New Year and New Opportunities

Happy New Year! 2013 is here and I am still in denial (thus the January 7th post I suppose). I am done with school for the first time in almost 3 years and while my work life is ramping up, my time away from home (and unfortunately the kitchen) will only be for a little while so I am constantly thinking about all the things I want to accomplish this year food wise.

Lucky me, my year got started off in a great direction when I submitted a recipe and picture for Fabio Viviani's Kitchen Academy Challenge. Now clearly I have mad love for Fabio already so I subscribe to his blog, and his Facebook.. and his Twitter and a newsletter...anyway, point is, he gives 5 ingredients you must use and whatever other ingredients you want. Then, you make a dish, snap a photo and submit it and your recipe. I missed Week #1 but Week#2 was carrots, mozzarella, mint, pine nuts and ham. So I made this:

Carrot and ham soup with a mint pesto and mozzarella croutons. And guess what?

I ended up on his Pinterest board: Fabio's Kitchen Academy Challenge #2

Okay, it is a contest...but I did not enter it just to have a chance to win (and looking at the competition, holy smokes there are some creative folks out there and winning is probably not an option!) but to prove my culinary chops. And that is among my resolutions: get better in the kitchen and take risks and put myself out there. It may not be my full time job, or even a part time one, but I love it. The only thing I enjoy more than cooking and creating recipes and making food for others is being with my awesome family and friends. So, I raise my tongs to you readers...this year is going to be tasty!

New Frontiers: Collard Greens

I am starting my New Year's resolutions early this year. First, I am committed to trying new recipes and preparing foods I traditionally have prepared for me. Second, I am going to use more local produce. Third, I am going to work on working off the poundage I have put on, but that's for another post! But back to my first resolution. Although I do love cooking I have let my fear override my willingness to prepare things I have  loved to eat but let someone else cook. But when I picked up last week's CSA, I found collards in my bag of veggie awesomeness. I needed to cook them. I wanted to cook them. Could I convince myself to do it?

Fast forward to a much needed break from work, having been off since the 21st of December. I have been newly revitalized to cook a lot more being home. I have had time to peruse recipes, think about what I want to get out of 2013 culinary wise and do some serious menu planning. Visiting my parents on Christmas Day, I mentioned the collards I had to cook. My 82-year old grandmother chimed in with her sure fire method: cook them with some cabbage and add red pepper. Conveniently, my CSA also came with Chinese cabbage.Well, that was enough to make me commit.

I bought a piece of country ham for seasoning and set to work. First, I cooked four slices of bacon in a stock pot and drained them, reserving some of the drippings. To the drippings I added half of a chopped red onion, some red pepper flake (about a tablespoon), some cayenne (about a teaspoon) and a little olive oil. Just once the onions started to soften, I added  the ham piece and gave it some quick color. next I added 4 cups of my homemade chicken stock. I brought this up to a boil. Then I added all of my collards in batches and then all of the Chinese cabbage in batches as well. Each time I added a bunch of leaves, I ensure I wilted them down before I added the next. Finally, I added 2 cups of water, covered the pot, reduced the heat to a simmer and let sit for 2 hours.

They came out FANTASTIC! I served them with crumbled pieces of bacon on top. My mother-in-law said she had never had them before, and really enjoyed them. Hubby, who turned his nose at the idea of them, gobbled them up too. They were spicy and salty and, wonderful!

This is what I needed to convince me my New Year's resolutions were not at all unreasonable or unreachable. I am very excited about what's around the bend!

New Year, New Dishes, New Possibilites

Happy New Year!

You know what they say about good intentions, right? As in I had every intention of working on my blog during the holidays and it never came together. My company shut down from December 22 thru January 3 and it seemed reasonable that I would squeeze in a posting or two. Yet, family and friends took priority (as they should) and the below picture sums up what I did with my holiday break:

So, today I return to my beloved blog, excited for 2012.

As I start thinking about this new year and the upcoming adventures in food, I do find that there are some loose ends that need to be wrapped up for 2011 and some observations about the past year.

1. I was in fact crowned Hampton Road’s Top Home Chef in the first season of Cooking with Passion. It was an awesome experience as well as an eye opening one into the reality of filming reality TV. The respect I have for competitors in food challenge competitions is enormous and has done nothing but deepened my love for shows like Top Chef.

2. I was so inspired by my victory that as I previously mentioned, I auditioned for Season 3 of Gordon Ramsey’s Master Chef. I never did get a call back (and have heard the cast is set) but I remain proud of myself for putting myself out there..and I might even do it again.

3. I was offered my first gig as a blogger for a publication, only to have the opportunity dissolve at the last minute when the publication decided to go a different direction with its food section. That blog is still a good concept that will one day find a home. In the meantime, it’s title and content will still be something I will file away for the future.

4. I had a lot of plans of what I wanted/want this blog to be. But I have had to align the fact that I work outside the home full time, I am a mom, a step-mom, a wife, a volunteer at my church AND I am taking more graduate classes to further my HR career. I need to cut myself some slack for not posting every day or not as often as I want.

5. Never have I been more convinced that something food related is my eventual destiny as a career. For the time being it is a fabulous hobby that has unrelenting support from friends and family who I cannot thank enough for all of the encouragement.

Whether you are a continuous reader, a first-time lurker or just stumbled upon this accidentally, I wish for you a 2012 filled with adventure as you pursue your passion while I resolve to continue pursuing mine.