Friday, August 17, 2007

The Best Laid Plans

Well, my plans for Wednesday night's dinner didn't work out quite as I had planned...My dear sweet husband thought that he was being helpful by turning up the slow cooker a notch before leaving the house. He remembered that I had talked the night before about setting it at 3, so he looked at the dial before he left and thought that it needed to go up a notch to be at 3...I guess he didn't read the dial correctly or something, because it was set to 4 all day while we were gone.

But anyway, when I came home from work on Wednesday, instead of smelling perfectly done roast beef ready to carve with juices in the pan ready to make into gravy, I smelled something distinctly different. The overdone roast was crusted to the dry bottom of the slow cooker pot, and I had to use two wooden spatulas to pry it out of the pot. Then I used my electric knife to slice a good half inch of dry, crusty meat from the bottom of the roast and did my best to slice the rest. It was a bit dry, too, so I contemplated adding barbecue sauce or making it into hash while I worked on cleaning the pot.

I added hot water and soap to the pot and gave it a little time to soak before I started scrubbing. It took three soakings, a good sturdy plastic scraper, and a steel wool pad to get that pot clean again...And while I was scrubbing, I couldn't help but be frustrated. But I prayed about it and asked the Lord to help me to have a better attitude. My mother-in-law called while I was working, so I told her about what happened. Talking with her and laughing a bit about it, too, helped a great deal. And, by the Lord's grace, our meal wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

I had a small amount of beef gravy in the freezer from a roast I made a while back. So I thawed that out and added to it by making a quick gravy with butter, flour, and some leftover chicken broth from the fridge. The meat was a little more dry than usual, but with the gravy, it wasn't bad. I also took time to boil some potatoes for mashing to make the meal a little more special. By the time my husband got home from his job, I had dinner ready...Thank the Lord!

We ended up eating the rest of it last night...I didn't want it to sit in the fridge or freezer any longer because it would probably only get more dry.

I debated talking with my husband about how this happened, especially when I found out that his day at work had been challenge. But I decided that it would be best to tell him so that we could avoid this happening again the future. I know that he meant well, and I'm very grateful that he's always so willing to help me out.

6 comments:

Front Porch Society said...

Poor guy!! I am sure he felt bad after he found out. Ah, the joys of cooking! :) Glad it was able to be salvaged and turned into a delicious supper for the both of you! :)

Karen said...

Thank you for the encouraging words. I am thankful that we were able to salvage the dinner.

Front Porch Society said...

How goes the torrential rains up there? I heard 12 people died in the Winona area from the flood waters. So sad!!
We are getting hit with the straightline winds and torrential rains now (I am just south of ya by about 6 hours). I will be glad when the sun returns!

Karen said...

Are you in Iowa? I'm just guessing, because of what you said about six hours south from me. We're doing fine with the rain so far. We were so dry for so long, so everything that's come down has soaked into the earth. It has kind of messed up my walking schedule, but I'm not going to complain because we really needed the rain. I'm sorry to hear that you've had straight line winds along with too much rain. Have you had flash flooding, too, like in Winona? I hadn't heard yet about 12 dead there from the flash flooding...really sad.

Front Porch Society said...

I try to keep a low profile on who I am and where I am for security reasons because of my work in gangs and narcotics but I do currently reside somewhere in IA. The area I am in has a river running thru that tends to flood quite often after a heavy rainstorm. We have had our fair share of severe weather this summer, that is for sure!

Karen said...

I'm glad to meet another Iowan. That was my birthplace and home for most of my life until I moved to Minnesota in 1999...I understand about your need to keep a low profile. I hope that your part of the state has a chance to dry out a bit. It's raining again here today, but I'm still not complaining. It's so nice to see the lawns turning green again after so many weeks of everything turning brown.