My Quest to Become a Better Cook

After much thoughtful deliberation and wonderful advice from other spouses here on the island, I have decided to try to become a better cook. Although I like to bake cakes, cupcakes, and cookies, I am not so sure about regular ole' cooking. Besides, you can't really live off of cookies can you? I would like to think that I could... maybe in heaven I can just eat candy and cookies.

My favorite: Funfetti cookies

I don't really know where this comes from either because I come from a family of great cooks. I recently have tried to get down to the bottom of why I have no interest in cooking:

• I love to eat.. so I know it is not that. Period.
• Is it because it takes too much time? Well, I have plenty of free time here so I would hope that I am not that lazy. I don't think this is it. 
• Is it because I don't like the mess that it makes in the kitchen that I will just have to clean up afterwards? Possibly.. but this seems a little silly because washing dishes doesn't really bother me. (I do it all of the time anyway because we don't have a dishwasher here... ugh) 
• Is it because I would rather go out to eat? Well, who doesn't love going out to eat but this is expensive, and I am not about to go out to eat by myself every single day and night when Ryan is studying. 
• Is it because I don't ever know what to cook when I look at the ingredients that I have and how to even make a meal out of them? Yeah.. a little bit
• Is it because it intimidates me? Kinda...
• Is it because I don't want to mess up and embarrass myself with my lack of cooking know-how and creativity? Yeah... kinda 

So I guess that explains why I would rather just make myself a sandwich and call it a day. I don't want to spend the time, money, and effort into planning and cooking a meal that turns out to be a bust. Poor Ryan. Luckily, he eats a lot of his meals on campus due to his constant studying.


Anyway, after talking to Lyssa, Alie, and Madeline (some awesome spouses here who are way better cooks than me) about my cooking woes, they gave me some awesome advice:


Try to cook one or two new recipes a week. This way, I will gradually increase my repertoire of recipes to use/or not use depending on how Ryan and I felt about them. Also, by increasing the amount of cooking that I do, I will also become better at it (hopefully) which will increase my creativity in the kitchen. Voila! It's genius! So, this is my new plan folks... Cook more. Try to enjoy it. Keep trying if at first you don't succeed.


Also, my mom gave me some great advice: have Ryan or myself rate the recipe so that I will know how often I want to make it again. If it is a 10, then that might be a once a weeker or if it is a 5, then that might be an every now and then kind of meal...Get it?


I have started collecting recipes from other spouses here, and I have also become a member of allrecipes.com to receive weekly newsletter emails with new ideas, recipes, etc. If anyone has any delicious, easy-to-follow recipes, send them my way please: jessicawkeen@gmail.com


So from now on, I will try to get over my fear of messing up and just cook. Plain and simple. Ryan will probably appreciate having more home-cooked meals, and I won't have to eat any more egg sandwiches... thank goodness!