Thursday, January 28, 2010

This Is Why I Don't Cook!

I almost entitled this post, "How I Almost Burned Our House Down" but that seemed a little too dramatic, even though it's kinda true.

Rewind.

Ginger has been staying up until 5am every night, and thrives on very little sleep. Couple that with Mr. Mustard working very long hours and...that leaves me pretty worn out.

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Ginger went down for a rare nap yesterday at 3pm, and slept and slept and slept. She woke up at 8pm, and I realized we were out of food for the next day. Paprika can't function without her chocolate milk in the morning, so the three of us made a trip to Trader Joe's.

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We really had the best time. We always do. Just simple trips to the grocery store can make us laugh, and laugh. We got home at 9ish. Unloaded 5 bags of groceries, got Paprika a before bed snack, then started the night-night routine. By the time that was all said and done, it was after 10 and I still hadn't eaten. I was so hungry I thought I might pass out.

No food + No sleep = Bad Chef!

I threw some pre-diced butternut squash and sweet potatoes into a bowl, mixed with a little olive oil and sea salt, and laid it on a cookie sheet to bake in the oven at 400 degrees. It makes it sooo nice and warm and gooey...it's my new comfort food.

Well, the olive oil spilled all over the inside of the oven, and all of a sudden I noticed that our house was filled with smoke. Ginger started crying, the smoke alarms all went off. I opened the front doors and windows, and woke up half the neighborhood. Meanwhile, Ginger is really only calmed by nursing, and that's just something I didn't want to do with our smoke alarms blaring, our doors open, and smoke billowing out.

But I did it anyway because a crying baby + smoke alarms blaring + no food = no fun.

I had to take the squash out half-baked since the oven was coated in olive oil. It was kinda gross, but I ate it anyway.

And Paprika slept through the whole ordeal, thank goodness!

Everytime I branch out and try to cook, disaster ensues. I don't know if I will ever be a great chef...but I will definitely keep trying!

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11 comments:

Corey said...

Ok, how long in the oven when you aren't burning the house down?

Erika said...

like 1/2 hour or so...so yummy!!!

Sass said...

I make that too, I'll also cook some peas and mix through once it's all cooked!
Best comfort food evah!

Home Is Where They Send Us said...

I think we all have those mishaps! I'm off to Trader Joe's today too. They are calling for a ridiculous amount of snow (2-12+ inches but it never snows here so that's a lot). I've been shopping there a lot lately especially since watching Food Inc. You should totally make a post about all your favorite stuff at Trader Joe's so I know to try other things!

Hilda said...

Oh Erika, so funny, although I know it wasn't funny when it was happening.
I only bake now, I've relinquished the cooking duties to my husband who cooks much better than I do anyway. But he can't bake to save his life and someone has to fill our sweet cravings. The only cooking I do now is the baby's food. And I can't get the baby on a sleeping schedule no matter what I've tried. Apparently she's just like me when I was a baby.

JESSICA said...

I just made sweet potato fries last night. Soo good. Thats my new comfort food too!

Erin said...

I am not a great chef either but I am going to try tonight to make some ribs. Hopefully next time they can turn out yummy and you can enjoy them. GET SOME SLEEP!

lisakolieb said...

Amazing that Paprika slept through it!

lisakolieb said...

amazing that paprika slept through the whole ordeal! glad you didn't actually burn the house down!

Sheri said...

Awww, I just had this for lunch today. Make sure you are using a cookie sheet with sides ;) LOL
I think they call them a jelly roll pan?

I also sliced some of the sweet potato like fries and threw them on the same pan and they were yummy! But, you have to take them off earlier than the chunks or they will burn. Like they did today. Ha Ha

Oh, and the name Mr Mustard cracks me up! Does he really like mustard? Plus, my daughter cannot go without her chocolate milk each morning either.

Hen Jen said...

I don't do so well with cooking, either. There are a few dishes I do well, so I do them over and over. There's nothing more frustrating to me than doing all the work, making a big mess and either having the dish come out uneatable or having dh not liking it. I feel like I wasted my time and energy.

I love sweet potatoes cooked in the crockpot with some orange juice or alittle pineapple juice and brown sugar/cinnamon. Not real healthy...I'm going to try your recipe..without the smoke! :)