OOPS!, WHAT THE HECK! AND OH, WELL...

I cooked...not all that well, but I did cook. This is a recipe that Cookbook Junkie wrote about on her blog sometime back in January, I think it was - Green Bean Artichoke Bake. It looked and sounded good, and her write-up on it was interesting as always. So I printed out the recipe and finally got around to making it last night. The only thing I did wrong, was that after I poured the two bags of french cut green beans, straight from the freezer into the casserole to be mixed with everything else, I noticed the recipe said they should be thawed first. Oops! Oh, well... I went ahead and just figured it would be alright. ...Um, which is one clue as to why my cooking is not exactly stellar... But, anyway, the dish was really, really good, if you can overlook the fact that the green beans were markedly underdone. I'll definately be making this again... and next time I hope to remember to get those frozen bags out of the freezer well in advance, so they can thaw.

To go with that, I made meatloaf, which I had been hungry for, for awhile. It was okay. I didn't have bread to crumble into the mixture, (well, I did have the fresh, new loaf of bakery sourdough bread, but didn't want to give that up) or any leftover veggies to include, so I substituted dry oatmeal. Then I saw the bag of the last bits of crumbled Fritoes in the cabinet and thought, "What the heck." and tossed them in too. "What the heck."... yeah, that is another reason for my questionable cooking skills. Other additions were garlic, tomato sauce and chopped onion.

It turned out okay, although a little on the dull side. Darn! I forgot egg to bind the whole thing into a cohesive loaf! I just remembered that now, as I am typing this. Oh, well... And it was underdone, too. The middle was somewhat... raw. So we ate around the ends and edges and I put the rest back into the oven....and left it until it was um...VERY well done. But it is not burnt black, so I am looking forward to a meatloaf sandwich for lunch today.