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What's Inside project cookbook!

Updated: Feb 17, 2022

Organizing and choosing the recipes


I love planning menus. When I was twelve years old, I planned and executed an entire mystery dinner for a large group of homeschooled friends and their families. I huddled over a notebook scribbling down ideas: pigs in blankets aka "snuggly hogs," pink yogurt mousse aka "rose surprise" . . . you get the picture.

Used yellow legal pad on top of blue cookbook with a pencil

15 years later, I still love creating menus, so when I started to plan my cookbook outline and brainstorm recipes to fill it out . . . well, the image of a four-year-old boy dancing up and down the Lego aisle in a toy store comes to mind.


Reining in my inner child, my highest priority was creating an outline and finding recipes that reflected the goal of project cookbook:


To provide practical recipes for all ages and palates, including a balance of both simple and involved techniques and comfortable and new ingredients.

 

A word about balance and “something for everyone”:


I understand that it’s impossible to be all things for all people. Full disclosure, if you’re looking for cookbook that will guide you through the keto diet, the whole30, or any other specific diet or eating crusade, this is not the cookbook you’re looking for. BUT if you’re looking for a cookbook that will show you how to practically incorporate cooking into your life on a daily basis, inspire you with new and unique flavors, and introduce you to new techniques that will empower you to be more comfortable in the kitchen, then this is exactly where you want to be.

 

With this in mind, I created a rough cookbook outline with chapter titles, each with criteria for the recipes that I wanted to include in that chapter. Each chapter is designed to fit a specific moment or occasion in the life of a busy 21st century adult when food is a necessity or—because this is all about balance—a fun luxury!


Morning Rush:

  • Can be made ahead-of-time and stored for easy access

  • Have freezing instructions

  • Would also be great as plated breakfasts!


Lunchbox Lift

  • Batchable

  • Delicious at any temperature, so they don’t spoil if people are on the go, and a microwave is not needed


Middle of the Week Night

  • Quick to prepare

  • Have a prep-ahead component


Time to Play

  • Tend more toward project cookery

  • Multiple components and processes

  • Can be broken into separate steps for easy completion


Date Night

  • Look impressive and have that indulgent vibe without being too complicated/difficult

  • Potentially take a little more time

  • Potentially use pricier ingredients


For Your Friends

  • Flavorful, delicious offerings for casual gatherings

  • Have a unique “wow” factor

  • Simple to make and not too expensive


Hot Nights, Hotter Days

  • Rely on stove-top cooking, broiling, or other methods that are quick to execute

  • Incorporate summery flavors/produce

  • On the lighter side, to account for difference in appetite


Sweet Tooth

  • Unique, fun dessert recipes!

  • Not too complicated, technical, or involved

  • Push the boundaries of what Americans usually make for dessert

  • Balance impressiveness with simplicity


Side view of used yellow legal pad with a pencil on top.

Once I had my chapters defined, I was ready to brainstorm recipes . . . and that was no problem. In the spirit of balance and variety, I pulled ideas from everywhere. Some were recipes that I remembered my grandmother or parents making when I was a child. Some were recipes that I make fairly regularly now, but that I felt should particularly fit a particular chapter’s ethos. And some were just fun ideas or recipes that I had always wanted to tackle.


Nothing was off-bounds; the only requirement was that the recipe had to fit criteria of the particular chapter.


For a full listing of what I finally came up with, see the index. To see how I progressed with all these recipes, read on!



Originally posted July 7, 2019.

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