Cooking FAIL

From time to time, I like to share recipes here. However, that involves cooking and eating whatever it is first. And sometimes that step doesn't go as well as I hope! I thought you'd like to hear about some of my more recent cooking failures . . 

First up - Red Lentil Risotto. Sounds yummy, right? I have tons of lentils that sit in their jars and mock me during the summer months because the only time I eat lentils is in soup. They're so healthy (and a good source of protein) so I want to try to learn some new ways of preparing them. This recipe seemed like a great place to start. It started out looking so cheery in the pot:
But quickly turned to a less appetizing lentil mush:
It tasted . .  okay, but texture was tough to ignore. I (grudgingly) ate it, but won't be making lentil risotto again.

Next up - I tried to create a healthy-ish spin on Campbell's Creamy Chicken and Noodles. I switched out the Campbell's cream of chicken for a new brand's cream of broccoli (without taste testing - my first mistake!). And since I wanted some vegetables mixed in with the pasta rather than chicken, I threw in a bag of this new stuff I found at the grocery store, rainbow salad:
I should've known better than to try two new foods at once. This dish looked even worse than my alien stew, and all I could taste was broccoli. Don't get me wrong, I love broccoli, but this was too.much.broccoli. I never want to eat this again, but if I had to, maybe some more spices would help. Or changing the soup to alfredo sauce. Cheese makes everything better.
And last but not least - a recipe I've made a million times (chocolate chip cookies off the back of the chocolate chip bag) and still managed to mess up! I didn't chill the dough and my husband accidentally turned the oven off while they were baking.
Somehow, we managed to choke these down. ;)

Cooked anything awful lately? :)

Comments

  1. Oh my... Have you ever seen the movie "Like Water for Chocolate?" There are a lot of amazing cooking scenes in it, and one of them features these green chilies smothered in a cheese sauce with pomegranate seeds on top. It looked thoroughly delicious to me, so the very first time that I tried to cook for CatMan, I, in my infinite wisdom, decided to create a pomegranate seed recipe of my own creation.

    So I made baked fish with "pomegranate rice" - which I actually didn't think was that terrible. Of course, at that point I didn't know that CatMan HATES both pomegranates and fish! Sigh.

    Guess I've now learned that one should find out what someone likes before one attempts to cook for them. And you should never, EVER experiment with a new recipe when you're having guests! I've had to learn that one the hard way over, and over again!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. p.s. In my personal opinion, half-cooked chocolate chip cookies are MUCH better than the traditional variety!

      Delete
    2. Oh no! I don't know what I would do as a dinner guest if I were served foods I hated - awkward!

      Thankfully all these experiments were just cooked for hubby and I, not guests. That would have made me feel terrible!

      I agree about under cooking chocolate chip cookies - I like them soft :) These were cooked for so long (I think 19 minutes) because I didn't realize the oven was off at first. I just kept looking through the oven window, wondering why they weren't finished cooking, resetting the timer, and going back to whatever I was doing. (This probably goes to show I shouldn't try to multi-task.) They were more like crackers than cookies by the time I took them out.

      Delete
  2. I don't think Red Lentil Risotto mush is your fault! I like red lentils for soup because they cook so quickly and mushily. I can't imagine a risotto with them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're right - mine are always mushy in soups too. Guess I learned that lesson the hard way!

      Delete
  3. I have avoided a lot of new recipes recently because I don't have time and effort for fails in the summer. I am usually rushing to get food on the table but I have had my shares of recipes that just don't work out. I hope that this means that your next five recipes will be wonderful :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! I've tried one new recipe since this mess and it wasn't bad :)

      Delete
  4. I love the "fail" articles. By far my favorite. Thank you for linking to our first Blog Strut Peacock Style link party last Thursday! We hope you will stop by this Thursday after 5pm again to post your latest. http://wp.me/P2Vf55-1K

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hahahah! Sorry for laughing but I'm glad I'm not the only one who can come up with far from perfect and barely edible stuff :D But for what it's worth, they look Pinterest worthy! The veggies in the bag looks pretty!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

I love comments - please leave one (or twelve)!

Popular posts from this blog

Good-bye April, Hello May!

Vegetarian Version of Olive Garden's Chicken Gnocchi Soup

Getting Enough Protein as a Vegetarian