Hmmm..."Dinner Diaries." The more I think about it the more I think the title for this post should be "Dinner Disasters," "Dinner Tragedies," or something similar.
Recently, my family has been so kind as to remind me of dinners I have botched. I guess they thought I might forget. Me, I was kind, too. I was afraid they might run out of material so I botched another one. Tonight, actually. So, why am I sharing that (embarrassing) info here? Well, my 9-yr old son pretty much dared me to.
One example occurred a few weeks ago when I was making blueberry pancakes and bacon for dinner. This is one of my husband's favorite meals. I had just read something about baking bacon. I decided to give it a try. Well, the bacon was taking much longer to bake than what the instructions indicated. My group prefers "wimpy" bacon as opposed to crispy. Not me - I like mine brown and crispy. When I took the pan out of the oven I really didn't feel the bacon was cooked well enough. That's when I had the brilliant idea to put the whole plate in the microwave to finish up. Finish off is more like it! The bacon was horrible! Are you familiar with fatback? That's what it was like. Microwaving bacon AFTER baking it has been a big joke around here ever since.
Tonight I was making another of my husband's favorites, Mozzarella Chicken. Basically browned chicken covered in sauce/gravy, topped with mozzarella cheese and baked. Tonight I had more chicken than would fit in one pan so I opted to use my electric skillet. I got the chicken browned and then decided to go ahead and finish cooking it in the skillet. Set the temperature, cover the pan, and come back 30 minutes later.
30-minutes later...
I took off the lid and started getting the chicken out to put on the platter for dinner. When I slid the spatula under the first piece and lifted - I was picking up more (and less) than I bargained for. It seems my sauce had browned, hardened and wanted to come up from the pan like a skin. I also couldn't recognize any mozzarella - it was part of the browned goop. Uh-oh...this is NOT good. So, separating chicken from "sauce," I got the chicken plated. Quickly I made a pot of instant gravy so I'd have something to put over the rice. In the meantime I overcooked my carrots and was glad I had made some Stove Top stuffing for Christopher - at this rate it seemed plausible that the stuffing just may become the main dish! At least the lingonberries and applesauce were good! All this and they still trust me with Christmas Eve dinner! At least that one won't be as easy to mess up.
So now I'm trying to find a witty way to wrap this up but my sense of humor is still stuck in the bottom of the electric skillet! Tomorrow is another day and if all goes as planned, it will be cookie baking day! Abbey and I are scheduled to begin baking right after church. I don't really know when my presents will get wrapped but somehow they will.
I figure my brother is the only one who'll actually read this before Christmas since he's the only one I know who's finished up with all his holiday tasks. So, take care, enjoy the season as much as possible and don't sweat the small stuff. Don't lose sight of the big picture, and don't burn the chicken!'
Christmas blessings...
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