Cooking Challenge Week 1

This week marks the beginning of the cooking challenge for me. It's a bit of a rush and I am already feeling non-committal about it from thoughts of difficulty to keep this up for 8.5 weeks. But then I thought if I don't start it, it will only get more and more difficult as I'm trying to progress with my love of photography. Who knows? Perhaps the time constraint during this challenge might help in improving my efficiency in cooking time & effort.

What is the challenge?
I'm signing up to make time to prepare 6 meals or snacks at home on a weekly basis for 60 days (with the hope that it will grow to become a habit).

Why am I doing this?
Mainly so that I get used to prepare my meals and eat at home more (hmmm - yes, me and Shanon currently eat out almost every dinner!). I suspect that I'll also learn to eat (somewhat) healthier cause I know each of the ingredients hence, know what I'm putting into my body. I'm also hoping for the potential added benefit of spending less money on daily meals (and then we can use the money to repeat the spectacular Vue de Monde experience :)).

My planned menu for this week is as follows...
- Chocolate Walnut Brownies (Jamie Oliver's recipe w Karen Cheng's twist);
- Nasi Goreng with Indofood spice packet (yes, I know sounds a lot like cheating, but I'm still chopping up vegies and fry eggs, plus I've never actually cooked fried rice before! :P);
- Japapanese Curry Katsu with packet Japanese curry mix (similar to this recipe here) serve with frozen ready made crumbed chicken (oven!) and garlic roti prata
- Smoked Salmon Asparagus Pesto Spaghettini with jarred; pesto and packet smoked salmon (can't remember where I get the recipe from..);
- Home made LCM bars (Simple Savings' Recipe!);
- Puff Pastry Pizza with ready made puff pastry, bocconcini, basil, semi dried tomato and caramelised onions. Something in between of Thin Crust Italian Pizza with Bocconcini Cheese and Sundried Tomato and Bocconcini, Tomato And Black Olive Tart Recipe - Taste.com.au.

I'll try to remind myself to take photos of the ingredients and the finished products before I devour them.
Wish me luck!