Apparently I can't bake... but I CAN cook.

I've been lucky enough to get a professional series kitchen aid mixer as a present. To demonstrate to the universe that I truly am a thankful soul, I've been attempting to use it every chance I get. Yesterday, I baked some blueberry muffins... and they were gawd awful! My victims loved it (The only problem was that they were the typical guys' guys, who are pretty much human trashcans, so them loving it didn't really boost my self-esteem as a baker. But don't get me wrong, I absolutely HEART guys who are human trashcans-- I mean so much that I want my very own some day ^___^ It's just you can't accurately measure your skills that way is all).

I was pretty bummed, being that I'm such an over-achieving type A personality. However, after much thought, I decided that the best thing I could do to remedy the many baking failures I'm bound to have in the future is...

For every baking failure, I'm going to conjure up and fulfill a cooking success story! I don't quite understand the chemistry behind the baking, but definitely I do get the ins and outs of cooking.

So today I shall share a very crucial bit of information I've learned through experience in cooking marinara sauce (to be used with any kind of pasta form you like):

1. Marinara sauce tastes absolutely delicious if you add garlic. Finely chop up garlic, and throw it in the highly warm (but not hot) canola oil you have heating in the pan. Medium heat saute-ing of the garlic seems to be the best in bringing out maximum garlic flavor.

2. Add ITALIAN SEASONING (they sell a spice mix with these exact words on the label in the markets!). It has oregano, parsley, and all the other spices all in one that totally gives the sauce that characteristic Italian food flavor.

3. Add some sugar. Salt seems to make the marinara sauce more tart while sugar seems to smoothen the tartness out.

4. If you're a cheese lover, add Parmesan, Romano, and Asiago cheese. Yes, ALL THREE. It brings so much depth to the sauce.

Do these four things, and you'll always have some wonderful pasta sauce!

So there you have it-- my cooking success to negate that blueberry muffin baking disaster!