Not-so-successful cooking with Meg

Me, in happier cooking times!

So I have to admit, I got a little cocky. I poured through recipes online, skimmed my trusty Rachael Ray cookbook (and no, I definitely can’t make those meals in just thirty minutes!), chatted with my grandmother — the best cook I know — about all the little tricks I’ve picked up so far. My family must be snickering to themselves right now, because dinner last night was . . . interesting.

I’m feeling all grown-up and responsible, running from the office to the grocery store after work, picking up my little odds and ends for the culinary masterpiece I’m planning to make last night. I should have known to take a step back and not get all crazy yesterday — I’ve been feeling pretty out-of-sorts and frustrated lately, and the last thing I needed to do was burn dinner and cause four other people to starve.

But, of course, that’s pretty much what I did.

I decided I was going to make some sort of whole-wheat pasta with shrimp and vegetables. Okay, easy enough. Except I bought frozen vegetables and frozen shrimp and, hey, things need time to thaw! You would think this would have occurred to me. Sadly, it did not. So I’m rushing around, trying to get things to become unfrozen and suddenly taste delicious and, of course, that wasn’t how it turned out. And after leaving the olive oil heating too long and dropping in my chopped onion, I immediately caused a simmering mess that burned my onions to shreds upon contact, sent the whole thing popping and nearly sizzled my skin off. So the tears pop to my eyes as I realize this isn’t working out the way I’d planned, and I’m the one responsible for creating a meal here!

It was a surprising lot of pressure.

Everyone told me it was fine — whole-wheat pasta, garlic, sauteed onion, shrimp and broccoli — but I know it was mediocre. The only saving grace to my meal were the homemade cheddar biscuits I made — and those were just an afterthought. Kelly was kind enough to gather up her fastest, most delicious recipes for me at work yesterday, and I grabbed the heart-healthy Bisquick at the grocery store on a whim. Glad I did! Though I made them way too big (they were enormous!), they were good.

Better luck next time? It was such a mess, I really didn’t take any pictures! How do you like that? Me without my camera . . . scary. But I did get one of the cheese biscuits, still hot from the oven:

Monster biscuits!