Being an imperfect cook is better than perfect.

I'd love to tell you I am an aspiring chef looking to share my amazing recipes but I'm nowhere near being a chef, let alone a decent cook! I'm just your everyday person still learning to make a basic meal without trying to be perfect. I'm an Imperfect Cook.

My beginning "cooking experiences" were in college when I would make Rice A Roni in a bowl (that I cooked in the microwave!) and Perdue pre-cooked chicken. Sometimes I'd mix it up with pasta and jarred marinara sauce. ;) When I graduated and moved into New York City, I attempted to make grilled chicken breast on the stovetop and ended up setting off the smoke alarm because I forgot to take the sticker off the bottom of the pan! After that, I just stuck to take-out.

Luckily, when I got married my husband picked up cooking much faster than I did so he became our "house chef"! Fast forward 10 years into our marriage and 2 kids later (a 6 year old boy and 3 year old girl), I decided it's time to try cooking again.

I needed to overcome my fear and stop stressing so much about making the perfect meal. My biggest problem was (and still is) overcooking food because I am too nervous it will come out raw! And because of this, I have always followed any recipe I find to the tee. My husband made me realize, I don't need everything to be EXACTLY as it's written. Of course that doesn't mean cook something for 2 hours if it says 1, but I was so busy focusing on the directions I didn't try to improvise as I was cooking. No meal will come out exactly as you see it on a recipe but as you start cooking you can see if there is something missing or if you need to add/use less of an ingredient. I am not saying completely change the measurements a recipe gives you but if you taste it and feel like you need more of an ingredient it's okay to splash in a little more at a time until it's how YOU want it to taste.

Now that I have tried a few recipes, and created a few of my own, I wanted to share with everyone so others can gain the confidence I needed to become an imperfect cook. Plus, what better way to keep learning than to share with one another?

Feel free to share any of your own recipes, or ones you found and have changed to fit your taste too! Enjoy being IMPERFECT!