Recipe Failure


I don’t usually share my recipe failures.  It’s embarrassing.  I’ve been cooking for most of my life.  I have a degree in food science and nutrition.  I’m supposed to know what I’m doing. 

Right.

I needed a pie pastry for the big pot pie I was planning for tonight’s dinner.  I don’t make pot pie very often, or any pies very often.  Pie pastry has way too much fat to make it a regular part of our diet.  But I had a bunch of leftovers…

There was delicious leftover stew in the freezer.  I might have just reheated the stew for dinner, but one family member doesn’t like stew, and we just had it a few weeks ago.

I had some leftover green beans from last night’s dinner, but two family members don’t like green beans.

There was also a little bit of leftover potatoes and onions and a bit of corn. 

I decided to make it all into a big pot pie, because I can get away with serving just about anything if I put it between pit crust.


I used to make wonderful pie crust before I gave up gluten.  Unfortunately, I don’t have a good gluten free pie crust recipe.  I usually rely on a favorite mix, and I didn’t have any on hand.  Since I had no interest in making a trip to the grocery store, I searched recipes and used them to create what I hoped would be a pie crust that would hold up to a stew filling and that my family would enjoy.

The pie dough was way too soft and sticky, but I had the filling ready and decided to use it anyway.  I pressed it into the 9 x 13 inch baking dish.  Since there was no way to roll it out, I dropped little pieces onto the top until it was covered.

In the oven it went.

While it baked, I was thinking about what might have gone wrong.  Just before it was time to take it out of the oven, it occurred to me that I had made a mistake in my mental math.  Oh!  No wonder the dough was so soft!

Fortunately, it was still edible, and even with the recipe mistake, I could tell that other changes would be needed to get the result I want.

I’ll share the recipe when I get it right.

Cindy

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