New Year's: Resolutions and Blogging!

I love New Year's. Not the actually NYE party scene and hype (that happens every year...), but the new calendar, time to assess the past year, and set goals for the new year. My list of New Year's resolutions is fairly extensive, 14 resolutions, but all are things I am passionate about following through with. (Fun fact: According to the John Tesh radio show, New Year's resolutions typically have an 88% fail rate)

Last year one of my resolutions was to try a new recipe every week and was one of the ones I actually succeeded at! So this year, I made that resolution again, with a slight caveat. That is, I want to try more recipes from actual cookbooks (2 of which I got for Christmas, more on that later!) than from my dear friend Pinterest. While Pinterest is easily accessible, fun-looking, and full of popular recipes, I have several reasons I prefer cookbooks to Pinterest.
     1. I love cooking/baking things from scratch. To me, it is healthier when I know
         exactly what goes into the food I am cooking and where it comes from, even
         if it does have sugar and butter in it :) Many Pinterest recipes, while tasty,
         start with a boxed cake mix or cans of cream of ______ soup or a store-made
         rotiserrie chicken or loaf of bread. (Though I try to avoid these things, I am not
         anti-convenience at all times. My all-time favorite cake starts with a mix ;)
     2. Many cookbook recipes are tried-and-true recipes. Not just the latest popular
         internet craze. There aren't short-cuts. Unless you want it to taste like a
         short-cut.
     3. There is something about pulling out a cookbook and reading through the pages
         until you find something that makes your mouth water. It's the same as pulling out
         the recipe cards of my mother's recipes, that have stains and smears on them,
         knowing they will be delicious. I spent several days engrossed in my new cookbooks
         and my list of recipes to try is at least 4 pages long!

I got two great new cookbooks for Christmas! The first one I picked out for myself-
                             Made with Love: The Meals On Wheels Family Cookbook
                                                 
This cookbook was a fundraiser for local Meals on Wheels chapter to help end senior hunger in America. Well-known athletes, chefs, writers, and celebrities including Paula Deen, First Lady Barbara Bush, Mario Batali, Joan Rivers, Dr. Maya Angelous, Martha Stewart, and Kurt Warner contributed recipes to this book. It is beautifully photographed and edited and my first week of recipes came from this cookbook.  

The second was an awesome surprise from my momma!
                             The Southern Living Heirloom Recipe Cookbook
                                                  
Couldn't have picked a better one myself, it's full of delicious classic favorites. Mom said, "I looked through it and debated giving it to you or keeping it!" So glad I got it :) Found a recipe for Million Dollar Pound Cake that my momma has been making for years in here.

So we will see, a resolution to blog each week about my new recipe....maybe :) Hopefully I will be able to add a little bit of my travels (Resolutions: Visit 6 new cities; Go on a foreign missions trip), life here in Charlottesville eating and playing with friends (Resolution: Restore relationships with friends I don't see often; Hike monthly; Be involved in a small group bible study), and that Christ's love will be seen through me when sharing my cooking/baking with others (Resolution: Seek Christ above all else).