Sometimes Kitchen Disaster Strikes

I have not had very good luck in the kitchen lately.  Everything I make turns out very poorly from yogurt to birthday cake and I am getting pretty discouraged.  When practicing for Munchkie's bday cake the initial trial run was horrible.  The outside was crispy and close to burnt while the inside was a formed uncooked dough.  Then when it came time to make the actual cakes for her party they all got burnt and I had to cut them all up to get the burnt pieces off.

Last night my inlaws were here and when everyone had gone to bed I realized that we had literally nothing for breakfast.  I had two overly ripe bananas and so decided to make banana bread for breakfast.  First I took it out once the toothpick came clean and when I went to get it out of the pan liquid batter came out.  Neat.  So I put it back in the pan and cooked it for another half an hour.  By this point in time everyone had been asleep for hours before me.  When we woke up, I put Munchkie in her high chair.  Got her all psyched up for bo-non-a bread.  Cut into the bread.  Solidified dough.  Literally dough.  

So then I cut off a couple pieces and put them in the toaster oven at 350 degrees for 10 minutes in the hopes that it would cook.  Nope.  Basically just firmer dough with burnt edges.  Still not edible.  So then I had to go wake Chris up and send him to go get bagels for breakfast, which is what I was trying to avoid by staying up making banana bread.

So my lesson learned.  When baking, don't mess with the chemistry because I almost failed chemistry in both high school and college.  I was so tired that I made some mistakes and tried to mess with the chemistry of baking.  I only had two bananas and the recipe called for 3 1/2 so I added two chopped pears.  I then added an extra 1/3 cup flour because it was easier to put 2 cups in instead of 1 2/3 cups.  Then I dumped in baking powder when it was supposed to be baking soda.  Bad decisions.  It was supposed to be amazing banana bread.  If someone wants to make Flour's Famous Banana Bread and let me know how it goes when the recipe is followed I would appreciate it.

I finally was able to make something successfully tonight and it gave me hope that maybe I am not a kitchen failure.  We had bought a pound of ground buffalo a while back and defrosted it yesterday so I tried to think of something to make with it.  Much to Munchkie's Daddy's chagrin I decided to make meatloaf.  I don't know that I've ever had meatloaf and I've definitely not had buffalo so I did a quick search to find a recipe.  I looked at it, then decided to do my own thing.  I hate ketchup and that was definitely not going in or on anything I was going to be eating.  This is my recipe and it turned out delicious.  We both really liked it.

Hidden Veggie Buffalo Meatloaf

1 pound ground buffalo
1 bell pepper (not green, too strong of a flavor)
1 cup chopped carrots
1/4 onion
2 egg whites
1/3 cup bread crumbs (I crunched up 8 crackers)
1 teaspoon dried basil
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
3 cloves garlic
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 cup shredded chedder cheese
1/3 cup marinara sauce

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Put bell pepper, carrots, and onion in a food processor.  Puree if you're like us and don't like chunks of veggies or just chop up if you don't care.
3. Once chopped add basil, garlic, onion powder and Worcestershire sauce and food process until mixed.
4. In a large bowl mix together puree mix, ground buffalo, egg whites, bread crumbs and cheese.
5. Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray/oil.
6. Press mixture into loaf pan and then pour marinara sauce over the top.
7. Cook for 1 hour or until center of meat is 160 degrees.
8. Let sit for 10 minutes before cutting.

And here comes my favorite part of recipes.  The nutrition information if there are 6 servings.
Calories- 178
Fat 4.9g
Cholesterol- 56mg
Sodium- 188mg
Carbohydrates 7.4g
Fiber 1.2g
Protein 24.9g