#33 Cook through an entire cookbook

A couple of years ago my brother Aaron started his own list - it must be a family thing - of things to do before he turned 30. One of the to do's was to cook through an entire cookbook. I was like, yeah sure why not, sounds like fun. Little did I know! I started with Jamie Oliver's 30-minute meals but soon realized there were so many recipes and so many ingredients I didn't particularly enjoy that I gave up on that one. I tried Sarah Britton's My New Roots but same old same old: sooooo many recipes! And then while on vacation in Belgium I stumbled on Rens Kroes' On The Go book. I had been following Rens for a while on Instagram and got excited over 9 out of 10 posts, so figured that was a good sign. An even better sign was the subtitle on the cover '49 recipes'. 49, that's doable right? Surprisingly enough it was. Every weekend I would try out a couple, generally a breakfast item, a lunch recipe and a snack or dessert. Obviously I started with the ones I liked: chocolate banana bread, chia cookies, frittates.... Towards the end I started to struggle a bit: banana split, banana mousse (do I need to remind anyone banana is not my favourite food in the world?), mint tea, golden milk... and finally sauerkraut quiche (yes really!). But I tried every single recipe, with maybe some minor adjustments here and there. The fun part was getting to work with so many new ingredients: psyllium seeds, quinoa flour, almond flour, buckwheat, rice paper... . Who knew there were so many different flours and even better, so many different ways to store flour?! I had to invest in more mason jars, my freezer is full off different kinds of flour and my kitchen shelves look like they belong in a tree hugger cook store. (I'm so proud of my kitchen shelves!). I also rediscovered my love for cooking, learned to eat certain things I would have never tried before, like fennel bread and red beet soup, and am actually eating healthier than I ever have before. Triple happiness! For those Canadians among us that want to try any of these delicious recipes, the book is being released in English this October. Go check it out: http://www.renskroes.com/. 

Top five recipes

1. Coffee muffins
2. Chocolate spread
3. Chia cookies
4. Brocolli bread
5. Macadamia pesto