I've been cooking more lately due to better meal planning and cold weather. Many good things but a few really awful fails. Hopefully I'm not the only one? Thought I'd share to get this most recent flop off my chest.



Granola - I've wanted to make granola forever. Inspired by some really good stuff a friend made, I did a batch. And overcooked it. Such a waste of fruits and nuts.

 

Beerios.



Beer plus Cheerios.



Don't try it.

 

making guacamole with overripe avocados,

 

Making a grilled cheese, walking away because of a phone call and forgetting about it until the fire alarm went off.

 

No fire alarm, fortunately. I made a can of just-add-water soup, forgot about it, and left for a watch. Got to base, realized the mistake, the offgoing watch said he'd stand by another half hour and let me go home. Can of soup was an inch-thick soup puck. I turned off the fire, put water in the pot, and left again. The next day it fell out of the pot in one piece.

 

I was blanching some Carolina Reaper peppers for chili and left the pan sit too long. The resulting cloud was like a sentient waft of mace trying to exterminate everything in the house. We actually had to vacate for a few hours, leaving every window open just to extract the death. The peppery essence remained for days, it just wasn't suffocating.





The chili turned out damn good despite this though. Burned well and lingered.

 

When I was really young, I once used baking soda instead of baking powder. Not good.