Enter the "From Dinner Disasters to Dream Dinners" Contest

Okay, from time to time we all have those dinner disasters, don't we? And don't they come at the worst possible time!

Well, Dream Dinners is sponsoring a "Taste Of Dream Dinners" contest to help us eliminate those dinner disasters, once and for all!

Here's how it works.

Post on this thread your dinner disaster story. Photos, if you have them, can be posted as well. We will ramdomly select 12 winners from the disaster posts that will join us at Dream Dinners in East Northport on October 13, 2010 at 7pm.

Once there we are going to have a Taste of Dream Dinners party!
What does that entail?
Wine - Check!
Goodies - Check!
LIFamilies Giveaways - Double Check
And the best part is you'll participate in the Dream Dinners way of never having a dinner disaster again! In other words, you'll prepare and take home a Dream Dinner for you and that special someone or family!

Our co-hosts, Betsy and Mindy of Dream Dinners, are absolutely the best and guarantee us a fun filled evening!
By sharing your dinner disasters here, you'll be that much closer to having that Dream Dinner every night!

Alright, it's time to start posting your disasters. You have until noon October sixth to post.

*Please only enter if you are available to make the Taste of Dream Dinners event on 10/13/10 at 7pm in East Northport!

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Re: Enter the "From Dinner Disasters to Dream Dinners" Contest

So wednesdays are my easier days b/c DH doesn't get home with DS until around 630, so Wednesday is usually my nicer dinner meal nights. WELL, I decided to giver Chicken Marsala a try. . .how hard could it be, it's marsala wine, mushrooms, flour etc . .to this day I still have NO IDEA what I did wrong, I thought I followed the directions to a "T", maybe I had to much marsala wine, maybe to much flour, I didn't put any flour on my husbands b/c he can't have it . . .I have no clue maybe I just shouldn't be allowed to make a nice dinner. My kitchen looked like a DISASTER, my husband who honestly eats everything and anything, couldn't even stomach it. . .it's really really bad if even he can't eat it. Good thing my son at this point wasn't on table food yet. . .
so much for my nice wednesday night dinner meal

::sigh::

this is what happens when I'm trying to rush around trying to get a nice dinner out on the table before bedtime!!

Re: Enter the "From Dinner Disasters to Dream Dinners" Contest

hmm ok well this was a disaster done by both myself and DH. we were doing "breakfast for dinner" and we were excited to use our new omelette pan we got for my shower. should have known it would be a disaster since it was only $9.99.
we put the eggs in and you fold the pan and then flip it to cook the other side. ok i got it! i flip it and all the egg drips out the seam into my burner and it goes on FIRE! smoke starts filling our kitchen so now i panic because our smoke alarm is super sensitive (its hooked up to our house alarm and when it goes off they call my mother who lives upstairs, we dont have a phone that connects to the alarm company). so i go running to tell my mom the alarm is gonna off and sure enough it starts blaring. meanwhile DH grabs a dish towel to grab the pan. well the towel hits the flame and goes on fire as well! Mom isnt home and by the time i get upstairs i miss the phone call. DH puts the fire out but there's the fire chief in his SUV sitting outside my house. Just my luck that we live 3 blocks from the firehouse so it takes them no time to get there. We were mortified when we had to tell them that we set our eggs and dishtowel on fire. Needless to say...that pan got tossed in the trash and we went out to eat that night

Re: Enter the "From Dinner Disasters to Dream Dinners" Contest

Well, I have had many, many kitchen disasters. But the one that sticks out the most is this one.

Back when DH and I first moved in together, I decided one night that I was going to make Penne a la Vodka and make the Vodka sauce from scratch (oh how ambitious I was back then!)

So, I found a recipe online and decided to give it a whirl. I making the sauce, and then I add the vodka. Boil...simmer....etc. I *thought* I had followed the directions perfectly. When I went to serve it, BLECHHHHHHHHHHHH holy moly. There was SO much vodka- and it tasted horrible! DH and I literally spit it out- threw out the rest, and promptly ordered pizza. To this day, when speaking of this event, I can taste that nasty sauce in my mouth.

Now, even 6 years later, when I try a new recipe- DH will always say "Are we going to make this a pizza night?"

Re: Enter the "From Dinner Disasters to Dream Dinners" Contest

Dh and i had just gotten back from our honeymoom. I had a bit of a cold somy nose was clogged and my eyes were puffy b/c i had gotten sun poisining while away. Needless to say our first meal as newleyweds didn't get off to a good start.

We were both tired and i really didn't want to cook but it was the first time I was cooking for my "husband"(yes, i was still in that OMG can't believe I have a husband stage and yes, i have been cooking for many years and this wasn't the first meal i have ever made him either).

Anyway.. since i just wanted a quick meal i took out one of those Lipton fettucini alfredo packets(the ones where all you have to add is milk/butter and your done) and since we had just gotten back from our honeymoon, i hadn't had a chance to go grocery shopping but there was "un-expired" milk in the fridge. I mix the ingredients all together and when you put it in the pot; it is a little lumpy(normal) but then gets smooth as you stir it together. Well after stirring for awhile it doesn't get smooth but i know the macaronni is done b/c i can easily cut through it. so i serve it.

As we sit to eat our first meal cooked by me as husband and wife-my husband looks at me and says that doesn't smell/look right.. Low and behold the milk was bad and our meal was ruined...

To top it off he had to call his mom and explain what a wonderful meal his "wife" had just made.

Re: Enter the "From Dinner Disasters to Dream Dinners" Contest

My DH and I had just moved in together (we were just dating at the time) and I decided that I was going to make a fancy meal of Chicken Parm. I fried up the chicken and put it in the oven. Well while the pasta was cooking I put the sauce on the stove to heat up. Well I didn't have a cover, and I guess I had the flame up too high b/c I left the kitchen to hang out upstairs and when I came back down there was sauce ALL OVER the kitchen. It had literally splattered on every single wall. It was on the ceiling/the kitchen table/the cabinets/the floor. I ended up not having enough sauce for the pasta and we just ate the chicken cutlets.

Re: Enter the "From Dinner Disasters to Dream Dinners" Contest

Just last month, I made a cake for DH's birthday. Growing up, I loved chocolate chip cookie cake and have since gotten DH hooked. I made one and planned on using my untouched decorating kit I got at my wedding shower, last year. I have zero patience, so I flipped the cake out of the pan way before it was cool. OMG, there was cake and melted chocolate everywhere. The best I could I piled it on top of each other on the cake platter to decorate. I did not attach the icing nozzle correctly and icing squirted everywhere. At this point, I gave up. I piled the pieces of cake together into a mountain shape and covered the whole thing with icing right out of the can. It looked pathetic, but tasted delicious. And DH loved it anyway.

Re: Enter the "From Dinner Disasters to Dream Dinners" Contest

Ohhhhh there have been MANY disasters in my kitchen via my hand because I love to cook, but I just dont have the natural knack for it at all.

The worst was the time I was at work and a co-worker brought in turkey/onion meatloaf from Trader Joe's for lunch. He let me taste it and it was soooo good. So I googled a recipe for it and was so excited to make it myself for dinner that night.

Well I must have not minced the onions fine enough, or put too many onions or something... because the meatloaf ended up looking like a meatloaf fruitcake with onions.

It was chunky and funky and just not edible...

We went out for pizza that night!

Message edited 10/4/2010 3:57:18 PM.

Re: Enter the "From Dinner Disasters to Dream Dinners" Contest

When I was 18 I went to a guy's college apartment for a dinner date. He wanted to grill steaks on the bbq outside but it was raining. I had this bright idea to take aluminum vegetable cans and place them around one of the stove burners with the tray from his toaster oven balanced on top. Well, that went well for all of about 10 minutes, which was when the burning fat started pouring all over the burner. It was quite the little blaze and there was something to be said for the odor it left behind as well, lol. OMG I'm embarassed to even tell this story here! That was SO dumb...

Re: Enter the "From Dinner Disasters to Dream Dinners" Contest

I do love to cook but like to try new things times and again. When I was working, someone gave me Rachel Ray's cookbook and I saw a recipe that looked promising. Shredded Chicken Enchilladas - ok.

So as I"m cooking I am reading the directions and looking at the ingredients thinking they were a strange mix but I go with it. Last step was to shred the chicken and mix it with the rest of the seasonings in the bowl. As I'm stirring it a piece goes flying onto the floor whereupon my dog runs and scoops it up off the floor. He then chokes and makes this horrifying hacking sound and spits the chicken out.

Lesson: If the dog won't eat it, you probably won't either

Lesson 2 - 30 minutes is a total lie. I spent over an hour trying to make those awful things!!!

Re: Enter the "From Dinner Disasters to Dream Dinners" Contest

Way back when DH and I were dating, I decided to make meatballs with my delicious homemade sauce( never really ate or liked meatballs, but DH loves them). Bear in mind I NEVER made meatballs before, so I asked a few friends what ingredients I needed, but did not ask how to prepare them since i thought I was such a good cook...after all i had taken an adult ed cooking class! In short, i formed the meatballs ...they looked and smelled great! Then I proceeded to BOIL them!!! What was I thinking???? Needless to say, I ended up with a nice big pot of separated, boiled ground beef!! We ended up having just pata and sauce..lol!

Re: Enter the "From Dinner Disasters to Dream Dinners" Contest

Years ago, my mom had gave me the task to make the fries for lunch while she was at the grocery store.

As usual, when she was gone, I put the music as loud as possible, dancing like maniac in the LR. Free at last!!!!

Then I remembered I was supposed to make the fries from scratch. Which meant peeling potatoes, cutting the fries, OMG... I was so behind. My mom was due in about 10 minutes.

I cranked up the pot full of oil on the stove. It was not a frier, just an open pot with a basket to put the fries in.

I am finally done with minutes to spare.

I DUMPED the potatoes in the boiling oil..... and OMG... it caught fire. The whole pot was on fire. Flames touching the formica cabinets. I had forgotten to "wipe dry" the potatoes. I can't express the feeling in my stomach. I was going to burn down our apartment.

I am French, it should be in my genes to know how to make French fries, isn't it?

With panic I grabbed 2 kitchen towels and braved the raging flaming pot and took both handle to remove to another burner. Luckily it was an electric stove and the oil reduced immediately. I put the cover on top of the pot and the fire stopped.

Then I looked at the stove disaster. Black sut EVERYWHERE on the upper cabinets. oil all over the stove top.

But in my great "save the day Sophie", I managed to clean it all as my mom came into the apartment.

Luckily she did not see the damage I had avoided.

I told her in a condenced and kind of nothing happened version.

I was no longer in charge of fries. I have not cooked fries at home since that day. I am too afraid!

So that's my story. It was that of the fact that I let a chicken burn completely to charcoil in the oven (I lost some sense of smell after an accident as a teenager) because once again I was too busy dancing in my LR and my parents could smell the burned chicken from 2 blocks away.

Message edited 9/23/2010 4:06:48 PM.

Re: Enter the "From Dinner Disasters to Dream Dinners" Contest

Posted by trnity44

Well, I have had many, many kitchen disasters. But the one that sticks out the most is this one.

Back when DH and I first moved in together, I decided one night that I was going to make Penne a la Vodka and make the Vodka sauce from scratch (oh how ambitious I was back then!)

So, I found a recipe online and decided to give it a whirl. I making the sauce, and then I add the vodka. Boil...simmer....etc. I *thought* I had followed the directions perfectly. When I went to serve it, BLECHHHHHHHHHHHH holy moly. There was SO much vodka- and it tasted horrible! DH and I literally spit it out- threw out the rest, and promptly ordered pizza. To this day, when speaking of this event, I can taste that nasty sauce in my mouth.

Now, even 6 years later, when I try a new recipe- DH will always say "Are we going to make this a pizza night?"

Re: Enter the "From Dinner Disasters to Dream Dinners" Contest

Summer time is seafood time, and we always make clams, fish, lobster etc...

So when we go out we will sometimes order soft shell crab. We saw it was on sale one day and decided to try to make it on our own, how hard could it be?

Well, we bread the crab and start frying it, we put each finished crab into a glass pyrex dish that was sitting on a stove top burner. We did not know the burner was on, but even so those dishes go in a 500 degree oven. Next thing you know we are standing in the kitchen and the whole dish blows up with all of our crabs into a million tiny little pieces.

There was crab and glass all over us and the kitchen. Thank goodness it didn't go in our eyes!!!

Who knew the pyrex dishes could not withstand burner heat??? So there went our soft shell crab dinner, we ordered pizza after cleanup.

Re: Enter the "From Dinner Disasters to Dream Dinners" Contest

I have had a few this one sticks out to me.

We had just moved into our house a few days before Christmas 2007. There was alot going on...DH was really sick, my Grandma was in the hospital and we didn't know if she was going to make it and we have just moved into a new house and had boxes all over the place. I decided that I was going to make batches and batches of cookies for everyone! Probably a bad move considering my mind was elsewhere.

A good friend had given me this recipe for creme puffs. I had never made them but always wanted to try. The recipe called for them to go on Parchment Paper but I grabbed WAX paper instead they look similar. I made the creme puffs layed them on the wax paper and popped them in the oven. I had never used an electric oven so I was still getting used to it. Well funny thing about WAX paper and heat they don't mix at all. The stupid creme puffs fell flat and the wax paper melted and caught on fire in the oven. Discovered we had some sensitve smoke alarms and heat alarms in the new house! It was such a mess.

That was a disaster! Never made them again I guess me and creme puffs aren't meant to be.

Re: Enter the "From Dinner Disasters to Dream Dinners" Contest

This actually was not me, it was DH and in retrospect it was funny, but not then.

We were renting a house in Hampton Bays, married a year. DH loves to have a few drinks and then cook. It is never a good thing.

So that night I made chili. It came out good, we had a lot of leftovers. I went to bed. DH had a few drinks.

He decided to "spruce up" the chili. He added to a regular beef chili uncooked spaghetti, marinara sauce, uncooked bacon, possibly barbecue sauce and some habenero sauce. We didn't realize there was a gas line leak and some of the greasy mess from this concoction dripped onto the cook top and a huge fire ensued. DH put it out with a garden hose, the house was a smoky mess and the worst part was he still tried to salvage that disgusting chili.

Yeah, so we had a melted microwave and a completely damaged kitchen because he decided to cook his special chili!

Re: Enter the "From Dinner Disasters to Dream Dinners" Contest

I took a foreign foods ethnic cooking class in high school and the first thing we made were fajitas. They came out great in class, tasted awesome. So the next week my mom told me I needed to start making one dinner a week for the household for our family so naturally I did fajitas since I had already "perfected" them. Well I got a little daring with the spices and I used some wicked combination of chili powder, jalapenos, chilis and any other pepper you could imagine that my parents, 2 sisters and my boyfriend (now DH) and I all sat around the dining room table CRYING it was so hot! Nothing helped milk, bread nothing would take away the burn. I remember my mom getting bright red and starting to sweat when she finally gave up on the meal with my sisters close behind her. My dad and DH trooped it out and ate their entire plates.

As bad as it was DH still married me and here we are 8 years later. I am a much better cook, but believe me my family and DH will NEVER let me live that one down.

Re: Enter the "From Dinner Disasters to Dream Dinners" Contest

Not sure if this counts, but I used to work in a restaurant and I was prepping a dish that required chopping up habeñeros. I got the juices all over my hands. When I was done, I decided to make a trip to the bathroom, giving my hands a quick rinse before I went. I went to bathroom, wiped and well... let's just say that habeñero juice does not feel nice on THAT area . I was in so much pain and was so humiliated that it happened, I faked sick and went home from work. Wash your hands thoroughly after handling peppers folks!

Re: Enter the "From Dinner Disasters to Dream Dinners" Contest

i made chili in the crockpot and forgot to brown the meat first.. it was disgusting lol

Re: Enter the "From Dinner Disasters to Dream Dinners" Contest

Well, we just got our new home. I was trying to be Suzie Homemaker,...but it didn't quite work out, it all went wrong,...quickly.

I begun by browning the meat for our tacos,..which then needed the seasoning. Apparently, you are supposed to drain the meet first. I did not know and wound up turning the heat so high which ruined the pan we were using for the first time. The pan and the entire meal needed to be thrown out because the meat tasted like burnt bread. YUCK.

I had made dessert before I attempted the tacos, I made a cheesecake. Apparently, the measurements were totally off. It was gross.

We ordered dinner and lived happily ever after,..until I cook again!

Re: Enter the "From Dinner Disasters to Dream Dinners" Contest

My mother & I were out, so I invited her over for dinner. My husband was making us a nice pasta salad w/a white wine vinegar & olive oil dressing, but only had enough for the 2 of us. I really can't cook, but offered to make my mom an egg omelet so that she could stay & join us. While in the kitchen I THOUGHT that my dh had prepped/cracked the eggs for me, so I grabbed the bowl off of the counter & began to fry it. Well, I tried to fry it. I called him over to ask why it smelled funny & wouldn't "cook right." He looked at me in disbelief & walked out of the room. Next thing I heard was a loud "She's your daughter!!" & my mom busted into hysterics. Apparently I don't know what an egg looks like because I was trying to fry his vinegar & oil dressing

ETA: I should add that this happened about 3 days after I set my sweater on fire whilst boiling water to make Jello. I've since been banned from the kitchen - I'm only allowed to pour cereal into a bowl.

Message edited 9/24/2010 4:35:51 PM.

Re: Enter the "From Dinner Disasters to Dream Dinners" Contest

This was a Valentine's Day disaster:
It was 2006 or 2007 and we had a bad ice storm. Just getting home was nerve wracking, plus worried about DH getting home. But I went ahead as planned. It was supposed to be a shrimp stuffed talapia with a lemon sauce. Well, the stuffing got dried out (from being in the over for hours), the shrimp were too big and kept falling out of the filets and the lemon sauce got curdled b/c I used milk instead or water in making the white sauce. Then, the filets were too thin and crumpled when I tried to stuff them. I threw it all in the oven anyway. DH finally got home, it was all dried out. He took one bite, said "I love you, you're an awesome cook, but I can't eat this crap!" So we had grilled cheese instead.
Still to this day, if he is annoying me and happens to ask what's for dinner, I tell him stuffed talapia, LOL!!

Re: Enter the "From Dinner Disasters to Dream Dinners" Contest

a couple years ago my coworker gave me a recipe for Penne Ala Vodka sauce after telling me I was crazy to be using jar sauce...... All excited, I cooked it, using the tomatos, heavy cream, vodka & salt, measuring just like she said...... The thing came out so salty it was so gross the whole batch, including the pound of pasta had to be thrown out......

I also have issues cooking meat. I've tried to make chicken parm in the pan,but end up undercooking it, or making it like rubber..... so now when I cook I end up cutting them down the middle when I think they are done, then being able to see it and watch it finish. I wish I'd be able to serve it normal.

Re: Enter the "From Dinner Disasters to Dream Dinners" Contest

I RARELY cook.

I just don't know how. Broil, sautee, braise, etc mean NOTHING to me. I haven't a clue.

But DH was pleading for a cooked meal one night, so I decided to follow mom's "fool proof" (or so she said) turkey chili recipe.

I went out and bought the ingredients. It called for a pepper diced. But i couldn't find a bell pepper (!? Yep - I obviously don't buy produce regularly), so I bought 4 "little peppers."

I make the chili with all 4 diced peppers in it and serve DH.

My husband drank 4 glasses of water and spent the evening in the bathroom.

I used 4 HABANERO peppers in 1 lb of turkey meat.


I need some help in the kitchen!!!

Re: Enter the "From Dinner Disasters to Dream Dinners" Contest

So DH and I had just gotten married and I wanted to impress him with my domestic diva skills lol. We had gone apple picking that weekend so I decided to find a yummy recipe on-line to wow him with. I found caramel apple pork chops with homemade mashed potatoes and applesauce and fresh apple pie for dessert.

I spent the whole day prepping and cooking. I peeled and sliced a gazillion apples and started cooking them down to make the applesauce all while I took the chops out of the freezer to defrost. I boiled the potatoes for the mash and made the apple pie. My timing was spot on. I was so proud of myself and excited to surprise DH.

The recipe called for you to sear the chops before placing them in the baking pan. OK, no problem. I get the pan nice and hot and drop the chops. Hmmmmm, that's funny. That doesn't smell like pork Well, maybe that because they were LAMB chops UGH! I spent all day prepping this meal around pork chops that were lamb

So I call DH in tears and tell him how dinner is ruined. He says no sweetie, it'll be ok, we'll eat a little late and I'll stop and grab some chops on the way home. DH to the rescue!!!

So I busy myself with setting the table with candles, chilling the wine from the orchard that we had just gone to. Everything was perfect!

Dh gets home from work with my rescue pack of chops. I get the pan nice and hot and drop the chops. Hmmmmm, that's funny. That doesn't smell like pork Well, maybe that because they were LAMB chops ARE YOU KIDDING ME????? He bought freakin LAMB chops too

So now I'm seriously upset, he feels terrible he grabbed the wrong thing and runs out the door to go get PORK chops. Finally we got it right!!

The meal came out delicious only we ate it 2 hours after dinner should have been served.

Plus we had really yummy lamb kebab pitas the next night for dinner

We still laugh about this today

Message edited 9/27/2010 8:44:31 AM.