Cookbook Challenge - Progress Report!

I am thrilled to say that several people liked the idea of the Cookbook Challenge and have found their cookbook ready to start cooking! If you are new to this no worries, its never too late to start! Just pick a recipe book and challenge yourself to cook every recipe in it!

I started while I was home for Christmas and have cooked about 10 of the recipes so far.

 I must say, I don't think that there is a recipe in there that I don't like the sound of which is great!

I have decided to share pictures of my dishes followed by a three step rating system that you may recognise from my recipe-a-week challenge last year...

Taste - 

Time/Effort - 

Repeat? - 

So without further ado, here is a round-up of my efforts so far...

Taste - Delicious - especially warm from the oven with soup

Time/Effort - A lot of kneading (this was actually very therapeutic) and rising time was needed 

Repeat? - Yes - they were fairly simple and delicious

Taste - DELICIOUS! We used ours for eggs Benedict by adding ham, poached egg and hollandaise sauce!

Time/Effort - Again kneading and rising. 

These were cooked first on the hob and then in the oven which I really enjoyed!

Repeat? - Yes! I am an eggs Benedict convert and love it all the more for using my own muffins

Taste - I love anything with puff pastry but the bacon here added a really nice taste to these - I served them with tomato soup

Time/Effort - Very easy and fairly quick

Repeat? - Yes :)

Taste - this salad had a very sophisticated feel to it - it was a yummy starter for our New Year's Eve meal

Time/Effort - This was really quick but I found it quite full on - a few hot pans to watch 

Repeat? - Possibly

 Taste - Carrots were delicious; really simple and I was surprised at how tender they were considering I used whole carrots!

Time/Effort - Easy, minimal effort

Repeat? - Yes!

Taste - I wasn't sold here but I think this is partially because I didn't cook them long enough - I would definitely try it again to get the crispy edges to the broccoli

Time/Effort - Easy, minimal effort

Repeat? - I would try it again to try and improve it

Taste - Seriously Amazing (this is my title, not the one given in the book!) I love lasagne, it is the dish I always request when I go home and this recipe is awesome - it replaces some of the mince with sausage meat and is just generally scrumptious

Time/Effort - It is fairly hands on but not in a difficult way, more that there are lots of components to make - it is so totally worth it anyway!

Repeat? - I am cooking it next week!

Taste - Really good - and from a gal who isn't very partial to fish, this is high praise! I really enjoyed the combination of salmon, sweet potatoes and herbs

Time/Effort - This was a really easy dish because you boil the salmon and sweet potato together then just drain and mash with the other ingredients. I really liked this method of making them as it didn't feel as fiddly

Repeat? - Yes

Taste - A. Maze. Ing. Seriously this is good - luxuriously so! We left it cook for about 4 hours and came back to a beautifully tender piece of lamb with a gorgeous casserole of vegetables and chorizo. A very special meal

Time/Effort - Takes a long time to cook but actual effort wasn't huge - just preparing vegetables and things

Repeat? - Yes - this is a great special occasion meal

Taste - Chocolate heaven! I love cheesecake. I adore chocolate. Therefore this dessert is divine! And I love the professional look of the top

Time/Effort - A bit of effort involved, and chilling time but nothing too fiddly - even the fancy looking decoration on top was fairly easy!

Repeat? - Yes please!

So there you have my efforts so far. I realise that I have given fairly high praise for nearly all the recipes.

 This is completely genuine and 100 % my opinion! I really enjoyed all the recipes I have cooked so far. The instructions are clear and easy to follow and the recipes themselves create delicious meals!

I am looking forward to cooking some more recipes out of this fantastic book!

How are you getting on with the 2013 Cookbook Challenge?

Love Rebecca