Ghosts of Dinners Past

Tonight we are going to "Nights of Wonder" at Saluda Shoals, which has Christmas lights and crafts and hayrides, so we'll be eating out for dinner along the way. So today, I thought I'd share some past blunders in the kitchen so you can learn from my mistakes.

1) Make sure you keep foil stocked in your kitchen.

Cover your lasagna/enchiladas/other cheese-topped dishes with foil. One time, when making lasagna, I ran out of foil. I thought, "oh well, it's probably not that important," and of course ended up with a dry, burned topping. Turns out, it is that important.



2) It's okay to make chocolate chip cookies with white sugar.

Once when making chocolate chip cookies, I ran out of brown sugar. I had only a portion of what the recipe called for so I substituted with more white sugar. Turns out, they tasted great! They looked white, like sugar cookies with chocolate chips. And they tasted, well, like sugar cookies with chocolate chips. Although next time I made them correctly with brown sugar.



3) Don't try out a new recipe on Christmas Day.

Last year, I had such a great feast planned. I was going to make some sort of beef roast, stuffing, and homemade rosemary bread - for the first time. I had never made bread or seen anyone make bread or anything close to it. I had all my ingredients (for once) and I got up early to start the bread-making.

The first step is to activate the yeast. For only a dollar, I got 3 packets of yeast. (Luckily!) The package says you have to pour warm water to activate yeast. I believe it was like 110-120 degrees. It says if you have it too hot, you will kill the yeast cultures. I definately didn't want to do that. So I microwave some water and it feels warm but not too hot. I pour into yeast powder and...nothing. Try heating up a few more seconds and...nothing. Now I'm worried I overheated it so I get a new packet. Repeat same process and still nothing. I'm on my last packet. This time I grab my children's thermometer, which really shouldn't reach 110-120 degrees (that would be real trouble!). I had only been microwaving my water for about 15 seconds but turns out it took about a minute for the water to pass 110 degrees. So I was way off. Luckily, the third packet bubbled like it was supposed to and I could get on with my bread.



I start kneading and adding flour, and my husband comes in with the girls saying "Merry Christmas" ready to open presents?

I say, "No, I'm kneading. I have to knead for 8 minutes."

He says "But you've had an hour!"

I say, "Well, I couldn't get the yeast to work and now I have to knead for 8 minutes."

He says, "What is more important, Christmas or bread?"

I say, "I ONLY NEED EIGHT MINUTES!" and burst into tears.

My husband takes the girls back into the bedroom to wait for me.



I continue kneading and crying and now it's not looking at all like dough. It's way too sticky. I re-read the recipe and it had said something like "add 1/4 cup flour at a time" and I had missed the "at a time" part so I had nowhere near the flour I was supposed to be using. So I add lots more flour and finally it started to look like dough. About half an hour after I booted my family out of our kitchen, I put the dough in a bowl and covered it to let it rise. I went back to our bedroom and said "Okay, it's time for Christmas!" Take Two.



We had a lovely morning and the bread turned out great and the rest of the day went smoothly and whole meal was enjoyable. MERRY CHRISTMAS!