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.
Shannon says
one disgusting- used waay to much baking powder in a batch of fresh cherry muffins. ended up picking out the cherries as i didn’t want to waste them!!
one dirty- making a roasted red pepper sauce with a stick blender. I left it unattended as it seemed to be standing up… i’m guessing you can figure out what happened 🙂
Candy says
When making cookies one day, the lever to turn my mixer on was stuck. Having a bad night and not thinking clearly, instead of removing the bowl of ingredients from underneath the mixer, I pryed that lever so hard, it turned on at full speed sending the flour and various other substances all over the kitchen! The lever was still bent, so it took quite awhile for me to get the mixer back in the off position. The dog was even covered in ingredients!
Julie Jones says
I like you on Facebook
Julie Jones
Julie Jones says
Tweeted this giveaway
http://goo.gl/AoYKA
Julie Jones says
LOL. Your disaster is priceless. I’ve had something similar happen to me but worse than sugar is flour. It gets everywhere. My daughter likes to pretend cook and spilled flour all over the floor and stove.
Thanks for a giveaway!
Barb says
I just moved into my own apartment and my boyfriend was coming over. I really wanted to make chicken cordon bleu since it has always been delicious when made by my mom. Well, I made then according to the directions and even tried to pound out the chicken. Once done, they were really chewy and dry….terrible! I told my boyfriend to be honest because I didn’t think it was good and he said the same. We threw it out in the dumpster for the ‘raccoons to gnaw on’ as my boyfriend put it! We then ordered pizza! We have been together 4 years and I haven’t made it again!
arb says
Hmmm, well seeing as how my kitchen is so small two people feel cramped when co-habitating at the same time, being in the kitchen in general is always a disaster when attempting to multi-task….although this may be an oragnizational error on my part also!
Patsy says
The worst kitchen disaster I have been a part of involves my two siblings, french fries and the fire department.
My mom was my softball coach growing up. We had to quickly finish dinner and leave for a game, My siblings were old enough to be home alone and finish deep frying the chicken strips and fries.
They both thought that the other had turned off the fryer. Of course they did not. The fire tore through the whole top floor of the house. 911, many fire trucks, it was bad. The Fire Marshall had to come find my mom at my softball game to tell her what had happened.
The top floor was gutted and had to be completely rebuilt. We spend a month in a hotel and three months of living in the basement and a trailer the insurance company provided.
Needless to say they have NEVER lived it down.
Cyan says
It was my very first time to make the Thanksgiving turkey. I was doing so well. I was very proud of myself. (The turkey actually turned out great, btw). Then it was time to make the giblet gravy. I mixed and stirred and soon realized something didn’t look right. I called my mother. Mom, I can’t figure it out. Why is my gravy full of tons of timy little grainy lumps? We went through the recipe, everything seemed right. We spent a good 10 minutes trying to figure it out. It was then that I realized….I had used corn meal rather than corn starch… FAIL!!!
Lana says
I am sometimes absent-minded, and sometimes I really don’t think:)
The worst disaster was when I was rendering lard in my apartment kitchen. Overwhelmed by the quantity of pork fat my friend brought over after he butchered the pig, and probably a bit high from the bacon smell, I poured hot fat into plastic containers.
Soon, I had liquid bacon spilling from the holes all over the counters and onto the floor.
It took forever to clean the lard, and the kitchen smelled like bacon for a long time!
Brenda says
Feeling lucky that this is the biggest disaster so far…dear hubby helped with dinner & forgot to pierce the potatoes before baking. Imagine our wide-eyed realization when we heard a huge “PHOOMP” in the oven, lol. No laughing about the cleanup 😉
Kelli says
I’m a facebook fan.
Rachelle says
I am known for making messes in the kitchen but the end result is something good! Needless to say, there have been many disasters in my kitchen. All from starting the mixer to fast and getting flour everywhere to forgetting about items in the oven for way too long. I guess you could say I am somewhat of a klutz but usually make some great goodies that all enjoy 🙂
Kelli says
As a new wife, I wanted to impress hubby with a home made roast beef meal with all the trimmings. When it came time to make the gravy, I thought I was adding corn starch as a thickener. I couldn’t figure out why it was bubbling all over and getting very foamy. Upon closer inspection of the box of “corn starch”, I discovered I added baking soda. Yuck
Nicole says
Here it is….I was cooking at my Mom’s house for my Mom and my boyfriend. I decided I was going to make Buffalo Chicken Chili. All went well until I decided to broil tortilla chips with Blue Cheese. I put the chips on a cookie sheet then sprinkled the cheese on top. Turned the broiler on and put the tray in the oven. Well, the cheese was bubbling so much that the chips ignited and started a fire. Well, my Mom didn’t have a fire extinguisher and it was a gas oven. I was standing there watching the flames come out of the oven and I was screaming. Not to mention that my boyfriend is a contractor and didn’t think to turn the gas off. I was freaking out. I ran to my mom’s neighbor and she didn’t have an extinguisher either. As I’m running home, I call 911. The entire fire department showed up and they were able to get the fire out. My Mom’s white cabinets were now black and the inside of the oven was burnt to a crisp. Here’s the best part. My Mom turns to me and says well atleast we can still eat the chili…..what a disaster!!!
Laura says
When you cook a lot you are bound to have some disasters, right? I don’t have one particular disaster that comes to mind, but I tend to have a lot going on in the kitchen at one time. I’ll have a time go off for something, look at it in the oven thinking I need to give it just a minute or two more, but don’t set a timer. then I get doing something else and completely forget about what I was waiting just a minute or two for. So some things end up getting over cooked.