Conquering the Kitchen

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love food.  Drew and I love trying new restaurants, recipes, and have even gotten hooked on a few cooking competition shows (cupcake wars, top chef, chopped, the taste,) just a few....
The Phoenix area is actually a great city for foodies, with more than a handful of restaurants that have been featured on The Food Network, and even more undiscovered gems we've had the pleasure of dining in recently.
One place I feel I've never reached my full food-appreciating potential has been my own kitchen.  It's something I've been trying to change.  That road, however, is long and winding.  There have been ups and downs, and some epic fails.
Those of you who know me well may remember the forgotten-water-in-the-brownies blunder of '05, or the sea-salt-attempted-brownie bungle of '11.  You also may have seen the cupcake massacre of 2012:

This little doozy contributed to the subsequent oven fire of 2012.
While I haven't had many proud moments in the past, I can at least say I'm not completely alone.  Drew has proven himself to be a spectacular cook on a regular basis, but every once in a while he throws me a bone and comes up with a mess to rival even my most embarrassing culinary disasters.  There was the Chipotle-rice-replication attempt that was.... let's just say lime-tastic.  More recently, there was our first attempt at utilizing a slow cooker for beef stroganoff:

Luckily we live so close to family that we knew just who to call, just in time for dinner.  It's hard to believe I actually tried ...whatever this is... and managed to keep a straight face until Drew spit his out, giving me the okay to do the same.  To his credit, we discovered it was actually the appliance at fault, and after purchasing a new crock pot he redeemed his recipe and his reputation.  I can vouch, it was delicious.
My adventures may be doomed to continue on a roller coaster, but I am proud to say I came up with a healthy and successful meal just this week after a recent decision to maintain a healthier lifestyle (a.k.a trying to reduce my sugar intake to something below 75% of my diet.)
This is a broiled salmon-steak in a honey sauce with a side of mashed cauliflower.  Yes, that's right!  And, it's a great substitute for mashed potatoes.  I made a pretty big mess, but it was worth it.