Baking the Cover

I am often overwhelmed by guilt - yes, I'm a mother and a daughter - but that's not the guilt I'm talking about.  This guilt is directed toward my cooking magazines.  I get them, I devour them, but I never make all I planned to.  I have dog-eared copies of Cooking Light, Midwest Living, Southern Living, and Bon Appetit all over my house.   

Often when I'm dealing with deep feelings like guilt, I need a plan to pull me through.  That's why "making the cover" is so brilliant.  I've decided to make the cover recipe from one of my magazines each month.  So simple!  I'm committing to the COVER, so even if I dog-ear-and-don't-make any of the other recipes, I'm off the hook because, I've made the COVER.

The plan came together after I made my first cover, August 2011 Bon Appetit -- Lime Blackberry Italian Meringue Pie.  We were invited to our good friends' house one weekend.  When she picked my kids up for school that Friday, I brought out the magazine and told her, "I don't know what you would like me to bring this weekend, but I was thinking about THIS" and I showed her the photo.  She was in!

It turned out beautifully (although my custard could have cooked a little longer or chilled a little longer), but we did rename it Five Hour Pie.  That's how long it took -- from the time we got home from church to the time we were walking out the door for dinner.  But, it was among my best five hours all summer.  I love spending a day in my kitchen, NPR in the background, in my cooking-zone.  And taste-wise it was totally worth it.

September's cover has been chosen - the apple cake on the front of Southern Living.  I wonder what October will bring?