Wednesday, January 28, 2009

unless by "busy mom" they mean 'not too busy that you can't handle making two meals'

Alright, I know I'm a little "post-happy" right now, but hey, you're the ones checking it. :)

I am so mad. This afternoon I tried to bust my butt to get supper started because it was a crock pot meal, and then my afternoon could be a little more relaxed. And we have to leave for Kids Club tonight, which is always a rush.

So I started the "Busy Mom Lasagna" by browning the hamburger and chopping the onions. And sure enough, I slice into my finger with my Cutco knife. (I know I'm not a big spender on things, but if you're going to buy expensive knives, buy Cutco. They make the dreaded hours in the kitchen much less dreadful. But watch out, they are FREAKY sharp.)

But I keep a-going. This stuff is supposed to sit for SIX hours, so I need to hurry....

I knew that I'd have to cook the hamburger. I don't know much about cooking, but I know that usually when you use a crock pot, the meat has to be cooked first. But I DIDN'T know that I'd have to cook the WHOLE freaking meal and THEN put it in the crock pot. I had to add the sauce, the sour cream, the cream cheese, all the stuff that I thought I'd just be dumping in the crock pot. and making sure it is well mixed. whatever. Okay, so I waste my time making the sauce.

Then...I realize why it's called busy mom lasagna. It's because I didn't have to take the 12-14 minutes to cook the noodles! I just put the egg noodles in the crock pot and let them BURN for SIX hours, instead of just freaking cooking them.

Yes, they just burned. It was supposed to go noodles, sauce, cheese, noodles, sauce, cheese, etc. til it was gone.

And what we ended up with was BURNT crap, mush, melted cheese, all surrounded by more BURNT crap. So I plop some of that gruel onto our plates and listen as my dear, wonderful husband crunches through it. He even ate the burnt crap.

So, busy moms, listen up. Next time, just cook the egg noodles, then add the sauce and cheese, and carry on with your busy lives.

I even drew a "thumbs down" by this recipe. I'm too "busy" for six hour burnt crap.

and now we're gonna be late for Kids Club anyway because I was so mad i had to write about it. ugh.

2 comments:

Amanda said...

Sad, Andrea! I love my crockpot because it does usually cut down on time spent in the kitchen, but casserole-y type stuff is kind of hard because of the whole cooking it all before hand stuff. However, I do cook meat in the crockpot -- pork loin or chicken breasts or thighs work really well in there. You just have to make sure you have a little water or chicken/veggie stock for the meat to kind of braise in (just a bit, 1/2 inch or so depending on how much meat.) 4 hours on high and you've got some great stuff! It's magic! You can put it in and leave it there and come back and it's all done for you...

Corinne Doughan said...

I just made lasagna in the crockpot on Sunday. Mine was a fairly simple recipe ... I did have to cook the meat and add sauce, etc. My recipe does not call for cooking the noodles as well. HOWEVER, I've found that my crockpot NEVER takes as much time as the recipe calls for. I think it was supposed to cook for 5 -6 hours, but mine was done in 4. Maybe that would help?

I love my crockpot btw ... I've even got to the point where I can be creative and come up with my own recipes. I'll have to send you one that I did with chicken, potatoes and veggies the other day. It had NO precooking either! :)