You're the Best Cooker!

"Mama, you're the best cooker!" This is what my sweet, sweet, angel of a daughter told me last night at supper time. Nevermind that fact that her lasagna came out of a box in the frozen food section. I thanked her up and down, gave her a kiss and then I said "Even better than Leonora?" She said "Yup!" with a grin from ear to ear. Leonora is the cook (but she's so much more than that) at daycare and believe me this is a compliment to my cooking. Even if it did come from a 2 1/2 year old.
I'm a pretty good cook now but it hasn't always been that way. When I lived at home I used to pay my younger sister to make Kraft Dinner for me. I did attempt it once myself but it didn't go so well and I ended up with an injury. Did you know that you shouldn't hold a strainer by hugging it with your arm while you pour boiling water and pasta into it? I quickly learned....Oye.
When Eric and I first go together he did all the cooking. Well, that's not entirely true. When we first go together, we ate out for every meal, every day. But when we started cooking at home he did all the cooking for the first little while. After trying every god forsaken kind of Hamburger Crap Helper I decided to take matters into my own hands and started cooking. That was 10 years ago and I still want to vomit at the smell of Hamburger Helper. I don't remember much from those first days. I know I lost some weight but I've pretty much blocked out the rest. I do remember the nasty aroma of burned garlic...it haunts me to this day.
I once thought cooking bacon over a campfire sounded like a fine idea. Well, one very serious burn on my arm later, and I've seen the light on this one. Please cook all bacon in a pan. Mmmmm....bacon. I love bacon. Bacon makes everything better.
Fast forward to today, I've come a long way in the cooking department. I make things like roasted red pepper penne with chicken, beef enchiladas, homemade soups (split pea, cuban black bean, cream of broccoli) and even my own spagetti sauce. I've had some bombs too. FYI - tofu cannot always be substituted for meat. Or should I say you can't always fool our family into thinking the tofu is meat. But I get points for trying, right?
Baking is a totally different story, I'm extremely challenged when it comes to baking. I never have anything turn out edible when I try to bake. It's doesn't matter how closely I follow the recipe it's always a bomb. The problems are very diverse...cookies that are flat as pancakes, sometimes things just plain ol' taste like crap, I burn things, or I under cook them, or they have a nasty consistency. Once, I forgot to add the baking soda, or is it baking powder..whatever, in the cookie dough. I had already put one batch in the oven and THEN tried to add the missing ingredient. FYI - that doesn't work.
Oh well, I least I keep trying. My family is good about trying the meals that I cook. But when it comes to baking, Eric is a very, very leery customer. I can't really blame him...I bake crap! Oh! once I made a pumpking cheese cake that was good! My mom helped me with it. It was going to the daycare for the teachers and I didn't want to take a chance with it.

So, anyone want to come over for some homemade cake???