Is too many cookbooks even a thing?

I tell you what, a couple times every year I start to get stuck in a rut with feeding myself. What to make that is inspiring, delicious, not too terribly difficult (or maybe some difficulty is the point), and features what is available at this exact moment. I got a great idea from a friend the other day that I want to share with you!

Isabel, who will be taking over my position in May, used to check out a cookbook from the library and for the next two weeks, would just cook from that cookbook. There is one idea. Spice it up without buying a new cookbook. There is some structured challenge in that which I find very beneficial at times.

I decided to take this 2-week challenge to my own cookbook shelf. I own WAY TOO MANY COOKBOOKS, but I love cookbooks. I just use them for a while and then get distracted into the ease of a google search. So, instead, for the next little while, I am choosing a cookbook every couple weeks and digging in. It is a fun challenge because not only am I looking into each cookbook for what I want to cook, but also what can I cook with the Full Diet options at hand. That means some well placed substitutions and also realizing that I can do this again later in the year!

This past week I have been digging into Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. It was fun. I am finishing up this week, but below are my successes and one recipe that I didn’t get around to making, but I really wanted to.

Really quickly, this week we have a greens selection. No kale, but we do have cabbage, spinach, parsley, and some mixed greens. I don’t know if you noticed, but it hasn’t been that sunny recently. We are giving the kale a bi-week this week to do a little recovery. Plus we had to clear some beds to get ready for next season and do some rodent control. That is where the parsley and mixed greens are coming from. Hopefully, the kale will be well recovered next week. In the meantime, look into some cabbage recipes!

Oh, and big news: chorizo is back!

Thanks so much everyone. See you on Friday and Saturday.

~ alison