As each year winds down, the inevitable best-of lists begin popping up everywhere. Best new albums, best new movies, best new restaurants etc. Although I’m a fan of (most of) these, I thought I’d take a different approach.
Introducing: my first annual Worst of Recipes 2014
Not to be misleading, my actual worst/most mundane kitchen endeavours do not come within ten feet of being photographed (who has time for that biz).
Here are some that got pretty far, but not far enough.
1. Homemade Pizza (topped with mozzarella, tuna, capers, cherry tomatoes, red peppers, red onions, thyme)
This one was rather devastating. The toppings were on point, but the crust was bad. I thought substituting some old bread flour instead of all purpose would be ok. It was not. Don’t do this.
2. Blueberry Blintzes with fresh Thyme and Cinnamon
By some sort of miracle, on a Sunday morning I woke up feeling super ambitious and not even slightly hungover. Additionally, we somehow had a fridge full of various cheese (s?). I decided to give these blintzes a try. I made the crepes, I made the coulis, I made the filling.
Only instead of reaching for the beautiful ricotta, I somehow used plain old cottage cheese (too overwhelmed with cheese-choice) and the filling was just eh. A bit gritty.
Too sweet too, I hate sweet stuff for breakfast.
Shame. They looked so pretty.
3. Spicy Peanut Ginger Drumsticks
This was a case of finding a recipe on Pinterest that didn’t live up to my expectations. It looked pretty, but the personality just wasn’t there.
Mine:
The inspiration:
Don’t be fooled by style over substance!
4. Tofu, tofu, tofu. I make a lot of tofu bowls. I always plan on posting about tofu bowls, but it turns out there is nothing revolutionary about em. Tofu is tasty, and healthy and you can but it in any bowl, in any combo you like! There ya go!
5. Same goes for salads.
6. Huevos Rancheros
These were yummy and good. The problem was I didn’t know how to put it into a recipe format that made any sense. Just layer eggs, beans, salsa, sour cream, cheese and avocado on a tortilla.
Or go out for brunch and pay someone else good money to do it for you.
I served these with a roasted veggie salad and some sort of warm fried spicy quinoa.
7.Thai Red Curry.
Sometimes you just invent recipes and forget to write them down. Not that I invented red curry, just that I have no idea how this one was made. It was good though.
I’ll make this again and pay attention.
8. Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon– “This woman was not selling short cuts”
This was lovely. NOT a mistake, just never made it to the blog. The recipe was followed to a tee. By my mom. If you have patience and a whole afternoon to while away, try this recipe out.
If you don’t have her book, find the recipe here . You will not be disappointed.
To another year of trial and error in the kitchen, blog, and otherwise!
xo M
Hey M- great photos and interesting thoughts/comments on what you deemed were “not so perfect” dishes, which by the way, anyone of us would be proud to pull off! As a gal who managed only a dinner of spaghetti and toast for our family of 6 tonight, these colourful plates are amazing and inspiring! Cook on!
Thanks Mel! It was fun to go through all the food photos (and there were MANY) from the last year, and remember why they bombed. I’m generally cooking for two (not 6!!). Knowing you I’m sure your spaghetti and toast that night was the best in town!
Hahahahah!!
Love this post!
What a great idea!
You basically called out every instance a food blogger goes through.
Bravo madam!
HAHAHA thanks Dana. I didn’t realize it at the time, but it really does sum up the general conundrums of food blogging. Thanks for reading!