136.0...and a BIG fail

Before I get to the failure of the day, let's talk about something that went right...my breakfast:



I sauteed spinach and onions and then mixed in some egg whites. When everything was all set, I put some shredded cheddar on top. Everything went into a whole wheat tortilla. Delicious. Every bite received a generous splash of Cholula hot sauce.

The kids and I mostly chilled all day. I caught up on email, cleaned up random piles around the house and put all the laundry away. Lunchtime rolled around and I'm so sorry but....



That was the last of the lamb. You won't see this plate of food for awhile (until I make it again!), I promise!!

After some more online activities (I ordered spice containers to put all my spices in so that all my spice jars will match), I had some watermelon:



I brought home some (A Freaking Ton!) of Concord grapes that the kids picked at my mother in law's house. She suggested I try making grape jelly. Ok........

I found a recipe on allrecipes.com for Concord Grape Jelly. The only thing I didn't have was pectin. I did some research online and some sites said I could substitute unflavored gelatin (which I had) and some sites said no. I went for it. I'm sure some of you professional jelly makers are wincing right now. I just didn't want the grapes to go to waste and I don't have time in the next couple of days to make it.

I measured out the correct amount of grapes:



I put them in a pot and crushed them up:



I put some water in the pot and let it come to a boil. All of a sudden, it boiled over and went crazy. Oops. I strained the mixture so I was just left with juice:



At that point, I let it cool. I gathered the kids up and we went to Pei Wei for dinner. I had my standard kid's size honey seared shrimp with brown rice and veggies. I poured a little too much of their chili sauce on it so it was extra spicy! :)



When I got home, I put the juice back into the pot with SEVEN cups of sugar. Dang:


The recipe said to bring it to a boil. Uh oh:


You should see my stove top. Looks like a volcano erupted. Oops.



See those burnt looking balls on the grates? Oops.

The recipe said to put the pectin in at that point. So I put the gelatin in....into boiling liquid. Was I supposed to put it in when it was cold? I haven't made Jello in so long I can't remember. Well, the gelatin hardened up in balls. Whatever. I stirred it best I could, removed the foam off the top and was left with this:



I guess we'll see what happens.

Hubby is coming home late tonight and we are going tomorrow to Orange County for the day to visit friends. I see some pool time in my future!!

What was your biggest kitchen failure? Mine obviously happened today.

Comments

  1. One time I made a baked eggplant parm that came out like eggplant tomato soup. It was completely inedible. We packed up and went to Red Lobster that night.

    With the gelatin, I don't know if you did this or not, but you probably needed to mix the gelatin powder with a bit of hot water in a cup first, then pour it into the juice. That's how I do it when I make panna cotta. The liquid doesn't have to be cold though.

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  2. Everytime we make Indian Food, it never turns out. It ends up a burnt stuck on mess.

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  3. I am sure your stove will be a total pain to clean! What a bummer.

    Your breakfast burrito just made me hungry.

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  4. Candice, thanks so much for the advice! I didn't dissolve it in hot water first but I will next time! Better yet I'll just buy the pectin next time!

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  5. aw man!!! Big boo for sure. I recipe fail a bit - probably the biggest one was when I geeked out on the eggplant and had to toss and do chicken instead. sigh.

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  6. Gosh most of my fails have to do with baking. I've failed at several homemade granola bars and rubbery cookies, etc.

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