This Is When I Wish For Takeout

I consider myself a pretty good cook. Maybe even an aspiring chef. But on nights like this, I find myself just wanting to chuck my desire to cook a delicious, comforting homemade meal out the window and just go pick up a Hot n' Ready Little Caesar's pizza instead. I had found a lovely Italian recipe that my friend posted on her blog for The Ultimate Spaghetti and Meatballs Dinner, which she took from Rachael Ray. I've been wanting to make this for weeks, and I finally had the opportunity tonight. Ugh, so this is how my dinner tonight went down.

4:30 pm- Wonder if I should start dinner. Nah, wait another half hour. Shouldn't take more than 45 minutes or so to make spaghetti and meatballs, right?

5:15- Jake's home...hungry and wanting dinner soon, I'm sure. I take my trusty laptop to the kitchen and pull up the recipe online to get started. Start following the steps, starting with #1: boil water. Next step is saute garlic and onions, after which add tomatos and tomato sauce and seasonings. Done. Simmering. Don't like the taste....tastes too sweet, like sugary tomatoes. Water boiled a long time ago, but wasn't ready to cook noodles so I turned it off. That's a dumb step. Who can make sauce and meatballs in the time it takes to boil water?

5:30- I realize the ground beef that I need in order to make meatballs is frozen solid. I had bought 2 pounds, divided it in half chunks, and put them in a freezer safe ziploc bag. Now all 2 lbs were frozen together (good thinking, Heather) and I needed 1 lb of soft meat to make meatballs.

5:45- After trying to break apart the 2 meat blocks (ugh, I hate working with meat), I stick both on a plate and defrost for like 15 minutes, checking every couple minutes and trying to pry apart so that the other pound doesn't fully defrost. Have to wash hands after getting meat goo on them after every check. Finally they're thawed and swimming in a pool of red liquid. Sick.

6:00- Debating whether I can refreeze the second pound of meat, or just stick it in the fridge and use tomorrow. What is the rule about freezing and thawing and using meat? I can't remember. Decided I'd better cook both pounds now. I get out my other big skillet, chop up an onion, and brown the other pound of meat with the onion to use in Tator Tot casserole tomorrow. Old food crumbs smoking and turning red under the rarely used burner. I quickly go over in my mind whether it's baking powder or baking soda...which one do I pour over a fire in the kitchen?? Can never remember. Vent fan going while I stick a fork under the burner to fish out the possible fire starters. Knock spatula onto the floor and splash tomato sauce all over.

6:15- Can finally start meatballs now. I mix all the meat, breadcrumbs, egg, yada yada together, and form into lovely meatballs. Turn the burner on with back of gooey hand to start boiling water again.

Here's my little cooking nook, which doesn't look too bad in this pic of my meatball extravaganza, but I was feeling slightly frazzled and everything seems cluttered and overwhelming.

6:30- The recipe says to drop meatballs into simmering sauce. The raw meat goes directly into the pool of sauce and supposedly cooks in a matter of minutes while the noodles cook. I'm supposed to have beef boullion, which I have but it's like 2 years expired, so I use chicken boullion for the pasta water and hurriedly cook the noodles while Jake and Cami sit at the table getting impatient.

6:40- Wondering if meatballs are actually cooked. They LOOK brown inside, but are still pretty soft and who the heck knows? Let the sauce simmer a few more minutes just in case.

6:45- Finally sit down to eat, and I actually said in our prayer that I hoped we wouldn't get sick from raw meatballs. I told Jake, "Well, they eat raw hamburger in England, right?" Have a couple minutes to half-enjoy my dumb slaved over meatball meal. Waiting for Jake to compliment.
6:55- Jake has to leave for Scouts. Said it was good. It's alright to me. I finish my plate and look at this whole skillet full of meatball sauce and wonder what the heck I'm going to do with it all. Hoping I don't get sick tonight.
It's almost 10 and I'm feeling fine, but am not planning on trying out a new recipe for at LEAST a week or so. I need some time. Sometimes I love the kitchen, and I love trying new recipes, like the Super Ranchero soup I made for dinner last night, and I love eating the outcome. But after a night like tonight...ugh, just order me some pizza.