The Cookery Calendar Challenge – April

Last month I joined The Cookery Calendar Challenge which one of my fellow Instagramers started back in January, Penny of the Homemade Heart blog.

Although I didn’t participate in January, by February I was eager to give it a go, so I decided to try it out in March. I know it was one online challenge I could participate in, since it was doable. Penny welcomes any new joiners and makes the challenge flexible enough for participants’ own needs as a cook and homemaker.

For my first month in this challenge I chose to do one of the more fancy cookbooks, but one that had recipes that definitely were in keeping with my own cooking goals: to bring more healthy and comforting foods to the table on a more regular basis.

The recipes and text are by Diane Rossen Worthington.

For the 2016 challenge, you need to cook two new recipes out of a cookbook, that you rarely use, for each month and then blog or write about it on social media. This book suited those criteria. Although I loved it, I had rarely used it as the recipes required a lot of ingredients that, in the past, were not readily on hand in my pantry. Now, with me cooking a lot more as a homemaker, that is not so much a problem.

Since I bought this book which I purchased from the fine foods grocery store in Bermuda, Miles Market, I have been eying it’s lovely recipes for soups in every category and from all over the world. Like the other Williams-Sonoma cookbooks in this series, it is small and has beautiful photos for each recipe.  Which is excellent and gives you helpful information and tips regarding ingredients or the cooking process in the sidebar. It has a great detailed glossary and an easy to follow index.

 

The Contents page is clear and easy to follow as well as beautiful. The Soup Basics section has a wonderful glossary styled layout with all the methods and cooking supplies you might need to prepare the recipes in the book. I love the how to on Making Stock. I used the recipe for Chicken Stock as part of my challenge. I had never ventured to make fresh chicken stock before and so it was something I had always wanted to do. I make a lot of soup especially in the winter months and it only seems right to have homemade broth with your homemade recipes.

For this challenge my other recipe was Chicken Noodle Soup.

I loved this particular recipe as it was the classic type and contained only the ingredients I find really needs to be in this recipe. Usually I use a Cooking Light magazine recipe for quick Chicken Noodle Soup. Which is divine, but as I only use stock cubes and other possibly bad for you ingredients, I like this recipe from Williams-Sonoma for when you have guests or a sick person in the house. It is wholesome and good and has the healing properties that Chicken Noodle Soup is known for if made with fresh broth.

Usually when I cook, things get pretty messy as my husband can tell you. Making homemade chicken stock was no diffent and it looked like WWIII had happened in my kitchen, afterwards.

Let me say that the stock making process was something you should do a day in advance, of course after I had made the chicken stock I not only had enough but also enough to store in the fridge or freezer, which I then used in a variety of meals.

In fact I ended up making the stock twice in March.

This month I have decided to cook from this cookbook I lugged back from Bermuda last year. It is a Vegetarian cookbook and as one of my cooking goals is to start cooking more vegetables or eating them then I thought this one might be appropriate. It is by Vikki Leng and is an Australian publication (1994).

Well I hope this post has inspired you to look through your old cookbooks and find something good to cook your family tonight. If you would like to join the challenge or find out more go to Penny’s website to find out more. Click on the link to her latest post about the challenge here.