I'd like to start out by saying that I felt REALLY good about my chances of making something fantastic this week. I carefully selected the recipe from the pool I've been collecting on Pinterest, and the image of this dish looked so mouthwatering I was sure it would be a hit. And it might have been. Except it didn't end well. Jeff Heil, I'm holding you responsible for this catastrophe. You see, Jeff teased me about my first go at this cooking business last week, alluding to the fact that my boxed pasta and sauce was perhaps not much of a cooking effort. So, this week I decided that I'd show him and swing for the fences, using only fresh ingredients and hand prepping everything. Now, let's start at the beginning. I am a single mother of 3, the youngest of whom, as I've already mentioned, is only 8 months old. And he's a Mommy's boy, which means if I'm home, he wants to be in my arms. So, even getting to the grocery store to purchase fresh ingredients for specific meals is no easy feat. For this particular meal, I ran in quickly on my way home from school on Wednesday with recipe in hand (on my phone) and grabbed everything like a contestant on Supermarket Sweep before rushing home to pick up the baby and then rush to pick up the twins from preschool. So, I pulled off Step one: getting the ingredients...barely. Here's the recipe that I found on Pinterest. Note that it emphasizes just how EASY this dish is to make. Clearly, it's easy for everyone except for the Mom's who think boiling pasta from a box is real cooking!: "The easiest one pot recipe ever. Simply throw everything in and that’s it! No cooking, no sauteeing. SO EASY!" PRINT RECIPEYIELD: 4 SERVINGS PREP TIME: 10 MINUTES COOK TIME: 8 HOURS 5 MINUTES TOTAL TIME: 8 HOURS 15 MINUTES INGREDIENTS:
I spent all day thinking about how much my kids were going to love this dinner. I even convinced myself that the chicken was going to be so delicious that I should try a bite (reminder: I'm a vegetarian). I walked in to the house after school, and the house smelled delicious. And then I approached the Crockpot. I've included the images below to illustrate what happened next. The image on the left is the one from the recipe, the one that the meal was supposed to look like. The image on the right is what my masterpiece actually looked like. Crash. And. BURN. I don't really know what went wrong. Obviously, it cooked too long. But I followed the recipe! Needless to say, I was heartbroken. And the kids went out for hamburgers with their Grandpa.
So you see, this is all Jeff's fault. Here's the part where I throw my hands up in the air and declare that "I quit, I'm just not cut out for cooking!" But alas, a Mother is never allowed to quit. So I will persevere. Next week I'll have to recalibrate and find another "easy" recipe, hopefully one that is actually easy and doesn't result in take out.
6 Comments
Margaret Armijo
3/11/2016 07:53:59 pm
Don't feel too bad, Sarah! Everything cooked in the crockpot looks like that - it really doesn't work well for most food. The photo with the recipe was obviously not from an actual crockpot. I might be able to help with some easy, but appetizing recipes - what type of food are you looking for? Margaret
Reply
3/11/2016 09:21:26 pm
Oh Ms. Hunter! I'm so sorry that your meal didn't come out as planned; the image on the left looks like it would've been delicious. One of the tricky things about cooking time is that sometimes your food is ready before the minimum time specified in the recipe--I've learned this the hard way with Christmas cookies. It looks like your dish may have been fully cooked before it reached the 7 hour mark. Reading through your recipe, I notice that it specifies you need to baste the chicken every hour--were you able to do this during the time you were at school? The main purpose behind basting is to keep the meat moist, otherwise it will dry out and burn faster. Despite the results you got, I'd say try this recipe again--on a day when you're home and you can monitor it more closely. I remember when I was younger that there were some things my mother had to practice cooking in order to get them to turn out the way she wanted. Don't give up!
Reply
3/12/2016 12:58:52 pm
Margaret's right, everything cooked in a crock pot looks like that. What was the crock pot set on? There is usually a high and a low. A low setting may have been enough for this. Did you taste it, or just throw it out? It may have tasted okay under the crispiness. I don't usually try veggies and meat in the crock pot and the same time. A couple of easy ideas for a crock pot:
Reply
3/14/2016 07:45:10 am
Sarah! I can't believe this "easiest crockpot recipe ever" ended up like one of those Pinterest fails on Buzzfeed. I think it is the juxtaposition of the recipe picture to your version is hilarious. I once tried to make one of those sharpie decorated mugs that claimed to be SOOO easy but all it did was get sharpie on my face when I went to use it for my morning coffee.
Reply
3/15/2016 10:05:13 am
Mama Sarah,
Reply
Sophia Monaco
3/16/2016 04:04:59 pm
To be honest Sarah, I have had some crockpot failures myself. I think I leave the temperature too high for too long and I am not there to change it to low after a few hours. But silver lining of this situation is that it made your house smell good for a while! I am happy to see that you pushed your limits with this one. I can't wait to see what cooking adventure you take next!
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Sarah HunterLifelong learner, dedicated dreamer, mommy on the move. Archives
April 2016
Categories |