learn how to prepare 10 excellent meals

Another for the “almost but not quite there” category. This was my first time making lasagna of any kind, and I realized when I got home from the store that I’d forgotten to buy carrots! So really it was just a broccoli and spinach lasagna. It needed more sauce and a bit less ricotta cheese. I added some mozzarella and I’ll likely use more of that along with some extra Parmesan during my next attempt. It tasted better each night, so this might be a good recipe to freeze ahead of time and heat up later once I get it right!

Must get my mother to commit to writing: her recipe for eggplant and ground beef, and her recipe for eggroll filling.

I made a Paella, and a Bean-and-potato pie … both without recipes, and both worked great! I’m actually rather pleased with myself :-) Although they do have room for improvement (the pie needed some stronger flavours), it’s good progress.

• Red bean and tomato stew – yum!!!

• scrambled eggs with bacon, salsa, and tons of veggies – yummy!!

• perogies with cheddar cheese and sausages – maybe not that healthy but delicious and filling!!

• pasta salad with creamy pesto dressing, smoked gouda cheese, and loaded with veggies – yummy!

• chicken stir fry with noodles, veggies and orange ginger sauce – so good!

Tonight I made honey balsamic glazed pork tenderloin and mashed potatoes. My first pork tenderloin. Was the tiniest bit dry. Am eager to try another recipe.

I also made a sour cream peach pie, which I had made before, but probably will not make again.

...alright, so I cheated and bought cooked shrimp and premade sauce from Whole Foods, but this was a good start. I think I’ll look up recipes for sauce so that I can make it from scratch in the future because I wasn’t too big of a fan of this one. If I’d liked it more, the dish would have definitely qualified as my first excellent meal.

Precooked shrimp, however, is going to become a staple for me. Not needing to devein the little things is worth paying for.

The thing is that I can cook, but when I do I rarely cook an actual meal. I’ll make dishes, like mac and cheese, and then pretend that’s a meal all by its lonesome. But it’s not, and it’s also not healthy. And I know it.

...toca aprender a cocinar rico xD

Aunque no se me quejaron mucho de las croquetas, ¿eh? Hasta tuvieron éxito :)

Trying to learn the dishes I often have cravings for. Some of these may not happen until I get back to New York:

My mothers’ eggroll recipe, with yellow squash, clear noodles, and beef(?)

Butternut squash soup

Gyro

Falafel

Pesto! Four more to go.