My Food Goals for 2013
As discussed last year, I don’t really make resolutions for myself per se, but rather I set some goals to keep me on track with my cooking plans for the year.
I spent a good part of 2012 trying to figure out how to use sugar alternatives in my cooking and baking’and to be perfectly honest’I had more failures than successes in this department. What I did learn is that organic cane sugar makes a fine replacement for granulated sugar in cookies and cakes, but other than that, I think it’s best to use whatever your recipes call for’just eat less of it if sugar is a concern to you. What’s the other takeaway I had last year? I don’t think I will ever become the gardener I hope to be’and I’m starting to be okay with that.
Here are my food-inspired goals for 2013:
- To feed more meatless meals to my family. I’m actually more partial to vegetarian dishes, but living with three male carnivores makes it a challenge to skip the meaty meals often. This year, I’m determined to get them to like vegetarian dishes as much as I do.
- Incorporate more supergrains into our diet. Thanks to the popularity of quinoa, grains are hot right now and I would like to learn more about cooking with millet, barley, oats, chia, faro and buckwheat.
- Use my slow cooker at least once a week. In the early fall, I made a fabulous Chili Mac in my Crock Pot. I’m determined to build up my repertoire of these one-pot meals this winter.
- Make more homemade breads. I’d like to develop a good baguette recipe and a try my hand at homemade bagels.
- Stop crowding the pan! I’m terrible at this, and I don’t know why I do it, but I really need to work on giving the food enough space to brown properly. If I only achieve one of these goals this year, this is the one I hope to succeed at.
How about you? What are your food goals for the coming year?
