My mom was a good cook; she didn't go for anything fancy but she produced healthy, tasty, thrifty meals nearly every night of the week. Lots of casseroles so we could have leftovers the next day, and her idea of salad was a wedge of iceberg with bottled dressing, but by and large quite good. At one point she dabbled in Chinese cuisine and made credible spring rolls and stir fries. And for holidays she would produce a full turkey with all the trimmings for a dozen people. I learned a lot and still use many of her recipes today.

Except... for bean-sprout lasagna. I have a feeling it came from a Weight Watcher's cookbook/magazine, during a phase of low-fat, super-healthy meals. It used a large quantity of raw fresh bean sprouts in place of lasagna pasta sheets, and had (thin) tomato sauce, probably some low-fat cheese or cheese-substitute, and maybe a small amount of ground beef. In any case, in the baking process, the bean sprouts cooked down to a water, slimy mess was so tasteless that it actually sucked the taste out of the other ingredients as well. I believe she made it a three or four times before accepting that it was a loser.