Relief Society and cooking

While my mother and sisters watched from their stake centers in Utah and Oklahoma, I thoroughly enjoyed the talks in the Relief Society Broadcast.
I felt a bond with Sister Beck as she talked about Relief Society filling in while her mother was away. I felt a need to rededicate myself to temple attendance as Sister Allred talked about people whose first temple trips took great expense and long journeys at great personal sacrifice. I know people who sold their apartments in Ukraine to afford a trip to the temple in Germany. And I laughed most heartily at Sister Thompson's retelling of Eliza R. Snow's advice to someone who had suffered from stage fright and failed to deliver a talk.
I really appreciated President Uchtdorf's remarks about creation and compassion. If asked what my culinary specialty is, my first reaction would be "boxed macaroni and cheese." I have many friends who can attest to the fact that I make that often - still. During President Uchtdorf's anecdote about his wife's cooking as compared with own, I was sitting next to a pastry chef who completely intimidates me. I see myself as a kitchen incompetent; but as he continued on, I began to see myself in a better light.
I'm going to toot my own horn for a minute. At my doctor's advice, I'm trying to infuse our diet with lots more fruits and vegetables. This is hard for me because fruits and vegetables are perishable, can be expensive, and are easy to ruin. While I appreciate my parents for a lot of things, they taught me to fear and hate all forms of squash, and several other fruits and vegetables.
Now, I can make a killer fruit smoothie and have made 6 or 7 in the last week that have been pretty tasty. OK, one was really too heavy on the grapefruit juice; but largely a good idea.
Last week I made a really fabulous chef salad for dinner. As the main dish. (!) Also last week I ventured into squash without supervision. I've had several people demonstrate appropriate squash techniques both on my mission and with roommates. More recently, neighbors have demonstrated. So I bought (on purpose) 4 zucchinis and 4 yellow squashes last week. Having carefully followed the examples set, I managed a squash side last week that was edible - and even good. Last night I made taco salad. I know, amazing.
Then today I got all fancy with the squash. I added carrots and some marinated chicken - then got fancy with the soy sauce, lemon juice, and seasonings. Whoa. I still don't own bay leaves or use fresh herbs - but I think it's possible that cooking might be a little fun.
So while there are a lot of things I can do better - I can attend the temple more regularly, visit teach my sisters, improve my personal faith and testimony, seek for inspiration, and try to clean my apartment occasionally - I can also try to view my talents and capabilities in a slightly better light. Which is not to say that I'll quit making boxed macaroni and cheese any time soon.