Julie and Julia

I felt inspired to cook after watching Julie and Julia. I did not, however, feel inspired to cook French cuisine (as it isn't my favorite and it's usually complicated & time consuming). I think I am 'Taste of Home' kinda cooker.

I get a cooking magazine once a month that has simple recipes and menu ideas. This magazine includes a 'Grocery List' and five recipes that follow it...it makes use of multiple ingredients to spread across the different dinners to buy a few things and make complete use of them. The 'Grocery List' never includes the 'staples' that I, as I cook alot, have in my kitchen on a daily basis. And, the 'List' tends to not break the bank. I decided last month (prior to seeing Julie and Julia) that I would buy the items on the 'List' and make the recipes for my family...even it they didn't sound like something we would order at a restaurant per se. (The main reason I didn't do this with the previous month's recipes is due to Allison's food allergy to the squash family and for some reason, the July issue decided to spread squash across all five recipes!)

To make a long story short. I did it! I made all five recipes and with the extra ingredients I made a sixth! And, it cost less money than I had anticipated. If anyone is interest, I would be glad to let you know the dishes and if we liked them or not. (We would eat 3/6 of them again...that is pretty good for 'experimenting' I think!)