First night in the kitchen...

Attempted my very first truly home-cooked meal tonight. Yeah, I'll be the first to admit it -- I'm clueless in the kitchen. It's not that I can't learn, I've just never really tried. Living alone makes it hard to get motivated to spend hours in the kitchen whipping up something for no one... but now that I have people to cook for, it has made me really want to learn.

So what was on the menu this evening? Lasagna with homemade tomato meat sauce and garlic bread. I know, nothing too complicated, right? But I have never made my own sauce and I even learned how to mince garlic (without a press... go me!). I realize it sounds silly -- but life is all about the simple pleasures, right?

I'm excited I made something not only edible... but good! Did it work exactly as I thought it would? No... the last layers of lasagna wouldn't even fit in the pan... but I made what I could and it turned out great.

I guess that's what cooking is all about, right? Learning what works and what doesn't and knowing how to just go with the flow...

For anyone interested... I used the JOY of Cooking cookbook's lasagna and meat sauce recipes... it's a great book.

Any thoughts on what to try next? Something not too complicated for a new cook? I'm really hoping to find an easy fish recipe...