i'll continue to cook fun things and write about them in a way that assures that anyone can successfully make the dish- but i will also begin to chronicle my 2010 new year's 'revolution': subverting big agra and gradually moving towards a corn-free diet.
happy eating!
-a.
