Broccoli Cheese Soup “Disaster”
I am not much of a cook. My mum has never enjoyed cooking, but did it for us kids and our nutrition. What a sweet mumsie! However, she never took the time to teach us girls how to cook (my guess is because she wanted to get it done and over with).
I didn’t realize how essential being able to cook was until I moved into my first apartment. Eating out for each meal was out of the question (due to lack of finances and how awful it can make a person feel) and making PB and J or macaroni every day quickly becomes boring. It essentially came down to the fact that I would be forced to learn how to cook if I wanted to eat quality, healthy food.
Over the past several months, I have taken on more and more challenges within the kitchen. I would like to say that I have exponentially become a better chef with each meal, but this is not always the case. One such exploit happened last night.
This is what the soup is supposed to look like...
My boyfriend’s diet consists of two foods: bread and cheese. So he turned to me the other day and said, “You know what would be awesome? If you made some homemade broccoli cheese soup.” I immediately thought, “Ugh…I hate cooking, but I suppose I can be nice today.” Ha. So I told him “You look up the recipe, I’ll make the food.” After all, it was just soup. How difficult could it be?
I came home from the grocery store with optimism and put the pot on the stove. My confidence grew as I began throwing everything together. It appeared to be going smoothly. That is, until I realized I hadn’t allowed the cheese to melt enough before adding the next ingredient…
As soon as I realized that the chunks of stringy cheese were not breaking up, I began to panic. What had I done wrong? Was the recipe going to fix itself if I gave it time? I stirred for about 20 minutes, hoping for the best. The best never seemed to come. I apologized to my boyfriend and said “I think it’s a disaster. I should just give up,” but he encouraged me to finish the soup and gave me ideas on how to fix it.
As if it couldn’t get worse, as I put in the last ingredient to thicken it up, I didn’t realize that I should have added it a little at a time. If I had, I could have made it to the true consistency. Instead, I threw it all in and the soup immediately turned into a porridge-like consistency. What had I done?!
...this is how mine came out.
As I stirred the pot, I said, “Hunny…I think I messed up…Ugh, I’m done!” and walked away from the stove (I’m a little bit sensitive, if you couldn’t tell). He got up to take a look at the disaster I had created and, with a semi-disgusted but hopeful look, he told me he was sure it would be good and not to worry. He then took a bowl out of the cupboard and piled a heaping spoonful into it.
One bite and he looked up. I was sure I was going to find a look of hidden disgust behind his smile. Instead, to my surprise, he told me that it was delicious and possibly better than what the original recipe could have been. I was thoroughly doubtful, so I took a bite and to my delight, it really wasn’t half bad!
Now, I’m sure a lot of you out there are pretty decent cooks and perhaps laugh when you read this. But for those of you who may need a cooking lesson or two like me, the moral of the story is keep the confidence! You are capable of making a mean meatloaf. It may just take some practice. And even if a recipe does looks disastrous, don’t automatically give up. It could end up being far better than the original recipe!
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