Cooking like a Newlywed

When cooking with my grandma and if she would make a mistake or accidentally burn something she would say, "You would think I was a newlywed with how I made this meal." Now as my newlywed status is slowly getting less, ( coming up on one year whoo!) you would think that all my cooking disasters would be getting less. Au contraire, lately I have been doing some really good mix-ups.

I do like cooking, I feel really good about myself when I make a good dinner that we like to eat and when it all turns out. Does that mean I cook every night, um no. Possibly 2-3 nights a week or more if I happen to make a menu that week. I like to try and make new things I've never made before like scones, breads, different meals or salads.

Last week my cooking whoops was when I was making the ever famous Stoddard Frog Eye salad. In it you have to cook these really tiny balls of pasta at the same time as making the goo. A pudding type mix that must be stirred or else it will burn. So I am going along everything is going good. The pudding is thickening and the pasta is almost done. Without thinking I dump my teeny tiny pasta into my colander, and get the water running on them to cool it down. ...Yeah...my colander has very big holes see:

Do'h! It's a good thing that I put in a little more of the pasta because a good portion of them got washed away. It's a good thing realized what was going on before I lost all of them. In the end it all turned out great and just as good as I remember.

Another time I was making stuffed shells one of Justin's favorites. Well this time I decided to add some shredded vegetables to the cheese mixture for some fun. I shredded them all and mixed them in the cheese before I read the directions that said, " Saute the shredded vegetables before putting in mixture." Whoops, oh well. I felt bad because there was nothing I could do but comforted myself in the fact that the were shredded pretty small and would probably be okay. Then I was seasoning the mixture with some salt and pepper, right after I put two eggs on the top. While dashing some pepper in, the lid to my shaker falls off and poof! Tons of pepper all stuck to the eggs and cheese. Do'h! I got out what I could and just mixed it really good.

I did a taste test to see how peppery they were. It was pretty potent. I fretted over it the whole rest of the time I spent putting the shells together. Now when I make shells it's a lot like two pans worth so I am hoping and praying that they taste ok or else....that's a lot of wasted food. After they baked and we tried them they were actually not that bad, still peppery but not as strong.

While I will probably continue to make mistakes in cooking even after not being a newlywed anymore I still enjoy it. It also helps that my husband is not that picky and is sweet enough to tell me loves whatever I cook. =)