Thing I've never cooked before

I like buying ingredients, and figuring out how to eat them later. I'm a pretty good cook, but there are times when cooking is utilitarian. A means to an end. Food in my mouth. And sometimes these things turn out great. Other times, not so great. But, I'll eat whatever I end up with. Because if I'm cooking, I'm hungry.

1. Sweet potato
Today, I needed to cook the thing before it went bad, and I was still a bit hungry after dinner. Let the experimenting begin! Well, I think it turned out OK. I didn't take the time to find a recipe. I just googled it on my phone to make sure it was possible to fry them in a pan. (Apparently, frying them in bacon fat is quit common. Ugh!) I cut it into slices about 1/4 inch thick, threw them in a pan with canola oil and tossed them around for a few minutes, then put them on paper towels to get off the excess oil. I ended up with these somewhat crispy, somewhat chewy strips. I salted them slightly and just ate them like that.

Not bad. And I have some leftover for a snack tomorrow. I bet they're OK cold, too. And the best thing about it is the smell. My apartment smelled fantastic after cooking them. But next time, I'm looking up a recipe. Maybe a curry or something like that to give it some spice and make them meal-worthy.

2. Tofu
I've eaten tofu many times, but never actually cooked it. I hadn't held the weird, wet square and cut into it's soft-clay like texture until last night. It's kind of strange. But, I know this is one of those things I have to integrate into my diet. Sometimes, too much tofu has pretty much made me gag. But this time, I had a tip from a friend at work on how to improve the texture. So, I sliced it up and fried it in oil in my wok til it was crispy. Then, I added the veggies.

I didn't mind the tofu at all. I'm glad, too. I would have forced myself to eat it either way for the nutritional value, but I can see with a little time I'll be able to make some rock solid meals out of the stuff. It even stood the microwave-the-leftovers-at-work test. The tofu stayed crispy, and I ate it all.

I'm enjoying trying new things. Every day I really have to pay attention to eating. I have to make sure I get enough calories, enough protein, enough fruit, etc. It's fun though. Every day is a mission to fill my stomach with as big of a variety of stuff I can. And so far, I'm doing a pretty good job, I think.