Thursday, August 18, 2011

The Truth is in the Pudding (Whatever that means...)



One would think that if you could bake you should be able to cook, right? How about wrong. I consider myself to be a moderately good baker. After all, I can bake pies with the best of them and my cookies aren't too bad either. But I have to admit, my cooking skills just aren't up to par. In fact, they are lagging behind. Not only can I not seem to remember to take meat out to thaw, but bringing a meal together just doesn't always happen. Like tonight, for instance....

I'm trying to clean out my fridge. I don't want any leftovers in there this weekend. It's just time to clean out all that old stuff. Yesterday we had bacon sandwiches and leftover pasta. The pasta was gross in and of itself, let alone being leftovers already. So tonight's dinner made day three of bad dinners. I had the brand idea to make split pea soup in an effort to use up some bread in the fridge. (We have several odd loaves/packages of bread in there.) Yes, make soup to use bread. Everyone knows that you are supposed to eat bread with soup. Now, I have one very distinct memory of eating split pea soup, and that memory comes from my childhood. My Mom only ever made split pea soup once, probably due to how well it was received. Us kids sat at the dinner table much longer that night as we struggled to swallow that insipid soup. The longer we sat, the more horrible the soup became... And yet, I still chose to make split pea soup for supper. I thought that maybe, just possibly in the past 15+ years, my taste buds had matured enough to appreciate the green soup delight. Unfortunately for me, they had not. Even Adam, who typically appreciates split pea soup, did not finish his serving. And poor Josh uttered his disdain for our supper at his first tiny taste. Well, it was our supper and so Adam and I toughed it out for most of our bowlfuls, but were kinder to Josh as we told him he must eat only five bites. He struggled through each bite, grimacing and shuddering and plugging his nose. He was doing so well... But we should've told him four bites. I'll leave it at that. Good thing I know how to bake. I should've gone with my first thought and just served bread pudding for supper. No worries though, I whipped up some bread pudding with blueberries in no time. I was even able to rid my fridge of one more half eaten loaf of bread, a container of cream cheese, the rest of the half and half, and a scoop or two of yogurt. I was a little concerned about all the extra stuff I was putting in the pudding, but there was no need for concern. After all, the truth is in the pudding, I can bake better than I can cook.

(PS The photo is not mine. It is from http://froggey.wordpress.com/2010/09/28/blueberry-bread-pudding-with-lemon-cream/, where I kinda followed the recipe from.)

8 comments:

Martha said...

The "proof" is in the pudding, and I'm sure it was wonderful.

You need to find this book by James Marshall...

"Martha was very fond of making split pea soup. Sometimes she made it all day long. Pots and pots pf split pea soup.

If there was one thing that George was not fond of, it was split pea soup. As a matter of fact, George hated split pea soup more than anything in the world/ But it was hard to tell Martha.

One day after George had eaten 10 bowls of Martha’s soup, he said to himself, “I just can’t stand another bowl. Not even another spoonful.”

So, while Martha was out in the kitchen, George carefully poured the rest of his soup into his loafers under the table. “Now she will think I have eaten it.”

But Martha was watching from the kitchen."

Bethany said...

LOL! That is hilarious!

Martha said...

The proof of the pudding is in the eating is a proverb that means "You will not fully comprehend it until you try it" or "results are what count."

I hope this is me...

Rachel said...

I'll bet all wives have taken their turn at making a disastrous dinner. Did Josh end up gagging on it? I forced Steven to try zucchini when he was about 3. Well, he didn't like it and he gagged, almost throwing up right at the dinner table. I never forced him to try it again, but when he got older he tried it on his own and liked it. :) I'm glad your dessert turned out good!

Priscilla said...

The dessert looks good.

I for one LOVE split pea soup, if it is made well. I've made it a couple of time and it was fabulous! Maybe this fall I will make it again.

Bethany said...

Aunt Priscilla, teach me how to make good soup please.

Sherri said...

Try yellow split pea with curry, so yummy.

You crack me up. Joel doesn't always appreciate my efforts at using up the leftovers. Have wonderful trips... let's get together when you come back!

Anonymous said...

oh Man Beth, LOL!! I could tell you stories. It is funny the only truly bad meals that I can remember were soups gone bad. One was a brocoli cheese soup that my mom made when we were young. Nobody could eat it I think we ended up with pizza. Then I made a cheeseburger soup when we were first married. The recipe sounded good and I was trying to make something new. It was awful. We had company stop by also when we were about to eat and I invited them to eat with us. If I had know how bad it was going to be I never would have. My company couldn't even eat it. No idea why so many good ingredients could make one bad soup. But boy it can. :)