Your Worst Kitchen Disaster [Giveaway]
This giveaway is now closed.
UPDATE: Thank you guys so much for supporting me in this! I am so excited to announce that I won the Pampered Chef Blogger Blunder Kitchen Disaster contest – $3,5000 of Pampered Chef product and a gift card to Spa Finder. I couldn’t have done that without all of YOU.
Even though the giveaway is over now, feel free to leave a comment still if you’d like and don’t forget to read through some of the other disaster stories. There are some GREAT comments in here.
Congratulations to Jeneen for winning the Easy Brie-zy Pizza Set!
Disasters Happen Here Every Day
I say (jokingly, of course) that it’s a good thing that I was asked to share my worst “kitchen disasters” because we all know that I’m too good (I’m totally not) to have a “cooking disaster.”
Eric looks up and says “cooking disasters happen in here every day!” I am baffled, at a loss for words. WHAT? But he quickly recovers saying that by cooking disasters he means big messes.
And he is definitely right about that one, only I don’t view those as true “disasters,” just my genius creativity at work. But I will admit that I’ve never been a very tidy cook and have always felt that the only thing I hated about cooking is the cleaning up part.
My Worst Kitchen Disaster
I’m home from vacation with one day to unload the car, unpack, do laundry, settle the kids and pack myself up again before I leave for another trip, this time work related.
I come downstairs from laundry, quickly rushing to the kitchen. My mind is obviously somewhere else because I’m completely perplexed as to why the floor feels so…disgusting…and crunchy.
It takes a moment for the horrifying scene before my eyes registers with my brain. I realize that what I’m stepping on are tiny multi-colored sprinkles. And there aren’t just a few. There are a lot more than a few. A whole heckuva lot more.
Upon further inspection I find that not only has Madeline emptied several once full bottles of sprinkles onto the kitchen floor, but that she’s sitting on the counter rubbing her sweet little hands together like she’s putting on lotion…only she’s used an entire bottle of green food coloring for the job.
She must be pretty satisfied with herself because she stops rubbing those hands to flash a toothy, chubby cheek smile my way before continuing on her merry way.
The next task at hand — dumping curry powder into some concoction she’s got brewing nearby. Unfortunately, more curry makes it onto the counter than into her bowl. Which then ends up all over the seat of her pants.
At the time I’m feeling all sorts of things: annoyed, concerned, furious… that my 2 year old has figured out how to push a chair from the kitchen table over to the counter so she can get into the spice cabinet.
I’m so beside myself that I call Eric and tell him that I don’t care how tired he is, that there will be child locks on all the kitchen cabinets when I’m home from my trip.
I have too much to do still, and so I leave the mess as evidence but not before I take the chair and the bottle of curry powder away.
The only thing I can think to do is send Madeline out back in her diaper with the sprinklers on and popsicle in hand so she can wash off while I pout about my circumstances.
Payback Time
Only now months later do I realize that this is just payback for the occasion that I, as my 3 year old self, found it quite prudent to create my very first cake on the kitchen floor. Like mother, like daughter.
I think my parents must have known back then that the kitchen would be always be my most favorite room in the house, because after that disaster I certainly made many, many more.
I can only hope that Madeline will one day find the same joy in the kitchen that I do. And that maybe she’ll get a little payback of her own too.
P.S. We now have child locks on every single cabinet in the house, in or out of the reach of little hands.
P.P.S. Every word of this is the absolutely truth.
Now it’s your turn – SPILL IT – what is your worst kitchen disaster?
Were you the cause or someone else? Did it involve a recipe failure, a gigantic mess, or something else crazy? Was it a major holiday recipe disaster or more every day run of the mill disaster? DO TELL! I am so curious!
Even if you don’t have anything to share, I’d love your comment. Comments on this post count as votes on my entry in the contest.
Giveaway Prize (1 winner):
Easy Brie-zy Pizza Set (valued @ $115)
Giveaway Requirements:
- Leave a comment on this post telling me about your worst kitchen disaster.
- You may NOT enter using multiple email addresses. Automatic disqualification.
- Additional entries must leave a separate comment.
- Contest ends April 15, 2011 at 12:00 p.m. CT.
- Contest open to US States only.
- Winner will be chosen via random.org and will have 3 days to respond before disqualified and a new winner chosen.
Extra Entries:
Additional entries can be earned by doing any of the following, giving you a total of 3 entries. Leave a separate comment for each of your entries.
1. ReTweet the following message: Win a @pampered_chef Pizza Set (val. $115) and help @goodlifeeats win the Kitchen Disaster contest http://su.pr/1Kft6v #giveaway
2. Become a fan of GoodLife Eats on Facebook.
Contest Info
The Pampered Chef has asked me to share my very worst kitchen disaster with my readers in a little blogger contest. I own several Pampered Chef products and have always been happy with them so I agreed to participate. Plus, this is a good disaster story and something I’ve never shared here before.
I was not compensated for sharing my worst kitchen disaster in any way, but the winner — you need to comment on my post to help me win — winner gets $3,500 The Pampered Chef kitchen tool makeover and $125 towards SpaFinder.
To follow along with The Pampered Chef SPILL IT! Contest, “Like” their Facebook Page and share your worst story there, too (by Wednesday at noon CT) for a chance to enter this same contest.
Tameka Downing says
There have been many, but the worst would have to be when I was trying to make homemade french fries. I was doing the first fry and had too much oil in the pot. So when I dropped the fries oil came bubbling over on to my flat electric cook top. Good thing I had salt and extinguisher near by.
Btrflywmn says
fan of GoodLife Eats on Facebook – Charlene G
Btrflywmn says
tweeted – http://twitter.com/#!/Btrflywmn/status/57945288488394753
Btrflywmn says
I was trying to make a nice dinner for my hubby and ended up burning the chicken and bread, the rice was mushy to. I think I only get rice perfect once a year.
Sharon says
I like goodLife{eats} on facebook.
(Sharon Olivier)
Sharon says
Tweet: http://twitter.com/#!/sharonjo2/status/57938750566694912
Sharon says
My worst kitchen disaster was probably the time I tried to thicken the gravy with powdered sugar instead of the flour–got the cannisters mixed up! Then there was the time our oldest son got into the flour container…That was no doubt the biggest kitchen mess I’ve ever had.
Celeste says
Sorry you had that experience Katie but what a great story it makes!! Hopefully that one will be your worst!
Emily S. says
I have to say I LOVE your story of the sprinkles and food coloring incident/disaster. I have friends who have kids, so I hear stories similar in that they get into things that they don’t belong in, all the time.
One time my friend told me about a time when her son got into the cream on the changing table and the baby powder. She came into the room to find him COVERED in cream and baby powder. He was smiling from ear to ear, having NO idea that he had created such a big mess! Haha
Yvonne Thielle says
When I was about 10 years old my mom made a cake for my grandparents anniversary. She had it all done and it was sitting on the kitchen table. Our Chow Chow decided that he wanted some cake too, so he took a big bit out of one of the sides. Mom was so mad because she didnt’ have time to make a new one so she “FIXED” the one she had by putting paper towels in the side where the dog had taken his bite. She then re-iced and re-decorated the cake. We took it to my grandparents house and when it was time to cut the cake mom says just don’t eat off of this side!!!
Emily S. says
Anyone who knows me, knows that I’m a klutz when it comes to life. I’m always finding ways to burn myself on a hot pan of cookies, or the boiling water will splash on me somehow. But that’s not my disaster.
About two years ago I decided to make my mom a White Chocolate Truffle Cake. The process was a disaster from the word ‘go’, but at least the end result was amazing. I had never made a cake entirely from scratch at that point, and used a recipe off of the internet. I figured my mom could do it, so maybe I’d be lucky and it was in my genes.
There were problems left and right. First it took much longer than I anticipate and the element of surprise was destroyed when my parents walked into the kitchen before it was done. When I made the frosting, I was scooping in the powdered sugar and the bag slipped, making the sugar go EVERYWHERE. I was covered, the counters were covered, even the cat who was walking by at the time was covered. It’s something I can laugh at now but wanted to cry at then!
Shannon Hull says
Because I am mostly a sandwich and salad kind of girl I couldn’t think of my own kitchen disaster, but mom told me a few of hers. She told me of a time she was making coffee cake (a sunday tradition in our family). The recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of sugar but she mistakenly put 2 cups (more like the amount of flour needed). When she opened the oven she was surprised to see a “bubbly monster” looking back at her. 😀
Samantha says
I am a facebook fan 🙂
Samantha says
This is the story of a girl who wanted to make dutch babies (you know those AMAZING puffy oven pancakes) for her sweet, breakfast loving boyfriend. The girl had good intentions and an old recipe, but that wasn’t enough. There were no eggs in the house. Not one. So this girl thought she could substitute a little extra milk to replace the eggs. What she lacked in ingredients she thought she could make up in creativity. As this story is posted on kitchen disasters, you know the ending wasn’t a great egg-less dutch baby. Or a happy, well fed bf. Sadly it was a flat, cardboardy, mess. And so they shared a bowl of cereal with fresh strawberries. The End!
Mary Mac says
It was about 11 years ago and I was trying to impress my new stepson by making his favorite – no bake cheese cake. He was 13 at the time. I was at my mother in laws home, she was not there at the time. for the crust you mix graham cracker crumbs, melted butter and sugar. Turns out what I thought was her sugar canister was actually her canning salt! My stepson was a good sport about it all and didn’t hold it against me!
Leslie says
Decided to just go with the most recent (and different – who constantly burns the cardboard in the oven with a frozen pizza!) the dishwasher had backed up full of dirty water, it wouldn’t drain & was spilling out the bottom. The whole family was coming for dinner shortly so when I couldn’t find the source I got out the shop vac & sucked up all the water. Not paying attention to how full the tank was getting, it starting spraying the dirty water out of the exhaust(?) hole. It was horrifying. But after cleaning that up in record time, it was probably the cleanest my kitchen had ever been to eat in. :/