I was making a Hamburger Helper dinner. (I know, I know. All you real cooks are shocked and dismayed.) Because of the appetites of my family, doubling the "recipe" was in order. After thawing and browning the two pounds of hamburger, I added double the water, double the milk, and double the butter. Then I added noodles and sauce mix. After cooking it the prescribed length of time, I noticed that it was extremely runny. "Is it really supposed to thicken this much?" Then I saw it: the other package of Hamburger Helper sitting unopened on my counter. Disbelief flooded over me. How could I have doubled everything else and forgotten to add the second box?
This was no time to admit defeat! I decided to try to salvage my simple dinner. I got out a second pot, added water, brought it to boil, and then cooked the other noodles for 8 minutes. At the same time, I added the second package of sauce mix to the original pan which I kept on "low". The newly cooked noodles were then transferred to the waiting Hamburger Helper meal. Success! The boys gobbled up dinner and nothing was wasted after all... except my ego; that was pretty much shot after the near ruination of a box meal. *ahem*
Afterwards I updated my facebook status to "Sarah is thinking about starting a new blog about food and recipes. It would be about how to save a meal after leaving out a key ingredient! Bwahaha!!" But people actually liked the idea and said that they would be willing to contribute! After mulling it over for awhile, I thought it could be a lot of fun to be swapping stories and recipes. You can look forward to hearing ideas and recipes from other people too.
So... All's well that ends well! and Never give up! etc.
Sincerely, Sarah
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