The adventure of cooking

For the most part I enjoy cooking. (It's the cleaning up I hate). But for some reason lately, the cooking hasn't gone so well.

Before the holidays, a friend gave us some steaks and a pork loin because their freezer broke and they were going out of town and the meat would have gone bad. (Thanks Ashley!!!) My parents were coming over to bring us a bed and help Jeff move the furniture around. So I told them I would cook dinner. I had the menu kind of planned in my head: steaks and pork loin, potatoes, and some type of veggie I could find from the freezer.

So the cooking begins and so does the craziness: First, I realized the potatoes had gone bad. So plan B: homemade mac and cheese. I told Jeff to go ahead and start the grill and a few minutes into grilling the food - the gas ran out on the grill. So Jeff and dad head to the gas station up the road to get the propane tank filled. Meanwhile, I am at home preparing the mac and cheese and realized I didn't have Ritz crackers for the top. So I found some Cheese Its and used those instead. I started on the veggies - black eyed peas and green beans. I put the black eyed peas on first and then went to get the green beans - to realize it was just another bag of black eyed peas! GREAT!!! I went with the broccoli option instead. As Jeff announced that the meat was done, I realized the mac and cheese wasn't ready yet. I said we would have a progressive meal and add the mac-n-cheese later. We then realized that the steaks were done, but not the pork loin! As we started serving our plates - steaks (mom and I split one) and the veggies, I told the guys that the mac-n-cheese wasn't ready yet. Jeff asks "Why don't we just heat up the left over sweet potato casserole you have in the frig?" DUH - who is the idiot that COMPLETELY forgot about the leftovers. That question would have been helpful at the BEGINNING of this process and would have made things a bit more simple! It was a progressive meal as we just kept adding the food as it finished cooking. It was also about 8:30 by the time we sat down to eat.

Fast forward a few weeks: A few days ago, I decided to make some spaghetti and salad for dinner. I had just been to the grocery store on my way home from work to pick up milk and a few other things. As I started making the salad - I realized the lettuce (that had never been opened before) had gone bad. I wasn't about to go back to the grocery store, so you can see below the "salad" we had that night. Jeff's "salad" was only celery and cucumbers because he doesn't eat carrots or tomatoes. Jeff being the wonderful husband that he is never complained or asked any questions! :)

Lesson learned: check to make sure you have the ingredients and that they are still good!