Having A Baby In My 20's Means...

Learning how to cook a meal. Or two.

Hey Lovelies!

So... I have never wanted to learn how to cook. Ever. From the time I was in high school up until umm...last year most of my friends would talk about these fabulous meals that they made. But not me. Don't judge me! I have always been cooking impaired. Always.

Ever since my college days when I was fully on my own, I've been a take-out and restaurant kinda gal. And I'm not just talking Chinese and pizza here. I'm talking Mexican, Thai, Spanish, and Southern Soul Food from restaurants all over NYC. The only nights that I DIDN'T eat out were the ones when my old roommate cooked. Bless her!

Once when I was home alone and wanted to try my luck at mac and cheese, I called my sister and asked, "how do you make mac and cheese, again?" And I'm not talking about the super yummy baked macaroni and cheese pie, I'm talking Kraft mac n cheese... from the box! The one where you boil, drain the water, and add the cheese from the packet. Yea. Pathetic.

And since old habits die hard, I was not about to let motherhood turn me into some Betty Crocker, Martha Stewart, Rachel Ray type gal.

"But, what are you going to feed him?" people would ask me when Aiden was still a baby. I'd respond, "Well, right now he eats baby food and Gerber takes care of that. When he gets older, he'll eat what I eat. I'm a pretty healthy eater so he should be fine." And then I'd get the blank stares, which probably meant what the heck is she thinking?

My biggest "problem" with cooking is that it requires me to slave over a hot stove, as I like to call it. But motherhood means learning how to cook for your child. Especially since my income is not as disposable as it once was BC, before child.

My first attempt at cooking rice, chicken and corn was an EPIC FAIL. "But that's such a simple meal, how do you mess THAT up?" you ask. Yea... I'm seriously cooking impaired.

The rice was very lumpy and clumpy. And NOT edible looking. The chicken was well seasoned, as in way way way too salty. And the corn... how can you screw up corn?... oh, I can! The food looked bad, but I wanted to taste it to see if it was as bad as it looked. Plus, I'm not a fan of wasting food. Problem is, I dragged Aiden into the taste test too.

I fed him two spoonfuls of the rice and chicken. With a this does NOT taste good look on his face, in a very matter-of-factly way, he said, "Mommy... I need juice please."

Couldn't blame the boy. The dinner was A-W-F-U-L! So I gave him some apple juice and ordered take-out.

But I was determined for him to taste -- and LIKE!-- my cooking. Plus, when he gets older, I don't want him to be the only kid in school who says, "my mommy can't cook." So... since then, I've learned how to cook steak, pork chops, pasta, spaghetti and meatballs, mashed potatoes from scratch, and chicken (baked, fried, and grilled).

And Aiden loves 'em all. Or at least pretends to.

But I still can't make good-tasting, edible-looking, that's-so-yummy-in-my-tummy rice. I know, I'm terrible, but eh, maybe one day...

Got any fave recipes that I must try. Leave 'em in the comments!

Smooches,
SweetAl