I don’t know about you, but when the season changes, so do
my taste buds. (No, autocorrect, I don’t mean ‘taste butts’ thankyouverymuch.)
Lately, I’ve gone from sandwiches and apples to craving soup and baked beans.
(Hello, winter padding!) Pretty soon, no doubt, I’ll be jonesing for melted
cheese and hot chocolate (not necessarily together).
Anyway, the other evening, as Arizona and I rubbed elbows in
our cozy kitchen, putting together our dinner, he pulled out a can of
chili-flavored baked beans. The scene went like this:
Me: (Giving it a dubious look, much as I had done when he
put said can in our cart at the grocery store.) Chili baked beans?
Arizona: Why not?
Me: (Thinking: Because
I'm grilling shrimp? Followed by, Oh,
what the heck. Nobody’s grading us on the four food groups.) Rock on.
Later, when we dig in:
Me: You can have my beans.
Arizona: Not digging the chili flavor?
Me: (Thinking of a Chopped basket gone wrong.) Not so much. No worries, I’ll grab a salad or something.
Me: (Thinking of a Chopped basket gone wrong.) Not so much. No worries, I’ll grab a salad or something.
Arizona: (Bites in. Grimaces.) Urk. Not my favorite, either.
Me: Want to toss it and I’ll fire up a can of the normal
kind?
Arizona: (Hesitates with another bite in front of his face.
Blinks. Lowers his spoon.) Actually, yeah.
Me: (Laughing.) Feels wrong, doesn’t it? Let’s be naughty.
Kind of like the ‘don’t run with scissors’ mantra, I figure
the ‘don’t waste food’ chorus is ingrained in many of us from a young age. But
just as I reserve the right to run with scissors now and then (granted,
thinking to myself as I do, ‘You’d better not fall and stab yourself, or you’re
going to get an I-told-you-so from Mom’), I figure we work hard. We can waste a
can of food now and then. Especially when it’s chili-flavored baked beans.
So what about you? Had any culinary missteps lately? Got any
illicit pleasures (PG-rated, please! LOL) that come with being not-a-kid?
Funny you should mention hot chocolate and soup. I started my Sunday with a cup of French vanilla hot chocolate and while grocery shopping, stocked up on some Progresso. And on the menu this week...chili. Am thinking it's time to break out Gramma's Green Chili Crock Pot recipe.
ReplyDeleteAs for culinary mishaps, I haven't been extremely creative or adventuresome lately. Been kind of busy, so have stuck to the simpler dishes. However, I have this great recipe for chicken sharwma (something Sailor Boy got hooked on while playing in the big sand box) and I ran out of oil and had no cooking spray, so figured a little water in the pan would help keep it from sticking. Yeah no, not a good idea. While it didn't stick, it diluted the flavors so in the end, I had boiled chicken with no flavor. Boring. However, the dogs liked it. :0)
Chili! Now you've got me jonesing for a crock. Might be time to re-institute Granny's Green Chili night for the winter. And LOL on the boiled chicken! Been there, done that.
DeleteMake quite a few culinary mishaps. My sister-in-law cooks on the level of Galloping Gourmet, but I cook on the level of Trotting Ptomaine. I don't get too inventive with cooking -- basic meat, potatoes & veg. I do make a mean Chillimac . Cook your elbow macaroni, heat up a can of chili ( with or without beans as you prefer) & mix the two together. My grandkids love it.
ReplyDeleteLOLOL, Mary, at the Trotting Ptomaine. I may have to steal, er, borrow that! Mmmmmm anything with mac n cheese ... :)
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