2015 Challenge - Junk at Home!

It's a new year and that means it's time for a new Wilde Challenge! I failed miserably at my 2014 challenge. I only wound up cooking from 19/115 of my cookbooks. And... I bought a few more cookbooks this year. Maybe this will just be an ongoing personal challenge.  

I think my failure was for three reasons. 1. I was traveling for about 1/3 of the year and didn't cook very much during my heavy travel times. 2. We moved house and our kitchen was a huge mess for about a month and a half. 3. This challenge wasn't very exciting! I really enjoyed my Homemade 2012 challenge because I had specific goals and really fun food items to make.

I polled my all of you on Facebook and asked "What are your favorite junk foods?" I decided to go with a similar format as the 2012 challenge this year and have scheduled some pretty fun and tasty junk food challenges for 2015!

January 16 - Wheat Thins - Parmesan Crackers

January 30 - Cheez Whiz - Spray Cheese!

February 13 - Girl Scout Samoas (aka Caramel Delights) - Dark Chocolate - Salted Caramel Samoas

February 27 - Twinkies - Gourmet Snack Cakes

March 13 - Cadbury Creme Eggs - Half-Shell Creme Eggs

March 27 - Jelly Beans - Attempted 3 times! So many failures...

April 10 - Cheese Popcorn

April 24 - Oreos - Classic Oreos

May 22 - Chipwich - Chocolate Cookies with Mint Ice Cream

June 19 - Sno-Balls - Classic Sno-Balls

July 17 - Girl Scout Thin Mints - Thin Mints (From 2013)

July 31 - Snickers with Homemade peanut butter nougat and from-scratch caramel!

September 25 - Donuts - Brownie Donuts with Peanut Butter Frosting

February 4, 2016 - Fritos - Fauxritos

February 18, 2016 - Moon Pies - Classic Vanilla Moon Pies

March 24, 2016 - Tootsie Roll Pops - Chocolate taffy coated in Grape Hard candy

April 14, 2016 - Coca Cola - Cherry Coke

To complete in 2017...

Cherry Poptarts

Nacho Cheese Doritos

Oatmeal Creme Pies

Orange Soda

Little Debbie Cakes

Hostess Apple fruit pie

Combos

Candy Canes

Merry Christmas 2014!

May your day be merry, bright and filled with lots of love!

2014 Fan Favorites

This year has gone so fast! Between my new job, the boyfriends new job, all the travel and moving into our first house, I've hardly had any time to cook or bake this year. Now that we have all settled into our new routines, expect WITK to get back to normal in 2015. Until then, here are the five most popular recipes from 2014!

5. Hazelnut Cream Cheese Brownies - I was not surprised at all that you guys loved these brownies. They were amazing! Make these for your friends, family, coworkers, everyone. They will love you.

4. Watermelon Mallow Cookies - Since I'm obsessed with marshmallows, I made a number of different recipes this year. These watermelon cookies were a hit at the office. The flavor came from a watermelon candy oil, rather than trying to concentrate watermelon flavor from a juice. Candy oil is definitely an easy way to add intense flavor, it just doesn't taste natural at all!

3. Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Bars - As a part of Perry's Ice Cream - Inside Scoopers group, I am lucky enough to receive a package of new ice cream flavors each year. Perry's is a brand that is local to my hometown, Buffalo, NY. Their all natural dark chocolate was the star of these ice cream sandwiches!

 

2. Rigatoni with Pepperoni, Mozzarella and Arugula - From my Cook the Books 2014 challenge, this dinner was quick, easy and delicious. I've made this multiple times this year!

1. Quiche with Sweet Peppers and Sausage - Also from my Cook the Books 2014 challenge, this quiche was an amazing dinner! I think I made a lot of quiches this year because all you need are some eggs and a pie crust! I recommend keeping both of those things in your fridge, just in case!

Looking back at my recipes for this year, I'm so disappointed in myself! I didn't make any candies, only cooked a few dinners and totally slacked off for many weeks at a time. I have big plans for next year and want to get myself back on trip. Bring the fun back to WITK!  Swing by on New Years day for Challenge 2015!