Cooking 101

Maybe the title of this post should be "Shopping 101" instead of "Cooking 101".  We all know I suck at both of them!

On Thursdays after work, I do my weekly grocery shopping then head to my Weight Watchers meeting.  Part of healthy eating would be really good planning. I still suck at meal planning.  Oh, I make plans I guess it's the follow through that I sometimes suck at.

I do try.  I look around at what's on sale this week, try to figure out if it is something I can make after work for dinner, if both of the guys will EAT it, then I try to plan meals around it.

This past Thursday I was at Sam's Club.  I remember looking at the packages of  portabella mushrooms.  There were four of five huge mushroom tops in each package.  I know I handled about every package they had in the case and thought I picked one out.  I have been thinking of those portabella mushrooms ever since Thursday.  The meal I planned around them was the mushrooms were to be grilled in the George Foreman grill with a little olive oil.  I had cut up some sweet potatoes for baked sweet potato fries and I was sauteing some onions as well.  (Hey they so GO with the mushrooms, right??) I was going to call this dinner.

I like to prep everything ahead of time so that at the proper time, I just turn the frying pan on and turn on the George Foreman grill and dinner is ready in 10 minutes.  Tonight, the sweet potatoes were cut, seasoned and in the oven.  I had all of my onions cut up and seasoned, ready to be put into the frying pan. Last up was to prep the mushrooms then I could sit and relax for awhile before finishing everything up.  That was the plan.  So much for a good plan!

I couldn't find the damn mushroom ANYwhere.  They were NOT in the fridge.  I looked in the cupboard, they were not in there.  I even looked in both freezers.  No portabellas.  Ron is usually really good when I bring a car load of groceries home, he puts everything away while I eat my late dinner.  I asked Ron and he did NOT remember unpacking any portabellas.  WTF!  What was I supposed to do for dinner?

I don't change courses on the fly very well.  I had NO clue what the heck to do with my sauteed onions and sweet potato fries.  Ron and I went through the freezer but couldn't agree on what our plan B should be.  So I defrosted some apple sausage and some White Bass fresh caught by Ron last weekend.

I ate the sausage, Ron had the White Bass.  It wasn't grilled portabella mushrooms but I guess it was ok.

Once I come home and log my receipts into my checkbook, I throw the receipt out.  I wish I could look at it to see if I even BOUGHT the mushrooms.  We were in my car today and it doesn't smell, so I know the mushrooms aren't in there.  I could have left them in the cart at Sam's Club or I could have put them all back in the case and not bought any.  So much for my planned dinner.

Cooking 101.  Instead of offering classes on that topic perhaps I should sign up to TAKE a class.  Hopefully, Shopping 101 goes with it.