To everyone who participated in this conversation, THANK YOU! It's really inspiring and exciting to see how passionate this community of home cooks is; I'm thrilled to be a part of it, and can't wait to start doing these threads more regularly. For now, I'll turn close this one out (comments are now deactivated) before it goes to seed. Thanks, again, and hope to see you in the next one.

Husband has received a diagnosis of congestive heart failure. We now must restrict sodium in his diet. My goal for 2021 is to recreate our favorite recipes with reduced/no sodium. It was easier to find reduced sodium products before Covid. I have started making my own condiments-it’s challenging but fun.

Hoarding no more and being more efficient in emptying my fridge. No food waste here, just no place for anything unexpected :))

My primary goal is to learn to embrace cooking in my very very tiny NYC kitchen. It will never be perfect, but I love to cook and tend to avoid it because there is so little room to maneuver. I succumb to delivery way too often because I dread navigating the space. Also more veggies all around, and less skipping of meals during the day!

First of all, I am a huge fan!

My resolution this year is to be thankful! Food-related: Thankful for the food we have to eat. Thankful for the people whose hard work and dedication allow us to have this food. Thankful for my ability to turn whatever is available into healthy, tasty meals for me and my family.

Thank you Mark Bittman for your inspiration!

1) Eat food that is as local as possible. 2) Clean food (free from processing and preservatives

3) mostly vegetables 4) Take out from local restaurants once a week (my ethnic fix!!) 4) Drink more water.

My first goal is to learn to cook Indian dishes or at least try out an Indian recipe at least once a month. My second goal is to grow more vegetables so that I can reduce my purchase of insipid store bought or over-priced market veggies. My third goal, even though I love to cook, is to support once a week a small business food business in my area.

I have no problem consuming the good stuff (lots of veggies, fruits, beans, whole grains), but I must figure out how to eliminate or reduce the bad (processed foods, sugar, alcohol). I recently read it's not so much what we *do* as what we *don't* do when it comes to food and exercise. In other words, if you don't have that donut or cookie or cake, you really don't need to spend an hour on the treadmill. I want to think of food more as fuel and consider my body a lean engine, rather than a clown car that can always make room for one more.

This year I vow to cook and eat more beans. I was born in South America and beans are my most basic comfort food. In 2020 my pandemic cooking took the form of too much melted cheese, and a brief Nutella phase (?!). Perversely I actually ate less beans, and what I did eat was less of my favorite homey scratch recipes and more weird pandemic concoctions. I realized I don’t feel right without that combination of fiber, low-fat protein, soothing texture, and subtle seasoning. This year I’m coming home.

I am planning an elimination diet to discover triggers for migraines and stomach issues. I also want to get back to reading my cookbooks (which stopped when I had my children a few years ago). This makes me excited to cook and try new things!

I've recently noted the great importance of the acid flavors. I want to understand better the properties of the various juices/vinegars and how to balance them in foods

I've been cooking and will continue to cook. For the new year, I want to finally get my cookbook collection (of over 500 books) under control. I'm already busy creating an index on Eat Your Books and once that's done, I'm going to organize my books in a way that allows me to actually find what I'm looking for. I much prefer cooking from a book rather than my computer screen. I know there are so many recipes I would love make and that we would love to eat lurking in those books. I'm also going to allow myself to be a failure at keeping a sourdough starter going. We all have our strengths. Sourdough just isn't mine.

I'm going to choose one baking book and one cookbook and go through every recipe. It gives me great pleasure to annotate recipes with notations about what I liked and what I would improve.

I'm also going to try and prepare lunches and healthy snacks for the week in appropriate portion sizes.

At least once a month, drop off homemade soup and/or a meal to a friend/neighbor who is sick, or needs a boost. This is such a satisfying act of kindness and I don’t do it enough. Dropping off carry-out works too. Also, I want to clean out and organize my piles of printed recipes.

I too have a large (as in hundreds) cookbook collection - everything from old classic first editions to coffee-table types, to any & all new ones that catch my fancy. But as others have stated, I seem to either stick to the same old books or use recipes I've saved from the internet. So my vow this year is to start perusing other volumes & start using them as they were intended - if not once a week, at least a couple of times a month.

This is somewhat related, but my goal is to use fewer products that come in plastic, buying them in glass or cardboard whenever possible. Also, I will not use plastic produce bags. I was in a good routine with using my mesh bags before Covid. Luckily our grocery stores in my area are now allowing us to use our own produce and grocery bags again.

Hey Mark! My goal is to continue to eat plant-based as much as possible. I would definitely consider myself a flexitarian. I am trying to experiment more with replacing vegetables in some of my favorite meat recipes by capturing that same flavor note.

My resolutions are consumption-only based: eat more reasonably, and especially don't take seconds at dinner.

Each winter I like to cook my way through different cookbooks/flavor profiles. This winter I am cooking my way through Ottolenghi’s cookbooks “Favor” and “Simple”and new breads from “Hot Bread Kitchen” (ok- Maybe not ALL the way through each one!!).

I have no resolutions to make. To me, New Year's resolutions are kind of silly. If you want to make a change in your life, diet you do not need to wait until the beginning of the year - do it now. I will however continue to do what I have done for my entire adult life and that is to cook 3 meals a day. I will continue supporting the farmers, fishermen, and foragers that are responsible for what gets cooked in my kitchen. I will continue to laugh, be happy, and share a positive outlook.

I feel pretty happy about my eating habits. My only resolution is to continue with the same routines that have kept me healthy while enjoying an ever expanding range of recipes and cuisines. I'm a home cook and purchase my ingredients usually fresh, the day of using them. I'm lucky to live in NYC, a place where you basically find anything you need with little effort. I rarely eat out (or order takeout these days) because I don't like the amount of salt and other ingredients restaurant kitchens liberally use in their recipes.

I made a deliberate effort a few years ago to reduce the amount of red meat I consume. This effort has been much easier than I originally thought due to the proliferation of sites and cookbooks showcasing vegetarian options. Combined with a better supply of fresh ingredients it is so much easier today to cook a plant based meal than it was fifteen years ago. Some nights we make entirely vegetarian meals without intending to do so, simply due to the factors mentioned above.

Have more and more found enjoyment in preparing and presenting a dish to my wife and have learned it is not so easy a task. I am pushing 78 and have accepted the fact I have for so long completely underestimated the time and effort she had put into serving wonderful meals to our daughter and me. So, the resolution? Learn to prepare and serve fish, more of the vegetables she likes and - most important - keep loving her all the more.

To waste less food. As a single, it seems I always have too much of everything. It feels wrong to compost so many leftovers.

1. Eliminate palm oil from my diet. Tough. I am allergic to coconut and am vegan. 2. Cook from more of my extensive cookbook library.

Simple foods. I’ve tried too many meals that have failed recently, and it bruised my cooking confidence. I’m returning to meals that are well made, with quality ingredients and improving my technique. Also, easing less meat as protein and more beans and plant-based dishes. Not totally removing meat, just reducing.

Understand the privilege I enjoy and pay it forward.

I am fortunate to be retired ( hence no income stream at peril, free to stay at home, enjoy my well equip kitchen and no real worries about affording fancy ingredients)

I have been very active for a number of years supporting the Northern Illinois Food Bank and numerous local pantries and feeding programs.

This past year has strengthened my resolve to support these programs to the best of my ability. The food bank is running about 60% ahead of last years output with no end in sight. Please continue to give.

On a lighter side...got into the whole crazy sourdough deal (still going with “Doh!” Residing in the fridge) gets a weekly outing to produce some great loaves, muffins etc.

Currently working my way thru the Rancho Gordo stash (see what I mean by privilege ). So many great beans concoctions.

I moved to a townhouse in July. Somewhat restricted in terms f gardening but I do have a 2’x8’ planter next to the patio. Would be able to grow quite the herb/lettuce garden.

Enjoy what you have and remember those who are hurting now.

IP beans and/or pulses as a Sunday afternoon/evening project. It lets me start crazy work weeks with a couple of days worth of meals (less stress). It also lets me eat a little more simply for a couple of days. I've found recipes I really enjoy so that doesn't feel like a sacrifice, but does feel like a solid step towards better (mental and physical) health.

Reading below. Eat less cheese!

I love cooking delicious vegetarian meals and plan to explore ways to incorporate more better beans in my diet. Also the challenge of making the perfect pizza. Plus take-in Chinese food. I miss that occasional treat but have to stick to a tight budget.

Once a month, I would like to choose an untried recipe from one the many, many cookbooks on my shelves and follow it unwaveringly. I'm adept at adjusting recipes to use whatever is in my refrigerator and larder which is a good skill. However, the result always tastes pretty much like my cooking and probably not what the cookbook author/chef envisioned. Wish me luck!

I'm wanting to make my own pasta. I keep hearing how easy and fun it is, and I imagine the taste would be great compared to stuff from a box.

Try different foods and different cooking techniques instead of just thinking about it.

Agree

My goal is to find the best, most sustainable and ethical fish/meat. I eat very little of both but feel enthusiastic to step up my game, rather than divert to whatever's at the grocery store. Without going vegan - I don't personally feel the need - I'd like my purchases to reflect an unwavering support of animal rights.

I also feel compelled to help cook and distribute meals to houseless and food-insecure folx. Food is political, better food costs more money than trash food, and I'm no longer interested in ignoring this!

I grow many herbs in my garden, some of which we've never eaten! My goal this year is to harvest and use every herb I grow which will require recipe and preservation research on my part...

I want to cook more vegetarian/vegan dishes that will go over with my son and husband. They tend to complain if I only make veggie meals. I also need to heal from GERD.

My goal for 2021 is to improve my knife skills — without cutting off all my fingertips. Any suggestions are welcome.

Definitely reducing the amount of food we throw away and teaching my 24-year-old to learn how to cook from the refrigerator. Covid SIP's blessedly brought both our grown daughters home and the older is a great cook so I've turned into the chief dishwasher, but she wants to cook what she wants to cook, which often sends us back to the grocery store when there's lots of fresh ingredients at home. I think I just have to claim the kitchen one night a week to do the "kitchen sink" cooking thing.

First, not quite a resolution as a project. I mostly eat vegetarian but we had roasted and grilled a turkey for Christmas (break it into parts and make sure it starts to cook through in the oven, then get it saucy and smoky outside) and it was a little ridiculous how much I enjoyed eating meat that week. I saw the a local farmer had a deal on delivering frozen chickens... if you bought ten of them. We have a big enough freezer and roast chicken is always good, not that hard. I'd love to try a full spectrum of flavor profiles over the course of the year.

The other resolution feels more like a chore. I've never baked myself a loaf of bread that I actually enjoyed (except challah, but that has eggs in addition to yeast). I don't get the texture I'm looking for. I don't know if we just need to buy new yeast or better yeast but I feel really self conscious about my complete lack of bread baking competence when I love toast and bread so much.

I lost 25 pounds since the March lockdown by eating my own cooking and changing my exercise regime. (roughly, a Dash/Mediterranean diet) I resolve to keep it off this time by staying with sensible eating.

What vegetable do you recommend with oatmeal?

Two main resolutions: (1) Plant only heirloom seeds, and eat only what I grow (I'm a longtime vegetarian); and (2) Do everything I can to make sure Tom Vilsack is not confirmed as Ag secretary. In a country that should be concerned about safe food supplies, climate change, and foreign relations, Vilsack and his corporate cronies are the opposite of what we need leading agricultural policy in this country.

Very low carb dishes and menus but interesting and creative

Last year we became pescatarians and decided to clamp down on wasting food. Mission accomplished. This year we are buying damaged and gleaned organic produce in the winter and local organic produce other times. Next year? Hmmm...

Smaller portions! I’ve been lucky most of my life, being able to eat whatever I want and not gain an ounce. Alas, I find myself in middle-age and my metabolism, regretfully, ain’t what it used to be. We already eat healthy and cook most of our meals. So, my 2021 goal is to limit my intake, which I imagine is going to be a challenge as I'm used to eating Texas-sized portions.

Getting my kids (tween and teen) more engaged in the kitchen, meal planning, prepping, and healthy eating.

In 2021 I want to learn how to make an authentic chiles en nogada. Also, I’d like to find and learn to cook several vegetarian dishes that I can cook often.

We started a garden last year, and connected with a local farmer, who provided us with knowledge and seeds. We learned a lot, and want to continue to grow more and more of our own fruits and vegetables, supplemented by what Farmer Nathan has. Goal is to eat more sustainably - and work on my canning and freezing!

Eat more vegetable forward meals & make every recipe from OTTOLENGHI’s book Flavor :)

We are treating meats as an ingredient instead the main course. From Pozole with Pork to Goat Curry and Tuna Salad with Beans. We are also averaging two vegetarian days per week.

Thanks fo hooking me on Nettuno anchovies and no knead bread.