I don't even know what to call this.

Well, let's just say my first attempt at cooking in 2009 could have gone better. After meticulously choosing my first recipe (Baked Penne with Asparagus and Turkey Meat Sauce, from the January issue of Clean Eating), I went to collect the ingredients, none of which I already had. The ingredients consist of:

Whole Wheat Penne Pasta

Lean Ground Turkey

Asparagus

Low Salt Tomato Sauce

Part Skim Mozzarella

Parmesan Cheese

Basil

Garlic Powder

None of this was too hard to find, unless you are not stubborn like me. I was out running errands when I realized I was very close to a Whole Foods. So, I go in there, grab a few of the ingredients only to realize that the only turkey I can get is not lean and is also $8. Yeah, right. So I then head to Trader Joe's where I found the rest of my ingredients. Trader Joe's is a slightly more awesome form of Whole Foods, no, it is not as fancy, but it still has great stuff and at 1/3 less bank than WF. Thank you, TJ's.

When I got everything out to start cooking, I realized that I hadn't bought enough organic low salt tomato sauce. Ugh. I just got back from running errands (including two grocery stores) and I'm not going to let this stop me. So, I used some Prego tomato sauce instead which turned out to be just as good.

One thing to remember is that I hate raw meat. I am trying to get over how disgusting it is, hence the cooking goal. When I took the turkey out of the package, I was supposed to set 4oz. aside as the recipe called for 12 oz. and I could only buy it in 16 oz. increments. The raw turkey was so gross, however, that I just put the whole package in the pan because the thought of raw turkey starting at my in my fridge was really just too much for one day.

I made the recipe according to plan, plus the extra turkey, and even though I don't own a 2 qt. pan it was supposed to bake in, I just baked it in my dutch oven, which turned out fine.....

....Except one small detail which I realized after I put the first forkfull in my mouth: I forgot that I hate turkey.

You might be asking how this happened? Well, the picture of this dish in the magazine was super delicious. I think I glazed over the fact that I hated turkey because I wanted to eat the stuff in the magazine. Well, after I added an extra 4oz. of unnecessary turkey, this dish was very, well, meaty. Everything tasted like turkey! GROSS!

What did I learn from this situation? The dish itself turned out well, despite the extra turkey and the tomato sauce debacle. My technical skills were not at fault here, rather, it was my own internal stupidity. How could I forget that I don't like turkey? Well, I am not reminded, on January 4, 2009, that I think turkey is gross and I don't plan on eating it again for the rest of the year (I even usually skip it on Thanksgiving).

Gobble, gobble, gross.