A Month of Barefoot Contessa... My Answer to "What's For Dinner?"

You might be surprised to know that even Mike and I have a terrible time deciding what to have for dinner.  He gave me the newest Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, Foolproof, for Christmas, completing my collection.  As we were driving to my sister's house in St. Louis on Christmas Day, I read the entire book cover to cover and proclaimed - I'm going to make everything in this book.  He dared me.  I'm sure his encouragement was just to get himself out of the never-ending 'what do you want for dinner' daily dilemma.

As I'm sure you've noticed, I've devoted a great number of posts to Mrs. Garten - including our trip to East Hampton (where we were seated next to her at dinner!).  In fact, I've even been known to claim in an interview that my entire catering business plan was based on her book, Parties.

So, yes, I'm going to feature an entire series of Barefoot Contessa recipes on the blog... Julie and Julia style.  So what if the idea isn't original?  I know it has been done before by countless other bloggers, but I'm throwing my ego to the wind and doing it anyway.  It seems that all of my recipes and entertaining efforts are inspired by Ina, so why not give credit where credit is due. 

A Month of The Barefoot Contessa Project


The Rules : 
I will not be working in any particular order.  I will be making recipes from her other books, as well - ones that I've always wanted to make.  I will not be posting the exact recipe on my blog, but will point you to the page in the book where you can find it or a link where the recipe is featured - as a future cookbook author, I don't want to give her product away, just document my experience to inspire yours.  I will continue to write my own recipes and put those on the blog during my journey - don't worry, I won't leave you high and dry.  The project will last the entire month of January (I'll also continue to feature other topics such as home projects and travel during the month... business as usual).  I know I will not get through all of them, but I'll do my best. 

Join me!
As part of my journey, I'd like to invite you to join me.  As I post recipes from the books, I'd love for you to share your thoughts and experiences on those same recipes.

Pinterest :
I'll be posting all of the links on this Pinterest Board : The Barefoot Contessa Project, so be sure to follow that, as well.   Send me links to your posts about your Barefoot Contessa posts and I'll Pin them to the Pinterest page.   It will be a great easy resource to find all of the posts in one spot.

Facebook :
Also, I'd love for you to email me or post photos on my facebook page of your versions of the recipes.

Twitter :
I'll tweet my progress on twitter using the #JennyHobicksBarefootContessaProject to document as we go - so you'll be able to follow me in real-time.

First up, the Slow Roasted Beef Tenderloin, page 122... as someone who has cooked 100's of beef tenderloins in my catering days, I wish I had known about this method sooner.  We used the recipe on Christmas Day - FABULOUS.  Can't wait to share!