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Cooking Disasters & 10 Miles

Well, you can't win them all. But two cooking fails in one day? Not cool.
I saw this gluten-free "Asian Helper" in the grocery store the other day and I thought I'd try it out. You mix it with pre-cooked chicken, let it simmer, and then scramble a couple of eggs in the pan.


Um, yeah. That didn't work out. It turned out like a mushy risotto--not fried rice. I promise, for once, I actually followed the directions perfectly so I'm giving this one a thumbs down. Luckily I did make some roasted broccoli on the side so that made the meal tolerable. 


How do you redeem a so-so dinner? By making a yummy dessert, of course! I looked up a new recipe for nutella cookies---if there's nutella as an ingredient it can't be all that bad, right? I won't bother with the recipe (they really weren't great) but here were the ingredients:


I make two kinds of cookies: some chewy and gooey (for hubs) and some crispy and flat (for me)--that's why some of them are different sizes! 

We started eating them and I asked hubs what he thought. He NEVER complains about food. He knows better than to criticize anything if he wants me to keep making him yummy stuff! But in this case, apparently, "they don't really taste like anything." Yeah, not a good description of a cookie. They were very plain tasting, and not sweet at all somehow. I decided to toss them back into the oven at a low temperature for 30 minutes--and they turned into biscotti! I had another one today, and it was perfect with a cup of tea. So lesson of the day: when life gives you lemons (or bad cookies)---turn them into biscotti!

I guess all that sub-par food still did it's job to fuel me today for the long run. I hit up the treadmill and it felt so nice on my legs after a past week of trails! I did 10.5 miles in 98 minutes (9:20 pace) and felt great afterwards. Success!

If you have a food disaster, will you try to salvage it, eat it anyway, or toss it out?
I really hate tossing anything out, but every once in a while you have to. I tried a rice pasta about a year ago that literally fell apart while cooking---terrible. I had to throw it away and make sandwiches!

What are your favorite kind of cookies?
Shortbread cookies are AMAZING. I really don't like chewy cookies. Anything crispy/crunchy is a real winner for me--I'm the girl who will eat all the burned ones!
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Comments

  1. KaylaJune 18, 2011 at 3:00 PM

    Sometimes I try to salvage the food, but sometimes that is just not possible!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJune 18, 2011 at 3:03 PM

    I just had a food disaster yesterday. I was doing an Iron Chef cook off at work, and the secret ingredient was lemon, so I made a lemon scented quinoa with Tahini sauce. It was AWFUL!

    ReplyDelete
  3. savoryandsavageJune 18, 2011 at 3:04 PM

    I have had the same experience with rice pasta ((

    I usually just toss a fail because I know if I try to fix it I will end up using up half the contents fof my fridge and it will STILL be inedible.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousJune 18, 2011 at 3:38 PM

    My fambam makes rice pasta all the time. You just have to be careful with how long you have it in there because it'll break apart.

    I usually just toss out failed foods.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Christy @ My Dirt Road Anthem: A Runner's BlogJune 18, 2011 at 3:55 PM

    I usually toss failed foods too. I like chewy oatmeal raisin cookies, and oatmeal scotchies, mmm

    ReplyDelete
  6. ashleyJune 18, 2011 at 6:24 PM

    haha, yea the box picture looks much better of the rice! i'm a horrible cook, so if you couldn't make it look yummy, i know to never try! :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. ChristineJune 18, 2011 at 7:01 PM

    I found a new chocolate chip cookie recipe that uses instant pudding (the powder)- the BEST cookies I've made. They stay moist for forever!

    ReplyDelete
  8. ElleJune 18, 2011 at 7:28 PM

    I will pretty much love anything you can call a cookie. But lately biscotti are my fave.

    I like to dunk things!

    ReplyDelete
  9. MarleneJune 18, 2011 at 8:33 PM

    That's too bad about the recipe disasters... at least they were somewhat salvage-able!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Heather ForceyJune 18, 2011 at 11:02 PM

    I made blue cheese chicken burgers the other night, and they were just so-so. We ate them, but I won't make them again. If they had turned out really bad, KFC is right down the road from us!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Christina @ The AthletarianJune 18, 2011 at 11:17 PM

    I never try to salvage failed foods! I get so disappointed, especially when I follow the recipe exactly the way it is.

    My favourite cookies would have to be chocolate chip. I'm more of a chewy cookie girl, but if there's chocolate in it, it doesn't really matter! I'll eat it no matter what type of cookie it is (well, as long as it's vegan!).

    ReplyDelete
  12. AmyJune 19, 2011 at 8:37 AM

    Oh bummer! That Helper looks pretty good, too! Glad to have a review.

    If things burn or taste off when I'm cooking, I am NOT one to try to salvage them. I don't have the patience.

    I'm not a cookie gal, which I've just realized in the past few weeks. As much as I like the idea of a cookie...they're just not satisfying. WEIRD.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Running RicigJune 19, 2011 at 3:13 PM

    That's the worst. That's when you just pull out the bag of chocolate chips and just go to town :)

    My favorite cookies are regular old chocolate chip. You can't go wrong and the dough is sooooo good!

    ReplyDelete
  14. AnonymousJune 19, 2011 at 9:15 PM

    Oh man I made this recipe for chicken stir fry once, it was supposed to be kinda like chinese food, it smelled great, it had all ingrediants that I liked, but it tasted awful! I couldn't even try to eat it, it was like vomit lol
    So I definitely tossed it out and ended up eating a sandwich lol

    ReplyDelete

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