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.
claudia leduc says
My worst kitchen disaster was not in the making but rather in the storing. I had made a Valentines Day cheesecake for my husband with my young daughter observing the process. We spent over an hour creating this yummy treat for her Daddy, with the family dog laying at our feet watching in unfold. When I turned to place the cake into the fridge the whole thing slipped off the cake plate and onto the kitchen floor. Guess who was only to happy to clean it up off the kitchen floor for me!! After my first expression of horror all we could do was sit down on the floor and laugh. We still laugh about this to this day and she is now 22!! Thanks for reminding me of this story.
Cathy says
Don’t really have anything to spill but I love all the stories!
Natalie says
I think my worst kitchen disaster was the first time I made meringue!
Jen @ Happy Little Homemaker says
tweeted – @happylhomemaker
Jen @ Happy Little Homemaker says
I let my daughter play with the frosting gel tint before I opened them. She got all the lids mixed up and it took me weeks to figure out why I didn’t think any of the colors were right.
MC says
Too cute!
My oldest son when he was around 2 also got a hold of the food coloring, and carried on to cover himself in multi colors, head to toe. That stuff doesn’t wash off of skin very easy I learnt, we had to take a multi-colored two year old to a family reunion that weekend. It was priceless seeing the response to my multi-colored child that day. I have threatened him that the photos will be available on his wedding day.
Valerie says
MY worst kitchen disaster came when I was making blackberry jam with my mom. While blending the berries, I evidently failed to put the lid on the blender on tight. Next thing I knew, I had a mess of berry puree on myself, the countertops, the wall, and yes, the ceiling. Yikes!
Hannah says
I burned some caramel sauce once. It really wasn’t that bad, especially considering it was the first time I’d ever attempted caramel. It was still edible! And when I was little I was making the sauce for Kraft mac n cheese and misread the instructions and added something like 1 cup of milk instead of one quarter :/ We had mac n cheese soup.
Carolyn says
I have oh so many stories to choose from, but one that had a particular impact was once when we had two women from Japan visiting and staying in our home. I was in high school and wanted to do something nice for them for breakfast, so I decided to make plain biscuits with jam. I don’t know how it happened, but I definitely used far too much baking soda instead of baking powder. I did not eat them when they came out of the oven, and didn’t know I was feeding these women a horrifying, chemical tasting mess. Only that evening when my Dad tried one and spit it out that I realized what had happen. I was too embarrassed to apologize to the women, and now they have an interesting perspective on American breakfast!
Jessica Wilson says
I’ve had many ‘issues’ in the kitchen. My most fond memory is when I was baking a cake (to be delivered that night) and I not only overfilled the pans but when they were finished baking, I was stacking them, and they COMPLETELY fell apart! Then I decided it would be funny to post a picture on FB. Tell me why I didn’t think that the neighbor who ordered the cake wouldn’t see it. Of course, she did and immediately text me to asked if that was her cake that had ‘exploded’ all over my counter. Thankfully I had enough time to remake the cakes before her twin daughters birthday party.
Note to self – No posting pictures on FB until totally done with cake 🙂
StealthandAces says
My boyfriend and I had been together just under a month when his birthday came up. I decided, since had told me his favorite cake was carrot cake, that I would make one for him from scratch, icing and all.
So, I spent a good three hours on these cupcakes the night before his birthday and they came out spelling delicious. I decided to put the cupcakes in a “air-tight” container and we would add the icing together before we ate them the next day.
The problem was that the container wasn’t air-tight. In fact, it wasn’t even ant-tight. I was living in a crumby apartment and ants were a problem. I thought I had avoided this potential problem by putting them in an inexpensive plastic cake plate and cover. So, I deliver the cupcakes to my boyfriend the next day, pull off the cover, and shriek with horror as my beautiful cupcakes are SWARMING with ants.
It wasn’t an entire disaster, though. The boyfriend (now husband) was touched by the effort and thought I’d put into it, and at least we were still able to enjoy the icing.
Lynda says
Reading all the comments makes me feel SO much better. I’m not the only one who has made inedible meals, spilled any number of hard to clean items, and set off the smoke detectors. I, too have had candy sprinkles all over my kitchen (and dining room), but I have no one to blame but myself for that. I managed to drop an industrial sized container of candy sprinkles which went everywhere! Though, frankly, those are easier to clean up (and far less painful) than seed beads, which I have also dropped all over the kitchen and dining room. My most memorable dropping stuff story was the time I came home from grocery shopping and was putting things away. I had gone to collect ingredients for my braised short ribs in nectarine sauce, and one of the ingredients purchased was apple cider vinegar. Well, the bottle slipped and fell to the floor, striking one of the few uncarpeted areas in the kitchen. The bottle exploded and covered the kitchen in vinegar. I had to throw out two of the three carpets in the kitchen as there’s just no recovery from vinegar. My boyfriend at the time, who hates vinegar, promptly left the house and returned a little while later with apple cider vinegar in a plastic bottle.
Denise says
Early one morning I came down stairs into the kitchen to discover that my three year old had thrown a toy tractor in the fish tank and scribbled all over the kitchen floor with a sharpie. He was standing on a chair at the sink, filling my purse with water.
Kendall Leahy says
My new hubby decided to impress me by making his favorite food – Irish “chips” from scratch. He bought 50lbs of spuds, 3 gallons of oil and proceeded to use every pot, bowl and utensil in the house. About three hours later, we had our chips plus enough to feed the neighborhood. The clean up took me about three hours. Three loads in the dishwasher, hand washing a dozen or more pots and bowls, two rolls of paper towels used to mop up the spilled oil, special soap to get the spattered oil off of the cabinets and walls, and two floor washings. I couldn’t get the stench of chips and oil out of the house or my nose for days! Yes, we are still married but he is no longer allowed to cook.
Cindy Dodea says
My worst disaster occurred when my pre-teen daughter decided to bake cookies. She set the cookie sheet on the counter to open the oven door. Unknowingly, she set it on a plastic butter dish. The softened butter stuck to the bottom of the cookie sheet, which she then set in the oven. Of course everything melted and burned. She then tried to clean everything up, and set the oven to clean. I cam home to black smoke billowing out of the oven, and smoke alarms going off. She didn’t know how to turn the oven off of clean. We got it all cleaned up, but the smell lingered for days.
Barbara says
First, you have to know that my husband is a police officer. 30 years ago, when he first started, I was extremely nervous about his new job. So here is what happened: I put some eggs on the stove to boil. I then heard the buzzer on my dryer, so I went downstairs to pull the clothes out before they wrinkled. I got involved down there and forgot about the eggs. Suddenly, I heard two loud pops like gunshots. Then two more. Again, the nervous police wife, I sneaked up the stairs TOWARD the gunshots (idiot). About halfway up the stairs, the smell hit me. The eggs!! There was egg splattered on every surface of the kitchen— including the ceiling. Lesson learned: eggs explode when they boil dry.