At the beginning of this year, I found myself in a rut. I realized that I, by default, would make slight variations on the same few meals every single week. Cooking became a chore, as much as I enjoy eating and (usually) enjoy cooking, in general.

That realization was one of the main things that drove me to start this blog, and I believe that blogging has been the driving force that pulled me out of cooking boredom.

This month, I am challenging myself to not make the same dinner twice.

Obviously, I can’t avoid using some of the same ingredients but I have to focus on making things in different ways. That doesn’t mean I have to cook every day… but when I do, it has to be something I haven’t made this month. I won’t post recipes for every meal I make, but I’ll try to list the dishes (and include links if I got the recipes online).

This first week (and a bit) was a good start, although we weren’t home to cook for the first weekend.

• Chunky Vegetable Paella (from the Ultimate Vegetarian Cookbook by Roz Denny)
• Seitan Paprikash
• Hyderabadi Biryani (from Sarah Brown’s World Vegetarian Cookbook)
• Double Broccoli Quinoa (from 101 Cookbooks)