New Year's Resolution-ish

Saturday I was out shopping with my mom when I came across a book:

As you can see from this picture, I bought the book.

I'm a fan of the Eat This, Not That franchise. I have 1 of the Eat This, Not That books and I used to have the Eat This, Not That No Diet, Diet book. Tragically the diet book has gone missing (probably because I lent it out to someone and I can't remember who). One of my long standing goals in life is to eat better. I tend to be from the "I'm-starving-now-and-refuse-to-wait-10-minutes-for-food" line of thinking. However, since I moved in with my parents almost 2 years ago I've been eating soooo much better. I will admit it is because my mom does 90% of the cooking. And it's not super health food, it's just not fast food or 100% canned and boxed crap. My mom makes a good deal of our meals from (relative) scratch. I don't crave fast food any more. In fact, if we have to eat out I really struggle to think of something I will eat at a fast food place. I do better at sit down restaurants but the last one I went to had so much salt in the food that I was nearly dehydrated 3 hours later. So, I've really enjoyed eating better. I've lost weight (also thanks to the sweet home gym we have in the basement), my skin has cleared up a lot, and I no longer feel like death most of the time.

There is just one small problem with eating right...I'm a terrible cook. I mean, seriously, I have made some gross stuff (read: tuna patties). I have no palate for flavors. Until about 4 or 5 years ago I would gag at the mention of mushrooms (now I love them) and I still struggle with onions (properly cooked and in small quantities work for the time being). But I'm beginning to appreciate real cooking. Now, I do have talents in the kitchen. I'm a mean baker. I can make just about any dessert: cheesecake, key lime pie, cobblers...because they all have exact measurements and ingredients. Cooking is the opposite of baking. Cooking is fast and loose. Baking is uptight and strictly measured. Basically I'm anal retentive when it comes to recipes.

But, I'm going to try and learn. I know it's one of those skills that I should have (actually I think it's a skill everyone should have, not just me and this certainly isn't just a "woman's task"). And I want to be able to make healthy food. This book shows you technique. It uses real ingredients and not a bunch of low-fat, low-calories, high-suck factor stuff. This book is going to help teach me how to be a decent cook.

That and lot of old episodes of Master Chef.