Yes a lot of people find taking part in the challenge is good motivation for trying new things and being even more creative than usual! I'm glad to hear you're getting more out of it than just rewards :-)

Your photos and commentary are great and entertaining, but you can make it much simpler if you find it's taking too much time. As long as you write the ingredients and basic step-by-step process of how you made it, that is sufficient :-) And unless you want to, making more than 1 component isn't a requirement. Even just your raspberry vinaigrette would have been counted as an entry. As long as your entry meets all the rules, the way you present it to us is entirely in your creative hands!