Kitchen failure

In my attempt to be frugal and actually use leftovers for once I repurposed two separate ingredients from two different previous meals and came out with one dud and one absolute disaster. Both were delicious in their initial incarnations:

1. brocolli slaw (like shredded cole slaw veggies) used as the innards for Asian wraps (with beef and yummy Asian sauce)
2. cornbread (dense and sweet, perfect with butter)

I am not gifted in knowing how to regift leftovers so, of course, I searched the internet and came up with two great-sounding recipes. I will not post those here, as they are probably actually good if made either 1) with fresh ingredients or 2)by someone else. The first one was a minestrone soup that used shredded vegetables for cole slaw. It was very easy to make, so I’m not sure where I went wrong. This was the dish that ended up a dud. It wasn’t gross, but I’ll never make it again.

Here’s where I went really wrong. For the cornbread I found a recipe that was a response to an inquiry sent out by someone wanting to know how to use leftover cornbread. “Score!” I thought since that was my very dilema. The first clue that I missed: the recipe was unnamed. Second missed clue: no measurements whatsoever. I should have passed this one up, but being adventurous, I bit.

I substituded canned diced green chilis for the called jalepenos. Aren’t green onions those long skinny green grassy looking things with little tiny onions on the end? ‘Cause that’s what I thought I was supposed to use. The recipe called for adding this to the crumbled up cornbread then adding milk and egg. It even suggested adding vanilla and sugar…but the thought of adding those with green chilis and onions didn’t appeal to me.  

It was smelling pretty good baking in the oven. My hungry husband sat with eyes fixed, drool rolling, waiting to scarf some down (because he wasn’t that interested in the minestrone). I pulled it out of of the oven, scooped some on a plate and we took a bite. OMG, it was horrible. There was this aweful, bitter taste…you know when you eat something that’s gone bad or drink rotten milk? Oh, you don’t…well, um…it’s pretty aweful and bitter. I couldn’t get it out of my mouth fast enough. My husband tried to save my ego and make nice by telling me there was just one thing off…if we could just find out what that one thing is it would be delicious. Thanks, Du, but I can see right through that. There’s no way I’m going to try to make this recipe right by trying it again.

So, strike one for me on the repurposed leftover front. I’m not giving up though. Some of the best cooks I know reuse food all the time. Du left for church searching the cabinets looking for something portable and edible. Meanwhile, I ended up having a super delicious dinner. Heaven resides on earth in the form of Thin Mints. Thank God for the Girl Scout who delivered my boxes (I will not tell you how many) of Thin Mints last night!