My poor husband. When we married 32 years ago, he did not know that I could not cook. And I never mentioned it. And I didn’t get much better for a number of years. Oh sure – I could boil water, warm stuff up in the oven, fry a hamburger, make a decent ham and cheese sandwich. I could even follow a recipe, as long as it involved only about five ingredients. Too many steps and I pretty much zoned out. I wasn’t a terrible cook. I was an apathetic one.

I didn’t really care about cooking until I realized I’d better step up my game for a new husband. Thankfully he was a good cook so we didn’t starve (or eat cereal at every meal). We fixed simple meals at first – a meat, a vegetable, a potato. Occasionally we had a pasta dish, spaghetti most frequently.  We ate out if we wanted something fancier – Italian and Chinese were favorites. Don loved to grill so once we got an outdoor grill we branched out into steaks, chicken, hamburgers, brats…you know, meat. After our kids were born, we perfected chicken nuggets and pizza.

The funniest thing changed our whole outlook on preparing food in our home. We started watching the Food Network. We were fascinated by the antics of Chef Emeril Lagasse on “Emeril Live” with his studio audience and live band.  He was so entertaining, he made cooking good food appear to be fun and easy. We added a few more shows from favorites like Rachael Ray (her “30-minute-meals” show is still the best for people wanting to learn how to cook without a lot of fancy or weird ingredients), Ming Tsai, Giada De Laurentis, Alton Brown, Tyler Florence, and Bobby Flay.

We learned some techniques and purchased some tools to make cooking easier and more enjoyable. We found out we liked working together in our little kitchen, putting together meals that tasted good and didn’t take all day to prepare. We tried new dishes, condiments, vegetables, and seasonings. We learned (and tried) new methods of cooking: braising, stir-frying, roasting. We pulled out our Crockpot and put it to use for soups and meats. Sadly, I’m still pretty pathetic at making a decent roast beef, but I’m money with pulled pork.

So – my tidbit of wisdom for today is learn to cook. Start slow – pick an easy dish that sounds delicious, but with few ingredients and steps. Don’t set yourself up to fail by trying Beef Wellington right out of the gate. How about sticking a pork shoulder in Crockpot for 8-10 hours on low with some sliced onions, seasoned salt, black, pepper, garlic powder, a bay leaf or two, and a can of Dr. Pepper? It’ll be “fall-apart-tender.”

Don’t skimp on good tools. It makes all the difference between having fun and being frustrated. Sharp knives, good pans that won’t fall apart, fresh seasonings, proper measuring cups and spoons. Add more as you gain confidence.

Easy Cheesy Loaded Grits

Start making stuff for friends and family. Take your cake to work. Have people over to test out your new lasagna recipe. Sign up for a cooking class through your local community college or grocery store.

I get a lot of enjoyment out of trying a new recipe and having it succeed. But I’ve also learned a lot through my failures (remember: celebrate failure) – such as learning that baking powder and baking soda are NOT the same; you can’t substitute sweetened condensed milk for evaporated milk in my fudge recipe; vanilla is necessary in chocolate chip cookies; and just yesterday I found out that putting muffins in the oven and forgetting to turn it on will not help them bake. Always learning.