Cooking Catastrophe!

     Okay. Do you remember when I said I love cooking and baking, but things never ever EVER turn out how they are supposed to look? 
     I beat the system! That's right food, you aren't the boss of me! I found TWO things to make, and here is the best part. It absolutely positively does NOT matter how they look! What? Jackpot!


Messy Item #1: Sloppy Joes
Messy Item #2: Monkey Bread (don't know what this is? Google it, and try not to drool too much.)


     I mean first of all, Sloppy Joes? Genius! Why I never thought to attempt this before is beyond me. I don't really know how you can mess up the presentation of a Sloppy Joe. I mean the whole idea is the messier the better right? There is no way I could mess this up, well at least how it looks. I am sure there are tons of ways I could mess it up taste wise, but lets not get into that.

     I got my Sloppy Joe recipe here. I usually find some obscure fabulous food blog for my recipes, but I was too lazy to search one down for this particular day. But, AllRecipes is a pretty cool website with an endless supply of recipes. 
     So I started cooking away, and Nick being the expert chef that he is, couldn't stay out of the kitchen for more than five minutes. Probably because it was taking me twenty minutes to chop an onion, which I apparently was doing "the hard way". Um, I didn't know there was an easy way to chop an onion? Can somebody please inform me of the proper onion chopping procedure?

     So we put all the yummy ingredients, including brown sugar(random?), into our pan and sizzled the makings of the Sloppiest of all the Joes. We also had criss-cut fries, which were from a bag. (so sue me.)

     Next I was on to my next messy task of making Monkey Bread. My Papa used to make this when we were little and it was TO DIE FOR. He is one of the only men I know who loves to be in the kitchen and bake. And he has a bigger sweet tooth then me, which is quite hard to believe. This Monkey Bread takes me back to my childhood, sitting at the counter in Mimi and Papa's kitchen head perched in hands, waiting for the bread to be done! Isn't it amazing how something so simple can bring back so many great memories? 
    I knew expecting it to be that good would be beyond my skill set. Except, in my household we called it "Pull-apart bread", which doesn't exactly roll of the tongue but that's okay. 

     Unfortunately, I don't have that old-school recipe so I had to hunt down a good one. I found the perfect and easy recipe here at this cute little blog Gimme Some Oven. And I know that I said I was eating healthier and working out more, but I have been wanting to make this beauty for so long. I couldn't pass it up. But, I did go to the gym yesterday so that counts for something!

     At this point, I was about 2/3 of the way done when (of course) disaster struck. I was happy and smiling going over the recipe to make sure I did everything right. Then, I screeched in horror! I forgot the cinnamon! I forgot the CINNAMON in a recipe for CINNAMON Monkey bread!!!!!!!!!! 
     The bread had already been in the oven for five minutes, so I yanked it out immediately and drenched it in cinnamon. Then...and here is the real shocker...I started to cry. (Pause for shock and surprise) I cried to Nick that "I ruined everything!" and "that I can never do anything right". He held me in his arms, smiling a little bit because he knew everything would be okay. 
     He very calmly said to me "Babe, it is still going to be good. Anything dipped in butter and rolled in Sugar and brown sugar is going to be good!". Then he went on to say one of our inside jokes that he knows I can't NOT laugh at (dang you!). And I came back down to normal sanity levels once again. 
     When the bread was done baking, I plopped it out of the oven and flipped it over to drench the other side (and the middle, and the outsides) with cinnamon. I decided to take a deep breath and move on from my mistake, not completely satisfied that it would be good still. 
     The I made homemade cream-cheese icing to go on top.....um yeah I could eat a gallon of this on its own.

     As much as I KNOW it would have been better with each individual piece coated in cinnamon, it turned out kind of amazing. Nick was right (don't tell him I said that), anything drenched in butter and sugars is definitely more than alright.