Happy January!  Or should I say Happy National New Year’s Resolution Month!  Of course, most New Year’s resolutions revolve around food.  And exercise.  But mostly food.  And that is a wonderful thing.  Why?

Let’s look on the bright side.  It’s 2018. Do you know how lucky we are to be living at the time of a culinary renaissance?  Or perhaps revolution is the better word.  When I look back into cookbooks and menus from the middle of the last century I thank God we had good family recipes to enjoy.  Ambrosia salads and Jell-O molds do not call my name.  The beautiful thing to remember is that there are no rules.  The rules went out the window with the 1980’s oaky chardonnay.  You can even have red wine with salmon, if you like.  It’s all about what you like!  Shocker, I know, but it’s true. 

Personally, I thought of a couple options for my 2018 resolution.  One thing I know from experience is that whatever I choose it needs to be really specific.  The first option was to turn family dinner night one night a week into family hike night. That’s a tough one to start in January. I also know someone who made Friday nights “No Tech Night.”  They turn off the TV, put down their cellphones and rely on music and conversation for entertainment that evening.  I like this but am not sure I’m totally prepared.  My twitchy eye says differently.

But I decided on this. I vow to try one new recipe a week for 52 weeks.  That should be easy, right?  My life pretty much revolves around food.  But unfortunately for me, it’s not that easy.  What usually happens is that I get overwhelmed by all of the recipe resources out there.  Just my cookbook collection alone is overwhelming.  Plus I too am one of the millions of Americans who has vowed to lose weight this year so I try to keep most recipes healthy and nutritious.  But I’m not going to let that stop me.  I figure, once I decide to stick to whatever healthy eating plan I’m on, one recipe a week off that plan won’t ruin my progress.  I’m going with Sunday dinner.  That gives me something to look forward to during the week and time to plan and prepare.  And I always narrow it down by season. Comfort food here I come.  There’s a macaroni and cheese stuffed meatloaf I’ve been dying to tackle…with maybe a raw carrot salad on the side. 

And in today’s day and age you can find recipes everywhere!  If you’re tired of the cookbooks on the shelf don’t worry.  Dozens of cookbooks are released every month. But you don’t even need to wait.  Just go online.  Find a resource or two or twenty that you like and search away. Make a recipe file on your computer and organize it into categories that you can easily find what you’re looking for. 

So get out of the boring same old same old.  Change it up. Make a new year’s resolution that works for you.  One that you can stick to so the food won’t.