Some are keepers; others go straight into the compost

For the past few months I’ve been loving my new subscription of Everyday Foods by Martha. I read it on the bus (yes, that’s how much of a cooking nerd I’ve become, I read cooking magazines on the bus). I’ve tried dozens of new recipes and they have all been delicious and quite easy.


So imagine my surprise when I tried the latest one from the November issue called Beef Stew. As you know, I’m a sucker for a soup recipe and I figured I’d try a meat one for the hubby. But I gotta say, I had my doubts from the beginning.


Now I will admit here, that some of this is partly my fault. I forgot to take the stew meat out of the freezer before going to work that day. I tried to thaw it out before I started cooking it, but I only got part of it thawed and it was getting late. The recipe does take a while so I figured what the hell, and just started cooking. That wasn’t the only problem. The stew base was really a soup base and just so watery. I tried adding garlic. This recipe didn’t call for any garlic and that should have been my first clue. I’m always skeptical of any recipe that doesn’t have garlic because it’s so good….why not have it? I also tossed in some of my standby soup seasonings. Nothing. Didn’t help.


The hubby came home. I explained my concern. He was now concerned as he’d never really seen me this concerned over a meal that I hadn’t even eaten yet. We talked about alternatives. There really weren’t any and besides, I was determined not to let this recipe get to me. I powered on and made the rolls to go with the stew. The same rolls I make all the time. For some reason, they turned out not finished on the inside, and after tossing them back in the oven, I nearly burnt them trying to finish them.


We sat down to eat dinner, both of us filling up on the unburnt portion of rolls. The stew meat was chewy and bland. The “stew” was even blander. The hubby dumped a bunch of his favorite seasonings in his bowl which didn’t really help my self esteem. Or the soup.


In the end, we called this recipe not so good to say the least. Neither of us finished our helping. I was feeling bad for all the time, money, food spent on the recipe, but really, it wasn’t good.


But I managed to cheer myself up with a big bowl of popcorn and by watching Glee that night. And those two things made for quite the tasty dessert.