I like to prepare shrimp scampi with pasta every once in awhile for me and my family. The beauty of preparing and cooking your own meal is you get to savor all the ingredients, plus I find cooking theraqeutic and I like to see others enjoy something I've cooked.

For a simple meal I'll make a grilled cheese sandwich, which I make perfectly.

So if you do cook, what type of meal is your favorite to cook and then eat?

I was raised on "Southern Comfort" type food so its reflected in my favorite homecooked meals. Don't eat them often, but when I get to they're a treat:

"Mom's Chicken Fried Steak"

Tenderize round steak with a meat mallet, season with salt, black pepper and a little garlic powder (don't get too heavy handed with it). Dip in a beaten egg and dredge in a flour and crushed cracker crumb mixture. Fry in a cast iron skillet until brown.

Pour off excess oil and make a cream gravy with the brown bits and drippings in the skillet (couple of tablespoons of flour browned for a minute or two then add milk, bring to a boil stirring constantly until thick). Serve this over mashed potatoes.

We usually had some in-season vegetable with it (summer squash, corn on the cob, vine ripened tomatoes, etc...) and homemade buttermilk biscuits. Dessert was often Peach Cobbler or Banana Pudding.

Southern cooking may not be the healthiest and I wouldn't eat it every day now, but its my favorite special occasion food. To be honest, considering how most restaurant food these days (massive portions - fat, salt and cheese laden) its probably not so bad in comparison.

http://i413.photobucket.com/albums/pp212/sbcmarine81/Steak.jpg

Hail to the King....

I love pasta. Spaghetti is lovely, and so is tortellini in cream sauce.

Also: Leg of lamb = orgismic. <3

All kinds of pasta. Roasted shrimp. And of course, grilled cheese sandwiches.

http://roguechef.badwolf.cx/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/tritip1.jpg

I love to Q. Smoked Tri-tip with seasonal veggies (from my garden ) and sweet potato

My Daddy was born and raised in the south where I spent several years as a child before returning to my Mother's homeland so I dearly love southern cooking as much as I do many of the native Alaska dishes.

In fact I think one of my favorite meals is chicken and dumplings (the rolled dumplings instead of the drop biscuit type). But I also love moose stew and salmon chowder very much. Nice good home cooked comfort is derived from each of those.

My favorite food however is King Crab with lots of butter.

I'm quite fond of coq au vin, in spite of it being a bit of a '70s stereotype; and a Sunday roast with all the odds and sods, at least when I can face cooking it! Not sure what's my favourite thing for roasting; a leg of lamb, I guess (and spuds, obviously!) Cookery programmes always lie about the amount of preparation time and gloss over all the washing up!

Carne guisada made with tri tip steak or Enchiladas...

Those programs assume you have Mr. Clean showing up at the end. I must say however that since I got my first ever dishwasher this year that the washing up is much easier than it used to be. Sort of put the cooking spunk back in my life.

I'm quite fond of roasting things together in the same pan myself. Saves on the pots and pans and is always delicious. That and soups and stews in the same pot with some crusty bread and butter.

I like all sorts of stuff.
I know this one family recipe that is absoultely fantastic. I would post pictures if I had any.