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I’m Leanne. 

I’m writing this from my apartment in Chicago, where I relocated exactly 5 months ago from Boston with my husband, dog, and 2 cats. THAT was a fun road trip.

I live in an old lingerie factory that has a terrifying basement straight out of a horror movie. I call it the Panty Dungeon, and threaten to put one of my cats in there when he misbehaves. Like when he doesn't help with the dishes.

I have a tendency to say things that sound great in the moment, and later think about what I said and question my sanity. That’s what happened right around New Year’s Eve when I told my friends I wanted to cook through an entire cookbook in 2015. I didn't have a book in mind, but I knew I had a shelf full of books that did nothing other than make my shelf colorful. 

My husband and I consider dining out our biggest shared hobby, and living in a new city with incredible restaurants opening weekly, we do that a lot. While that equates to great food and quality time spent together and with friends, it also means a lot of money blown and a lot of weight gained.

I didn't necessarily go about this idea with the intention of losing weight, and to be honest, that’s a good thing, because this cookbook would not be the one to do that. But I did like the idea of committing to something and saving money. So as soon as the idea took off, I started barking orders at the rest of the ladies, created an epic spreadsheet tracker, and talked a lot of trash.

That was until I got started.

To date, I've only made 5 things. One of those was a full tray of Salted Brown Butter Crispy Treats, which I ate by myself over the course of 3 days.

I am a die-hard baker, and a huge Smitten Kitchen fan. These aren't in the cookbook, but they are Deb’s all-time best recipe.

I enjoy cooking. The biggest challenge I've had with this is that I’m moody about eating. I’m not a picky eater – there isn't much I won’t try. But I’m a bit of a toddler in that if I don’t want it, you can’t make me. That makes sticking to something like this difficult.

I doubt I’ll finish the whole book in 2015. In hindsight, a more healthy cookbook may have helped me keep up the motivation. Or a book focused on quick week-day dinners. It has, however, been a lot of fun seeing everyone else make their dishes, sharing photos, providing challenges and reviews. 

And right now, publicly, for the whole world wide web to see, I’m committing to making the Tres Leches Rice Pudding for dessert tonight.

That means only 99 more recipes in 275 days left to go.