I hope you like to have fun in the kitchen and experiment.  Not every experiment turns out well, but sometimes what starts out as a mistake or a glitch actually creates a new favorite.

I’ll start with the story of a mistake that I can’t forget. There was time in high school Home-Ec class when we were to make hot chocolate.  I wanted to be cool by bringing in chocolate chip cookie dough for each group to make freshly baked chocolate chip cookies and enjoy them with their hot chocolate.  The teacher OK’d my plan.  When I set out to make the cookie dough at home, half the chocolate chips were gone.   (My siblings all denied eating them.)  So I made half a batch of cookie dough and brought it to class. Each team started baking their cookies.  Soon all were calling for the teacher because the cookies were melting all over the pans.  Oops.  I forgot to cut the butter in half.  So much for me ever trying to be cool.  But that taught me that if I want to half, double or triple a recipe, I write the new quantities in the margin so I don’t forget.  This lesson has served me well over the many years since the day my cookies melted to my embarrassment.  (Note that on Vivisimo, you can shortcut the process.  Adjust the number of servings on your recipe.  The amounts of the ingredients will automatically adjust on the screen for your number of servings.)

Here are some mistakes and glitches that led to discoveries I use again and again.

Tortellini Soup.  When I was a busy mom balancing career, home and kids’ activities, and still trying to eat well, one of my go-to dinners was a quick chicken soup.  I put two boxes of chicken broth in a pan.  While that was heating, I chopped up veggies that take longer to cook, such as carrots and potatoes, and threw them in the pan.  While they were cooking, I chopped veggies that take less time to cook, such as broccoli and green beans.  Then I added veggies that required no work at all—frozen peas and frozen corn.  I also added cooked chicken, and it was dinner.   One day I started on this routine and realized I had only one box of chicken broth.  Oops.  That wasn’t going to be enough for the family.  In a pinch, I mixed the box of chicken broth with a jar of tomato and basil pasta sauce.  In a flash, I had a delicious base for a soup.  Thanks to that mistake, I had a new favorite soup base. I used this base many times, and I drew on this base to create the Easy Tortellini Soup recipe linked to this post.

Caramel Corn.  Caramel corn is one of my go-to treats for parties and other special occasions.  It’s something that can be made ahead, people love it, and it makes a great gift.  One day I wanted to make some caramel corn for my friend after her surgery, but then I remembered that my main oven was broken and waiting for a part.  Only my very small oven was working. The recipe involves three sheet pans of caramel corn baking in the oven, and I had room for only one.  Even though I had learned never to mess with quantities on anything caramel, I tried making 1/3 batch of the caramel corn. It turned out great.  It was much less fuss than the full batch and much easier to clean up.  Now I have an easier version of the caramel corn that I can make any time.  The full batch caramel corn recipe is linked to this blog, and there are times when you will want the full batch. You have options, though. You can adjust the number of servings to five. The ingredient quantities will automatically update on your screen for a single sheet pan of caramel corn. 

A new angle on the Moroccan Stew.  I previously posted a recipe for Moroccan Stew (reattached to this post). I originally made the recipe many times without adding avocado.  One day when I was making the stew, I had an avocado that was heading past ripe, and rather than let it go to waste, I used it as a garnish on top of the stew.  It was such a great combination, that I now consider the avocado part of the Moroccan Stew recipe.

In the end, I say, please experiment in the kitchen.  You win some and lose some, and the winning ideas are the ones you will use again and again.