Life By Kristen

Cooking Fail

So with my goals in mind and the no-grocery challenge ongoing, I’ve been trying to plan meals as much as possible. I made this recipe a few weeks back.

Broccoli chicken casserole seemed like a great meal to make on a Sunday because it would give me ample meals for lunch and dinners, with the potential for freezing some too. Recipe is over here.

I had frozen some chicken a few weeks back after roasting a chicken. I had all the ingredients I needed for the sauce and ample amounts of frozen broccoli and lots of brown rice too.

The goings on of the recipe aren’t all that important. It was a decent, filling dish that I would make again in fall or winter. I made enough for four meals out of it, two of which I froze for quick lunches or dinners during the week.

The real story of this post is my complete fail.

That would be burnt to a crisp, hard as a hockey puck, burnt brown rice.

I love to cook, but in some respects, I am a neophyte in the kitchen. I will try new recipes often and I admit there have been times I have been impatient and not read through the entire recipe before starting out. This has to led to a number of different incidents including bread way too wet to rise, burnt chocolate pudding, and chicken that was burnt on the outside but raw in the center. I’m human and I’m learning from every single mistake. This time I didn’t read the recipe through all the way and saw after prepping the broccoli mixture that I needed cooked rice before the casserole went into the oven. Since I am trying to be a better cook using pantry items, I had about a cup of brown rice left in the cupboard that I decided would be easier to microwave than cook on the stovetop. Needless to say, in my rushed state, I also failed to see the part of the rice directions that said to cook at half power. I ended up using some quick rice and mixed in after the casserole came out of the oven. It wasn’t totally the same and the casserole was very wet because it did not have the rice to absorb the moisture, but it tasted fine. Not my best meal, but not my worst either.