Cereal Killer

Holiday food disasters? Uh... Maybe you're talking to the wrong girl!

Only since SweetPea and I have been together have I taken on the holiday cooking. Most of the time it's just for us, but there have been a couple of years where there have been hapless bystanders involved.

Thanksgiving is the biggie. As I've mentioned before, it was grammy's holiday, and so I attempt to recreate her recipes as closely as possible. As a vegetarian. With a couple of changes, viola! The Thanksgiving show is on the road and ready to satisfy omnivores and herbivores alike.

A couple of years ago, we had a minor pre-Thanksgiving issue. We had bought a couple of types of bagged cereals for the kids (that would be MonkeyDo, MonkeySee and SweetPea), and SweetPea had decided to store them in the oven.

Do y'all see where this is going?

A couple of nights before the big dinner, we decided to bake something for dinner. So, of course, I turned on the oven to start preheating it.

No. No, I didn't check inside the oven. Are you surprised? Uh, yeah, I didn't think you would be.

Needless to say, the inside of the oven was charred and black and covered in melted, scorched and blackened plastic.

Awesome!

On the plus side, this forced our hand and the oven got what was probably the first thorough cleaning since SweetPea bought the house.

Y'all. I had no idea the oven's interior was that color.

We did not end up with a "check oven" sign because of this. I have, however, become obsessive about checking ovens before turning them on. Which, I guess, is a good thing.