If anyone knows me they know that I can’t cook, I’m actually so bad at it – well I think I am.

I have many of cook books at home that are for teens, easy instructions and with lots of pictures but I still cannot cook on my own. This is how bad I am at it, the couple of things I am good at cooking is grilled cheese, scrambled eggs, egg sandwich and a Nutella and strawberry grilled sandwich for a dessert.

For Christmas 2013 my mum got me a cook book that is called, “The Can‘t Cook Book by Jessica Seinfeld.” It’s a cookbook that you have to read in the beginning because it teaches you all the things you need to know. For example, it teaches you what a paring knife, Chef’s knife and a offset serrated knife is, the difference between all the pans you could buy in the world, and even how to cut garlic, an onion, an avocado and even how to get fresh herbs off the plant. I mean this is the cookbooks of all cookbooks.

For tonight my mum told me that it was a “fend for yourself night.” Meaning that the people who usually cook, which are my mum or my sister, are too lazy to cook and you need to make your own meal. Usually this night involves me going out with friends, microwaving something, or sticking something from a box into the oven. Tonight I decided that I would give cooking a try, plus it would cure my boredom.

I actually did two different recipes to make one meal. The first one was Pan-Roasted Chicken Breast and the second one was Smashed Red Potatoes with Chives. I know this probably sounds so simple to some of you but remember I suck and to be quite frankly I’m scared of cooking.

I started off with defrosting the chicken in the microwave since I didn’t plan this, which ruined the chicken because my microwave is so damn strong – it’s a good one. I left that there and started the potatoes since it would take the longest, it didn’t involve much work besides boiling them, smashing them with a plate to be flat then putting chives on them; the boiling is what makes it take so long. As they were boiling I started to season the chicken like the book told me and got the pan ready with the oil. Oil really? Great one to start with I know, nothing scares me more then cooking with oil. To my surprise it went well until the end when I over cooked the chicken. As I was over cooking the chicken I thought my potatoes were ready to be smashed so I drained the water and got a plate only to notice that the potatoes were still hard as a rock, I was in fact, premature like a little boy.

My mum at this point came downstairs to see how I was doing and she gave me a little advice of these century, put things in the microwave if you took them out too early. This in fact worked and I was ready to smash away, which was actually really fun. Cooking fun? Who would of knew. I plated my meal, took pictures, sent them to my boyfriend and being a 22 year old, put them on instagram. I then enjoyed my over cooked chicken and smashed potatoes.

I will try the chicken again, some parts actually tasted really well but I want the whole breast to taste good. The potatoes were excellent and I didn’t even put ketchup or butter on them like I normally would – this is a good sign. 

My goal is to try every recipe in this cookbook and actually be able to cook by the end of the year.

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More recipes to come!