Monday, October 4, 2010

Houston, We Have a Problem

The day before D's birthday in August, I set my ovens to clean and then went to bed. Only it didn't go down quite like that. I layed down, got comfy and then the beeping started. The annoying, extremely loud beeping that was caused by my ovens. So, I got up and went to the kitchen to "cancel" the cleaning process. The only problem with that is that it didn't stop the beeping. So, I cancelled and then hit "clean" again and the beeping stopped and I returned to bed.

If ever it was that easy!

Because I no sooner got back in bed and got comfy that the beeping started again. Repeat this process one more time (because Heaven forbid I take the hint) and then I figured out that if I hit the "timer" button to turn the timer on, but didn't actually put in a time - the beeping would stop.

The only problem is that the ovens wouldn't unlock or work. That seems to be a problem when you have hubby's birthday the next day and he is expecting a homemade red velvet birthday cake. I wound up having to get my little sister to make him a cake. The same little sister that I love and adore but has never made a cake from scratch. It wound up being very good, other than the icing situation, which is a whole other story!

Anyhow - we had two ovens that we couldn't get to work, or unlock for that matter. I had every intention of calling the appliance place in town but then I got busy and put it off and Heaven forbid D make those kinds of calls. So, it was broken for a week, and then another and well then that turned into a month and then it just went on until this week - I finally got around to calling (it only took me 8 weeks). And I just want to say, for the record, it had nothing to do with the fact that it was hot and I didn't want to cook and no working ovens would make a good excuse for that. Nothing to do with that, at all. So, yesterday - the nice men at the appliance shop came by to take a look and decided that they couldn't fix it at my house - they needed to take them in to look at them.

So guess what I'm looking at, my friends?

I don't know how much longer I can pull off this not cooking thing, no ovens or not. D is starting to get a little irritable. It was a little cooler this week so my crockpot made an appearance but I don't always plan enough in advance for that to be an option. Anyone have any good recipes for anything other than pasta to cook on the stove? Happy Cooking (I feel for ya!)

5 comments:

Heather said...

I have an easy crockpot recipe that you can do a variety with. Take 2lbs of frozen or defrosted chicken and 2 cups of salsa and put it in your crockpot on low all day. I originally served the chicken over brown rice. By the end of the week, we were reheating it and putting it in tortillas for soft tacos.

Ephram likes to make stir fry for himself on the stove and cooks rice to go with it. Since the weather is getting cooler you could do gumbo. I have a few super simple recipes that don't require much preparation or an oven. Let me know if you are interested because I have two different recipes.

Heather said...

Here's one of the recipes for Gumbo that I have. This was sent to me by my WW leader in an email. Sorry if the spacing is off.

15 Minute Chicken Gumbo 4 POINTS per serving/makes 4 servings



· 1 sprays cooking spray

· 1 package frozen gumbo-style vegetables, 16 oz, a mixture of okra, peppers and onions

· 29 oz canned diced tomatoes, with mild chiles

· 12 oz refrigerated grilled chicken breast fillet, cubed, about 3 cups

· 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour

· 1 tsp Creole seasoning

· Coat a large skillet with nonstick cooking spray. Add vegetables and sauté over high heat, stirring frequently, for 2 minutes. Stir in flour and cook 1 minute more.

· Stir in tomatoes, chicken and Creole seasoning. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until hot, about 6 minutes. Yields about 1 1/2 cups per serving.

You could substitute 24 oz of shrimp for the chicken and keep the POINT value the same. I know this isn’t like real gumbo but it’s quick, easy and low in POINTS!

Amanda said...

Morgan, I am sooo sorry!! I wish I had some recipes to help, but you are where I get most of mine!! I hope they get fixed quick!!

Heather said...

I keep thinking of you as I'm cleaning the house and working on my homework. If you aren't going to have your ovens for awhile, I can lend you cookbooks I have on microwave cooking. I made a delicious meatloaf in the microwave when I lived at SHSU. Let me know if you are interested in any of the recipes or the cookbooks.

Morgan said...

Heather, you are too sweet. Thank you. D made gumbo last night and that will last us 2 or 3 more nights and I had 2 big containers of it to freeze (I think he thinks we have a football team to feed or something). I'm definitely going to try the chicken and salsa. Since the weather got cooler, I have my crock pot out and am going to start putting it to use. I haven't heard back about the ovens, so I'm not sure how long they will be gone. Hopefully, not long. I'm in the mood to make some pumpkin bread!