Cooking Disasters!

So I made crepes this morning. It had great potential and I was so impressed with how easy I found this recipe to follow, even with converting it from gluten-free to not, and I made a few changes while attempting it to make it suit my tastes. And...then I sat down and took a bite...mmmmmmmm no.


How often does this happen to everyone else? It doesn't happen to me all that often, but I've noticed it's happening more often, correlating with the new recipes I've been trying. Goes with the turf, I suppose.


1) Amanda and I tried a chickpeas and corn recipe:


Corn and Chickpea patties
2 t olive oil
1 1/2 c fresh corn kernels
1 c chopped onion
1 t fresh thyme, minced
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/2 c fresh breadcrumbs
3 T cornmeal
1/2 t salt
1/4 t ground red pepper
cooking spray


Heat 1 t oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add corn, onion, thyme; saute 2 minutes. Place mixture with chickpeas, breadcrumbs, 2 T cornmeal, salt, and red pepper in a food processors. Pulse 2 times or until combined and chunky. (This was the beginning of the trouble!) Divide mixture into 4 equal portions, shaping into patties; dredge in 1 T cornmeal. Heat 1 t oil in a skillet coated with cooking spray over medium high heat. Add patties, cook 5 minutes. Carefully turn patties over, cook 5 minutes or until golden.


Definitely not a success! I'm working on modifying it towards more of a meatloaf configuration, no food processing and that worked better. Still trying though.


2) Angel food cake: did you know it went in a special pan? Which I definitely don't have. But no worries, the box says you can make them in cupcakes or a loaf pan. I started with the cupcakes and switched after I pan to the loaf pan. The loaf pan was more of a success than the cupcakes, but something wasn't quite right. Obviously, I should just stick with the special pan. Or not make angel food cake anymore. :)


Plus I've never made angel food cake before and I didn't realize that it bubbles and froths while you're mixing it, like a science project. Reminded me of making volcanoes. Anyyyyyyyway...


3) Crepes. I'm not really sure what went wrong here, probably a conversion from gluten free to gluten recipe, but I'll have to keep trying. Either way, while I was eating what I could salvage from it, I was thinking about how often this happens to real people. And trained people, like chefs and cooks. I mean, if I screw up, usually it's cause I didn't follow directions. But what about the people who have to come up with the directions? I guess that's what they go to college for, and that's why I'm here and not there. I'm not going to be brilliant at this, just moderately good and tinkering, and it's totally in my genes. My mom and both my grandmothers are GREAT cooks, so somehow it's working out for me...my parents bemoaned my taking music classes instead of home ec, but I guess I can excel at both!


Maybe next time I'll share some success stories. :) I took pictures of one the other day because I had the feeling that it turned out well, and it did!