Kitchen Fails of 2012
I love it when people jokingly refer to me as some “expert cook” or “master chef” or something like that. It’s comical, really. I am so far…..SO FAR…. from that it’s not even funny! All I am is someone who is willing to try new recipes, enjoys being in the kitchen for the mere challenge of it all, and fails very often at my attempts. Please forgive these embarrassing photos, but my mood was ANGER and FRUSTRATION at the time while snapping these pictures with my cell phone. There may have even been some tears shed in some instances (I know..it’s not like me to cry over food…haha). I was in no way, shape or form going to bother getting out the good camera just to take a decent picture of these complete and utter disasters in my kitchen. 🙂
This one I’m still not even sure what went wrong. It was supposed to be Avalanche Bark and was a dry, crumbly mess when I went to cut into it. Only the middle pieces remotely held together. I followed the recipe verbatim, checked it twice, I did it all. Other people had reviewed the recipe and seem to have had success. This one is an unsolved kitchen disaster mystery. Do I dare try it again?
I like to blame this failed Blackberry Cobbler on my oven in my old apartment that I swear was from the stone age. This had self-rising flour in it…..it did not do any self-rising, however. In fact, all it did was turn into a nasty spongy texture on top. It also tasted rubbery. We still ate it, of course. I attempted this again in my oven in my new house (one from this century) and it came out fine. For once, a mistake that wasn’t my own stupidity!
You know that part of the directions of a recipe where it says “now add dry ingredients to wet ingredients?” Yeah, I failed to do that. Minor hiccup, I would say 🙂 You would think I would have caught on that the dough was completely wet and sticky and not coming together at all……nope! Not sure where my brain was that day but it was in a far away land.
Let’s also blame this one on my old oven which decided on it’s own what temperature it wanted to be at any point in time……forget what I set it at! Anything that needed to rise or puff up in the oven did not rise or puff up! Hence, the gravy seeping through and causing a soggy chicken pot pie crust. It’s too bad, because it would have been so pretty with the hearts, don’t you think?
OK, this was totally my bad. Mr. Wishes likes to point out to me that I am really bad at multi-tasking. Once I stop completely focusing on what I’m doing, disasters emerge. This was me not focusing on the recipe that specifically said “drain the liquid from the vegetables”. What was supposed to be enchilada pie was enchilada soup in the end. It still tasted good if that counts for anything! Ew, this looks so nasty the more I look at it…
I have NO idea what the heck this was supposed to be but Mr. Wishes walked in the door and his exact words were “What the heck is that?!” Not only did it look scary and unappetizing, but the polenta tasted like cardboard and this whole meal was inedible. I have yet to give polenta another try. I don’t dare.
NOT PICTURED:
My Honey Banana Bread which I forgot……..you guessed it….the flour!! Banana bread soup anyone?
Ughhhh kitchen fails make me get so upset! Like…Michael has to yell at me to calm down because I get so mad and usually cry.
haha I can relate!
Thank you so much for sharing this! I too have had my fair share of dinner/dessert disasters and it is refreshing to be reminded I am not alone! And you are so right about that enchilada ‘soup’ it was hard not to stare at that picture….but it just got grosser and grosser! Thank you for the laugh! Now I am off to brave a new recipe and make Irish Lamb Stew!
Let me know how the stew turns out!!
Oh my goodness, how I can identify with this post! It doesn’t matter how much you cook, there are always disasters. In fact, I think the MORE I cook the MORE disasters I have… more opportunities, I guess. 🙂 Half the time I don’t have a clue what went wrong. Just have to laugh it off and try something else! Great post!
I think you’re right – the chances of having kitchen mishaps greatly increases the more you are in the kitchen!
Kitchen disasters do not make you less of a chef, it makes you greater 🙂
Thanks for the pep talk, Christina! 🙂
My Avalanche Bars (attempted just last month) looked much like yours, if it makes you feel any better. I still ate the scraps, but they weren’t very photogenic, and not worthy of the pretty cookie trays we were making for the parties we’d be attending. C’est la vie.
It’s all a part of the adventure!
What recipe did you follow? Maybe we used the same one 🙂
So glad we aren’t the only ones that make dumb mistakes!!
Definitely not!
Ashley, I love this post. Not because you had fails in 2012, but it reminds us that it is OK to mess up!! I fail about 30% of my recipes when I am developing them. Heck, even more than than! It took me 11 tries for one of my cookie recipes! Reminds us that it is OK and that we are only human. 🙂
I totally agree! It’s a learning process, for sure.
Haha, your “enchilada soup” reminds me of the lasagna my mother-in-law made for my husband’s birthday dinner. We all gave her such a hard time (loving) about her “lasagna soup.” 😉 (Moral of the story: use the correct pan.) I think my most disappointing kitchen fails are when I make something that looks amazing, but tastes terrible or just okay. It’s especially disappointing when it is something I planned to blog about, because then I’m scrambling to produce something else because I don’t feel right about sharing something that I didn’t love, you know?
I feel the same way! Sometimes the things I think are going to be great for my blog end up being underwhelming and that’s always such a let down!
OMG, I have made the cookie sheet cookie. I just told the kids it was a cookie pizza. Squirted a little butter cream frosting on top, cut it into squares, plated and enjoyed. Even had a request to repeat.
That’s awesome! Improvising 🙂
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I LOVE this post! I love that your showing that although all the recipes on this site look amazing, you are human just like every one else and you also have dishes that turn out nothing like you thought they would. I personally cry or just have an crazy attack when something turns out wrong in the kitchen lol glad i’m not the only one this happens too!
You are definitely not the only one! I do cry sometimes…it’s frustrating to waste your time and ingredients! It happens to the best of us 😉
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