I've been inspired -- sort of.

After reading "Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously" by Julie Powell, I've decided to cook more.

I'm not about to cook all 564 recipes in Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," like Powell did (and wrote about for the book). For one thing, I don't really like French food. For another thing, I already need to lose 25 pounds. For yet another thing, there is no way I will ever attempt to slaughter a live lobster on my cutting board or scrape the marrow out of a bone to use as a topping for steak.

Nevertheless, I have decided to start experimenting more in the kitchen.

Last night, I made a delicious beef stir fry. I used this shaved beef steak from Trader Joe's that cooked FAST and was simply phenomenal when mixed with snow peas, broccoli, edamame, spinach, asparagus, garlic, onion and red, green and yellow bell peppers and paired with brown rice. I used a spicy stir fry sauce I bought at the store (hey, I'm not brave - or motivated - enough yet to make my own sauce!). It was a knock-out. Even my husband, a picky eater who can't get enough spice, was impressed.

My next project will be to make my own jambalaya. We usually eat the boxed variety, but I've decided to try to make a homemade version, with chicken and Andouille sausage. Wish me luck.

Feel free to share your cooking successes (and failures) -- as well as recipes -- here!