I've been making supper basically 49 years, and I don't know about you, but I'm out of ideas! I have 82 Pinterest boards, and at least half are about food. The problem is that when I'm needing an idea and look up a recipe, I don't have an avocado, truffle oil, or fresh ginger. What really happens is a trip to the pantry to see what I can sling together instead of making another grilled chicken breast.
Once I am in process, I tell Frank, "We're having an experiment." And he just says, "That's fine." A bit of a back story - my husband has never outright not eaten a meal or insulted it/me. When we were first married, I had a problem in that I only knew how to cook for five. I should have halved every recipe, but a casserole provided lunch for several days. The only way I knew Frank didn't like a dish was when it was all gone. "I think we can not have that one again." or "We can take that one off the list." He'd eaten half the casserole without one single complaint, and we had lots of casseroles!! (After 45 years together, he's not afraid to tell me when an experiment is not so good!)
Tonight, I had a giant chicken breast thawed out. I thought I'd throw together something Mexican, maybe fajitas. I sliced and fried the chicken, adding s/p, garlic, chili powder, cumin, and onions. After it was cooked through, I added half a can of black beans, a can of Rotel, and some Spanish rice. Simmered until it tightened up. Got the HEB butter tortillas browned and all the usual trimmings ready. Looked good, smelled good.
I put my serving on tortilla chips and admired my appetizing work. After two bites, I started to feel the heat in the back of my throat. Eventually, my nose was running and my mouth went numb. "Is it too hot?" I asked Frank. "NO! It is good!" Adding sour cream didn't work. More tea didn't work. I was miserable, and predicting a horrible case of heartburn about bedtime.
Now all I can think about is what did I do??? I have decided it was the Rotel, and since I had cooked the liquid down, the flavor was intensified. With hubby declaring it a success, I will need to tone it down for me!
Share a recipe disaster in the comments - if you've ever had one!
Ha! I have had a few dishes that Ben and I haven't liked (together, usually), but none remarkable.
ReplyDeleteHOWEVER, when I was first trying to expand my cooking in college, my roommates and I would take turns cooking for each other (4 of us, with me as the only one who wasn't a farmer's kid, made for plenty of food and a great balance). Two of them exclusively cooked beef dishes with cheese in every combination you could think of, so I took it up on myself to expand the menu. I made some Italian dish which called for 6 cloves of garlic, but didn't really know what a clove was. I was halfway through the fourth bulb of garlic when Chad said, "this seems like an excessive amount of garlic for a six-serving recipe."
Meghan!! Now that I've figured out how to reply... I'm so glad you now know the difference between a clove and a bulb! That had to be some tasty pasta!
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