This picture is what remained after I salvaged what I could... and ate all the onions!
Here is one of my favorite dishes of ALL time! Not only do I love baked onions, carrots and potatoes, but the DISH they were baked in was one of my favorite! It was a large 10″ x 15″ glass casserole pan!
I pulled the hot glass pan out of the oven and set it up on top of the glass stove top to cool. I left to do some work. Soon I start to smell that ominous burning coming from the kitchen.
I did not realize that the burner I had set the pan on was turned up to high and was burning my dinner in the glass pan. Franticly I pulled my casserole dish from the hot burner to let it cool, for real this time. I turned my back and all at once from the corner of my eye I can both see and hear a blood curdling crackling. As goosbumps rush down my spine I turn around truly frightened! My glass dish had exploded! Glass shards had flown in every direction! I was stunned. Children came running. Chaos ensued.
Have you ever had one of those moments when you don’t know what to do next? All I could do is work my way in from the outer ring of glass- hollering to the children to stay out! By and by the glass got swept up. I worked my way in to the epicenter of dinner itself. Amazingly, the glass had flown in every direction and left my dinner practically undisturbed. (not counting the bottom layer which was black from the hot burner and filled with larger chunks of glass.)
MOREOVER, the onions I had used were absolutely divine- I was CRUSHED to think I’d lost them. Organic baby sweet whole onions smaller than the size of a ping pong ball- melt in your mouth sweet! So after rinsing off I slipped them out of the outer layer and devoured them one by one. Truly a treat worth salvaging!
This is one of those nights my hubby was glad I ruined dinner. This is one of the meals I LOVE! He doesn’t…. so he was glad for such a good excuse to order pizza. Luckily, I had made a second, smaller pan- and I was still able to eat my dinner!
Recipe for disaster:
1 easily distracted mother
1 hot casserole dish coming from the oven
1 very hot burner turned on high
After pulling hot dish from the oven, let casserole dish contents burn to a nice black on top of the hot burner.
Allow frantic, easily distracted mother to place burning hot casserole dish onto a very cold glass stove top. Be sure mother has moved from glass trajectory area.
Watch as Mom jumps out of her skin when the obviously cold stove changes the temperature of the boiling hot pan so quickly it explodes. Silently Laugh and be glad it was her and not you!
Be jealous as she devours her unbelievably savory sweet onions.
Learn from her mistakes.
Lesson #1: Hot pans and cold surfaces do not mix.
Lesson # 2: Organic baby sweet onions can survive just about anything and are still delicious!
Recipe for amazing onions
Preheat oven to 350* F
1 pound peeled, organic baby sweet onions, leave whole
Place onions in a baking dish… diced potatoes and carrots (or other veggies) are optional and add bulk to make a complete meal.
Drizzle onions (and other veggies) with olive oil
Sprinkle generously with Traci’s Vegetable Seasoning Powder
Add a dash of salt
Use about 1 1/2 T. crushed thyme spread evenly to cover all the veggies
Alternately, all the above ingredients could be whisked together and then basted onto the veggies.
If using other veggies, add 1/4 – 1/2 cup water to the bottom of the pan.
If baking only onions: check after 30-45 minutes, depending on how densely they are packed
For an entire casserole of veggies (including the denser veggies like potatoes and carrots) check for done-ness after 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Allow to cool ON A WIRE RACK for a few minutes before serving.
One of my favorite dipping sauces is Traci’s Honey Mustard. Check out our video page to learn how to make it!
Good luck baking! I hope you have learned a few things from my own Recipe for Disaster and I hope it saves you future disasters of your own!
=) Linda
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