My husband and I are making every recipe in a cookbook with a broad variety of dishes and different techniques. (We have no set schedule or plan, we just choose recipes when we want to and take notes).

One thing that’s been fun is we end up making dishes that we wouldn’t normally make. Sometimes they are as bad as they sound, but sometimes we are pleasantly surprised. I appreciate broadening our horizons.

We also learn new techniques that we could use with other dishes that we create.

I just made a mashed potatoes recipe from the cookbook, and I boiled the cloves from two heads of garlic for 30 minutes. Before boiling, I took them apart, but left their skin on. After they cooled enough, I literally just squeezed garlic out of the skins. It had turned to essentially a garlic paste. It was then mashed into the potatoes. The garlic is no longer very potent, and adds just a nice subtle flavor.

A new technique to me that I will try in other dishes, and you may want to try as well.