When I left home, I didn't even know how to turn on an oven or use a can openner...I was completely clueless in the kitchen. Then I got married and my 1st husband wouldn't let me in the kitchen because I might get hurt, although that marriage didn't last long and I ended up being a single mom...and embarrassed that I did not know how to cook so I started teaching myself forcing myself to make 10 new things each month. Last October I got married unexpectedly, I met my husband and got married a week later...and am expecting my 3rd child this summer. I still maintain the goal of 10 new recipes per month but it seems like a lot of the time I go beyond my goal. My husband often calls me crazy for the strange foods I make, but then has seconds or eats the left overs. We are Muslim so we do not eat any foods containing pork or alcohol...I often substitute in recipes that call for them. I am trying to learn to make everything from scratch so that I know exactly what is going into my food. Chicken in different ways my favorite chicken dish is Chicken B'stilla or the Chicken Tagine that I do. I also love to make pizzas in different ways. I have made a new family tradition in my family, and that is Chicken B'stilla at every special occassion....people love it. Another thing that has became a tradition with me is I cook or bake 10 new things every month...and so far I have never missed my goal of 10 sometimes I will even make more than 10 in a month. This started as a way to increase the amount of food I can cook...and has continued. I was working at a 5 star restaurant, my only job was pouring juices and cutting up fruits and things like that. One day I had taken my left over soup for lunch and when I heated it up in the break room the chef said what smells so good in here...and I said my soup...he said wow that looks like good soup...did you make it. And I said yes my own recipe. He asked me to make it, he sent someone to go get a couple ingredients for it. The next thing I knew he was going around with samples asking people what they thought about this soup, he said every single person loved it. He offered me $5,000 to have the recipe and copyright it. Since that he has been known for that particular soup. The only failure I've ever had with any food I've made is eggplant. I cannot cook eggplant at all for some reason it's always terrible and everyone tells me eggplant is so easy to cook. I love eggplant but yet I can not cook it to save my life.