Kitchen Cat-astrophes

Kitchen catastrophes.  We’ve all had them.  Some of us keep them as secret as an FBI file and others of us publish them.  So today reader, you are witness to my confession.  I stand in my pantry and solemnly swear upon my 1963, twelfth printing of the “Good Housekeeping Cookbook”, to tell you the truth, and nothing but the whole truth, so help my KitchenAid standing mixer.

Making my list and checking it twice

Photo Credit Roy Guisinger

It was late winter.  A cold and cloudy day.  I wanted to make some bars for a funeral visitation dinner and remembered a new recipe I had been wanting to try.  It was a triple layer brownie.  The bottom was a crushed shortbread cookie. The middle was a gooey caramel layer and the top was a brownie type creation.

I don’t know about you, but generally, my maiden voyage with a recipe usually requires a few read-throughs and then slowly putting everything together, checking and re-checking and finally the committal to the oven.  This recipe wasn’t hard, just required more fussing than I liked.  I assembled the crust and sent it into the oven for an initial baking.  Mixed together the gooey caramel filling and created the brownie mix to be “glopped” over top of the caramel filling.  Back into the oven to bake again and then out to cool off.  However, time was running out.  So now, how to cool them off fast?  Well,  let’s put them outside on the patio table.

Things are about to get real

I did my preliminary scan of the patio looking for barn cats. There were no barn cats present.  They have never bothered a dessert before, so I felt pretty confident.  Walking back into the kitchen I put on some hot mitts and grabbed the pan of bars along with a large hot pad and carefully placed it on the patio table.

As it happens with most of us, you get busy doing something else and then you suddenly remember that you were supposed to be keeping track of time. So, I walked into the kitchen glanced at the clock turned my head to look at the patio table and what I saw made my eyes pop outside of my head.  I began to yell, frantically trying to move my feet which seemed to move in place on the kitchen floor. Finally, my feet coordinated movement with my legs and I ran from the kitchen, into the dining room and out the patio door to find a barn cat laying, LAYING ON THE TOP OF THE BARS!

Of Cats and Brownies

 Photo Credit Skeez

“GET OFF! GET OFF!” I yelled. The cat was unfazed. He sat ever so proudly, feet tucked underneath, eyes slightly open enjoying the warmth created by the deliciousness that lay underneath him.

I really couldn’t blame him though.  What better place to sit than on something so nice and warm on such a cold day?  Grabbing the pan I quickly, but gently dumped the cat off of the top of the pan of bars onto the table and ran back into the house.  Looking at the clock and the condition of the nested brownies I opted to grab a brownie box mix and get that into the oven.  I ran to the store and bought two tubs of frosting and hurried home.

Nurse Hand me my spatula

As the box mix brownies baked in the oven I carefully scanned over the nested brownies, or better yet, might as well call them “meownies”.  The surface of the bars only had a few indentations of cat paws and there was no hair to be seen. Now… how to recover from this?

Being Dutch can get you into some serious trouble sometimes.  The whole “not wanting anything to go to waste cause I spent money on it”  got the best of me.  So grabbing a large metal spatula and with the precision of a surgeon, I removed a thin top layer of brownie. “There! Good as new,” I replied.  With satisfaction, I grabbed a tub of frosting and gave the “meownies” a generous slathering, cut them up and tried one out.  The verdict… yummy!

All’s well that ends well

I had fun posting my blunder on Facebook and got lots of laughs.  Then mischief took over and I had Brad try a “meownie” before I told him what happened.  Telling Brad the story behind the “meownies” was just as much fun watching him eat a “meownie”.  Isn’t that the joy of living life?  We learn that in mistakes there is an opportunity to make the best of it, even in kitchen “cat-astrophes”. Till next time, here is to good food, good friends and a good life!

Michele Bruxvoort

Michele Bruxvoort is sure to draw you in with her delightful sense of humor and love for living life.   She enjoys reading, repurposing,  as well as remodeling the family home with her husband. Drawing from her life experience as wife, mom, and follower of Jesus, Michele brings you a very honest and real perspective on life.  When you don’t find her writing, you can find her mowing lawns, stocking shelves, taking care of her grandbaby and tackling her latest life adventure.

Wisconsin native and empty-nester, she now makes her home with her husband of 27 years in the South West Prairie plains of Minnesota.

www.mandyandmichele.com