Anybody who knows me.... knows I am no gourmet chef. I can cook, don't get me wrong, but I am not known for my fabulous pork loins, meatloaf, blue ribbon fried chicken or a famous dessert. I can bake cookies, and follow directions from a box. I can add water and milk as needed, and add a bag of noodles to finish the meal off. But when it comes to cooking from a cook book or just coming up w/ grande idea for a good meal, count me out. My mother can cook like a champ. God love her, she cam make a meal from anything and make it taste like it was cooked all day. I can't tell you how many times I have wrangled her up to my house on a week night for "dinner", knowing full well I have no clue what I am having. She comes in and grabs things and whips up a meal in 30 minutes. I know my husband loved those days... he always got something good and hot... full of flavor and not from a box. The one thing I can make well is stew. Throw it in a crock pot w/ some veggies and cook it all day. But I apparently did that TOO much because after a while, if I asked my mom to come up, and tell her I had a meal cooked... she'd say "We must be having beef stew huh?!". So.... needless to say, I have not cooked beef stew in a while. Well, tonight was no different. I come home, and I am tired. Doug likes cube steak so I figured I could make them. I went the extra mile tonight, I breaded them with flour and bread crumbs, and even used eggs to make it stick.... I was on a roll. Then I had this great idea to BAKE them ?? (here folks is where I went wrong).
I was multitasking you see.... I figured I'd bake the steaks and in the mean time, do christmas cards. The christmas cards are done... I go to check my fabulous meal and.... well.... they are cooking but... hello! Breading is just drying... flour and bread crumbs. All I can think is... why? Why did I do that?
Funny story..... Brings me back to when Doug and I were just married and I took shake and BAKE... and decided I could fry it up in a pan. I believe the response I got was, "what's this now?" I also baked him a birthday cake once and greased the sides of the pan w/ shortening... Waaaay too much. The cake tasted horrid and made Doug sick. Needless to say, I have yet to make another cake, I strictly make cup cakes only. Slap them in a little paper cup, no shortening or flour and bingo-bango... cup cakes.
Back to my gourmet meal of the evening. I called my mom and had her save the day (I also told her she could laugh at me too). She did manage to save my meal.... and made me laugh in the mean time. I have to laugh at me.... and you all can too.
Why do my mom's eggs always taste better? Her pancakes are always fluffier, and even her macaroni and cheese is better. Am I adopted? My aunt Cheryl can bake in her sleep.... she can cut hair, make a coffee cake and take a bath all at the same time. And everything comes out perfect (this on top of working full time too). My mom gets joy in baking cookies.... and sending them all over the US. She even made cookies for her mail-man. That's what I call devotion.
Maybe some day I can sit down and finally plan a great meal - until then... I'll stick to my boxed stuff and things I already KNOW I can make (safely). On a side note.... my dog Tobi greatly enjoyed my little cube steaks tonight. She got a taste and seemed pleased. = )
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