A Baking Challenge

      A Mackenzie magazine arrived in the mail around Christmas.  It was full of pictures of expensive, delectable foods and desserts that were exorbitantly priced. When Father saw it he said all of them could be made at home, and most of the main dishes just needed butter to make them look and taste so good!

So after everyone had looked at all the different foods and talked about how they liked this one or that, Father said, “Hey, Jean, why don’t you make all of these meals out of this magazine? It could be your baking goal for the year!”

Well, at first I thought they were too fancy and would be too hard to make.  But Father told me that it was just the magic of marketing, and that I could look up recipes that matched the pictures online!

And that is how my baking goal began…

I started out with the easiest sides and desserts, like Mac and Cheese, and Bunt Cake. Then I moved on to more complex things such as Beef Empanadas or Beignets.

 It was difficult choosing what to make at times. Many of the recipes required ingredients that we simply don’t have at this time of year – like fresh pears, or raspberries. Or they require  meats that we have to pick up for certain roasts and stews.                                                                       It took some time and researching to find recipes that matched the pictures in the magazine, so I always made sure I had read a lot about the dish before I started cooking.

I am glad that all the foods in the magazine had a picture to go with it.  It is always more motivating to see a picture of a beautiful dish – then I try to make one as pretty. (This is primarily how I chose what to make  )

Some recipes were beautiful and simply delicious, like my favorite Lemon meringue tartlets.  And other were merely a taste of a different culture, not particularly good (French Onion Soup.)  Mother liked the wontons so much she declared Wednesday “Wonton Wednesday” and we come home from TaeKwon Do to a Chinese delicacy.  Who knew they were so easy to make?

It is nice to have the goal to discover all these meals.  70% of which I had never even heard of! (like Spring Pea and Mint Soup? That’s a new one!)

Learning how to make and bake lots of different meals and desserts is the main reason Father gave me this goal.  By the time  I finish it I will have learned the basics of cooking and baking necessary to cook any menu!

This has been a fun way to push myself to try to make something new.  I would recommend this method of learning how to cook.  Have a goal and strive to complete it!  Just remember to do all to the glory of God!