...beyond salads, ice cream sundaes and ramen, that is, and ordering take-out doesn't count.

I do mostly noodle dishes of various nations, reheat frozen leftovers, fry pot stickers, cook pre-breaded meats, I've made baked potato soup and sushi as my hardest dishes.
Currently taking up candy making to make gourmet gummies that taste like cocktails, but have NO ALCOHOLIC CONTENT whatsoever. I call it "Like A Virgin Gummies"

Something I've been toying with. The gummy substance would be from scratch.

I couldn't when I first got my son - I had no clue .. I learned. It was a learning curve for sure I have half afraid of poisoning him or doing something wrong. The day I first fed him something I'd cooked from a spoon I was shaking .. But he smiled at me and wanted more so it was all good.

I can cook enough to live, but I'd say I specialise in baking and sweet dishes. Though I make a really good cauliflower and apple soup from scratch.

No, I can't cook.

I used to make almost everything from scratch (including breads). I felt needed when I cooked and when I baked.
I felt indispensable. I loved it when fall and winter came around. I could bake all day, and not worry about heating up the house.

Funny thing though, when it came to the comfort food, macaroni and cheese, I preferred mine from a box - Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.
For my family I would make it from scratch, but for myself, for when no one was at home...I'd use the boxed mix.
There was just something about the texture of that powdered cheese stuff.

Not really. But I'm pretty primitive in my diet anyway.

At the age of 16 I moved away from home - and realized I didn't even know how to boil potatoes. I still didn't know a few years later, but maybe that's because I don't like boiled potatoes much - I like them better cut up and fried in the oven.

From there my cooking skills have done leaps and bounds. I've graduated from ready-meals such as 'add boiling water', 'microwave', or 'stick in the oven and hope for the best' of various kinds, to using ingredients and cooking from scratch. I know enough to get by, and I like to experiment a little with new things, but I'm no expert in the kitchen. There have been many failed experiments over the years, but also some new dishes.

When it comes to everyday food I'm a lazy chef, so if I'm not in experimenting mood I like things to go fast. That doesn't mean frozen dinners, pre-mades and other ready-meals, though. I usually make food from scratch with fresh or frozen ingredients, depending on what's stocked in the kichen. I just like things to go fast, so watever can be stuffed into the oven goes there.

If I'm in experimenting mode, I don't mind if the cooking takes a while longer, and there's often a mess afterward. I have so far not created any disasters, if you look away from the occasional slightly burned food, some microwave bloopers (brownies and anything with lots of sugar don't like being microwaved for too long, and metallic paint on plates is baaaaad), and making a very big mess. So far the only thing I've managed to explode is popcorn, and they're supposed to explode.

The Kitchen=No Fear, but it wasn't always that way. When I was younger, and less experienced I used to call my mother a few times a week to have her walk through part of a recipe/dish with me. She was a fantastic cook who could throw a meal or dessert together with ease and confidence. I've improved much over the years and make most meals from scratch (few prepared foods, but in a pinch they're great). My son is vegan, my partner is not, so I make a variety of dishes that satisfy everyone when my son visits. Desserts and sweets are fun to make, my best is probably cream puffs with vanilla pudding filling and chocolate glaze (M's birthday choice, instead of cake).

I have favorite cook books (old and new) and family recipes that I refer to, but I also enjoy throwing something together without instructions. I have enough kitchen toys to last a lifetime, some no longer get much use (like the bread machine).

Growing up, my sisters and I spent a lot of time in the kitchen talking and playing while my mother cooked dinner and we often did our homework at the kitchen table. It's still one of my favorite rooms in the house. My fantasy house would feature what I'll call a European-style kitchen. Maybe it's really an Irish kitchen, the heart of the home.

I can make grilled cheese and cook some hamburger for casseroles. That's about it. I don't like having to use knives of any sort because of how clumsy I am, so I tend to avoid cooking at all cost.

I used to make pies, cookies, cakes, pancakes, gravy, hand made bread, biscuits.. and an entire thanksgiving dinner... all from scratch... not even canned pumpkin.

Gave myself diabetes.

Shit.

Fried eggs, medieval stews, and roast chicken in sauces are what I can make from memory. I tend not to follow recipe books closely.

Have always been able to cook and I find it really strange when anyone over 14 doesn't know how to cook the basics.

When I was seven I wasn't allowed to watch tv in the morning so I used to bake thinks in the oven before school while my parents were asleep (yeah hot oven was fine but not tv). Parents taught me stir fried veggies, grandma taught me baking, step mum taught me italian. Taught myself indian and thai. It's all pretty easy except for getting the timing right when there are multiple components so nothing is over or under cooked.

The thing I am worst at cooking is a lump of meat. I don't want to touch it and never know what to do with it.

Of course. But it wasn't always that way. Growing up? The only things I was allowed to cook was canned soup, mac & cheese - really simple things that weren't really cooking. EXCEPT on my mom and dad's anniversary. Then I was allowed to cook: pork steak, potatoes and a canned vegetable. So the only thing I really knew how to cook when I moved out on my own was...yep, pork steak! I used to have to call my mom and ask her "How do I cook this?" all the time. The first time I made spaghetti? I was eating spaghetti for a week, lol. And yes, I had to ask my mom how to make it first!

Now? Give me a hunk of meat and I'll whip something up no problem. But I don't really get to do that anymore. The kids are older and all out of school, so they're not always home. I don't see the point in cooking a whole meal for just ME. It sucks because I love to cook and I love to feed people. I'm one of those "You're in my house at meal time so you're going to eat!!" people.

When my oldest was a baby I used to cook up some hamburger and make spaghetti sauce and chili to put in the freezer. I also used to cook up a small chicken, take the meat off the bones and freeze that too. I do believe I'm going to have to start doing that again. I'd be more likely to cook for just myself if all I had to do was grab a small pack of shredded chicken from the freezer or thaw some chili or spaghetti sauce. OH! I used to make small (personal, 1 person sized) pizzas and freeze those too. Yeah. Gonna have to start doing that again...

I can cook most meat fine but not much else, I don't like cooking unless it is meat on a BBQ!

I like to think that I can cook! I can cook a pretty damn delicious steak baked in the oven with garlic on top, if you ask me. Thinking about that, I should go buy some steaks and cook them this weekend... Yum, steak. I also make double chocolate walnut cookies, and a pretty tasty pumpkin pie around the holidays! I also seem to have a knack for coming up with ideas for soup? A few weeks ago I made beef stew with barley and veggies, and then I also made a chicken soup with pretty much every vegetable in the fridge (celery, carrots, spinach, garlic, onion...) with some rice in it, too. Oh! And my mother and I make homemade turkey burgers with bell pepper and onion in them. We make a bit more than we'd eat in a day, freeze the rest, and take some out when we need it. Last thing I can think of is baked salmon with paprika/pepper rub I bought from the store, with brown rice, baked bell pepper slices, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower... It's really pretty yummy. Oh, and I also like to make Romanian desserts that my grandma makes for us when we visit. It's nice to eat "grandma's" food, especially when she lives across the Atlantic.

Damn it. I made myself hungry now.

We should start a recipe thread, haha. After a couple hundred posts, take the contents, put it together and make the "MTS Cookbook!™"

EDIT: Speaking of cooking failures, I may as well include one that happened in my family. Wasn't me, but rather my parents. They had this weird contraption which you put eggs in, close it, and then pop it in the microwave to make them hardboiled. Once, when I was about 4, they put some eggs in the microwave using that thing, and probably put it too long. The microwave got pissed at them, and the door exploded open. Eggs everywhere. On the floor, on the stove... probably ceiling, too. As a 4 year old, it was awesome.

Queen pizza is such a bullshiter! I know for a fact that she makes the most amazing lemon cheesecake

Pfft ...

Making gummi bears in various flavors as my first test with my dad as the teacher in candymaking.

I have a great Boozeless Bears recipe for ones flavored like Sex On The Beach (it's peach, cranberry and orange)

My idea of cooking is tossing 2 slices of cheese in between 2 slices of bread and tossing that in the microwave for 35-seconds.

Yeah, I don't even grill my cheese sandwiches. Too cumbersome, as my dad would say.
"Not even grilled? Disgusting!" you might say, which is what my wife said, but try it, it's actually quite good, as my wife had to admit to me once!

I love to cook!
Sadly i can't do it in the week, only at the weekend (damn work - i'm too tired when i get home - same problem with playing The Sims 2!)
I really enjoy trying out new recipes - especially if it is vegetarian. I really need to eat less meat...

I can't or I'd better say I'm not interested in, beyond surviving.
Except easy cakes.

I did epic cookies once. The epicity was not in the taste... you could use that cookies as stunner weapon for self defense. The hardest strong cookies ever done by human hands. Yes I'm still proud of them.

I read recipes the same way I read science fiction. I get to the end and think, "Nah, that will never happen".

I'm an ok cook, but I don't have a lot of patience or experience. I love the idea of making all this yummy, healthful stuff, but the reason I don't cook very much is because my parents don't like the same kinds of food and I want to please everyone while staying true to what I want. What sounds good to me is nothing they'll eat, and making what they like doesn't appeal to me. Or it's too advanced and I'm tired from working all day.

Because of my eating disorder, I've never needed to cook anything one would consider... a proper meal. Most of the stuff I've eaten (because I have a very small group of very specific foods that I can eat without gagging or having an uncontrollable emotional breakdown) is cold/non-cook food, or it's as simple as putting it in the oven for X amount of time.

The most complex thing I can make is pancakes from scratch, and I'm ace at it because I do it so often.

BUT I'm getting better, I'm getting used to the texture of rice now, through exposure (at first I couldn't keep it down) so my partner and I are going to try and learn how to make different curry from scratch. It's the way I'm going to try and introduce fresh vegetables into my diet. (I haven't properly eaten any veg in my whole life)

I'm sorta the same here, except with leftover pizza. Though I'm not 500 pounds like The Sims 4 wants to make me on such a diet.

That, and if The Sims series has taught me anything, it's that botched cooking turns food into explosives.