...Asian Cabbage Salad... pg. 75

You can find the recipe HERE

Last night no one was in the mood to cook. It has been so hot here... and cooking in the hot kitchen, over a hot stove, was LAST on my list. So flipping through my handy dandy cookbook, I came across this lovely recipe. My dad was grilling up a nice skirt steak, so I wanted something fresh, crisp, and cool for the side. This definitely did the trick! The recipe calls for toasted almonds... I don't like almonds. But since this was a challenge to try new things, I added them. And I LOVED them! I think it was my favorite part of the salad! It added a nice crunch, and great flavor!

Mixing the ingredients for the dressing in a sippy cup! (first thing I could get my hands on!)

the before and after.... (like the fancy dinnerware?! :) .... like I said before, it was hot!)
The only thing I didn't really like was that in the recipe, it says to add the dressing, and then put in the fridge for 30 minutes before serving. Well i felt the cabbage was a little soggy because of it. So next time I will add the dressing RIGHT before I serve.

...My Challenge...

Have you ever seen the movie Julie & Julia? Ya know, the one about Julia Child, with Meryl Streep and Amy Adams.... I thought it was a great movie! All the way through it I kept thinking how I would LOVE to take on a challenge like that. I love to cook. LOVE it. However, I wouldn't call myself a 'fancy' type cook. I just cook everyday type food for my family and me. So I never thought I could do this type of challenge, since I didn't have a cookbook I just *loved*.  Until last fall....

My friend had posted on her blog something she had made from a website called "Our Best Bites". I took a gander at the website, and I'm pretty sure I sat there for the next hour in just AWE. This was normal food! With DETAILED pictures, and tutorials! It was amazing. So I went to the website every-so-often... Then one day... They posted that they were coming out with a cookbook! Glorious day! I immediately headed over to Amazon.com, and pre-ordered myself a copy. And the rest... is right here!

So here's my challenge... I have 6 months to cook through the whole thing.