Shipwreck Casserole
I love discovering new recipes. I am often on Pinterest, or allrecipes.com searching out the next best meal to make for my family. Nothing pleases me more, than seeing their faces light up with a delicious meal.
My dad had given me my mom’s recipe box. I am slowly going through it, but I recently came across a recipe marked ‘Christine’ at the top and labeled Shipwreck Casserole – April 2000. I have no recollection of giving this recipe to my mom or even making it at all. I showed it to my husband and he remembered it right away. “Why don’t you make that anymore?”
So, off I went to the store to purchase the ingredients necessary to make this so-called delicious recipe I once made 20 years ago.
Shipwreck Casserole:
- Ground beef and onion on bottom layer (precooked)
- Layer of sliced potatoes (precooked)
- Layer of canned pork and beans
- Layer of tomato soup on top
- Bake for one hour at 350 degrees
In the oven it went and we could soon smell the delicious aroma in the kitchen. We sat down at dinner to dive in and…. disaster. Not what we remembered. Now, it wasn’t that it wasn’t tasty, it’s just the recipe was not accurate. I followed it to at ‘T” and this shipwreck casserole was now a ‘shipwreck’ of a dinner. Crunchy potatoes. Dry ground beef. Not the tasty meal I was hoping for.
It got me thinking though. Do you ever follow all the rules or all the steps required and still fail? Or mess up? Or get shipwrecked in the process? I know I certainly have and not just with this recipe either. I think the point is really realizing your mistake is not a fail or a shipwreck, but rather a lesson in learning. What if we were perfect with each and every step we did throughout our lives? What if everything turned out exactly the way we had planned? How would your life be? Satisfied? Peaceful? Exciting? I don’t think so. I think we need glitches to occur in order to be fulfilled in our lives. Glitches make you grow. If we aren’t learning daily, then why are we ‘doing’ life?
Life is like a camera, focus on what’s important, capture the good times, and if things don’t work out, just take another shot. – Ziad K Abdelnour
We are made to dream. We are made to try out new things. We are made to fail. So, don’t fret or worry if a recipe doesn’t turn out. Don’t worry if you are trying something new and it ends up being a catastrophe. It’s in the mess, the imperfections, and the failed attempt at a new dinner that life begins. Life begins when you learn.
What did I learn from my failed recipe? Well, I vaguely remember making it 20 years ago so I need to change it up a bit to fit our current eating habits – our tastes have changed. Cook it a bit longer or at a bit higher temperature. Will this stop me from trying it again? No. Will it stop me from searching out new recipes to try for my family? Absolutely not. If I stopped trying to do the things I am passionate about (I do love to cook), then what would my life become? Boring.
So, get out there. Try a new recipe. Try Shipwreck (just let me know if it turns out for you). I bet if you at least try something new – the rewards will be huge. For my ‘Shipwreck’ of a dinner – the reward was a kitchen full of laughter. Laughter is the recipe for life. Just like you search out and find new recipes to fill your bellies, search out and find new situations to have laughter fill your life.
Have you had recipe failures? If so, tell me about them. I’d love to hear.
