Over the course of many years, and all the delicious meals I've created, even I have to admit to a kitchen-full of not-so-brilliant choices I made that ended up in little disasters (like the time I cooked my first turkey and spent an hour trying to find the cavity and hidden giblets...turns out I had bought a breast of turkey).
These mistakes, however hilarious now they seem to be (and it's not because I'm blond, okay?), are exactly what has led me to some of my most fantastic meals. Example: you might want to book your next Thanksgiving dinner at my house because my turkeys are now mouthwatering masterpieces.
My latest meal masterpiece, which we enjoyed the other night, was the result of an immense error, and lack of judgment (okay, maybe it was a blond thing), that happened a few years ago. My kids will certainly never let me forget it every time I now make it, but I'll take the heat since it is so worth it: Tortilla Soup.
It's not completely my fault, since the recipe neglected to point out this very important step of concocting Tortilla Soup. You see, after I put all the ingredients into the pot and brought it to a boil, the recipe informed me I was to now place the soup into the blender to puree it to a nice consistency (that sounded logical).
Do I sense some of you already chuckling at what is about to happen?
So I got out my nice big blender and poured the soup into it. Then I made sure the lid was on snug and tight...and pushed puree.
Once the kids stopped screaming and I found the Off button, it was too late. And what are the chances that I was also wearing a white sweater?
As it turns out (and as the recipe neglected to tell me), you can't put hot liquid into a blender because it will then explode like an atom bomb from the pressure. My kids moved into emergency mode and grabbed paper towels to try and remove the red kitchen massacre, while I picked hot chunks of tomatoes out of my hair.
I'll tell you what, though, even if it took longer to clean up than it actually took to make the soup (I had to start over since all the ingredients from the first pot were now decorating my kitchen cabinets), it was so worth it. Now it's one of my family's favorites and I find new ways of serving it all the time (adding fresh cilantro, avocado, fresh-baked corn tortilla strips), even at the expense of having to listen to my kids say each and every time: "Remember when the soup blew up, Mama?"
If you're looking for a little adventure in tonight's meal, recipes for Tortilla Soup abound in most cookbooks and all over the Internet. But just in case you get a defective recipe like I did, which leaves out key steps to the process, learn from my errors and cool down your masterpiece before attempting to blend!
And if you have a hilarious food story you'd like to share, I would love to hear it!
Here's wishing you a kitchen-full of laughter, experience, and great food.
Suzanna Quintana, Holistic Health Coach & Certified Foodie
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