Cooking 101

Have I used that title before?

The other day I volunteered to help take a meal to a teacher who had major surgery. I offered to make dessert. I kept wondering when I was going to be told the date we'd take a meal so I could go shopping.

One of my friends called me and said, "We're taking the meal tomorrow. Do you want to drive over together?"

Short notice (not her fault), but luckily I had all the ingredients on hand for an oatmeal cake. I had no clue what types of dessert this teacher liked, but oatmeal cake is one of my favorites. The cake is "from scratch" but easy and very moist. The other thing I like so much about the cake is that it has an easy but yummy coconut icing (icing is pushing it, but I don't know what else to call it. Glaze, maybe?).

Even though this is one of my favorite desserts, I don't make it a lot. You make the cake in a 13x9 inch pan. Since Paul doesn't love it (he's a chocoholic), I'm left eating it by myself so a lot of it goes to waste.

While I was making it, I kept finding myself scheming up ways to keep some of it for myself. But I didn't have two square pans (one to keep and one to share). I just wanted one piece.... I was so tempted, and I told Paul what my thoughts were. He was sane enough to talk me out of it. Thankfully, the angel on my shoulder (Paul) beat out the devil on my shoulder.

As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, you're supposed to pour the glaze over it and then put it under the broiler. There are only 3 ingredients in the glaze - coconut, butter, and evaporated milk.

While it was cooking under the broiler, I poured out the rest of the evaporated milk because I knew I didn't need it for anything. As I was pouring it out, I thought it looked a little dark. I checked the can for a date. It said " 14 Oct 06" Did that mean it expired in 2006 or on Oct 6, 2014? I smelled the empty can, and it did have a sour smell (but it wasn't chunky pouring out of the can). I had Paul check it too, and he didn't know what to do.

I pulled the cake out of the oven before the glaze was finished cooking. I flaked a little coconut off and tasted it. I *think* it tasted okay, but I couldn't be sure. All I could think about was that maybe the evap. milk expired in 2006. So......................................... I threw the cake away. :(

Just so you know - the can of evaporated milk was NOT buried way back in my pantry. It was right at the front like I had just bought it (and I do purposefully overstock my pantry over the holidays). That's why I didn't check the date before I used it - I assumed it was one of the many things that I had recently bought.

I started over and made Magic Cookie Bars instead. Luckily, I had all the ingredients on hand. When they came out of the oven, I needed them to cool before I put the lid on the pan so that condensation didn't collect in the pan. I took the pan downstairs with me so I could babysit it while it cooled (we have cats in the house that can't be trusted). After it cooled, I took it back upstairs and snapped the lid on.

Hours later, while watching tv, I heard a crash. I rushed upstairs to find that one of the cats had pushed the pan off the counter. The pan landed upside down and the lid popped off, but the bars were intact and had not touched the floor. If I had had to make dessert #3, I might have had a hissy fit!

I put the bars in the frig for safe keeping and cut them into bars the next day and delivered them on a pretty snowman plate. Whew!

The other lady that went with us to deliver the meal (and who has a culinary degree) said I could have used that evaporated milk. :(

Well, it didn't smell right so I guess I'm glad that I started over. As soon as I get back to the grocery store, I'm buying more evaporated milk and making myself an oatmeal cake! Yum!