I'm No Rachael Ray or Martha Stewart, But...

I'm no Rachael Ray or Martha Stewart, but...I'm sure trying my best these days.

You see, my dad usually cooked for us while we were growing up and always seemed to be able to throw together a great meal with little effort. I never tried to learn his recipes because dad just "knew" what to put in the pot. There really wasn't a rhyme, reason or recipe to follow. Then, I met Eric and his family. Eric's no slouch in the cooking department either and his mom might as well be the second coming of Martha Stewart (she may not be too happy that I said that, but I only speak the truth).

When I first met Eric I would try cooking, but my meals always lacked a little something (this wasn't just Eric's perception, they really did). Sometimes the meal would be bland or just wouldn't turn out for one reason or another, but sometimes it really was just a preference thing on my husband's part. I once put salad into a freshly dishwashed, still -warm salad bowl and another time, I made spaghetti, but instead of serving up the noodles and sauce separately, I mixed them together and dished them out. To some of you, these incidents may seem petty, but I'm sure there are a few of you reading this who would have been just as appalled as Eric was when I had the audasity to serve these items to him.

Needless to say, after a few flops in the kitchen I decided to hang up my chef's hat. There were a few basic meals that I could pull off and we'd either eat those, he'd cook, we would go out to eat, or we'd count on our parents to feed us. I know it sounds pathetic, but I cooked so infrequently that we usually had so little in our pantry that my in-laws would have to bring over thier own ingredients if they were going to be having dinner at our house.

Even though it wasn't a competition, I couldn't "compete" with the chefs in the family and I didn't have the time or inclination to work on becoming America's Top Chef. In the last few years, thanks mostly to the inspiration of the Food Network and Rachael Ray's "Everyday" Magazine, I've successfully become a little more handy in the kitchen. Now that we're in Alaska and I'm not working, I have more time on my hands, so I have decided that I need to start cooking more. I've really tried to step outside of my comfort zone.

The first big leap from my cooking comfort zone was back in January. Eric turned 40 and the occasion called for a cake of some kind. One of our family favorites is a homemade Angel Food Cake that his mom usually whips up. My mother-in-law loves her son, but she wasn't making the trip out here to snowy and cold Alaska for his b-day. It was my job to come up with something! I know baking and cooking are two separate things, but I don't really bake either. I picked up the phone and called my mother-in-law to ask for her Angel Food Cake recipe and to inquire if it was something I should even try to attempt. Eric immediately thought it would be too difficut for me to pull off, but his mom had more confidence. She emailed me the recipe and "held my hand" over the phone lines while I muddled my way through the process. To my pleasure, and everyone else's (including Eric), the cake turned out AWESOME! I even topped it with homemade whipped cream and fresh strawberries. YUMMY! The only minor problem was that the cake didn't stand up quite as high as it usually does when his mom makes it. There were several reasons it may have happened, but it still looked and tasted great. As a matter of fact, I'm gonna' make the cake again at the end of the month. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

After my success with the cake I had newfound resolve and a craving for homemade Cream of Mushroom Soup. I went to several different websites for a recipe and settled on one from Recipezar. I followed the posted recipe, but like a real chef, took the liberty to add a few of my own seasonings to it. The soup was quick, easy and so delicious even our kids loved it! I have to say, I impressed myself with that one!

This week for dinner, I decided our menu would consist of recipes I have come across in magazines lately. I pulled some from Rachael Ray, Good Housekeeping, and Family Circle. So far, we have had Balsamic Chicken with roasted cauliflower, Beef and Lemongrass Soup, Steamed Crab (this wasn't from a magazine), Sun-Dried-Tomato Chicken Roll-Ups, and tonight I'm making Pork Marsalla.

I'm still no Racheal Ray or Martha Stewart, but all of the meals this week have been ones I would definitely make again and they have inspired me to keep trying. "Knock on wood", I haven't burnt anything and I haven't made anyone barf, so I must be doing alright! I'll keep ya' posted.