The meal started off so perfectly.
There was nothing that whispered “it’s grilling time” more than this warm North Carolina spring evening.
Grilled to perfection, the short dated steak kabobs my meat manager marked down for me graced our memorable meal time. I love a simple, yet beautifully presented meal (remember that irony later in my post :).
I dreamed of using my very own home grown peppers that would be ripe in another month…
Feeling an extra boost of energy at 9:00 pm, I spontaneously decided to grill ten pounds of various meats at one time, and do some bulk freezer meals in the morning.
There was a bit of bedlam going on with our grill, which I should have seen as serious foreshadowing. The lamb chops had a mind of their own.
(Remember how one of my frugal tips is to get to know your meat managers, and ask them to mark down short dated items? For these, he actually tracked me down in the aisles to give me two $37 cuts of meat for $5.)
Well, since Tasty Tuesday is hosted at Balancing Beauty AND Bedlam, I feel in all honesty that full disclosure is the best policy. How boring if I just stick with the beauty aspect of meal time. 🙂
I realize that you will not get this at a true foodie blog, nor would Southern Living dare disclose their bedlam, but since this is my spot…reality it is.
I know that confession is good for the soul. 🙂
That evening, my sweet husband helped me finish the grilling. I went inside, cleaned the kitchen and went to bed.
One week later, I asked my son to put something on the grill. I was shocked because he mentioned that the propane was out, and we’d need more.
I “knew” that could not be true because we had just spent $20 to refill it.
Can anyone guess the end to my story? Can you put a name to this total bedlam moment?
My husband sheepishly admitted that he had completely forgotten about the meat on the grill, and this was the end result of my planned Tasty Tuesday post. 🙂 He thought I would just forget about it and an inquiry would never occur.
First, I was praising the Lord that our house did not burn down.
Second, I was laughing hilariously that the meat was burned so badly that even our cats (or dogs) wouldn’t touch it, and
third, the irony was not lost on me that this frugal living “expert” used $20 worth of propane on her very cheap, marked down, now completely scorched, meat.
Any one care to guess what it was?
Or better yet, this is open comment Tuesday to share your best bedlam cooking moments. Come on, we’ve all been there, and after the week I’ve had, I could use some good chuckles. 🙂
Now, for those of you who need true recipe inspiration besides my kabobs and charred meats, have fun searching below.
As always, please follow the simple guidelines or post will be deleted.
1. Include your post showing us your Tasty Tuesday recipe or ideas.
2. Link up below to the permalink of your post. To find out what yours is, simply click on the title of your post and grab the permalink from the address bar.
3. Link your post back to Balancing Beauty and Bedlam as a courtesy to me so everyone will know where to find more recipe inspiration.
*I received an email from the Mr. Linky company that they have been experiencing problems with the Mr. Linky disappearing. (Yes….UGH….we know that!). It will come and go, so please check back and we’ll make sure to get you all linked up today.
Oh Jen! Good for you for laughing about it though. I love your bedlam, and your attitude about it. It reminds me to see the humor in my own bedlam moments. 🙂
I have SO many bedlam cooking moments. Hmm…the one that sticks out most in my mind is probably when I literally melted a whole pound of bacon. I had the heat too high under a skillet of cheap bacon and it all just melted into a big pile of burnt fat. The house smelled fantastic for a week after that…yuck!
That is just wrong!!! My hubs did that once with our gas grill. He did a BBQ on a Sunday night and I didn’t notice the grill was still on “low” until Thursday morning! Arrgh!
Does it still count as a frugal meal if your gas bill doubles for that particular month….?
That is too funny! I have absolutely no idea what that meat is!!! As for bedlam moments I have many, the worst was probably when I attempted to mash 20 lbs of potatoes with a hand mixer, all the mixer did was act like a catapult and me entire kitchen was covered!
Toni
Hahaha, what a great story! My guess is that it was your more expensive marked down meat on the grill there!
that is so funny… you have always been nothing but real on your blog and that is why we all love you!!!! That was a great post!!!
I love that you are honest and real – it makes us feel good! What a sight!
Hmmm, I’ve never had any bedlam moments in the kitchen. HA!! I do have a tale of the chocolate spoons on my blog where my friend and I decided to make chocolate-dipped spoons as favors for a fundraiser. It all seemed so easy, but then the chocolate “bloomed” (which we had never even heard of) and ruined the look of all the spoons – over 200. We made more and ended up a few days later with the same problem. The night before the fundraiser we washed, yes, washed the chocolate off the spoons and did it all over again – just hoping that they would still look good by the next evening. Enough of them were presentable but many just had to be used up by us!
Neither of us have made a chocolate-dipped spoon since. 🙂
Awww, what a shame to lose that meat and propane! That sounds like something that could happen around here.
Happy Tasty Tuesday!
Bless you! I’m so thankful that the Lord protected your grill and home!!! Thanks for sharing the bedlam this morning!
I messed up again linking… I’ll get it right one of these days… If you want to, please delete one of my names… I’m number 21 and 22~ Sorry for putting my own bedlam on you. 🙂 Have a great day…
I can’t think of a kitchen story to beat yours! A food related story that I think is very funny is posted on my side bar under “funniest story ever” – the short of it is my husband drank a bunch of Aloe Vera juice while in Korea just before a tour at the DMZ. It’s a long read, but worth while 🙂
The Mr Linky has disappeared on me! But I linked up a fried icecream recipe last evening. 🙂
Well, I’ve refreshed 3 times and Mr. Linky has disappeared on me too.
Black Forest Cupcakes
http://hoosierhomemade.com/?p=1506
Thanks for hosting!
~Liz
Oh my gosh! I looked in my oven last night and found some black mounds of char on a cookie sheet! Neither my husband nor I could remember what in the world it was! Glad I’m not the only one who does that sort of thing! I’m linking up an old recipe that I made last night, but I’m going to post the “black mounds” discussion today and I’ll link back here with that to!
Oh, here’s the link for when Mr. Linky comes back.
http://www.reallifeblog.net/2008/01/fridays-frugal-feast-best-barbecue.html
I love seeing you leading worship! You are SO precious!
That has happened to us before. I had planned out meals with low cost meat and *somehow* someone in the family forgot it. It’s good we can laugh about it!
No mr. linky for me, so here’s my post in case he decided to reappear:
http://momsmutterings.blogspot.com/2009/05/cheesy-potato-casserole.html
Hey, all foodies make mistakes, deal with issues whatever? I think your kabobs look great. And you so don’t wanna know my horror stories… ha!
Those look great to me!!!! It’s great how you have made friends with the butcher too! I could use a friend like that 🙂
Mr Linky is not working for me either so here is my post for No Bake Strawberry Cheesecake.
http://thehappylittlehome.blogspot.com/2009/05/no-bake-strawberry-cheesecake.html
Mr. Linky went on a break so here’s my link to an AWESOME Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake. 🙂
http://serenitynow4amanda.blogspot.com/2009/05/tasty-tuesday-chocolate-chip-coffee.html
I blew up a biscuit in the microwave when I was 8 and when I was in high school, I set my mom’s recipe box on fire (by accident!!!). 🙂
Jen,
My goodness, that was too funny! It totally sounds like something I would do!
I think the charred remnants resemble ribs. Sorta. 🙂 What a bummer. I don’t know if I’d be more irritated about the gas or about the meat. Or about my husband’s forgetfulness.
On the other hand, it’s nice to know that mine isn’t the only husband who would forget something so major.
In case Mr. Linky disappears again, my post this week is about bread machine pizza dough. We finally got it right.
He seems to be back on your site, but is still missing from mine. sigh. Anyhow, I stopped by to share a recipe.
I was once making “seven minute icing” when I was home from college and somehow in the chaos that was surrounding me (can’t remember all the details) set the pan down on the counter without a hot pad for *just a minute* without meaning too but that just a minute was long enough to leave a forever scorch mark on my mom’s counter. Thankfully she was very gracious about it! Kelly
Oh my gosh, Jen! I’m so glad nothing other than whatever that meat was was scorched!
I was a Home Economics Major in college but that doesn’t mean I don’t mess up in the kitchen. Back during the coldest part of winter I had just a little bit of muffin batter left over from a recipe and decided I’d use one of my Pampered Chef measuring bowls (or whatever they’re called) to bake the last little bit. It was a little bitty bowl, only a cup size. So, I thought I’d put it in the microwave and zap it for a couple of minutes. My mom called and I stopped watching the microwave, and after only three minutes I started smelling smoke. I yanked open the microwave and smoke billowed out of it, covering my entire house in a yucky stench. I’m surprised that my smoke alarm didn’t go off. Needless to say, the muffin was a charred mass (It still is…I kept it to post about it later! Is that sick or what?). Our microwave to this day still smells like smoke when we turn it on. Blech.
LOL! I could see that happening at our home – if we had a grill. We’ve had our share of pancake “frisbees” and the like. I’m guessing that was chicken breast with the rib still on? Some sort of rib meat, at least. Thank goodness you were safe!
🙂 THANK YOU! I’m so glad to hear I’m not the only one! My kids always remind me ‘don’t make a chocolate waffle’ – but I do. That last waffle ALWAYS burns… for way too long. Also, had gotten a good deal on ham so made a huge pot of pea soup… left it on the stove to cool and 🙁 woke up in the morning to see it still sitting there. I didn’t dare feed it to the family, so much for saving on that pot. It’s such a sick feeling to see it go down the drain!
Oh, my!
Well, you burn meat more frugally than most. 😉 Anyone else would’ve spent full price for the meat, and *then* charred it with $20 of propane.
Yay for true confessions! I chuckled, but then I realized that was kinda scary!
Just taking a few minutes to read some of my favorite blogs.
Hugs! It’s almost JUNE! 🙂
Hi, I came to visit from Homemaker Barbi. I enjoyed your linked article on the no-spend vacation, as well as browsing other sections, including this story! I have never done exactly that, but trust me, I've had my share of forgotten foods that got wasted over the years. It's nice to know I'm not alone 🙂 🙂 🙂