Welcome!

Welcome to our cooking blog! The idea for this project came when we recently rented the movie "Julie and Julia." What an idea--cooking your way through an entire cookbook! Natalie and I were intrigued by it. But, could WE do something similar?

Reality check: I'm a mom of three teenage girls with a deployed husband, and I'll be starting an intense 2-year Dental Hygiene program in the fall! Natalie is a soon-to-be senior in high school, with commitments to marching band, winter guard, flute lessons, a part-time job, church activities, and helping her mom drive everyone around town. Would we REALLY have time or energy to do this?

Natalie was insistent. She even picked the book: "30 Minute Meals 2" by Rachael Ray. We've had it for years and have tried maybe one recipe. Plus, she reasoned, how time-consuming could it be if it's called "30 Minute Meals?" Hmmm, famous last words?

So the idea cemented into the following: We will fix all 278 recipes in the book before Natalie graduates high school on May 14, 2011. That's around 5 recipes a week. We've got each other's back: when she can't cook, I'll do it, and when I'm swamped, she'll do the cooking. We have some vacations coming up which will set us back a bit, but then we have Christmas break and Spring break which might help us make it up. I think it's lucky we've got a really understanding, helpful, and eternally hungry husband / dad. He'll be home in June, which will help things enormously.

The other rule we've shaken on this is that we must try every dish! So, that means Natalie will try every fish dish, even though she'd rather be run over by a train than eat fish. It also means that I will have to persevere in the face of the many spicy dishes in our future.

And one caveat: We are not alcohol drinkers; we won't cook with it. I've noticed that Rachael has quite a few "spirited" recipes, so we will be substituting. We'll have to do a little experimenting with that. And if there are jalapeños in the recipe, they'll probably be left out. Does that go against my rule about trying everything? Maybe, but I also don't want the food to sit untouched because no one will eat it. I'm still a mom, and the family still needs to be fed.

So, if you are reading this blog for accurate descriptions of Rachael Ray's recipes, you may be disappointed. Sorry. It is what it is, and we'll do the best we can.

So, sit back and enjoy the ride with us!