Update! I've successfully made a few dishes by myself. I made a dish called "nikujaga", Salmon Meunière (similar recipe to this one), and various versions of miso soup. They're all pretty simple, but just knowing that I made something yummy all by myself boosts my confidence a bit.

I'm still taking baby-steps and following my mother-in-law's lead, but I'm starting to believe that I can handle recipes on my own once it's time to take charge. I just need to make up a menu since I'm not good at randomly deciding what to eat based off of left-over ingredients yet.