Positive Feedback

We saw the movie Julie and Julia this weekend which got me thinking about some of the kitchen disasters I've had when making new recipes. Since I have a hard time ever following a recipe without making some kind of "adjustment" it is actually amazing I haven't had more mishaps. However, each time a meal has missed the mark I find I learn a lot - probably more than if it had come out perfectly. Yes it really is imperative that you let your cake cool completely before you fill it with lemon curd and ice it, otherwise it will slip slide all over the place on route to the dinner party and end up having to be served as a trifle ... I'm just saying!

Today I made cornbread. I used a combination of recipes and despite the little voice in the back of my head that was saying you have too much batter for this pan, I used it all anyway and over filled the skillet. As the little voice suspected might happen, when we cut into it at dinner we discovered it wasn't cooked in the center. Next time I really need to listen to the little voice. I also tried a slow cooker recipe for short ribs with an Ancho chili sauce. In this case I followed the recipe closely - well Okay, I cut it in half but I still followed it. Well, I followed it up until I tasted the sauce and decided I would like it better if it had some sweetness to balance out the heat and smokiness from the Ancho & Chipotle peppers. I added some honey but honestly held back a bit thinking I should give it a chance and taste the finished product before I started amending the recipe. Again I should have listened to the little voice and just added the amount of honey I wanted to in the beginning. I think that would have made the difference between them being just OK vs great. The thing is you never really know until you try.

At work we have a saying - no failures only feedback. I find that to be true in the kitchen too. If you take away something from the experience that makes you a better cook the next time, a little soggy cornbread is totally worth it.


Breakfast

1 oz. sharp cheddar
Fresh fruit - peach & fig
Coffee with 1% milk

Lunch

Turkey Cobb sandwich on pumpernickel
BBQ Kettle Baked chips
Iced Pineapple Bliss tea


Dinner

Grass Fed Beef Short Ribs with Ancho Chili Sauce
Buttermilk Cheddar & Jalapeno cornbread
Garlic Mashed potatoes
Succotash salad with honey lime vinaigrette
Lipton's Diet Green Tea



Comments

The little voice in your head is your mom!
How did you make the succotash salad? It looks good.
Could be but Mom honestly wasn't that great of a cook! LOL! To make the salad I took the kernels from an ear of corn, and some lima beans and steamed them until they were tender but not mushy. I put them in a bowl and added a can of garbanzo beans (rinsed), some chopped green pepper, chopped onions, shredded carrot, chopped fresh cilantro and salt & pepper to taste. Then I just made a light vinaigrette and mixed it all together. It was tasty!

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