Klutzes Unite!

I have a hard and fast rule; if it turns out to be inedible, I will gladly order pizza.  I've found this keeps me from getting too bent out of shape about any kitchen 'oops' that may occur.  I mean, honestly, there are worse things that can happen then a snafu in the kitchen.  'Cause let's face it, it's happened to the best of us.  Sugar and salt look ridiculously similar when you're in a hurry, tbsp and tsp can easily be misread at a glance and I've lost count of the times something has boiled over on my stove.

So today on "Kitchen Klutzes of America Day" , I'm embracing my inner kitchen klutz and 'celebrating' with well known foods that were created completely by accident.  I think sometimes the 'mistake' ends up being better than what you originally set out to create anyway.  For example....

Did you know the chocolate chip cookie was created by mistake?  The baker that is responsible for the original recipe added the chips to her recipe thinking they would melt during baking resulting in a chocolate cookie.  No such luck, sorry to tell her - oops!  But her 'klutziness' created one of the most beloved cookies on the planet.

Or how about the popsicle?  In 1905, eleven-year-old Frank Epperson left his soda making  equipment outside on his San Francisco porch. The next day, he found that stick with which he'd been stirring flavored powder into water had frozen upright in the mixture. In 1924, he applied for a patent for this "Epsicle," which he then redubbed "Popsicle," supposedly at the urging of his children. Thanks for your klutziness, Frank!

Did you know Worcestershire sauce was also created by a klutzy mistake?  Trying to re-create a well known Indian sauce for a colonial governor, the drugstore owners Lea and Perrins set out to create it based on the governors description and sell it in their store.  Apparently, the stench it produced was so bad they stashed it in their basement for two years. During this time, it aged and improved radically in flavor and odor and became a hit with their customers.

 (I stumbled across all this information here.  There's a list of those and about 15 other well known 'oops' foods if you're interested :) )

So embrace your oops in the kitchen (and other aspects of your life, too!  Mistakes are just bumps in the road, not the end of it) today.  Who knows what you might actually end up creating!

Strawberry Shortcake and the Beatles tribute band at the downtown pavilion tomorrow.  Until then...

Chocolate Chip Cookie Breakfast cookies (whole wheat flour, oats, banana, apple sauce egg white -  way healthier than some of those breakfast cereals...)

Kayla showing off her stick on earrings - she got them because she finished her dinner every night for a week!

Chicken stir fry in a Worcestershire sauce marinade

Root beer popsicles!

Grant and the kids went to a "Cock A Doodle Doo" Conga Line author meet and greet at the library tonight