Kitchen Mishap Turned Fabulous!!

Welcome to my blog! I'm a self-proclaimed foodie who writes for a living - isn't it only natural that I would have a food-related blog? I come from a long line of people who love to eat, cook and consider feeding others a sign of love and comfort.

A little bit about the foodie writing this blog - I'm a work-at-home mom with two small kids - this often makes dinner time a challenge, but I'm finding new ways to manage it all of the time and I look forward to sharing those breakthroughs with you. :)

I'm going to kick-off my blog with a kitchen mishap turned fabulous that happened to me just last night...

Since I'm a work-at-home mom, the Crockpot is one of my very best friends! I'm able to prepare meals ahead of time and work during my kids' nap time instead of cooking. Last night I was planning to have short ribs. I was going back and forth about what to do with them. Finally, seeing that it was 1 o'clock and my chance to cook something on High and have it ready by dinner was dwindling with every second, I decided to start browning the ribs. I browned them off in my skillet and threw them into the Crockpot. I covered the ribs (generously) in brown sugar and then poured in beef broth to ensure supreme meaty tendernous! No one likes dry pork, right?

I put the lid on the Crock, cleaned the kitchen and returned to my routine. About 4:30 I went to check the ribs. I lifted the lid and thought..."huh...they look cooked (forgetting I browned them), but why am I not getting blasted in the face with steam...?" I felt the side of the pot..."uh oh......" I turned the Crock on and definitely forgot to plug it in.

I made a quick trip to allrecipes.com and looked up how long to cook short ribs. Two hours seemed to be the common answer. I quickly dumped everything that was in the Crock into a baking dish (including the broth). I covered the dish tightly with foil and let them bake. About an hour and 45 minutes in, I turned the oven down to 250 because we had to make a trip out. They cooked at 250 for another hour and they were ready and delicious when we got home. The meat literally fell off the bone as I lifted them out of the baking dish.

I served them with leftover baked mashed potatoes from the night before (see recipe below). My husband and our friend, who was joining us for dinner, absolutely loved them. My husband asked how I learned to cook pork so well..I smiled and said.."It's kind of a funny story..."

Cheesy, Garlicky Goodness Potatoes

Ingredients

• 8 red potatoes
  
• Garlic (minced) a few cloves worth or to suit (I love garlic).
  
• 2-3 cups of shredded cheddar
  
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• Milk
• Butter (about 4 tablespoons)

Directions

• Scrub your potatoes then chop them into quarters
• Boil the potatoes until they pierce easily with a fork
• Drain the potato water and transfer potatoes to a mixing bowl.
• Add butter, garlic, salt, pepper and half the cheese to the mixing bowl
• Mix the potato/seasoning/cheese combination until it contains few lumps
  
• Add milk (half a cup or so...to your desired level...I like my mashed potatoes a little firmer than some).
  
• Mix again to your desired lumpiness or non-lumpiness
• Transfer potatoes to an oven safe baking dish 9x13 or a little smaller will do.
• Add the rest of the cheese to the potatoes
• Cover with foil and bake at 350 until heated through and the cheese is melted on top.