Sunday, May 1, 2011

Kitchen Bloopers: Apple Cider vs. Apple Cider Vinegar

You would think one would know the difference between the two, right? Apple Cider is a deliciously sweet drink and apple cider vinegar is bitter and tart. How could anyone mistake the two?

Yesterday, I carefully made my grocery list - yogurt, sandwich meat, cheese, chicken sausage, ground turkey, butternut squash, "apple cider," etc. With Keegan in the Baby Born (a must-have for grocery shopping with two!), Ashlyn in the shopping cart and my list in hand, we quickly dashed the aisles. It took just under 40 minutes. I was thrilled we had NO tears, no potty breaks and I managed to remember everything, including the apple cider!

As I was making our dinner (Cider-Glazed Chicken Sausages with Butternut Squash), I didn't think twice when the recipe read 3 cups of apple cider. I dumped the vinegar in liberally and waited for the dish to boil. The recipe, from this month's Everyday Food magazine, mentioned the cider would get syrupy. So, I waited and waited and it never happened. Finally, I decided it was just time to eat - Ashlyn was hungry! The dish was paired with a fabulous butternut squash mash (a perfect entree for a baby, I might add). We gobbled it up. Even though Ashlyn made numerous bitter faces and drank a lot (I mean, a lot) of milk, I still hadn't realized I goofed.

Check out her facial expression when she rubs her mouth. She really wanted a piece of Easter candy!

It was when I sat down to write this post about how tasty the mash was that I chuckled to myself! Ashlyn was honest and told me she didn't like it, but she knows the rules: if you don't eat dinner, you don't get dessert. My sister on the other hand, said it was "pretty good and the mash cut the tart and bitter taste." Shawn had to eat a peanut butter and honey sandwich after dinner to "get rid of the bitter taste."

This apple cider mistake was certainly a first for me! I will absolutely try this recipe again as long as I have apple cider in my refrigerator. It was super easy, fast and pretty healthy.

What are some of your favorite kitchen and recipe bloopers?