The tale of the 4-way

When we sat down for our morning coffee, Marty said, ” I have something I have to tell you.” My quick response was, “Oh God what did you buy?” 

He said that he didn’t buy anything, but he’s been thinking about something since last night. He had to be honest with me. Now I really didn’t know what he was going to say.

He said, “It’s about your dinner last night. I just don’t think that it was good and I didn’t enjoy it.” The meal he was talking about was chicken and dumplings.

Let me stop right there and for the record tell you guys that we are not food snobs. If I wasn’t gluten-free, I would still be eating Kraft macaroni and cheese, ramen noodles, Doritios, pizza bites, ding dong‘s, devil dogs, Twinkies, ho hos, and White Castle hamburgers.

We have some gluten-free versions of things that we love and are always on the lookout for it. Pringles and pop tarts are at the top of the list. Marty hit the jackpot today at the dented food store!

We have frozen food like everyone. We have things like frozen cauliflower pizza crusts and gluten-free breaded chicken tenders. My pantry always includes gluten-free Bisquick, canned beans, corn, Bob’s red mill muffin mix, and a gluten-free box cake mix for a last-minute dessert.

Ready to eat and quick to prepare food is necessary for busy families. Often if I’m using something like the breaded chicken tenders I will try to serve it with something that I’ve made. But sometimes those tenders are served with frozen french fries or tater tot‘s.

Ok, back to Marty telling me why he didn’t care for our dinner last night. Before I got defensive I stopped and listened. “You’re a much better cook than what you made last night.” He continued, “Now I know why kids don’t like their vegetables.” I knew exactly what he was talking about.

The cheapskate in me wanted to use up a bag of frozen 4-way. 4-way is known in the professional kitchen world as a mixture of peas, carrots, string beans, and corn. I had a bunch of 4-way on hand. I used to add it to the homemade dog food I made for Klaus. When we found out he was allergic to corn, that was the end of the homemade food and we started him on zero-grain dry food.

Marty continued by saying, “The four-way didn’t have any flavor at all, and everything was the same texture.” Not a good one at that. “It would’ve been better with just some fresh carrots along with the fresh onions and celery.” True.

OMG, he was right! I started making up the excuse about wanting to use up the 4-way and stopped. I agreed with him 100%. I am much a better cook than that.  It was kind of embarrassing.

A million things started running around in my head.  I just wrote about seasonal eating and did the opposite. I totally didn’t practice what I preached. I’m such a hypocrite!

My chicken and dumplings would’ve been so much better if I would’ve only put whatever fresh veggies I had on hand, along with the onions and celery. The fact of the matter is that I didn’t. It was a mediocre meal, totally edible, but I made the wrong decision going against everything I believe in for a $3 bag of 4-way.

I have to thank Marty so much for bringing this up. He believes in me and knew this was not me or my cooking.

So this is my first imperfect situation after yesterday’s post about perfectionism. This was my chance to see if I could cut myself some slack or would I beat myself up for the rest of the day. 

My reaction to criticism was excuses. Clearly, a pattern when I do something wrong. However, when I am critiqued at dance, that’s different. I take the criticism like a champ. I’ve asked for it because I wanted to become a better dancer. I’m not saying it’s easy, I used to go home after dance and want to cry. Beat myself up. Well, suck it up buttercup, you want to get better right? Then knock it off and practice your ass off.

Today my first reaction to Marty’s criticism was to make an excuse. At dance, I try to never make up an excuse when my technique is sloppy or wrong. For example, “My arms are wrong because I was lifting heavy things yesterday.” “I wasn’t shimmying because I didn’t sleep well last night.” Save it, sister, if you want to get better you have to listen, make corrections, and practice. Hmmm? The same thing goes for cooking! An ah-ha moment!

I did cut myself some slack today. That meal was a complete cop-out. Did I learn something from it? Hell yes! Don’t use shitty ingredients just for the sake of using them. Cook with love. I should’ve thrown that 4-way out when I stopped making the dog food. It was freezer burned anyway.

The perfectionist in me actually accepted the fact that what I made wasn’t up to snuff. It wasn’t up to the caliber of cooking that I normally do, the kind of cooking that I enjoy. The real shame is that I took the time to roast the chicken, made a delicious gravy with the drippings from the pan, and ruined it by throwing in that damn 4-way.

Tonight I used the rest of the roasted chicken and made Singapore Street Noodles. Everything was fresh, crunchy and spicy! My lips are still tingling from it!😋