I have spent the last 30 days making movie-inspired meals. This challenge was born from my love of movies and my love of food, so naturally this was a perfect hybrid.  I really wanted to focus the challenge on the iconic dishes that have been featured in famous movie scenes that I have always wished I could try.

This challenge gave me the confidence to try new recipes I would never have tried before by expanding my culinary skills and reigniting my joy for cooking.

The Recipes

In total, I recreated 16 movie-inspired meals.  I found some great recipes online and augmented them to my liking or to better fit the movie inspiration.

1. Bruce Bogtrotter’s Chocolate Cake from Matilda
2. The Dude’s White Russian from The Big Lebowski– This is an iconic drink from the movie and one of my favorite drinks to make when I want to relax at home. I make it with milk (instead of cream) and vanilla vodka and Kahlua.
3. Shrimp Linguini from Something’s Gotta Give
4. Croque Monsieur from It’s Complicated– In the movie, Meryl Streep and Steve Martin have a sweet, simple dinner in her enviable kitchen. I love croque monsieur, and this recipe called for a creamy, cheesy sauce that was easy to make and delicious.
5. Lobster, Corn and Potato from Annie Hall
6. Spaghetti and Meatballs from Lady and the Tramp
7. Egg and Bacon Smiley Face Rice Bowl from Mulan 
8. Kronk’s Spinach Puffs from The Emperor’s New Groove
9. Remy’s Ratatouille from Ratatouille
10. Empire Biscuits from Brave
11. Mermaid Marshmallow Pie from Waitress
12. Dragon Carrot Risotto from The Fault in Our Stars– I actually make a pretty tasty risotto on my own right, so I did not stay particularly close to this recipe, but what I did discover through this was that dragon carrots are real and that they have a purplish-reddish tint. But unfortunately I could only find regular carrots at my supermarket.
13. French Toast from Kramer vs. Kramer
14. Orange Chicken, Peas and Onions from The Hunger Games
15. Eggplant and Lo Mein from Joy Luck Club– I do not typically cook Asian dishes, so the garlic eggplant had notable room for improvement but the flavors were yum.
16. Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon from Julie & Julia– This recipe was my final recipe of the challenge and it was the perfect conclusion.  It took over 4 hours to make and I was so happy with the flavors and richness of the meal!

Overall Enjoyment in the Challenge: 9/10- This really made me enjoy cooking and I had fun menu planning and going outside of my culinary comfort zone.

Success in Completing Challenge: This is a hard one to grade. I think some dishes came out well and others less so. In the end, I did not cook 30 meals but still feel like I achieved success in learning new skills in the kitchen and expanding my cooking for 30 days.

Likelihood in Continuing the Challenge: Pretty likely! There are actually still a lot of recipes I want to make plus new ones I want to try from other movies.