{first on the first} bourbon-spiked marshmallows

Happy New Year! 

So long 2011...Welcome to 2012! 

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2011 was a year of tremendous growth and development for me both as a personal blogger and a professional business owner. I set a goal in late 2010 to cultivate within this space a blog that I would want to read. Launched originally as an adjunct to my business, I initially started blogging out of obligation... feeling like I "needed" to blog about nutrition topics to be relevant in the RD world.

But frankly, I was bored to tears. I like to read about the latest nutrition news, sure. I'm an RD... it goes without saying. But I'm a food-lover first. I cook. I eat. I enjoy.

And I wanted this blog to be the same. I hope that I've made strides in 2011 to that end, and I vow to continue that into 2012. 

The Recipe ReDux and Healthy Aperture have grown in ways that I could have never imagined in early 2011. Perhaps most exciting about both of these new projects is the fact that they have introduced me to some of the most talented bloggers, dietitians, chefs, photographers, moms and just plain cool food-folks that I never would have known otherwise.

Which leads me to the main point of today's post - a new group I'm participating in: 

...First on the First!

I first heard about First on the First on Twitter. The brainchild of Poet in the Pantry & Food Babbles, FOTF is a pretty simple concept - cooking something you've never cooked before (or at least never blogged about, I assume) and debuting it on the 1st of the month. What's not to like? I love a good cooking challenge! 

This month - marshmallows. 

I'll confess... I have always been one of those "why bother?" when it came to homemade marshmallows. But I've seen so many recent posts about how great homemade marshmallows are, how you'll never want another "fake" one again, etc., that I thought "why not?"

I used this recipe from MyRecipes.com (instead of vanilla extract, I spiked mine with 1 teaspoon bourbon. The flavor is very subtle, but would be a nice adult coffee stir in. Happy New Year, eh?)

The result was simply delish. I was amazed at how easy these turned out to be... and had it not been for the fact that my family was heading out of town for a quick NYE vacay right after I made them, I would've enjoyed them stacked in s'mores, for sure.

If you've never tried homemade marshmallows, you must now. You'll feel quite impressed with yourself once it's all over. Or at least I did.

Lastly, I don't set a ton of lofty goals when the New Year begins... I had never even uttered the words Healthy Aperture or Recipe ReDux when 2011's ball dropped. I tend to move as ideas strike me. But I am glad that First on the First is waiting for me every month and hope you will enjoy experiencing each new dish as well.

Wishing you all the wealth of heart, mind, body & spirit that you deserve. 

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