What Is That?

Time for a little reminiscing and a few giggles. This was originally posted in April 2013. 


 I must admit I have created some rather memorable recipes when too tired to think, like the time I used cinnamon instead of chili powder in the taco meat.  I can’t describe how that smelled. Even the dog wouldn’t eat it.

Do you know baking soda foams when substituted for cornstarch in sauces? It looks something akin to Mt. Vesuvius the second it hits the pan, and it not only removes odors from the refrigerator, it also neutralizes all flavors.  I am not sure how to describe what it tasted like, but it certainly wasn’t Oriental Pepper Steak, and no, I didn’t bother to offer any to the dog.   

When I accidentally substituted the baking powder with baking soda in the tempura batter, it didn’t foam, but to this day, my husband swears the shrimp bit back.  

This wouldn't be a complete list without mentioning Pork Chips, or Biscuit Cookies, or is that biscuits that look like cookies? Those were not my invention. They belong to my inventive sister-in-law. I'm more famous for Blackened Garlic Bread. 

I have rearranged my kitchen since these repeated disasters. My cooking spices are in a cabinet across the kitchen from the baking spices. No more confusing cinnamon for chili powder or baking powder for cornstarch. However, I seem to find other just as interesting cooking adventures. 

How about you? Do you have any cooking disasters you'd like to share? Or are you one of those cooks who never seems to mess up a dish? If so, you have my respect and admiration. 

The Miracle Turkey

Photo by SJ Baren on Unsplash

This Thanksgiving my husband and I are thankful for many things, especially my recovery and cure from breast cancer. Hard to believe we will celebrate my two year anniversary this coming January. 

We also are blessed and thankful to have such a beautiful home, loving family, and good friends. 

The list goes on, but these are the topmost.

This year, besides listing the things I'm most thankful for, I want to pull a story from the archives and share this once again. Although this incident did not occur on Thanksgiving, it did involve a turkey and even after twenty some years I can't look at one without thinking of this miracle.  God does indeed clothe us, pay our bills, and does the extraordinary through the very ordinary.

My late husband had been laid off for weeks. My part-time job and his unemployment benefits barely met our basic necessities. With three kids still at home our grocery bill was bigger than our house payment and that week we were flat broke with several more days to payday. Things looked pretty grim with a bare pantry.

As I drove home, I remembered this story. 

A flood ravaged a small community, forcing many residents onto their roofs to await rescue. One man looked at the water already lapping against his ankles and realized he couldn't wait too much longer to be rescued. Desperate, he cried out to God to rescue him. God promised He would.

 A rescue helicopter appeared and lowered a rope. A rescuer yelled down for the man to grab the rope and they would hoist him up to safety. The man waved them off. God was going to rescue him and he didn’t need the helicopter. The crew shook their heads at the man’s foolishness and moved off.

Two men came by in a row boat and offered to take him with them. The man refused their help also, again stating God was going to rescue him.

A surge of water swept the man off the roof and he drowned. Standing before God he asked why He hadn’t saved him as He had promised.

God replied, “I sent you a helicopter and a row boat, what more did you want?”                                                                                                                 

Author Unknown

Whatever God sent my way, by whatever means, I would not decline the offer. I would look for and accept a helicopter or a row boat, but I didn't expect Him to send a turkey.

A twenty pound turkey, thawed and ready to cook, sat in my kitchen sink. I really didn't believe it just materialized out of thin air. Someone had to put it there, and only one person outside my family who had a key to the house, my mother.

I called her, and listened to a story almost as amazing as if the bird had suddenly materialized out of nothing.

The freezer belonging to a woman on the other side of town malfunctioned. She was able to salvage most of the food by either cooking it or transferring to the small freezer in her refrigerator, except for the twenty pound turkey. She offered it to a neighbor. The neighbor accepted it, but passed it to a friend. That friend decided she didn't want it and passed it on to someone else.

This was repeated over and over until the bird crossed town and landed at my mother's doorstep. My dad hated turkey, but Mother knew my family and I loved it. She brought it down to the house and set it in my sink just before I arrived.

I marveled at the timing. It was early afternoon and I had plenty of time to cook the large bird. As with the feeding of the five-thousand, we not only had enough for dinner, but enough to last  for several days until the next paycheck.

Since that miracle, whenever I'm faced with difficult circumstances, I think of helicopters, rowboats, and turkeys - for truly nothing is impossible with God. 

What's for Dinner

There are many weighty issues on my mind, the state of our world, the suffering of so many people, crime, wars, political scandals, personal issues. It is overwhelming.  My heart and soul are bent under the weight of it all.

I have heard all the usual axioms: think positive, don't worry about what might or might not happen, in other words don't borrow trouble. Who's borrowing? One look at the news, or an honest evaluation of my own circumstance tell me I don't need to borrow any. There's plenty of trouble right here in River City. Yes, folks, plenty of trouble.

What Is That?

 I must admit I have created some rather memorable recipes when too tired to think, like the time I used cinnamon instead of chili powder in the taco meat.  I can’t describe how that smelled. Even the dog wouldn’t eat it.

Do you know baking soda foams when substituted for cornstarch in sauces? It looks something akin to Mt. Vesuvius the second it hits the pan, and it not only removes odors from the refrigerator. It also neutralizes all flavors.  I am not sure how to describe what it, but it certainly wasn’t Oriental Pepper Steak, and no, I didn’t bother to offer any to the dog.   

When I accidentally substituted the baking powder with baking soda in the tempura batter, it didn’t foam, but to this day, my husband swears the shrimp bit back.  

This wouldn't be a complete list without mentioning Pork Chips, or Biscuit Cookies. 

Lesson? I always, always have a back-up plan on my busy, tired days.  Hungry families tend to be grumpy and with a meal fail which can escalate to something really ugly. 

If you'd like to read the rest, I am a guest over at 777 Peppermint Place. Hop on over and join in on the rest of the fun!